So been couple years of sleepless nights here and there. But past 4 months every week at least 2 or 3 nights with controlled blood sugar, I can’t sleep. My sugar is 85 tonight, no sleep last night and headache and heart racing. I should be thrilled with normally ranges, first a1c under 7 after 10 years of never being , but not sleeping is taking toll as well. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The night before I was very active that am and didn’t sleep that night. Couple weeks ago I raked leaves, lows several times for 4 days of one active day and sleepless nights. I’m always sweaty or clammy at bedtime with heart racing.
Have you ruled out hyperthyroidism?
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Any time I go low lots it’s because of the basal usually if i take to much bolus I will not go low several times but if u take to much basal I go low lots with activity
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Not having an a1c under 7 and now you have its contributing to more lows being sweaty with heart racing usually feels low to me . Also when your blood sugars are always high being in normal to lower range can cause some a feelingthat’s not normal your body and heart adjusting to being more normal which means your body will need less sleep
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You attribute your sleep difficulty to having a normal blood sugar through the night, but it may be totally unrelated. It might help to work on some good sleep hygiene.
- Don’t nap during the day
- Go to bed and arise at the same time every day
- Avoid stimulants (like coffee or chocolate) before bed
- Avoid foods that are slow digesting (fat and protein) before bed
- Get regular aerobic exercise (even walking)
- Get enough light during the day
- Don’t lay in bed and read or watch TV, if you can’t sleep get up until you are tired
And heavy exercise can disrupt your sleep as it causes hormone increases in your body that are part of the recovery process
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Well slept 4 hours, woke up with headache, record keeping of everything looks like is best benefit. Could be other affects, and assume due to sugars level for first time. Thyroid has been evaluated but doctor said recheck in February. That does run in family. Mom had Graves. Sometimes I do feel my body is confused with normal levels and get in low shock. Thank you all, Journaling daily details should help. I’m forgetful and emotional. One moment I’m freaking out and then realize it’s due to nothing. Emotions can play a role in feel. Thank you
I take 100 mg 5 Htp every 2 days at most. More than that and it loses effectiveness for me. Also I find light from my smartphone and computer in the evening disrupts my sleep, so I don’t use at least 4 hours before sleep. The TV is Ok as I sit far enough away from it. I suppose I could put my computer screen onto my TV screen (Air play?) if i wanted to use my computer late at night. My bedroom windows have two layers of fabric to block out all outside light. My hear beats faster if I have too much light at night for some weird reason. I have become more sensitive to it as I have gotten older and my hormones or shifting (51 years old), but maybe some of my hacks my still help you.
oops! I don’t know how to delete the first image…
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Do you snore? Do you sleep alone? If not then has your partner observed you snoring or stopping breathing. Waking with a headache is a symptom of sleep apnea. It might be useful to consider some sort of health tracker that can monitor your sleep.
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I am looking for a good sleep tracker right now!! I will post this as a new topic.
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I blame headache to sugar, everything is due to sugar. No snoring. My husband said I don’t. No I think that is my biggest issue, it could be other things and the one thing I always have on my mind is sugar. So journal keeping may prove a point to myself. Seeing the facts and separate the emotion and blame of sugar to blame for everything could be my eye opener.
Htp., I will look for, lots of times I will not put my phone down, it needs a cut off button and timer to not cut back on, that would help. Yes, those things do play big role in relaxing.
Just looked up htp.5, it said don’t take if taking antidepressant, unfortunately I take zoloft, I have thought maybe due to that. When a teenager I took effexor.and to much thru me in a manic episode. So my history with antidepressants is not good. I foughtgoing back on for years, so been on that for year and half now. That fear is always in sight
I suffer from sleep apnea and take melatonin to help my sleep. I buy it at costco where it comes in 5mg chewable tablets. If I awake at 2am and think I might have trouble getting to sleep again I’ll take another melatonin tablet.
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Melatonin would be a natural help. No sleep leads to days of confusion
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The symptoms of sleep apnea in women can look a bit different than men. I didn’t snore, and my husband never noticed that I stopped breathing. And yet when I had a sleep study done, I was stopping breathing every 30 seconds. For me the symptoms were being really tired, peeing at night, headache when I woke up, and a slightly raspy throat in the morning.
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Interesting
Here’s some more info on sleep apnea in women:
…there are probably several reasons that women may be less likely to be diagnosed and treated for sleep apnea. First, physicians often have a predefined notion of the type of patient who has sleep apnea, like a middle-aged overweight or obese male. Thus, they may not think of
this diagnosis when the patient is female.
Second, women may present with slightly different symptoms than the “classic” symptoms of snoring, witnessed breathing pauses at night and excessive sleepiness during the day — not a surprise, when one realizes that these classic symptoms were described in nearly all-male populations! Instead, women may present with fatigue, insomnia, morning headaches, mood disturbances or other symptoms that may suggest reasons other than OSA for their symptoms.
Women are more likely to present to their clinician with non-specific symptoms such as insomnia (difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep), restless legs, depression, lack of energy, and sleepiness. Because these symptoms are not specific for OSA, women may be misdiagnosed and are less likely to be referred to a sleep clinic for further evaluation.
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Wonderful suggestions - about the headache - if the headache dissapates within a few minutes of getting out of bed you might consider changing your pillow. After describing my waking headaches to my doc she noted the rapid relief for these frequent headaches indicated they were most likely related to the position of my head and neck. Sure enough, new pillow no more headaches.
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Normally you are advised to have a sleep study performed to diagnose sleep apnea. If you have to pay out of pocket, these overnight studies can cost thousands. You can however determine at home whether you have sleep apnea serious enough to be causing health consequences. A key thing that happens with apnea is that you don’t get enough oxygen and your oxygen levels fall. You can get your own personal oxygen meter (like this one) and monitor your readings overnight. A normal level of oxygen will be 96-97%. If you dip down to 90% that would be mild, 80-90% would be moderate and 80% would be severe.
If you do detect apnea you should go see a sleep specialist for a proper diagnosis and to evaluate treatment options.
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Careful! melatonin can cause major insulin resistance after a few days. it wreaked havoc with me and saw article on mayo clinic site warning for T1s. I have not slept in years. I think its a T1 thing. Been doing some EMDR with a counsellor and seems better. Also…check for Hyperthyroid?! sometimes the gyroid goes from hypo to hyperon us.
good luck.
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