Post exertional blood glucose increase

[Ansti]

I've just started monitoring my blood glucose because I feel so ill on exertion and post exertion (Dizziness, nausea, vision problems, irritability, tearfulness, flu like symptoms, joint pain, stomach pain, rashes(especially acne)).

I suspected some sort of adrenal insufficiency, so I started monitoring my blood glucose - my hypothesis being that I would become hypoglycemic to some degree after any sort of stress.

However I've found that my blood glucose increases immediately after exercise (not strenuous.Gentle swim, or walk) - sometimes outside normal ranges.

Is this a normal response to exercise?

[Ansti]

Just thought - I started Plaquenil for psoriatic arthritis 6 weeks ago. Would that affect blood glucose?

I tried Prednisolone 20mg p/d for a fortnight and found that it improved my ability to cope - no labile episodes - I also lost weight and the dark circles under my eyes cleared up (I still felt ill though).

So next time I felt tearful I tried taking Prednisolone. It worked better than Diazepam. The first day I felt quite a bit better,and I took Pred 2nd day as well and I felt normal. Usually I can't leave the house for a few days in case I cry in public!

(The lability is episodic - usually post exertional. I feel psychologically healthy in the intervening periods).

I thought that there may be a cortisol problem, as I was noticing improvement before the anti inflammatory effect would have kicked in.

[Ansti]

Thanks for that advice. I'll be seeing my GP asap to get the ball rolling on those tests.

I hadn't really considered it might be diabetes. I've been using urinalysis reagent strips, and they don't show any glucose. They often show ketones and leukocytes though. The highest I've caught my blood sugar is 8mmol/L - from what I've read on diabetes websites that shouldn't be high enough to cause diabetic ketacidosis? First thing in the morning it's between  5 and 5.5mmol/L. It's only a little bit high,maybe 6- 6.5, 60-90mins after eating. Exertion is what seems to send it higher.

Is there any reason why high blood sugar would make you feel dizzy, nauseous and shaky? I've felt ill on exertion for a long while now.

So many questions, sorry! I seem to be an enigma to my doctors though.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
If you have poor release of insulin, then after exercise the blood glucose can rise. While exercising the brain gets a signal to increase blood glucose to meet the extra body demand. If this increased sugar is able to trigger an increased insulin response, the blood sugar gets lowered. Otherwise, it remains high.
You should get GTT or glucose tolerance test, fasting blood sugar, post prandial sugar done and glycosyltaed hemoglobin measured to know whether you have diabetes or not.
Hope this helps. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!