Facial numbness and head pressure

I was diagnosed with type 1 a month and a half ago. Besides being diagnosed, my life has some added stress for my husband that is deployed overseas. I have been pretty successful in getting my BG under control, but still have some lingering other symptoms that my doctors and diabetic center have struggled to pinpoint. I thought that I would list them here and see if anyone else has had these symptoms and what their root cause is.

  • despite a good BG around 120, I often feel pressure in the top of my head, in my sinus areas and at the base of my skull
  • I also feel numbness in my nose, upper lip and upper teeth when my BG is rising
  • if the pressure in my head is at bedtime, I experience dizzy spells as I fall asleep or even worse, they wake me up

Many people have tried to tell me that this is more psychological, then physical. Perhaps I am experiencing anxiety. That maybe so, but it seems to sometimes online with BG and other times not. Any help or anyone experienced anything similar?

Hi and welcome… sorry you have to go through this alone. I have facial numbness too and was told that it was related to the treatment of insulin, I presented quite high then plummeted down… then I was told it was due to a lack of B12 (anything under 400 with symptoms DO NOT take the lab levels as you have symptoms). Then I was told it would go away… to put it factually, I was finally diagnosed with nerve damage from the diabetes and yes my tongue goes numb when my sugars climb, sometimes almost a burning mouth feeling… and my face as well… it is bothersome but Gabapentin helps a great deal for me and B12 shots have also helped…

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I would not consider these normal and if you feel they are real, do not let somebody else convince you (without any medical advice) that it is only psychological or anxiety. Maybe it is anxiety - that is a possibility but on the other hand maybe it is not.
As well, maybe this is related to T1 or maybe it is something different?

My suggestion would be to see specialists:
ENT (Ear / Nose / Throat)
Cardiologist
Neurologist

Have them check you out and get their opinions. Reserve judgement until you hear back.

(My assumption is you already see an Endocrinologist and have discussed these symptoms with your Endo with no definitive findings hence your post.)

Being only diagnosed 1-1/2 month ago, it is certainly possible depending on your diagnosis and how your BG was before and how it is now that your body is still adjusting to the T1 diagnosis and treatment. When we were first diagnosed with T1 there were additional diagnosis (in addition to T1) made at the same time. The Docs specifically told us they were not going to act on those additional diagnosis AT THAT TIME because of how badly the entire endocrine system was out of balance (or whatever medical terminology they used). They got things stabilized (in terms of T1) and 3 months later re-ran all the diagnostic tests. Everything still came back the same so at that point, additional diagnosis were added but the docs at that point felt comfortable with the test results and the additional diagnosis.

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I’ve never experienced those symptoms, but the sinus pressure could easily be totally unrelated to T1. Do you live in a part of the country that is allergen-rich? The Pacific Northwest (especially Western Oregon and Western Washington) are home to almost ever allergen known to man.

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I had similar head pressure symptoms for several months following my diagnosis. It would actually happen to my whole body. I always said it felt like I had a find mesh over my entire body and it was slowly getting tighter. Gradually over about three or four months, I noticed the feeling less and less as my body healed from what was probably years of high BG. The feeling still comes back now and then, but never like it was in those initial months.

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I have frequent sinus infections, and my symptoms are quite similar. Only difference is that instead of numbness, I feel pressure above upper teeth. Have you have this checked out?

Thank you. Yes, I tried antibiotics for a sinus infection. After all 10 days on meds, no change.

I have been type one in my 30s female for a year and a half. If my sugars rise because of bread…I get tingling in my face and nose. I went in and scan of head and EKG was normal. I don’t get it as often over the last year and seems to come when I have a lot of carbs (which is only once in awhile). Your body is getting used to everything. Don’t sweat it. During he first 6 months after diagnosis I had some weird pains. My body and mind were SLOWLY healing. Give it time. Reduce starchy carbs. In 3 to 6 more months you’ll know more hat triggers it. Good luck.

I see this is an old thread, but thought I would ask anyways. Did you ever figure out what was causing your facial numbness and head pressure? I working through the same right now. Not sure if it has anything to do with the low carb or ?

Hopefully everything cleared up for you.