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How To Combat Diabetes Fatigue

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How To Fight Diabetes Fatigue To Get Your Energy Back

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Diabetes not just affect your lifestyle and diet but it also effects your endurance and energy level. The level of exhaustion exceed beyond normal and you will feel drained out even after doing a light physical activity. The constant diabetes fatigue makes you irritated and you will feel yourself as disable when it comes to physical activities. All these things causes depression in the patients. Lets see why diabetes makes the patients worn out and how one can get the energy back to live a healthy life.

Feeling Tired All The Time Try These Expert Tips To Feel More Energetic

Expert-reviewed by Ashwini S.Kanade, Registered Dietician and Certified Diabetes Educator with 17 years of experienceFact-checked by Aditya Nar, B.Pharm, MSc. Public Health and Health Economics

As a diabetic, youre asked to up your physical activity levels to lose weight and improve control of your blood sugar levels. However, when you actually motivate yourself and get out of bed early or want to enroll in that Yoga class, you realize you hardly have any energy for it. If thats the case, youre not alone. Millions of others like you complain about the fatigue and lack of energy. In this article, we reveal some ways to fight this problem.

Diabetes-induced fatigue may be either acute or chronic: the acute type often varies from day to day and does not generally lead to any functional impairment. Fatigue that persistently affects the diabetic for at least six months is called chronic fatigue and is known to greatly affect normal functioning.

If youre a diabetic and have been suffering from a serious energy deficit, finding it difficult to perform even the simple daily tasks or feeling a persistent sense of dullness or depression, its time you began to find ways to fight diabetes-induced fatigue.

Diabetes And Fatigue: How To Fight It

One of the most significant symptoms experienced by people with diabetes is excessive fatigue, a feeling that about half of people with diabetes report experiencing.

However, care should be taken to differentiate acute fatigue from chronic fatigue in order to explain the causes specific to each and decide how best to treat them.

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Focus On Sleeping Better

If you have pain from, say, neuropathy or arthritis, talk over different pain-reducing options with your provider. If you can, set up a sleep schedule so that you go to bed and wake up at consistent times. Ease up on television, smartphones, or laptops at least an hour before bedtime. Invest in a better-quality mattress, pull down the shades, and cool off the bedroom for some sound shut eye.

What Kinds Of Exercise Should You Do

How To Fight Diabetes Fatigue

Aerobic Exercises

  • Swimming
  • Biking

doesStrength TrainingFlexibility TrainingCreate a Routine and Stick with It

  • American Diabetes Association. Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes2009. Diabetes Care. 2009 32:S13-61.
  • Becker G. Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the newly Diagnosed. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Marlowe & Company 2007.
  • McCulloch D. Patient information: Diabetes type 2: Overview. UpToDate Web site. January 30, 2009. Available at: http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~n0K0MIfI1iZs.& selectedTitle=5~150& source=search_result. Accessed April 20, 2009.
  • McCulloch D. Patient information: Diabetes mellitus type 2: Overview. UpToDate Web site. December 4, 2008. Available at: http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~X0jjLnBn4._ko& selectedTitle=4~150& source=search_result. Accessed April 20, 2009.

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Cause No : Cfs And Fibromyalgia

If your fatigue does not go away and is so serious that you fail to manage even day to day activities then, you may be suffering from fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. Both the afflictions can have many symptoms but continuous tiredness or exhaustion is the common sign of both.

Remedy: There is no quick fix to CFS or fibromyalgia, however, patients will find changing their daily schedule, learning better sleeping habits and undertaking a gentle exercise programs like yoga to help and serve their healing well.

When Should I Contact My Doctor

Your doctor should be contacted any time there is a change in the level of fatigue that you are experiencing. When you meet with your doctor, you should be honest about the blood sugar levels that you have been experiencing, as well as any other problems that you are having. Also, if you become very depressed or think about killing yourself, you should seek help from your doctor right away.

If you have experienced fatigue with diabetes, please share your story below. Others can benefit from hearing how you were able to reclaim your life.

References

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How To Deal With Diabetes Fatigue

Its no secret that regular exercise is key in managing and preventing several health-related conditions including type 2 diabetes. In fact, the American Diabetes Association recommends physical activity to all people living with diabetes to manage glycemic control and overall health.

In particular, the ADA urges people living with diabetes to interrupt long periods of sitting with light activity by doing 3 minutes of light exercise every 30 minutes.

While this recommendation tops the list of ways to manage and treat diabetes, exercising when youre experiencing diabetes fatigue is often easier said than done.

Fatigue is common among people with diabetes, which can make it difficult to work up the motivation and energy to stay physically active, explains Dr. Emily Schroeder, an endocrinologist with Kaiser Permanente in Denver.

However, exercise is a crucial part of diabetes management. Schroeder says its vital that patients come up with ways to integrate exercise into their daily routines.

Once you establish a routine, you can gradually increase that activity up to 30 minutes a day or more as your body becomes accustomed to it.

