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When under stress, the body releases hormones that can trigger a rise in blood glucose levels. In which of the following types of situations have you seen a noticeable increase in your blood glucose levels? Please select all that apply to you.
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I realize I’m unusual but I get low blood sugars when under any kind of stress, good or bad. I especially will have what I call a low blood sugar day where all day I keep crashing which usually occurs after I’ve been overdoing myself for about a week or two and then it catches up with me. After my all day lows my body kicks back into normal mode.
Although I ge rises with most of the situations described in the question, I also get dramatic lows in certain emotionally stressful situations. Most frequently these have occurred when my father (but not any other family member) was in surgery.
If I overdo physically, particularly with weight lifting, my glucose will rise and stay high for several hours. It is hard to know how to correct as eventually it is going to come crashing down.
Anxiety of any type raises my BG level.
It’s so tough, isn’t it?
My anxiety is largely caused by blood sugar rising. So it’s like which came first, the chicken or the egg? Ugh.
Solidarity with ya, Marsha. 🙂
“When I am in stressful situations that I was expecting, like public speaking or taking a test”
Took me a long time to figure out why my BG always seems to run high on Sunday mornings. Finally figured it out. I sing in a church choir, and public performance, particularly vocal performance, triggers an adrenaline spike. Especially acute when it’s a difficult piece, even more so when I’m singing a solo. One of those things you’d never notice without a CGM….
Omg, I used to experience really stubborn highs after church, but I thought it was just bad blousing for lunch, plus all the coffee I drank. Never made the connection to the excitement of seeing people in Bible study, singing in the choir, hanging out with friends after church. That makes so much sense!
The most noticeable situation for me is when I am ill. The only other thing I’ve noticed is when I take or use steroids.
definitely with steroids. fir good 3-5 days
Playing sports.
My BG goes up as soon as I get out of bed in the morning, regardless of the time. I used to think it was the “dawn phenomenon” but heard it referred to as “feet on the floor” on the Juicebox Podcast and realized that’s what it was…the difference between being peacefully asleep and then waking up and starting my day. To be clear, it’s not that my days are necessarily stressful but rather it’s just the transition from sleeping to “get up and go” that seems to do it.
Why are you so sure it’s not the dawn phenomenon?
I have this too.
I am trying to find out if research has found a relationship between POTS* and blood sugar and the feet-on-floor phenomenon. I am subclinical for POTS. (Cardiologist said the test didn’t pick it up.) I can go from below 120 on the CGM to 150, just by getting out of bed and going to the bathroom and then going downstairs to make coffee. It’s bizarre!
* postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome — it’s a form of dysautonomia and can be a complication of diabetes; it’s also common in folks with ME/cfs and in folks with EDS
As a caretaker for my sick husband.
Currently going through pre- menapsuse
When we came back from a trip, we had Covid for the first time(fully vaccinated). Dealing with the mostly minor symptoms and jet lag made my numbers hang around the 200’s a LOT! Unusual for me. Also, sometimes the adrenaline rush of seeing my kids and grandson will send me high! Well, worth it🥰
I had my Covid booster and RSV vaccine and my BG has been 20% higher for a few days.
Oddly, my sugar seems to drop during stressful situations! Surgery makes me drop. Stress makes me drop. Immediately following a car accident, there was a drop and then it popped back up. I’m the unicorn!
Emotional stress ( important exams, employment interviews, public speaking, interviews, etc. ) will either cause my bg to skyrocket or plunge. Before CGM use that just increased the stress because I didn’t know what to prepare for or what preventive actions to take.
Doctors, Nurses, medical support staff, landlords,surprise phone calls. Any unsolicited contacts all make my BG rise and triggers my PTSD as well…
While I was driving to work it started going up, and then when I pulled in the parking lot my blood sugar went straight up. I was teaching ec pre-k at the time and only worked there a year. It hasn’t happened since!
(1) Sudden and unexpected death of a loved one caused by serious illness, accidental injury, or self-harm.
(2) Going through a bad marriage and a difficult divorce.
(3) Prolonged grief reaction for decline and suffering experienced by loved one(s) whilst they are living and slowly dying of an incurable disease process.
Emotional stress can wreak havoc on BG control.
Totally feel ya on number 3.
I was my mother’s main caregiver the last 3 weeks of her life. It was grueling.
Whatever you have gone through in the way of a loved one’s death, I hope you are experiencing healing.
Traveling by plane
In addition to many of those listed, I find my blood sugar rises when I have good anxiety like zooming or talking on the phone with friends and relatives.
I do not skydive or anything like that. My fear of heights keeps me grounded. I avoid stress. Stress is my trigger and my blood sugar will rise very quickly. Which is crazy because my anxiety will cause it to drop. Sometimes my anxiety will make me feel like I have run a race. Of course, unless, I am anxious due to feeling threatened.
I am easily arousable. I read a lot and when I get caught up in the horror or terror, it can cause a spike in blood sugar. I also get severely hyperglycemic when I get a sunburn.
It is NOT forgivable or remotely excusable that psychological techniques, tools are not developed and offered to neutralize the BG effects of psychological, emotional, physical stressors. Regardless of cause, the techniques MUST be evolved and taught or neutral bg will never be achieved.
When doing cardio exercise, BG goes down. When doing anerobic exercise, it will rise slightly. What really makes it rise is anxiety. For example, being down love-40 on my serve and I need to stay in the game. If I let anxiety get the better of me, it will rise from 100 to 200 and lose all concentration. But working with therapist, I have been able to calm my nerves and thinking down, by staying focused on what I can control and just chill out.
I have noticed blood glucose levels rise with some medical proceures – cataract surgery, dental surgery.
Negative stress of any kind has a large effect on my BGs. I go up into the 180-220 range and just stay there. Sometimes, even a manual injection of Lyumjev does not bring it down. Once the stress ends, my BG plummets. I could NOT check “Do something exciting (roller coasters, etc)” because it’s been years since I’ve had any positive, exciting events. I don’t remember if it affects my BG or not 🙁 .
I have never actually tracked this. I know that some situations will make my blood sugar go up and some will make it drop, but I couldn’t tell you which are which. I just treat accordingly when it happens.