I have felt like I was light headed, short of breath, unstable and having an anxiety attack twice yesterday at different time’s during the day. Once in the afternoon noon once during my sleep. My heart rate speed up and I started breathing hard trying to get a full breath. Was hot then Became cold and light headed. I have eaten a 1/2 steak salad for lunch. The other half with cauliflower and broccoli for dinner about 7pm. Nothing else but water I. I couldn’t eat another bite. I took my last dose of Met 500mg I’m taking that twice a day to lower my levels. After which I went to bed at 12midnight. Has anyone experienced this, what did you do, does anyone any recommendations please. What are the normal ranges for us T2s please anyone. My 10pm reading was 173 them 182 at 4:30am drank water tried to calm myself down at 5:30 a reading was 166 after water still feeling out of sorts feeling anxious. Does anyone have anxiety attacks with metformin or diabetes and if so does it go away. Do you medicate for it. What medication for anxiety can be used or what natural solution can be used. I’m open for all suggestions. Thanks
I would venture a guess that your dizziness and anxiety attacks are secondary to your worry over having D.
You seem to be overly focused on eating to avoid low BGs. Your BGs are high, if anything (depending on the source, “normals” have BGs that range from the 70’s to 120’s). Type 2’s on Metformin alone rarely experience dangerously low BG’s (And I wouldn’t worry about reactive hypoglycemia if I were you.)
As an example, I don’t worry about treating a “low” BG in my Type 1 daughter until she is under 66 or so and heading down fast.
What is your biggest fear right now about your Type 2? If we knew that, perhaps we could help put your mind more at ease…
Do you take blood pressure meds also? Dizziness could mean you might need to.
Feeling dizzy and light-headed is more commonly associated with low blood pressure than high blood pressure.
You can use meds (such as benzodiazepines) for panic attacks; however, they have the potential to be habit-forming and are not generally great for regular/long term use. Maybe it’s worth considering working a therapist to manage anxiety? CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy, particularly the behavioral parts of it) is very effective for panic attacks, and it’s really very reasonable to need some support with coping with the stress of diabetes. While that takes a bit more effort and time up front, the effects are much longer lasting.
Anyway, it’s important to know that the symptoms of panic attacks (assuming that’s what it is), while very uncomfortable, aren’t actually dangerous, so your best bet may be to find something to take your mind off of it and force yourself to do that distracting thing while you ride it out. If I were you, I might choose to NOT test/focus on blood sugars so much if they are in fact that stable and not linked to those symptoms. Maybe watch a bit of something very entertaining, talk to someone if you’ve got anyone around about something else, play with a pet, etc.
Yes.
I am just starting to understand the meds. They are working for me. What brought me to the Doc was high bp. A1C was also high. Anyhow the meds are all working and with only a few adjustments.
I have anxiety attacks that have worsened over the years. I am not sure if mine are correlated to diabetes but my guess is yes. The higher my blood sugar gets, I notice the anxiety worsens. I find that I worry most in situations where I feel like I am not in control of my diabetes, like once the boarding door on a plane closes, being stuck on the runway, when driving through the mountains or sleeping in a tent far from any civilization. Strange I know but I feel like they are always situations where I can’t get what I need for diabetes if I needed to. I have to use a lot of self talk to calm myself and get me through those situations.
I do have low bp and I come from a anxiety ridden Ukrainian family. Maybe those do not help either.
I take anxiety medication when needed, xanax, etc. It became necessary when the anxiety was making me not able to function and as you mentioned, leaving me unable to breathe. I understand your thoughts completely, it is horrifying to not have your own breath working for you. Exercise helps a lot, especially yoga where you are breath focused. Talking to a therapist also helps. The reassurance that nothing that you are experiencing is abnormal, it is much a part of dealing with a condition that is on your mind every minute. Hugs an hugs. Please let us know how you are feeling! cynthia
I find that the deep breathing you do in tai chi, yoga or pilates will help greatly with anxiety or panic attacks.
It is a very relaxed way of breathing, you need to slowly breathe in through the nose and feel your stomach pushing out with the air you have breathed in. In a controlled way slowly breathe out through the mouth.
A few breaths like this greatly assist with panic attacks. Keep your shoulders down, you should not compress your chest at all, the air has to go right down and then slowly released in a controlled way. I hope this may help.
Exactly what happens to me as you described. Thank God for all the replies. The deep breathing has helped. I was told of romance one Dr. My BP was high and from another it was nirmal. I’m going to buy a BP cuff and start monitoring it. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and for sharing. I just could not make it through this diseases without this Forum. The Genius who thought of this. We Love You and You ROCK!
I have similar anxiety about diabetes. It used to be not knowing where my blood sugar was and what direction it was heading. I was having a lot of issues with work meetings where you just can’t constantly stop and test. Dexcom pretty solved that issue.
I also have anxiety when flying. I always fear something going south with my pump. I never had an issue but it does cause a lot of stress when traveling.