New Year. New Stuff. New Symptoms.
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 6:00AM I am very excited about 2010 already. I had a great Christmas and New Year celebration and I really feel like this year is going to be awesome.
There are some things I am planning for Ninjabetic.com that I can tell you about and some I just can't. You all know how I love to surprise you!
First I decided to jump on board (like a wanna be cool kid) with all of you that are doing the Diabetes 365 project on Flickr. I have avoided attempting this since I am not a great photographer but I guess that is not the point. The point is to take a picture a day of your diabetes life for a year and here is my first entry.
If you like this idea you should join up. You will automatically be a cool kid (probably already are), I am the only wanna be.
Second, I have added my first "member only" content. Sure its a cheesy ninja game and I know that being a member to another site is the last thing some of you want to do. I just thought I should add a different perk since the only reason to join prior was the ability to see your comments post immediately. Anyhow, if you are interested click here to read how to sign up.
Now about the symptoms. I guess the truth would be that they are not new, but different. Saturday night, my wife and I were at the store and I started to get this horrible headache. I felt a little light headed and since I had eaten a while before we left for the store, I was sure I was high. That is what it felt like.
Since I was in the store I didn't have my blood glucose machine with me and was not wearing a CGM, I decided just to fire in a couple of units knowing that my sugar was sky high.
Something told me to wait.
"Honey, we have to go to the car. I feel really bad and really high."
"Alright, lets go." My wife knows I don't normally have her escort me to my machine unless something is wrong.
As I was walking to the car the headache got worse. I am sure now it was the fear of the number I was going to see. I opened the car and pulled out my machine. Got a massive drop of blood to avoid any error on my meter.
70.
"I must be dropping fast because I know I should have been higher than that." Having eaten 30 minutes before made me really confused by the low or the crashing. What was stranger was the way it felt. It felt the way my highs do. I never get a headache when I go low.
Anyhow, it freaked me out and made me promptly put on a CGM. At least now I can see some trends but man, I never thought my low and high symptoms would switch places!
Has this happened to any of you? Do you get a headache when you are crashing or are low? I typically sweat, get dizzy, and shake.
Well, that's it for the first post of 2010. Here's to an awesome year!
Reader Comments (15)
Yup, it's happened to me. Headaches and nausea usually come with my highs - but sometimes I'll also get them when I'm low. Just to keep my guessing, right? I've often been SURE I was sky-high, and then did a finger-stick and found out I was in range. I'm so glad you thought better of just firing in a couple of units based on the way you felt!! It's always so tempting to do.
Yes, same here. 1) D365 and 2) Thought I was high, turned out I was in range.
The constant is change, eh? Awesome. (not)
Happy New Year Dbro!!!
I get worse headaches when I hover low, especially in the morning. Often I'll wake up with a headache that feels sinus-related and discover at breakfast that I'm low, not stuffy. I do sometimes get headaches when I'm high, too - typically, it's more of a mid-brain kind of headache than a forehead headache. Of course, there's always an element of "it's never what you expect" too. I have to say good on you for waiting to test before jumping to correct - I'm discovering I need to buckle down and test more often and this is a good reminder of why.
Happy New Year!
G, it has happened to me. Often by surprise, just the way it did with you - think I'm high and turns out I'm not. Thankfully, I don't bolus unless I've done a check just in case. Usually when I am dropping very fast, that's when I get the headache. Same when rising very fast. Happened yesterday, after a day of sitting around ALL DAY and doing absolutely nothing and munching on my favorite frito chili cheese chips... Thought I was high, and turned out I was 124. Weird. A few minutes later, I tested and was less than 100. It is the way of the D, always tossing a monkey wrench into our routine and what we think we know. Never-ending.
I can't wait to see what Ninjabetic.com will have going on. I am in the diabetes365, pretty excited about it. Nope, no headaches but gosh! I hte feeling low
when I'm not and high when I'm not. Note to self: I need to become a
member of Ninjabetic.com
I get wicked headaches when I am low but I never get them when I am high. Go figure. We must be opposites!
Definitely. My symptoms are fairly consistent but there is always random times when I am just flat out wrong. I think because I fear being high, I usually think I am high. Who knows. So glad you checked!
You were the original cool kid, SuperG. :)
And on the symptoms of lows and highs shifting all over the place, I feel you. (Are you pregnant, too???!!) Nothing is more confusing than that sticky high headache, only to test and be 50 mg/dl. OY.
I find that just as I am getting used to how I feel low, or high, something comes in and throws me for a curve. Headaches accompany my highs, but if I drop fast - from range, or mid to highs and then to a low, I am totally miserable with the nastiest headache ever to boot.
But yes, my newest "symptom", or lack thereof, is the lack of sweating when low. Always fun when Diabetes throws a curve-ball into the mix!
My low symptoms are never the same. But headache is sometimes one of them. Just a little while ago for instance, I took sudafed for feeling of stuffiness & I wanted to unclog my sinuses (to avoid an infection if possible). After a while I started with a headache which I originally thought was from the sudafed but it started getting unbarable, looked at my Dexcom and sure enough 79 and dropping. In recent months, I've also been extremely thirsty when low occasionally which I think is very odd. But either way I guess it's our bodies telling us something is off .. one way or the other.
George-
Around the 20 year mark of being diabetic or a PWD, it is not uncommon for your High and Low symptoms to change. I learned this at Joslin many, many years ago and I'm surprised it is not discussed more.
http://www.joslin.org/info/what_can_i_do_to_prevent_serious_hypoglycemic_episodes_when_I_am_hypoglycemic_unaware.html
See paragraph 3: We know that the traditional physical and emotional symptoms of a low blood glucose may begin to fade away after 5 years with diabetes. In fact, after 20 or more years with diabetes it is not unusual for these symptoms to become too subtle to recognize or happen only after being too low to react to them. This condition is called hypoglycemic unawareness.
I do not consider myself hypoglycemic "unaware" I just know that I've had to learn the new signs of a low. Like you mention, the symptoms can seem to switch. I used to feel dizzy, get sweaty, etc.. when low and have headaches, anger issues when high... When I got to my 17/18th year of being a diabetic, I found I was mean and nasty when low. LOL. My poor husband never knows whether to run or just get the orange juice!
Keep an eye on your "signs" for a while, this may take up to a year to sort itself out.
Goodluck! Erin
I don't beleive my daughter gets headaches, but I remember the time very clearly when her symptoms changed. It use to be easy tell tale signs, like being shaky and emotional...now she doesn't notice anything until she is at about 50. Sometimes she kind of acts loopy like a giddy teenager. I wrote about this on my blog, how unfair it is that when your teenager is acting all happy like the other teenagers....you have to send her to go test. Just goes to show you that no matter how experienced you are, you have to stay on top of your diabetes. It's ever changing and evolving.
I have experienced the headaches but as usual its when I am high but never when I was low go figure but I have a few instances in the last 12 years that I have been low anyway (below 60) so I cant use that as a measuring stick.
thanks Ronn
I have had headaches with my lows for years. The doctor said it was the brain's rapid loss of glucose supply (go figure!). I have had them so bad, they'd have me in bed the rest of the day. And as far as the weird, sick, soaring high feeling, I've had those too. You must have been dropping really fast. That's when I get it. That's why it's SO, so, so SOOO important to check before you do any treatment for what you think is a high.
Glad you caught it! Take care and happy new year!
Wow - pretty scary man. I get really confused too when my symptoms change. For example, when I'm 200 (or crossing through 200) I feel the same as I do when I am low. When that first started happening I would mess myself up because I was positive I was low - so I would eat more! Ug.
A little slice of consistency would be nice wouldn't it?