What to do when exhausted

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Yatesie

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Type 2
Hi type 2 less than a year, so still struggling with life style changes. It seems certain foods knock me out and leave me exhausted the next day. What can I do to raise my energy levels? Coffee, energy drinks, TV!
 
Welcome @Yatesie 🙂 Can you explain a little more about what you mean? And are you on any meds for the diabetes?

Importantly, do you test your own blood sugar? Feeling tired and knocked out can be a sign of blood sugar issues.
 
When you say certain foods make you exhausted, what kind of foods are they? Rather than balance it out with energy drinks could you reduce those foods that cause the symptoms?
 
Hi and welcome.

Would you like to tell us a bit about how you came to be diagnosed and what if any medication you were prescribed or dietary changes you were advised. Also do you know the result of the blood test used to diagnose diabetes. This is called an HbA1c test and the number will usually be in excess of 47 if you have been diagnosed with diabetes. How much above 47 gives an indication of how much your body is struggling to manage your Blood Glucose (BG) levels. If things are quite badly awry then it may be into 3 figures which could well be why you are feeling fatigued.
Which foods are causing you to feel like that? Rather than trying to find something to perk you up, it might be wise to start cutting back on those foods, particularly if they are carbohydrate rich foods (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, breakfast cereals, and some fruits as well as the obvious cakes and biscuits) as they will be pushing your BG levels up, usually an hour or so after eating them and it is the high BG which can cause you to feel really lethargic and sleepy.
 
Inka said:
Welcome @Yatesie 🙂 Can you explain a little more about what you mean? And are you on any meds for the diabetes?

Importantly, do you test your own blood sugar? Feeling tired and knocked out can be a sign of blood sugar issues.
Click to expand...
Hi. I take Metformin and don't test my sugar. Is that normal for type 2s?
 
Lucyr said:
When you say certain foods make you exhausted, what kind of foods are they? Rather than balance it out with energy drinks could you reduce those foods that cause the symptoms?
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For the first time yesterday I made Honey chilli beef noodles. I fell asleep 2 hours after making it, woke up at 9.30pm, went back to bed and stayed there until 11.30am.
 
Yatesie said:
Hi. I take Metformin and don't test my sugar. Is that normal for type 2s?
Click to expand...

Metformin is common and many Type 2s don’t test their own blood sugar but it’s a really good idea to test. That way you can see how foods affect you and gain the knowledge to improve your HbA1C.
 
Yatesie said:
For the first time yesterday I made Honey chilli beef noodles. I fell asleep 2 hours after making it, woke up at 9.30pm, went back to bed and stayed there until 11.30am.
Click to expand...

Roughly how many noodles did you have? I really recommend getting a glucose meter. Your blood sugar could be high and you wouldn’t even know. Even if it’s not your blood sugar, at least then you’d be able to rule that out and look for other causes.
 
rebrascora said:
Hi and welcome.

Would you like to tell us a bit about how you came to be diagnosed and what if any medication you were prescribed or dietary changes you were advised. Also do you know the result of the blood test used to diagnose diabetes. This is called an HbA1c test and the number will usually be in excess of 47 if you have been diagnosed with diabetes. How much above 47 gives an indication of how much your body is struggling to manage your Blood Glucose (BG) levels. If things are quite badly awry then it may be into 3 figures which could well be why you are feeling fatigued.
Which foods are causing you to feel like that? Rather than trying to find something to perk you up, it might be wise to start cutting back on those foods, particularly if they are carbohydrate rich foods (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, breakfast cereals, and some fruits as well as the obvious cakes and biscuits) as they will be pushing your BG levels up, usually an hour or so after eating them and it is the high BG which can cause you to feel really lethargic and sleepy.
Click to expand...
Hi. I don't test, so I'm not sure what number it is. I've tried to cut back on stuff as much as I can but the most successful bit was cutting out the 2-3 energy drinks per day, which was increasing because of the exhaustion I felt.
 