Can Undiagnosed/uncontrolled Diabetes Cause Fatigue

The Adrenal Fatigue, Diabetes, Insulin Resistance Connection with Dr. Rob

Undiagnosed and uncontrolled diabetes can cause fatigue. Earlier in this article, reactive hypoglycemia was mentioned, which is when your body tries to make too much insulin to keep up with the sugar intake and causes a sugar crash. There are approximately 7 million people with undiagnosed diabetes in the world. Fatigue is the most common symptom of diabetes and hopefully leads to people seeing their doctors and being diagnosed to get control of their blood sugar.

Uncontrolled diabetes causes fatigue for many reasons that were also mentioned previously in this article. First of all, blood sugars that are either too high or too low do not deliver fuel to the cells for the body to operate. Secondly, complications that are caused by uncontrolled diabetes such as kidney disease and nerve damage also cause fatigue. The most important thing to do is to control blood sugar.

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How To Identify Blood Sugar Spikes

Fatigue is associated with a myriad of other conditions, as well as just day-to-day life and other stressors, so it alone cannot tell you whether you are experiencing a blood sugar spike. People with diabetes are encouraged to keep tabs on their blood sugar levels to detect any sudden changes. This is one of the ways they can identify when blood sugar spikes happen.

The most common cause of high blood sugar is improper insulin production. Insulin is the hormone that is tasked with regulating blood sugar levels, and if it is not being produced at high enough levels or at all, it can lead to high blood sugar levels.

There are few reasons why insulin levels in the body are inadequate, including:

  • Eating too much
  • Not receiving enough insulin from treatment
  • Having a malfunctioning diabetes pump
  • Having insulin that is ineffective at managing blood sugar levels

Other risk factors that should be taken into consideration include weight, age, history of smoking, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure levels. These can all contribute to diabetes.

For a person without diabetes, insulin levels are unlikely to be considered at all. This is why it can be helpful to keep a food log and note levels of fatigue or other symptoms following every meal. If fatigue generally sets in after eating, it could be a sign that its attributed to blood sugar levels. If this does happen, it may indicate that a person should follow up with their healthcare provider and have their blood sugar levels checked.

Type 2 Diabetes Fatigue

Type 2 is the more common of the two types of diabetes and is usually seen as the milder of the pair. In those enduring type 2 diabetes, the pancreas still produces some insulin, but not enough to effectively manage blood sugar levels. Fortunately, those with type 2 diabetes are not entirely insulin injection reliant, as those of type 1 are. Depending on the severity of diabetes, they may still, however, require some degree of synthetic insulin supplementation.

Obesity is the foremost risk factor leading to the progression of type 2 diabetes.

Having a higher than average body fat percentage is directly linked to developing insulin resistance. As such, it is important for those showing the early diabetic symptoms, fatigue, frequent urination, weight gain etc. To try and reduce body fat percentage in order to slow down onset.

Slowing down the onset will reduce the chance of developing diabetes type 2 extreme fatigue. Type 2 sufferers explain this to be a level of fatigue reached by not proactively working on reducing symptoms and minimising progression.

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What Causes People With Diabetes To Be Tired

Two common reasons for tiredness or lethargy are having too high or too low blood sugar levels.

In both cases, the tiredness is the result of having an imbalance between ones level of blood glucose and the amount or effectiveness of circulating insulin.

If you feel tired during the day, despite having slept well, it could be a result of either high or low sugar levels.

It is best to test your blood glucose levels to see whether the tiredness is indeed a result of having high or low sugar levels.

This is particularly important for people on insulin.

  • Read about the recommended blood glucose levels ranges

Fatigue In Diabetes: A Vicious Cycle

How To Fight Diabetes Fatigue

Fatigue is a frequently encountered symptom in the general practice management of diabetes. Fatigue may be the presenting symptom of diabetes, or it may present as one of a constellation of complaints. It may even persist after glycemic control is achieved. All of these clinical situations, irrespective of causality or association, may be grouped together as DFS. Fatigue has been reported to be prevalent in patients with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes . Its association with inflammation, body mass index, insulin treatment, and depression has also been studied . The lack of correlation between fatigue on the one hand and hyperglycemia and glycemic variability on the other is also known . The unique features of fatigue in persons with diabetes have also been recognized, prompting the development of disease-specific diagnostic tools , as opposed to generic ones .

Diabetes and fatigue seem to have a bidirectional relationship, both feeding and worsening each other, thereby creating a vicious cycle of DFS . This relationship is strengthened by biochemical, psychological, and lifestyle factors.

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Is There A Cure For Diabetes

In order to fight your fatigue, it will be up to you to monitor your blood glucose level regularly. Maintaining good management of your diabetes and regaining a stable glycaemic balance, are an effective means of fighting a lack of energy.

Adopting a healthy diet can also help combat tiredness. In practice, this involves managing a daily lifestyle that combines:

  • maintaining a healthy weight

Tips For Sticking With An Exercise Program

The first thing to keep in mind, says Colberg, is that doing any physical activity is likely to help you feel better and less tired, even if its just taking more daily steps. Physical movement doesnt have to be structured exercise sessions to lower your blood glucose or make you feel better in the short run, she explains.

Colberg recommends you start by standing up more, breaking up your sedentary time frequently , and just moving more all day long.

