Weird thing happened...help?

Type 2
#1

Type 2 - diagnosed in January, by May had my A1C down to 5.7 with diet and exercise, no meds. Everything has been beautiful since. I miss yummy food but have found that being really careful about what I eat helps how I feel on a daily basis.

This morning I woke up and walked to the bathroom and had some sort of issue. I almost passed out - cold/clammy/sweaty/weak/nauseated/dizzy/headachy. It lasted about 5 minutes during which I was panicking about maybe having to call in sick to work without having scheduled a sub. I got up off the floor long enough to walk downstairs to my meter, which said 109. My normal BG in the morning is 79-89 for the past few months. After I ate my normal breakfast - a hard boiled egg and a tiny bit of Stevia-sweetened oatmeal (12g carbs) and walked around a bit getting ready, I felt totally fine.

I’ve racked my brain trying to think of ANYTHING that may have contributed to a weird blood sugar thing, but nothing about yesterday or last night was different. Had salmon, salad, and half a dinner roll for dinner, followed by a long walk (okay, I went shopping - but I got in 4,000 steps!).

What was this? Is this a dawn phenomenon thing? Anything I can do so it doesn’t happen again? It was MISERABLE and I don’t want to repeat it!

#2

Not everything is because of swings in blood sugar. Your bg numbers look completely fine.

I’ve always had fall allergies and they can throw me for a loop. They make me feel agitated, confused, and nervous, similar to a hypo, so I check my bg which is totally fine.

#3

@Tim12 is right. I know lots of people that would kill for a 109 morning read. I am rather impressed that you usually manage 79-89.

A 20-30 point rise is not enough to cause your problems. I would look elsewhere. Your slightly higher BG is more likely a symptom than the cause. Illnesses can often cause higher than normal blood glucose.

#4

Sounds like vasovagal syncope–a.k.a., “vagal faint”–which shares quite a few symptoms with hypoglycemia, but is caused by sudden loss of BP to the brain rather than low BG. Frequently associated with standing up, e.g., getting out of bed first thing. It can get to be endemic with aging if you’re prone to it (speaking from experience). I’ve had episodes of it, one or two severe, starting when I was a teenager before dx with T1. Sometimes it’s mysterious why it happens, but dehydration can definitely be a causal factor. Keeping your electrolytes up with a dietary supplement can also help.

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#5

I’m with DrBB on this one. I have experienced exactly the same thing when standing up too quickly, especially if I’m not fully awake. And that was happening years before diabetes entered the picture.

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#6

agree with all that what you experienced was not caused by the 109 BG, which by diabetic standards is not high enough to be felt by most. In fact the feeling you described is more like severe low BG…

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#7

I would even suggest that this for you “elevated” BG might be caused by the almost-syncope (adrenalin/epinephrine works quite well in that aspect).
maybe you had as suggested a vasovagal syncope (which is not caused by getting up, but by a stimulation to the vagal nerve), or it might have been orthostatic problems. @DrBB mixed those two into one, but that is a detail not really important here. Both cause the brain to be starved of blood for a short time, and that can cause (almost)fainting
but i would also suggest that this faint-like thing has nothing to do with your BG, rather the BG influenced by it.
or it was just a fluke and the two are not connected at all. who knows! :slight_smile:

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