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Symptoms I am having. What the heck is going on??
These are the symptoms I have been keeping track of and they have me very worried. Can anyone help me with this problem?
1. slight trembling of the thumbs and fingers when I try to hold them still. This occurs in both hands.
2. if I kneel down and reach up, my legs twitch and arm also twitches near my elbow.
3. if I squat down, my legs tremble. It's not serious enough to cause me to lose balance but it is noticable to me.
4. no numbness or tingling.
5. no muscle weakness, just the occasional feeling of fatigue in the muscles.
6. no loss of coordination.
7. occasional fatigue in my chest.
8. difficulty sleeping and no feeling rested when I awake.
9. heart palpitations (PVCs) that come and go.
10. severe anxiety that is pretty much under control at the moment.
11. sometimes I get a very tired feeling 30 minutes after eating and other times the fatigue can be eleviated by eating.
12. feelings of being tense, unable to breath properly at times, and aggitated.
13. feeling that I'm in a daze or cloud.
14. phobias, OCD attacks
Am I going crazy here? I have fears of everything from a brain tumor to ALS or MS because of the muscle twitching. I did a one day blood sugar test and woke with a reading of 58. I ate breakfast and watched it rise to 78 and then for the rest of the day it was 74 - 67 - 80 - 78 - 110 (after workout) - 90 after dinner. I woke up at 3 am with my heart racing and took a reading and it was 117. Is this hypoglycemia??
1. slight trembling of the thumbs and fingers when I try to hold them still. This occurs in both hands.
2. if I kneel down and reach up, my legs twitch and arm also twitches near my elbow.
3. if I squat down, my legs tremble. It's not serious enough to cause me to lose balance but it is noticable to me.
4. no numbness or tingling.
5. no muscle weakness, just the occasional feeling of fatigue in the muscles.
6. no loss of coordination.
7. occasional fatigue in my chest.
8. difficulty sleeping and no feeling rested when I awake.
9. heart palpitations (PVCs) that come and go.
10. severe anxiety that is pretty much under control at the moment.
11. sometimes I get a very tired feeling 30 minutes after eating and other times the fatigue can be eleviated by eating.
12. feelings of being tense, unable to breath properly at times, and aggitated.
13. feeling that I'm in a daze or cloud.
14. phobias, OCD attacks
Am I going crazy here? I have fears of everything from a brain tumor to ALS or MS because of the muscle twitching. I did a one day blood sugar test and woke with a reading of 58. I ate breakfast and watched it rise to 78 and then for the rest of the day it was 74 - 67 - 80 - 78 - 110 (after workout) - 90 after dinner. I woke up at 3 am with my heart racing and took a reading and it was 117. Is this hypoglycemia??
I'm going to my doctor very shortly and will have him run the entire list of blood tests to see what turns up.
I have noticed many of these same symptoms since I started using Lantus, I really have wondered if there is a relationship, or if the stress of the more strigent control is causing this. Does anyone else using Lantus have these symptoms?
In addition to hypoglycemia as a suspect for your symptoms, thyroid over-activity can cause these symptoms. I have a good friend who was an Air Force navigator until muscle tremors sent him to a doctor, thinking he might have Parkinson's disease. Heart palpitations and emotional upheaval are also symptoms. He turned out to have an over-active thyroid. His thyroid was radiated to destroy it, he was put on thyroid hormones and is normal now. This is something that a simple blood test can tell, so get your doctor to do some labwork to rule it out as a possibility.
Hi SouthJ,
If you'd like to evaluate "experientially" whether blood sugar is a culprit in your symptoms, you might consider following a diet plan recommended for folk with hypoglycemia -- see if that levels our your blood sugars and if other unpleasant symptoms begin to subside.
While I not a physician, nor an expert on hypoglycemia, I have read a little about it. The meal plans usually include multiple small "snack" and not large meals; avoiding simple sugars/simple carbohydrates and mixing protein with carbo when eating.
Our bodies are such complex systems, it's often very difficult to determine which part is the source of a set of issues. Seems reasonable to talk with your doctor, tho', about the muscle weakness & trembling. I know that some meds cause those symtpoms (cholesterol meds can cause muscle weakness, for example; and some ADD meds cause trembling).
If you'd like to evaluate "experientially" whether blood sugar is a culprit in your symptoms, you might consider following a diet plan recommended for folk with hypoglycemia -- see if that levels our your blood sugars and if other unpleasant symptoms begin to subside.
While I not a physician, nor an expert on hypoglycemia, I have read a little about it. The meal plans usually include multiple small "snack" and not large meals; avoiding simple sugars/simple carbohydrates and mixing protein with carbo when eating.
Our bodies are such complex systems, it's often very difficult to determine which part is the source of a set of issues. Seems reasonable to talk with your doctor, tho', about the muscle weakness & trembling. I know that some meds cause those symtpoms (cholesterol meds can cause muscle weakness, for example; and some ADD meds cause trembling).