Once the diabetes fatigue starts to lift from doing these activities, you may feel more like engaging in exercises like walking, resistance training, or dancing.

As an endocrinologist, Schroeder has extensive experience working with type 2 diabetes and diabetes fatigue. When talking with patients about exercise, she gives them the following advice:

  • Set smaller goals and build up from there. If you start out thinking you need to hit the gym for hours every day to stay fit, youre more likely to give up before youve even begun, she says. Instead, challenge yourself to work out in small increments. For example, you can walk for 10 minutes, three times a day, to get the recommended 30 minutes of moderate daily exercise.
  • Dont go it alone. Join a class or make plans to exercise with a friend. Its much harder to let fatigue talk you out of a workout when you have a fitness buddy waiting for you or youve already committed to participating in a class, says Schroeder.
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    What Causes Diabetes Fatigue

    Well, to begin with, the primary cause of diabetes fatigue is, of course, the spiking in blood sugar levels. High or low blood sugar levels can cause diabetes fatigue.

    High blood sugar levels cause the blood to become sludgy. This slows down the circulation of blood in the body, causing the cells to be deprived of sufficient oxygen and nutrients. Due to this, the person starts to feel sluggish and fatigued.

    On the other hand, when you have low blood glucose levels, fatigue sets in because the cells lack sufficient energy to function properly.

    High blood sugar levels also cause fatigue by giving rise to inflammation. When the blood vessels become inflamed due to the high levels of glucose, it causes immune cells known as monocytes to reach the brain, giving rise to fatigue.

    While fluctuations in the levels of blood glucose are thought to be the primary cause of diabetes fatigue, there are certain other conditions and factors that also cause fatigue in diabetics.

    Some other factors that are also observed in diabetics and cause fatigue include:

    • Lack of exercise or physical activity
    • Lack of proper social support
    • A poor lifestyle when you have diabetes is also a major reason for experiencing diabetes fatigue.

    How Common Is Diabetes Distress

    How to Combat Chronic Fatigue: Treat Your Mitochondria

    Diabetes distress is actually really common. Its a completely natural reaction to looking after diabetes all day, every day.

    It doesnt matter what type of diabetes you have anyone can feel diabetes distress and a lot of people feel it more than once. It is slightly more common for people who take insulin.

    One in four people with type 1 diabetes have high levels of diabetes distress, as do one in five people with type 2 diabetes.

    The most common reason for feeling diabetes distress is worrying about getting complications in the future or feeling anxious if managing your diabetes goes off track.

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    When To See A Healthcare Provider

    Its normal to feel fatigued sometimes, but if fatigue lasts longer than two weeks, it may be time to see a practitioner. For those who also experience symptoms of blood sugar spikes such as increased thirst, frequent urination, nausea, listlessness, and dizziness, fatigue could be a sign that they have developed or are at risk of developing diabetes. For those who already have the condition, regular appointments to monitor blood glucose and manage diabetes should be done since these symptoms are signs that their current treatment plan is no longer effective.

    Management of diabetes fatigue is vital for those with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It can be difficult to manage the condition, especially at first, but not impossible. The best way to manage symptoms or complications of the disease is to book an appointment with an endocrinologist, who is specialized in diabetes care. They can help address fatigue and other symptoms by encouraging lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet, more exercise, stress management techniques, and better sleep hygiene.

    For Diabetics Fatigue And Burnout Are A Constant Challenge

    Managing diabetes can be tough. Tracking weight, monitoring glucose levels, counting carbohydrate consumption, and getting adequate exercise can tax even the most obsessively compulsive personalities, leading to fatigue or burnout when it no longer seems possible or even valuable to stick with the program.

    Managing diabetes can be tough.

    Tracking weight, monitoring glucose levels, counting carbohydrate consumption, and getting adequate exercise can tax even the most obsessively compulsive personalities, leading to fatigue or burnout when it no longer seems possible or even valuable to stick with the program.

    “The problem with diabetes is that it never goes away,” said endocrinologist Mark Schutta. “It’s a lifestyle disease, and it’s challenging to lose weight, to take several medications, to monitor blood sugars.”

    The further the disease has progressed, the more there is to deal with.

    “The truth is you’re going to have ups and downs,” said Schutta, medical director of the Rodebaugh Diabetes Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

    Stephanie Wittbrodt, 47, knows all about diabetes fatigue. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 16, Wittbrodt said she never quite understood the condition or its possible complications until pregnant with her first son. Then, frightened for her unborn child’s health, she found herself monitoring her blood glucose up to 15 times a day, giving herself up to nine daily injections of insulin, and tracking every carb.

    What to do?

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    Drink Plenty Of Water

    Dehydration zaps energy and impairs physical performance. âOur research shows that dehydration makes it harder for athletes to complete a weight lifting workout,â says Dan Judelson, PhD, assistant professor of kinesiology at California State University at Fullerton. “Itâs reasonable to think that dehydration causes fatigue even for people who are just doing chores.”

    Dehydration has also been shown to decrease alertness and concentration.

    How to know if youâre drinking enough water?âUrine should be pale yellow or straw colored,â Judelson says. âIf itâs darker than that, you need to drink water.â

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