Yatesie said:
Hi. I take Metformin and don't test my sugar. Is that normal for type 2s?
Click to expand...
People imagine that taking metformin is sufficient however it still requires dietary changes to reduce carbohydrates. Noodles are high carb so it could be the amount you had would be raising blood glucose and making you tired and possibly thirsty.
 
Back to your original question, unless you have something else happening (eg anaemia, thyroid issues, vitamin deficiencies, etc) you should be able to improve your energy levels by monitoring your blood sugar and trying to stay in range as much as possible @Yatesie
 
If money is no object, you can choose something like an AccuChek meter but the real cost is the test strips not the meters themselves. The most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £8 for 50.

If your blood sugar has been high for sometime, that could be why you felt the need for energy drinks. They wouldn’t have helped though and probably have made things worse.
 
It sounds like your BG levels may be running quite high and perhaps have been high for a fair while if you have been using energy drinks to try to stay awake and keep you alert.... and sadly they will likely have been making things worse for your diabetes rather than better, unless they were "lite/light" versions.
Honey is a type of sugar so it is carbohydrate and noodles are carbohydrate so probably not surprising that you fell asleep after it, but testing your BG levels before eating and then 2 hours afterwards would tell you for sure, that it is your BG levels sending you to sleep, if they are high and also show you which foods are causing you the most problems.
The great thing about home testing is that it allows you to "see" your diabetes and that enables you to take control and adjust the foods you eat to enable you to manage it better, rather than running blind. The analogy we often use is driving a car without a speedometer. You have no real idea if you are keeping to the limits your body can tolerate until you get an HbA1c test 3 months down the line which then really only tells you if you have done well or badly the past 3 months, not which individual meals or foods caused the problem and need to be limited or perhaps avoided altogether, as well as wich foods and drinks you can actually get away with..... and whilst all carbohydrates break down into glucose, some people's bodies break down potatoes faster than pasta or bread sends their levels into orbit whilst others can manage a seeded or sourdough bread but pasta or noodles sends their levels high for hours afterwards. It really can be quite individual and home testing enables you to see how your individual body responds.
Medication is only part of the equation in tackling diabetes but lowering your carbohydrate intake is much more powerful than almost all oral diabetes medication and certainly Metformin, so you really need to make some dietary changes to help it out. The other successful option in that respect is to follow a very low CALORIE diet (don't confuse carbs and cals) like the Newcastle or Fast 800 which is used for 8-12 weeks, usually in the form of meal replacement shakes, to lose weight fast and inparticular, burn off the visceral fat around the liver and pancreas which can be responsible for diabetes. The key thing with this approach is to maintain the weight loss after the diet is finished. Both Low Carb and Low Cal approaches have their advocates and can be highly effective. Some people use a combination of both, but the important thing is to make changes that are sustainable for life.
 
I like a noodle stir fry, but a 50gm serving of egg noodles is approx 175 cals and a whopping 34gm carbs. So I switched to soybean noodles. Virtually the same cals, but 9.6gm carbs. I actually prefer them - they are fairly al dente, and have a nuttier flavour. With a portion of my home made ratatouille at 44 cals and 7.6gm carbs, the meal is 220cals and 17.2gm carbs. And I can add 80gm tinned tuna in brine at 100cals and no carbs
 
Or you could use Konjac noodles which are zero carb
 
Yatesie said:
Hi type 2 less than a year, so still struggling with life style changes. It seems certain foods knock me out and leave me exhausted the next day. What can I do to raise my energy levels? Coffee, energy drinks, TV!
Click to expand...

I was like that when I easiest diagnosed.
It does get better.
I am well on top of it now, but it was high sugar that caused my tiredness.
( I was living on Lucozade as well)
I cut all sugar, I didn't cut all carbs as driving down your BG too quickly can be bad in itself.
Personally, I dropped the energy drinks, donuts, white bread, never liked pasta, white rice etc.
I switched to high spice, but would make my own chilies, a lot of beans, veg, meat, but no honey etc.
Exercise helped, as it decreased my insulin resistance, so the tiredness also improved dramatically.
 
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