u/Zuesssssssssss

What should I do if just 1 unit of rapid-acting insulin after a day of more exercise can send me toward hypoglycemia while I’m sleeping? I currently only take 6 units of basal once every night.

If I eat a carb-heavy meal without rapid insulin, my blood sugar will usually spike to around 180–250 mg/dL, but it’s typically short-lived. Within 1–2 hours, I’m often back around 115-125 without taking any rapid insulin especially on days I’m active. If I take even 1 unit of rapid insulin I’ll prevent that spike but I’ll undoubtedly plummet to hypo within an hour! It’s like I have to pick my poison.

The frustrating part is that my rapid insulin seems to take 45–60 minutes before I really notice it working, which makes preventing those post-meal spikes difficult. But I’m extremely afraid of going low because I seem to be so sensitive to insulin and have nightmare experiences recently. I also don’t feel comfortable pre-bolusing that far ahead because I occasionally seem to have episodes of delayed gastric emptying/gastroparesis, where the carbs don’t hit my bloodstream when I expect them to. On those days, the insulin could potentially start working before the food does.

I’m also still in the honeymoon phase, so I assume my own insulin production is contributing to these unpredictable responses.

Despite all of this, I’m 92% in range, so my overall numbers are actually pretty good. I just feel like managing the timing and dosing is incredibly complicated, and honestly, I’m exhausted from constantly trying to figure out the right balance.

For anyone who has experienced extreme insulin sensitivity during the honeymoon phase, how did you handle meals, exercise, and insulin timing without constantly risking lows and spiking over 200 once a day?

For example, I’ll be at the grocery store (bright LED lights that I hate) but feeling mostly okay, and then I’ll suddenly become hyper-aware of just how foggy my brain feels. The moment I notice it, it’s like my mind spirals. I start thinking, “Something is seriously wrong,” and suddenly I feel hot and flushed, like I’m about to pass out (presyncope). I become completely out of it, detached from my surroundings, and internally panicked. I also want to state that I am in dire need for water or fluid when this occurs. Even the first drink of cool water can calm these symptoms.

The strange thing is that it almost always starts with my awareness of how severe the brain fog feels. Once that happens, everything else seems to snowball. It’s hard to tell whether the brain fog is triggering the panic or if the panic is making the brain fog even worse, but the whole episode is terrifying.

Has anyone experienced something similar? If so, did you ever find out what was causing it or what helped? Living like this is tiring….

Backstory:

My biggest issue for the last year has been waking up first thing in the morning with an intense surge of anxiety, my heart races, I get extremely hot, brain fog and it feels like a full blown panic attack mixed with nausea and feeling just not right.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my dreams are almost always extremely vivid. I usually wake up during one of these dreams, and my sleep never feels refreshing. Even after a full night’s sleep, I wake up feeling exhausted, like I could easily go back to sleep for another 2–3 hours.

I’ve been dealing with this every single morning for about a year now. One thing I’ve noticed is that if I immediately drink water with electrolytes that I keep by my bed and stay lying down for 10–15 minutes, the episode usually settles down and can get my day started. However, I still feel bad most of the day (fast heart rate, heat intolerance, brain fog, fatigue) if i don’t stay hydrated and cool.

About six months after these episodes first started, I ended up in the ICU with DKA and was diagnosed with previously undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes. I honestly thought getting my blood sugar under control would make these morning episodes disappear. While I’ve definitely improved in other ways since starting insulin, these episodes have continued almost every morning.

The strange part is that all of this originally started while I was heavily using ZYN nicotine pouches about a can a day. I feel like that really threw my autonomic nervous system out of balance. I quit nicotine completely, but instead of getting better, the morning episodes actually became more frequent. They’ve now been happening almost every morning for the past year, although the severity varies from day to day.

Question:

Has anyone experienced something similar or found an explanation???

I’ve wondered if this could be related to autonomic dysfunction, POTS, nicotine withdrawal, cortisol, or something else entirely.

A response to this would be greatly appreciated

Backstory:

My biggest issue for the last year has been waking up first thing in the morning with an intense surge of anxiety, my heart races, I get extremely hot, brain fog and it feels like a full blown panic attack mixed with nausea and feeling just not right.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my dreams are almost always extremely vivid. I usually wake up during one of these dreams, and my sleep never feels refreshing. Even after a full night’s sleep, I wake up feeling exhausted, like I could easily go back to sleep for another 2–3 hours.

I’ve been dealing with this every single morning for about a year now. One thing I’ve noticed is that if I immediately drink water with electrolytes that I keep by my bed and stay lying down for 10–15 minutes, the episode usually settles down and can get my day started. However, I still feel bad most of the day (fast heart rate, heat intolerance, brain fog, fatigue) if i don’t stay hydrated and cool.

About six months after these episodes first started, I ended up in the ICU with DKA and was diagnosed with previously undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes. I honestly thought getting my blood sugar under control would make these morning episodes disappear. While I’ve definitely improved in other ways since starting insulin, these episodes have continued almost every morning.

The strange part is that all of this originally started while I was heavily using ZYN nicotine pouches about a can a day. I feel like that really threw my autonomic nervous system out of balance. I quit nicotine completely, but instead of getting better, the morning episodes actually became more frequent. They’ve now been happening almost every morning for the past year, although the severity varies from day to day.

Question:

Has anyone experienced something similar or found an explanation???

I’ve wondered if this could be related to autonomic dysfunction, POTS, nicotine withdrawal, cortisol, or something else entirely.

A response to this would be greatly appreciated