Thank you for your comments. What surprised me was when I checked into hypoglycemia and found that some of the most common symptoms are anxiety, panic attacks, nervousness, and trembing. All these seem to occur when blood sugar gets low. Heart palpitations are another common symptom. You seem to be suggesting that my problems could be coming from a mental health disorder and I'm looking at it the other way. What if all these mental health disorders are the result of my blood glucose levels being low? I also read where depression is common among hypoglycemics and diabetics.
I mentioned I used to have severe anxiety problems - problems so bad that I could barely leave my house without freaking out. I overcame them by losing weight (40 lbs lost), eating healthier, exercising every day, and taking an anti-anxiety course. I did all four things at the same time and now I am in recovery. I still notice, however, that I tend to get aggitated and more nervous when I go 5 hours or more without eating. Before I had the severe anxiety I went on the Atkins diet and cut way back on my caloric intake. I'm now wondering if that caused a flare-up in my hypoglycemia which in turn caused the anxiety to go crazy? The pieces all seem to fit but I'm still doing research on the relationship between anxiety and hypoglycemia. The evidence seems to suggest that low blood sugar forces the release of adrenalin and cortisol hormones (to boost blood glucose levels) which in turn have the side effect of increasing anxiety. If this is the care, then one must wonder how many people who take medication for anxiety, depression, trembling disorders, etc., are really just suffering from low blood sugar and don't know it. What are your thoughts on this?
I mentioned I used to have severe anxiety problems - problems so bad that I could barely leave my house without freaking out. I overcame them by losing weight (40 lbs lost), eating healthier, exercising every day, and taking an anti-anxiety course. I did all four things at the same time and now I am in recovery. I still notice, however, that I tend to get aggitated and more nervous when I go 5 hours or more without eating. Before I had the severe anxiety I went on the Atkins diet and cut way back on my caloric intake. I'm now wondering if that caused a flare-up in my hypoglycemia which in turn caused the anxiety to go crazy? The pieces all seem to fit but I'm still doing research on the relationship between anxiety and hypoglycemia. The evidence seems to suggest that low blood sugar forces the release of adrenalin and cortisol hormones (to boost blood glucose levels) which in turn have the side effect of increasing anxiety. If this is the care, then one must wonder how many people who take medication for anxiety, depression, trembling disorders, etc., are really just suffering from low blood sugar and don't know it. What are your thoughts on this?
Dear SouthJ,
i wouldn't think what you are going through is from low blood sugar. It could have mental health issues as you have expresed a fear of though that doesn't mean you are going crazy. i have type 1 diabetes of thirty years duration and also bipolar disorder, they used to call it manic depression. Many mental health issues now can be treated with medication. But to get the medication you have to either see a doctor or a psychiatrist, which a psychiatrist is a medical doctor that specializes in mental health disorders.
But no, you don't sound in the least that you are going crazy. Crazy people lose the ability to deal rationally with things happening in their lives and you don't sound like that to me. But many mental health disorders can have physical symptoms so it is worth getting a doctor to check it out. But there is no shame in having mental health disorders as many are passed on in genes and not instigated by your actions.
But i sympathize with what you are experiencing since my care of my diabetes isn't so well when i'm experiencing a depressive or manic episode. Though lately i have been fortunate in that they finally have medications for me that control my manic episodes and now we are working on finding an anti-depressant that is functional for me.
i look on bipolar disorder as being no different than having diabetes, neither of them would be anything i would ask for.But they are making big advances in both mental health issues and diabetes control. Diabetes was entirely different when i was first diagnosed thirty years ago when they told me i wouldn't live to be the age i am and had they not improved diabetes care i probably wouldn't have.
Please just keep trying. See a doctor who can diagnosed the problem to see if it is mental health issues or diabetes issues.
wishing you well,
bret
i wouldn't think what you are going through is from low blood sugar. It could have mental health issues as you have expresed a fear of though that doesn't mean you are going crazy. i have type 1 diabetes of thirty years duration and also bipolar disorder, they used to call it manic depression. Many mental health issues now can be treated with medication. But to get the medication you have to either see a doctor or a psychiatrist, which a psychiatrist is a medical doctor that specializes in mental health disorders.
But no, you don't sound in the least that you are going crazy. Crazy people lose the ability to deal rationally with things happening in their lives and you don't sound like that to me. But many mental health disorders can have physical symptoms so it is worth getting a doctor to check it out. But there is no shame in having mental health disorders as many are passed on in genes and not instigated by your actions.
But i sympathize with what you are experiencing since my care of my diabetes isn't so well when i'm experiencing a depressive or manic episode. Though lately i have been fortunate in that they finally have medications for me that control my manic episodes and now we are working on finding an anti-depressant that is functional for me.
i look on bipolar disorder as being no different than having diabetes, neither of them would be anything i would ask for.But they are making big advances in both mental health issues and diabetes control. Diabetes was entirely different when i was first diagnosed thirty years ago when they told me i wouldn't live to be the age i am and had they not improved diabetes care i probably wouldn't have.
Please just keep trying. See a doctor who can diagnosed the problem to see if it is mental health issues or diabetes issues.
wishing you well,
bret
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