Blood sugar problem?

[tomall2]

After feeling fine all weekend, I woke up today feeling really ratty - dazed, lethargic, pounding heart beat and weak. I've woken up to these sysmptoms before but never so severe as to keep me from going to work.

Background: 5' 9", 192lbs.

Today was my first day back to work after a 3 day weekend. I work the 6-6 night shift. Last night, in an effort to avoid any type of "Sunday Night Insomnia" I took an Ambien. Instead of heading right to bed, I wanted to catch Sporstcenter one last time, figuring I wouldn't remember it anyways. As I was watching, I grabbed a popsycle (I do the shopping and it is rare that I intentially buy anything with sugar in it). It tasted good so I had another. The last thing I remember is that I was determined to give all 3 flavors a try before turning in. (There is the possibilty I had more than stated since I was told the box was nearly empty when my wife checked it.)

This morning, my wife and kid are shaking me awake on the couch and my wife is cussing at me like I must have eaten the last popsycle. I was still under the Ambien and all I can recount is her telling me what a mess I made on the comforter and that I had a popsycle stick stuck to my shirt. I managed to catch a glimpse of the huge orange stains as I apologized on my way to bed to finish sleeping it off.

I took the Ambien around 2am, woke up around 7am, went back to bed and forced myself up at 4:15 pm. This is when everything went downhill. I tried downing a coke zero for some caffeine, I took in a couple glasses of water, some natural cranberry juice and a cup of yogurt. Still feeling fuzzy, I got a shower hoping to wake the hell up, but still nothing. By the time I got everything ready to leave, I was considering the ER instead of work.

So, I started backing out of the driveway and realized it was not safe for me or anyone else if I got on the road being in the condition I was in. I grabbed a bagel and some more water and scarfed it down. 5-10 minutes later, everything started to clear up and I was on my way. Now I am dealing with what I believe to be a sugar headache.

I checked the popsycles and found they contained 7g of sugar apiece. I take Ambien on a regular basis because of the schedule I'm on and nothing like this has happened to me before. Of course I try not to eat sugar at all never mind a box of popsycles (in one sitting). I see the Dr this week for other issues and am wondering if this is serious enough to have a diabetes test run or just the result of stupity on my part for overindulging on sugar.

Am I right about this or is there something else I might be overlooking?

:donut:

[Nitrox]

I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. The cranberry juice and the bagel would pack more of a carb hit than the three popsicles. So if symptoms cleared up after eating a bagel I don't think you were having hyperglycemia issues.

To be sure, ask your doc for a fasting glucose test; it is a common enough test that any lab should be able to do.

[NO HYPE]

Am I right about this or is there something else I might be overlooking?

If you are going to the doc's anyway, than the more tests the better. The symptoms you described are similar to that of Ambien side effects. Here are a few excerpts from various posts reguarding this particular subject....

"Have said crazy things after taking it. Have cooked food after taking it and woken up to dirty pots and pans. (scary. I could have burned my house down)".... "memory loss".... "hallucinations".... "If you stay up and have an empty stomach you will more than likely experience faries dancing.... "one night I thought my monitor was a fish tank and tried feeding it some paperclips."

Some of the symptoms of diabetes include, frequent and excessive urination and thirst, weight loss, fatigue, blurry vision, ect.

I hope this is of some help. Keep us posted.

[FitnFirm]

Sounds to me as if your body is confused. Chill on the ambian, do not get used to it. 7 grams of sugar is nothing, 21 grams of sugar while waiting for ambiam to hit would cause you to be sloppy and not remember much, thats just expected. I dont feel you have any blood sugar issues. You should however eat better and stop taking sleeping aids, get on a good schedule and feed yourself properly.

