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Does High Blood Sugar Make You Tired And Sleepy

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How To Treat Someone Who’s Unconscious Or Very Sleepy

Does High Blood Sugar Make You Sleepy? – by Dr Sam Robbins

Follow these steps:

  • Put the person in the recovery position and do not put anything in their mouth so they do not choke.
  • If an injection of glucagon is available and you know how to use it, give it to them immediately.
  • If they wake up within 10 minutes of getting the injection and feel better, move on to step 5. If they do not improve within 10 minutes, call 999 for an ambulance.
  • If they’re fully awake and able to eat and drink safely, give them a carbohydrate snack.
  • They may need to go to hospital if they’re being sick , or their blood sugar level drops again.

    Tell your diabetes care team if you ever have a severe hypo that caused you to lose consciousness.

    What Causes Hyperglycemia In People With Diabetes

    • The dose of insulin or oral diabetes medication that you are taking is not the most helpful dose for your needs.
    • Your body isnt using your natural insulin effectively .
    • The amount of carbohydrates you are eating or drinking is not balanced with the amount of insulin your body is able to make or the amount of insulin you inject.
    • You are less active than usual.
    • Physical stress is affecting you.
    • Emotional stress is affecting you.
    • You are taking steroids for another condition.
    • The dawn phenomenon is affecting you.

    Other possible causes

    What Are Risk Factors For Hyperglycemia

    Major risk factors for hyperglycemia are:

    • You have a family history of type 2 diabetes.
    • You are African American, Native American, Hispanic or Asian American.
    • You are overweight.
    • You have high blood pressure or cholesterol.
    • You have polycystic ovarian syndrome .
    • You have a history of gestational diabetes.

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    What Causes A Low Blood Sugar Level

    In people with diabetes, the main causes of a low blood sugar level are:

    • the effects of medicine especially taking too much insulin, medicines called sulfonylureas , medicines called glinides , or some antiviral medicines to treat hepatitis C
    • skipping or delaying a meal
    • not eating enough carbohydrate foods in your last meal, such as bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes and fruit
    • exercise, especially if it’s intense or unplanned
    • drinking alcohol

    Sometimes there’s no obvious reason why a low blood sugar level happens.

    Very occasionally, it can happen in people who do not have diabetes.

    Why Does Having Diabetes Cause Fatigue

    Does High Blood Sugar Make You Sleepy?

    Having diabetes changes your blood. Imagine someone without diabetes having blood that flows like water. Now imagine someone with diabetes having blood that flows like maple syrup. When the blood flows much thicker and slower, like syrup, it is harder for cells to flow through the bloodstream to provide energy and oxygen to parts of the body, including the brain.

    Diabetes also causes inflammation, which sends messages to the brain that the body needs to take a rest in order to heal. When this happens, fatigue is going to be a problem.

    One of the biggest reasons that diabetes causes fatigue is because of its complications. Organs such as the kidneys, eyes, heart, and the nerves can all be damaged because of diabetes. End stage renal disease, which is when the kidneys fail, can lead to low red blood cells. Low red blood cells, which is also known as anemia, can lead to fatigue. Studies have shown that people with diabetic complications such as nerve damage, heart disease, and kidney problems have increased levels of fatigue. The next section of this article discussed more things that can cause fatigue.

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    What You Should Do Next

    Managing your blood sugar is probably one of the most important aspects to health, longevity and disease prevention.

    Unfortunately, it can sometimes get confusing or you might feel overwhelmed with too much information — what to DO or NOT do.

    Because this is such an important topic, Ive created a special page to help give you proven solutions and options, and eliminate the confusion – so you can have healthy blood sugar levels at any age.

    How Can You Manage Your Morning Tiredness

    In diabetes, sometimes you can wake up feeling very tired and lazy. This can happen for several reasons and you can understand that the tiredness is due to diabetes if you have had a good night sleep and still you are tired in the morning.

    This usually happens when you have had too high or too low levels of blood glucose over-night. If the tiredness is being accompanied by a headache, it signifies that you have had very low levels of blood glucose over-night. In order to treat the same, you will have to check your blood glucose levels. also, do consult your doctor as you might have to change your diabetes medications as well as the insulin dose that you might have been taking.

    Read Also:Why Is My Fasting Blood Sugar High in the Morning?

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    Keep Your Sugars In Check

    For morning tiredness, always check fasting blood sugar and 3:00 am blood sugar levels.

    As already mentioned above, one of the main causes of tiredness after waking up in the morning might be due to high fasting blood sugar and weakness at around 3:00 am could be due to a drop in blood sugar at that time.

    In such cases, follow the guidelines mentioned above, under the first point of diabetes fatigue management.

