Low blood sugar in the mornings, also known as morning hypoglycemia, can make people feel faint, light-headed, or confused. Having low blood sugar in the mornings is common in people on medication for diabetes, though it can also happen for other reasons.
If you are taking insulin or other blood sugar medication, you may be at risk of low blood sugar levels during the night. Low blood sugar levels overnight can disrupt your sleep pattern and lead to difficulty waking in the morning and tiredness through the day.
Tiredness upon waking
If tiredness occurs upon waking after a full night's sleep, it can also be a result of too high or to low blood sugar levels overnight. Tiredness accompanied by a headache in the morning can often be a sign of an overnight hypo in people taking insulin.
Type 2 diabetes can cause low or high blood sugar and dehydration, all of which can cause people to feel dizzy or lightheaded. Certain medications, including those for diabetes, may also cause dizziness. Anyone with type 2 diabetes who experiences frequent or severe dizziness should discuss this symptom with a doctor.
But that doesn't mean abdominal weight gain should be ignored. It can be an early sign of so-called "diabetic belly," a build-up of visceral fat in your abdomen which may be a symptom of type 2 diabetes and can increase your chances of developing other serious medical conditions.
Some people with diabetes get too much sleep, while others have problems getting enough sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 63% of American adults do not get enough sleep needed for good health, safety, and optimum performance.
It's estimated that one in two people. View Source with type 2 diabetes have sleep problems due to unstable blood sugar levels and accompanying diabetes-related symptoms, High blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) during the night can lead to insomnia and next-day fatigue.
The dawn phenomenon
But if you have diabetes, you may not make enough insulin or may be too insulin resistant to counter the increase in blood glucose. As a result, your levels may be elevated when you wake up. The dawn phenomenon does not discriminate between types of diabetes.
The dawn phenomenon is an early-morning rise in blood sugar, also called blood glucose, in people with diabetes. The dawn phenomenon leads to high levels of blood sugar, a condition called hyperglycemia. It usually happens between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.
In this respect, recent evidence suggests that taking midday naps reduces the risk of poor glycemic control in type 2 diabetes patients who experience short nighttime sleep (<5h).
However, the most common symptoms experienced by many people with diabetes are increased thirst, going for a wee a lot, feeling tired and losing weight. To find out more about common diabetes symptoms and what causes them, watch our video.
increased thirst and a dry mouth. needing to pee frequently. tiredness. blurred vision.
Having type 1 diabetes does not mean you're likely to get ill more often than usual. But if you do get ill, it can make your blood glucose higher or lower, so you'll have to take extra care, particularly if you're being sick, have diarrhoea or are not eating much.
Most diabetic patients wake up almost every night at the same time, around 3 pm, not by some noise or anything else, but because of the sudden spike in the blood sugar level. It can happen due to two reasons - the Somogyi effect or the dawn phenomenon.
If you have diabetes, you're at increased risk of various bone and joint disorders. Certain factors, such as nerve damage (diabetic neuropathy), arterial disease and obesity, may cause these problems — but often the cause isn't clear. Learn more about various bone and joint disorders, including symptoms and treatments.
Diabetes burnout is the term given to the state of disillusion, frustration and somewhat submission to the condition of diabetes. Burnout can be characterised by a person's complete disregard for their blood sugar levels.
Fatigue is a common symptom of diabetes that is not limited to uncontrolled diabetes. Persons may complain of fatigue along with a variety of symptoms, which may together herald comorbid psychological, medical, metabolic or endocrine, and acute or chronic complications.
Some sugar can be stored in the muscles and liver; however, most sugars are stored as fat when they have nowhere else to go. Thus, people with diabetes are more likely to be overweight or obese than those without the disease. While weight gain is one of the most common side effects of diabetes, it is not inevitable.