Symptoms of high blood sugar

[camjen1]

We have all talked about the symptoms of high blood sugar but I was wondering has anyone else suffered a shortness of breath due to elevated sugars? I remember a period in my life that I was really not controlled and everytime my sugars would rise it would be so hard for me to breathe. Does anyone know why elevated sugars can cause shortness of breath?

[jen_slc]

Yes, I definitely do, even with mild elevations in bg. It makes me think I'm having a heart attack or something! It's the worst after exercise - exercise actually raises my bg and I have to bolus beforehand to prevent the spike. If I don't bolus, my bg will go up 50-100-150 points and I will be nauseous, my chest will be tight and I'll have trouble breathing afterwards. Another member and I were talking about this and it seems to be a result of the blood being too acidic.

[Penny]

Hmmmm.:hmmmm2: My doctor always asks me this? I thought it was because of my heart. I never experienced any shortness of breath, even before the heart things. I need to stop and catch my breath if I walk too fast, or try to exercise too much, but it is very brief, and I think I could keep going if I made myself. But now I think I will ask my doctor if he asks me about that because of my diabetes.

[Heatherbb]

I have felt shortness of breath when my sugar is high too. I notice it when I'm walking up hill or up stairs or working out.

[Simon]

I was light headed when standing up too quickly and felt I needed to breath more to stop myself fainting. :vollkomme The doctor put this down to the dehydration caused by high BS.

[Penny]

I was light headed when standing up too quickly and felt I needed to breath more to stop myself fainting. :vollkomme The doctor put this down to the dehydration caused by high BS.

This is something I can relate to! I didn't think about being dehydrated. Sometimes when I first get up in the morning, I feel off center and light headed, and also very thirsty, I almost stagger, to get into the bathroom to drink water, which helps me. These mornings are usuually when I have high fasting levels. This could also be why I sometimes have this feeling when I am out walking, drinking water helps then, too.

[Linda57]

I have Asthma, and its always worse when I am 'high' if thats any help.

[Aftiel]

Yup - have felt dizzy/lightheaded as well with high BS. Was told also it was dehydration - which makes sens, as when I drink bottled water and lower my BS it goes away.

I have a tendency to breath shallow at those times as well - which adds hyperventilation to the mix lol

- Aftiel

[Tokyo Cate]

When I am above 20 (360), which thankfully doesn't happen too often, I have the following symptoms in addition to the usual:

shortness of breath
stomach pains
diarrhea or other :toilet:
nausea :puke:
rage :evil:

I am really not good to be around. Thankfully, I don't get that high very often. When I asked my endo years ago about my :toilet: concerns when high, he said he had not heard of that.

I think they haven't heard of a lot of things.

With the shortness of breath, I usually give myself a large bolus and plenty of water, followed by rest and I recover within an our. Going for an EKG or something this week to get the AOK, just in case.

[Belinda]

When I was first diagnosed in 1977...yikes so long ago...that was one of the signs the pediatrician told my parents to look for.

[Tokyo Cate]

That's interesting, isn't it? Sometimes I wonder if that particular endo actually listened when I asked questions (as much as I still admire him because he did help me a lot).

There are so many symptoms for highs and lows and they are often specific to the individual. Certainly I personally get unreasonably angry when I am high (and I know I am unreasonable) and I get unreasonably paranoid when I am low (and I don't know that I am unreasonable). Go figure.:boxing: