QuestionI am 53 years old. I am overweight but not grossly (just my family's body shape) and I have always been healthy so decided long ago that yo-yo dieting was more likely to make me ill than staying at the weight I semed stable at. Of course I have put on more weight gradually over the years so lost 5kg in the summer through daily swimming and sensible eating but have put it on again (as usual!) over winter. However I walk our dogs twice daily and do gardening and bush care during the week so am quite active though not formally employed.
That is by the by but may be relevant as lately I have been getting so tired at night about 2 hours after eating that I fall asleep in my chair for 1/2 - 1 hour then feel fine. I eat a large meal with my partner at 7 - 8pm, just a main course of meat/chicken, veg and rice/pasta/potatoes, no dessert, have porridge or cornflakes for breakfast and sometimes eat a cheese roll for lunch, sometimes nothing. I don't snack often but more at night when I am not out and about. I have had a tendency to feel tired after the evening meal for a year or so now but then I could stay awake, now I just can't so it seems to be getting worse. We have had a kitten for 6 months who has disrupted my sleep knocking things off tables etc. during the night and waking me up several times a night but she is sleeping more now so I am at last getting more sleep myself but it has not solved my problem. I am normally a sound sleeper. I stayed in bed to finish a book once or twice recently after breakfast and noticed feeling drowsy later though I didn't fall asleep but this has worried me.
I also seem to be urinating more, getting up twice or three times at night but I drink a lot of instant coffee so that is a factor and I have often got up at night to urinate over the years but never this much (I found when camping that I could avoid this by drinking no alcohol or coffee!).
I am menopausal and suffering hot flushes. I had a fibroid diagnosed early last year after very heavy periods and was anaemic so was put on Primolut (only one 5mg tablet daily) which stopped my periods. I came off it 2 months ago and have not bled since.
My doctor checked my glucose level after fasting along with blood tests to check the anaemia was ended last summer and it was OK though not as good as it could be - hence she thought I should diet. I am now worried I may be showing Level 2 Diabetes symptoms or is it the menopause or coming off Primolut? Sorry for such a long question but I needed to give my case history. Thanks for reading! I should probably get my glucose level retested if you don't think menopause etc to blame but would dieting or other lifestyle changes help avoid diabetes? I have no history of diabetes in my family but an uncle by marriage died very nastily with foot and leg amputations at various stages so I fear a diabetes diagniosis.
AnswerThank you for your great question. My answer given is in order of importance of your symptoms.
1) nightime urination--Time to check your fasting blood sugar, and more importantly a 2 hour post prandial sugar (after eating a calculated amount of glucose). This is to ensure that your blood sugar returns to normal 2 hours post eating, not because you are falling asleep 2 hours after eating, but that's just how the test is done, coincidentally. The urinating in the middle of the night is the most alarming of all the symptoms you've written about. That is not likely related to caffiene intake. Diabetes is improved and sometimes the progresssion is reversed or halted completely by weight loss and exercise. Clinically, every 10 pounds (4.53 kilos) lost makes a difference metabolically and blood pressure/pressure on other organswise. Your blood sugar will remain better regulated with 4 or more 30 minute sessions of cardiovascular exercise, in which your heart rate is above 150 beats/minute (check w/your doc prior to starting an exercise regime).For somewhat unclear reasons, you insulin sensitivity is increased by exercise, in as few as 12 weeks--that's what you want, insulin that kicks on immediately after a meal to send the blood sugar to your organs and muscles.
2)sleeping after meals--The lethargy post meals isn't too concerning, to me, but please ask your doc how it relates in the whole clinical picture of your symptoms. One trick--switch your larger meal to lunchtime.
3)Is it menopause-related--out of my expertise, not sure, but I do know you store more fat post menopause, so perhaps metabolism is slower.
Thanks for you thoughtful question and background information. Have hope, if you do have the beginnings of diabetes (pancreas not too overburdened yet), exercise can reverse or stop it from progressing!
--Maggie the Registered Nurse
