Having diabetes can trigger a number of symptoms that occur mostly, or almost exclusively at night. The better you manage your diabetes the less likely you are to be bothered by these symptoms. If you have any of these symptoms and they are particularly bothersome and disrupt your sleep, make sure to talk to your physician about them.
Excessive thirst (or polydipsia if you like big words) can keep diabetics reaching out for water more often at night as your body tries to dilute and filter out the excess glucose in your blood stream. Nonstop sipping of water at night is another reason to get your blood sugar levels audited.
Nocturia or waking at night to urinate can lead to interrupted sleep. When blood sugar levels are high, the kidneys overcompensate by causing you to urinate more often. The body copes with fluid loss due to increased urination by triggering thirst which can lead to a vicious cycle of drinking and getting up to urinate all night long.
Experiencing leg cramps are another diabetes symptom that can disrupt sleep. Often nerve damage due to diabetes is the culprit behind these cramps. The resulting ache and unease can wreak havoc on sleep. A mix of stretching exercises and suitable medication could provide relief.
Restless Leg Syndrome — About one in five people with Type 2 diabetes have restless leg syndrome which causes tingling or other irritating sensations in the legs that can interfere with getting to sleep. The symptoms of peripheral neuropathy are very similar to RLS and include numbness, tingling, and pain in the extremities. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you should consult a healthcare provider as peripheral neuropathy requires treatment to reduce long-term nerve damage. There are also medications available now to help with the sensations caused by RLS.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder in which a person momentarily stops breathing at recurring intervals throughout the night. In most cases, the person is not aware this is happening, though a bed partner may observe snoring and gasping. These lapses in breathing cause micro-arousals (very brief awakenings) that interfere with the natural progression of the sleep stages and impair sleep quality. The condition can be treated with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device that keeps the airway open to restore normal breathing and reduce interruptions to sleep.
Insomnia, or difficulty falling or staying asleep, can occur as a potential complication of the disruption or change in sleeping patterns that diabetes can cause.
Night Sweats can be caused by medication, exercising late in the evening, or low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia can also cause vivid dreams, and waking up with a headache. When your blood glucose drops too low, you produce excess adrenaline, which causes sweating. Once your blood glucose returns to normal, the sweating should stop.
Extreme Tiredness — Feeling consistently weary and tired, especially at night, is common with diabetes. High blood sugar levels can prevent cell from using glucose effectively, resulting in insufficient energy. This can disrupt a peaceful night’s sleep and leave you feeling even more drained the following day.
As always, if you are having this nighttime symptoms and they are disrupting your sleep, please make sure to discuss this with your physician. You may need a change in your medication dosage or regimen, or an additional medication that can help alleviate the symptoms mentioned above.
Next week (April 5) I will be out of town. I’m not sure if I will have a diary for that day or not.