    Can High Sugar Make You Tired

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  • 9 References:
  • Individuals with type 1 or 2 diabetes are usually alert of the signs that follow high blood glucose. For a person with a recent diagnosis of diabetes or an individual with standard or prediabetic levels, on the other hand, those signs might not be as noticeable. It might be hard to distinguish between the signs of high blood glucose and other illnesses as few may be nonspecific. One of these nonspecific signs of high glucose levels in the blood that diabetics often experience is fatigue. Here in this article, you can read about the correlation between blood sugar and exhaustion and does diabetes causes fatigue.

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    How Can You Fight Diabetes Fatigue

    You want to lead a normal life and diabetes fatigue does not enable you to do so. As such, you will need to take all the necessary steps to fight tiredness and fatigue in diabetes. The following are some of the ways of achieving the same:

    • Blood glucose monitoring is the most important way in which you can achieve diabetes management.As seen above, both high and low blood glucose levels lead to fatigues.
    • Another important way of managing fatigue effectively is eating the right type of diet as may have been prescribed by your doctor.
    • Exercising plays a great role in managing your blood glucose levels, and thereby diabetes fatigue and sleepiness. Physical activity reduces fatigue by as much as 65 percent.
    • Also, vitamin D is good for your body and as such, you need to step out in the sun
    • Walk after you have had a heavy meal
    • You can also take small naps in between
    • Make walking a daily habit. Walk as much as you can even if it is in your house.
    • Keep yourself free from stress
    • Meditate as much as you can
    • Sleep for at least six to eight hours a day
    • Stay optimistic and positive

    It is also important for you to remember that there are various other reasons that can lead to a feeling of fatigue and tiredness in your body. Hence, the changes in your diet, exercise regime, insulin dose, medication, etc. should be made only after careful analyses and considerations of the following:

    Day Time Tiredness And After Meal Lethargy

    Feeling tired through the day, particularly during the morning and after meals is often a result of high blood sugar levels.

    If you notice you are becoming tired during the day, test your blood sugar levels to see whether there is a correlation between the blood sugar numbers you are getting and the feelings of tiredness. Note down the numbers and how you felt.

    If you are taking insulin or are at risk of hypoglycemia, tiredness or lethargy could be a result of low blood sugar, so it is recommended to test blood glucose for this reason too.

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    When To See A Healthcare Provider

    Its normal to feel fatigued sometimes, but if fatigue lasts longer than two weeks, it may be time to see a practitioner. For those who also experience symptoms of blood sugar spikes such as increased thirst, frequent urination, nausea, listlessness, and dizziness, fatigue could be a sign that they have developed or are at risk of developing diabetes. For those who already have the condition, regular appointments to monitor blood glucose and manage diabetes should be done since these symptoms are signs that their current treatment plan is no longer effective.

    Management of diabetes fatigue is vital for those with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It can be difficult to manage the condition, especially at first, but not impossible. The best way to manage symptoms or complications of the disease is to book an appointment with an endocrinologist, who is specialized in diabetes care. They can help address fatigue and other symptoms by encouraging lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet, more exercise, stress management techniques, and better sleep hygiene.

    Always Follow Up With The Doctor

    How Sleep Affects Blood Sugar

    It is very important to call your doctor as soon as possible after experiencing nocturnal hypoglycemia. The patient and doctor should try to figure out what caused the episode and how to prevent it from happening again.Often the doctor will suggest:

    • Changing the dose or timing of insulin or other medications

    • Setting an alarm for the early morning so that the patient can test their blood glucose levels and determine how often the episodes occur

    • Having the person wear a continuous glucose monitor that checks blood glucose every five minutes with an alarm that wakes the patient from sleep if levels start to drop too low. This option is usually reserved for patients who experience frequent or severe nocturnal hypoglycemia

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    Sleep Is As Important As What You Eat

    âIn general, people with diabetes have to be very careful about sleep because anything that throws off their routine can make them feel a lack of energy and fatigue,â says Zafarlotfi. âThe more fatigued they feel, the more their motor is running, and the more likely they are to develop insulin deficiencies.

    âProper sleep is as important as diet for people with diabetes,â she says.

    Symptoms Of A Low Blood Sugar Level

    A low blood sugar level can affect everyone differently. You’ll learn how it makes you feel, although your symptoms may change over time.

    Early signs of a low blood sugar level include:

    • sweating
    • a fast or pounding heartbeat
    • becoming easily irritated, tearful, anxious or moody
    • turning pale

    If a low blood sugar level is not treated, you may get other symptoms, such as:

    • weakness
    • unusual behaviour, slurred speech or clumsiness
    • feeling sleepy
    • seizures or fits
    • collapsing or passing out

    A low blood sugar level, or hypo, can also happen while you’re sleeping. This may cause you to wake up during the night or cause headaches, tiredness or damp sheets in the morning.

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    When To See A Doctor

    A person with diabetes should see their doctor regularly to monitor and manage their diabetes.

    They may also wish to consult a doctor who specializes in treating new or worsening fatigue that interferes with daily life.