[tomall2]

My initial food consumption when I woke was an effort to raise my blood sugar, if it was indeed a crash. The bagel is what really turned everything around though. At work that night, I felt crappy all night but made it to the gym afterwards and just did some nautilus work because I wasn't sure I would be able to handle any type of free weights. As it turned out I was able to experiment more with heavier weights and find a setting that was challenging enough to barely get 8 reps in. I ended up doing a lot of sets but I felt the workout was excellent considering my expectations going in to it. I went home and had a decent sized sandwhich, because I believe my calories are too low right now as I still continue to lose weight and have not taken any kind of stimulants for over a week and a half now. The ambien actually helped when I was taking them, obviously.

The whole blood sugar thing has been beat into my head since I was a kid. I can still remember dizzy spells and my mom always preaching to get checked for diabetes because it runs in the family. It's funny in a way, usually when I am active I have no issues with blood sugar or (and I'm guessing on this one) - insullin. So this is kind of a first for me in a way. Now I did not work or workout over the weekend but the 2 days of rest shouldn't have thrown things off too much, don't you think?

I have to agree my body is definitely confused over something. I have been on ambien for 3+ months because of my work schedule and I was well aware of the stories and potential sides when I began taking it. I've woken up a little groggy before but not anything like the other day. Also, I do not take ambien every day per se, but probably enough to where I would experience some difficulty trying to get to sleep especially if I had to get to sleep and didn't take it. Trying to fit in enough sleep between 12 hour shift is hard enough, I thought I was taking a short cut.

I took my last ambien today, (with no probs) and I'm gonna try to re-regulate my sleep pattern before I renew the perscription. My diet definitely needs more discipline if this is what can happen when I falter. Up until recently, work has been the easiest place to stay focused and maintain a solid 6 meal a day diet to include a small meal before bed and another small meal right after waking up. I went over my diet last week and saw that I was slipping a little because our workload increased - wasn't able to get all my meals in; consequently, after thinking about it, I never did make up for the lost calories either. And I really noticed it by the lack of energy in the gym. Plus, I felt my nutrients were off somewhat - I wasn't getting hardly any veges or fiber and I was paying for it in the bathroom. TMI - ?

I hope I don't sound like I'm flying by the seat of my pants on this, but to me that's what it sounds like. I have been going off of visual results and biofeedback to tweak and change things but I think maybe its time to open back up my fitday log. This whole thing is still a work in progress though and everyones feedback has really helped. Thanks!

[Nitrox]

It's funny in a way, usually when I am active I have no issues with blood sugar or (and I'm guessing on this one) - insullin. So this is kind of a first for me in a way. Now I did not work or workout over the weekend but the 2 days of rest shouldn't have thrown things off too much, don't you think?

When you do have issues, how do you know they are blood glucose related? If you are not monitoring your levels with a meter you are more or less grasping at straws by trying to manage your levels.

Insulin sensitivity benefits of intense exercise are all but gone 48 hours afterwards.

[FitnFirm]

You need to satisyfy your curiosity, go get a 3 hour glucose tolerance test, this will tell you right away, and if there is a problem you can then be treated for it. But mostly people with blood sugar issues can control it with diet.

[Jayhawkk]

Or lose control of it with their diet.

[tomall2]

Went and saw my alien, I mean Dr today. Explained everything thats been going on and she did the whole alien probe thing, I woke up naked in the woods shivering, cold and afraid.

She seemed kind of concerned about it all, ordered up a bunch of labs - can't wait for that, BTW. I usually do not have too many good experiences dealing with people in this field, ever since I married one from it the whole prestige thing of the medical profession has kind of disappointed me, but I digress.

BP was high and got higher everytime they (Dr and staff) took it. Pulse was high. Mind you I had worked the night before, not been to bed yet, worked out and was due a meal, plus I was a little anxious, I mean nervous about the alien probe thing.

By the end of the exam she had me feeling better. Gave me BP meds, labwork, and a 1 month follow-up. The probe was negative for any lumps or growths as well. She did comment that it felt of normal size and that was good especially since thats what the urologist gave me meds for. So all is OK with prostate as long as i have the flomax.