    People should seek medical attention for fatigue that occurs alongside other symptoms, such as fever, chills, or malaise, as these could indicate an infection.

    A Low Blood Sugar Level And Driving

    10 Signs and symptoms of high blood sugar to be aware of

    You may still be allowed to drive if you have diabetes or you’re at risk of a low blood sugar level for another reason, but you’ll need to do things to reduce the chance of this happening while you’re driving.

    You also need to tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and your car insurance company about your condition.

    For more information, see:

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    Can Undiagnosed/uncontrolled Diabetes Cause Fatigue

    Undiagnosed and uncontrolled diabetes can cause fatigue. Earlier in this article, reactive hypoglycemia was mentioned, which is when your body tries to make too much insulin to keep up with the sugar intake and causes a sugar crash. There are approximately 7 million people with undiagnosed diabetes in the world. Fatigue is the most common symptom of diabetes and hopefully leads to people seeing their doctors and being diagnosed to get control of their blood sugar.

    Uncontrolled diabetes causes fatigue for many reasons that were also mentioned previously in this article. First of all, blood sugars that are either too high or too low do not deliver fuel to the cells for the body to operate. Secondly, complications that are caused by uncontrolled diabetes such as kidney disease and nerve damage also cause fatigue. The most important thing to do is to control blood sugar.

    How To Treat Someone Who’s Having A Seizure Or Fit

    Follow these steps if someone has a seizure or fit caused by a low blood sugar level:

  • Stay with them and stop them hurting themselves lie them down on something soft and move them away from anything dangerous .
  • After the seizure or fit stops, give them a sugary snack.
  • Tell your diabetes care team if you ever have a severe hypo that caused you to have a seizure or fit.

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    How It Causes Fatigue

    There are a couple of causes of chronic fatigue in diabetes. One related to the high blood glucose count is referred to as hyperglycemia, a common threat for diabetics. When there is too much sugar in the blood, it takes longer for energy to travel from the blood to the cells in your muscles and other tissues. The result leaves you exhausted. Left untreated, severe hyperglycemia can put you in a diabetic coma.

    The other cause is hypoglycemia, which is having too little or lower than normal levels of blood glucose.

    Because blood glucoses primary function is to provide energy to cells, when there is too much of an insulin buildup, it can starve the blood of the glucose it needs to send to cells. When blood glucose is too low, it not only leads to fatigue, but also confusion and in severe cases seizures. Hypoglycemia can be caused by a higher dose of insulin for diabetics and can also be triggered by alcohol, metabolic disorders, tumors, and some surgeries .

    What Is High Blood Sugar

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    High blood sugar occurs when theres a buildup of excess glucose in the bloodstream. This is more often a concern for someone with diabetes than it is for someone without it. Our bodies are typically pretty great at keeping our blood sugar in perfect balance, Deena Adimoolam, M.D., assistant professor of endocrinology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, tells SELF. But in some situations, like when a person has diabetes, high blood sugar can happen.

    Blood sugar is measured in milligrams per deciliter , and a fasting blood sugar of greater than 125 mg/dL is considered hyperglycemic, the Cleveland Clinic says. A person can also be considered to have hyperglycemia if their blood glucose level is higher than 180 mg/dL one to two hours after eating, the Cleveland Clinic says.

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    How Does Sleep Affect Diet

    Sleep deprivation alters the brain’s reward system , making people more likely to indulge in foods that are high in sugar and fat .

    People who don’t receive sufficient amounts of sleep are also more likely to consume more calories overall , eat the bulk of their food later in the day, and favor snacks over proper meals. Conversely, extending sleep and maintaining a regular sleep schedule are associated with healthier diet choices.

    Over time, the link between poor sleep and unhealthy food choices can have negative consequences for health. Long-term sleep deprivation affects the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and is considered a risk factor for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

    Avoiding The Blood Sugar Slump

    While giving in to your craving for a Snickers might seem like the right thing to do when youâre in the midst of a blood sugar crash, your sugary snack will only give you a temporary fix before leaving you feeling low again. The best way to dodge a sugar slump is to avoid the foods that cause them. Instead, pick foods that keep your blood sugar relatively steady.

    Avoiding sugary drinks and snacks is probably sound advice for everyone seeking better control over their blood sugar. But some experts advise highly restrictive diets that limit all carbohydrates. However, studies have shown that diets high in carbohydrates from plants can improve blood sugar control after eating by increasing the activity of gut microbes, which protect against unhealthy blood sugar reactions.

    Rather than avoiding certain food groups, like carbohydrates, we advise eating a varied diet tailored to your unique biology. After all, our PREDICT-1 study has shown us that the same foods can cause different blood sugar responses in different people, so there is no one-size-fits-all advice for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.

    To understand what causes your sugar crashes, and how you can avoid them and maintain your energy levels, you need to know how YOUR body responds to food. You are unique, and your diet should be too.

    But how can you know what foods are best for your body? That’s where the ZOE program comes in.

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