I discussed the ambien thing and she said it was ok to give it a rest or even give it up completely if I could. But she understood the difficulty of working the 12 hr mid shift.

After I got all that info out to her I forgot to bring up diet. But since I increased calories as a result of this episode I have not had any problems. I will bring it up at the follow-up though. I just had too much to get out, I just forgot, plus I'm sure I overwhelmed her with a bunch of useless info anyways. Anyways, thanks again for all yours help & opinions.

BTW, Jay, I can get the pics of the probe sent directly to you if your interested. You know maybe for your collection or something or whatever... Let me know...

[BUCKNUTS]

Went and saw my alien, I mean Dr today. Explained everything thats been going on and she did the whole alien probe thing, I woke up naked in the woods shivering, cold and afraid.

She seemed kind of concerned about it all, ordered up a bunch of labs - can't wait for that, BTW. I usually do not have too many good experiences dealing with people in this field, ever since I married one from it the whole prestige thing of the medical profession has kind of disappointed me, but I digress.

BP was high and got higher everytime they (Dr and staff) took it. Pulse was high. Mind you I had worked the night before, not been to bed yet, worked out and was due a meal, plus I was a little anxious, I mean nervous about the alien probe thing.

By the end of the exam she had me feeling better. Gave me BP meds, labwork, and a 1 month follow-up. The probe was negative for any lumps or growths as well. She did comment that it felt of normal size and that was good especially since thats what the urologist gave me meds for. So all is OK with prostate as long as i have the flomax.

I discussed the ambien thing and she said it was ok to give it a rest or even give it up completely if I could. But she understood the difficulty of working the 12 hr mid shift.

After I got all that info out to her I forgot to bring up diet. But since I increased calories as a result of this episode I have not had any problems. I will bring it up at the follow-up though. I just had too much to get out, I just forgot, plus I'm sure I overwhelmed her with a bunch of useless info anyways. Anyways, thanks again for all yours help & opinions.

BTW, Jay, I can get the pics of the probe sent directly to you if your interested. You know maybe for your collection or something or whatever... Let me know...

It's tough to say dogmatically that it wasn't a blood sugar issue but I would put my money on the ambien as the culprit sounds like you had an ambien hangover to me.ambien is to habit forming to use for months at a time,have you ever tried any natural sleep aids ie: melatonin ,valerian etc. I work 12 hour shifts as well(not on nights anymore thank God) and sleep can be difficult with wives,kids,family still wanting time and attention in addition to workouts etc. sucks sometimes.

[NO HYPE]

have you ever tried any natural sleep aids ie: melatonin ,valerian etc.

REM or Lean Dreams would be a smart choice as well.

[tomall2]

So far, not too many probs sans sleep aids. Not sleeping as long as I like but, really hasn't been a problem yet. Been bustin my hump at the gym and that has helped get me to sleep after work. Will keep in mind the supps if problems develop, thanks.

Actually, been feeling pretty good. Re-started my Fitday yesterday and was surprised at a few of the results then had a moment of self gratification that shot the whole day out of the water. I guess, that just makes it easier to do better today. But that doughnut sure was good. Been a long time since I scooped sugar down my throat like that - worth every last bite, too. Kinda got a little buzzed from it as well.

All in all, no issues like the one I reported here last week. I might get a little jittery around feeding time but that goes away when the food hits. So, I don't know. Just waiting to pick a day to do the labwork - the whole fasting thing is what I hate, sometime this week though.

[alan aragon]

Best of luck with the lab results, although they may or may not reveal a damn thing. Could have been a singular anomalous event that you'll never experience again. When the docs can't figure something out, they'll shrug their shoulders & blame it on stress. Looks like the easiest/safest route was nixing the sleeping meds.

[tomall2]

Thanks Alan, so far family Doc has been a gem (rarity nowadays) especially for the rest of my family.

Kinda wanted a sleep aid last night but eventually PS2ed myself to sleep - oh what a feelin to be dreamin of starrin in my own video game!!!