Diabetes Symptoms

Diabetes and Fatigue

Your body can feel tired and worn-down for many reasons: stress, pregnancy, medications, and inactivity, just to name a few.  It is the second most-cited general symptom ("pain" being the first) in doctors' offices.  But fatigue can also be a sign of diabetes.  Let's just say you're as stress-free as you can be, not on any medication, getting regular exercise, and you're pretty sure you're not pregnant - yet you still find yourself nodding off frequently and dragging through your day.  If this fatigue is combined with any of the other classic symptoms of diabetes - including excessive thirst, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss even with an increased appetite, blurred vision, irritability, or skin problems - you need to schedule a diabetes screening test with your doctor.

An imbalance in blood sugar is the main cause of diabetes-related fatigue.  Your cells use glucose - sugar - for fuel.  The hormone insulin controls the distribution and use of glucose in the body.  In diabetics, due to poor production of insulin, the glucose is not properly utilized by the cells; instead, it's floating around in the bloodstream, where it can't be used as energy.  As a result, you may feel constantly drained.

Fatigue as a result of diabetes (any type) can only be alleviated by returning the blood sugar to its normal, healthy levels with proper treatment.  If you've caught your diabetes in its earlier stages, and it's still considered mild, treatment usually consists of dropping excess body fat, and lowering blood pressure and cholesterol through improvement of your diet and exercise habits - just being more careful with your health in general.  If your diabetes is a more complicated type or at a more advanced stage, it will be treated through oral medication or injections of insulin.

In the meantime - or in addition to treatment, if you still find yourself feeling sluggish, there are ways to combat being worn out all the time.  Get regular, moderate exercise, and try to ensure that you get plenty of sleep each night.  Put yourself on a schedule and stick to it (going to bed, getting up, and eating at the same times each day) - by waking and retiring on a schedule, your body will know when to feel tired.  Keep your blood sugar levels as stable as possible to avoid "energy crashes."  Practice relaxation techniques such as positive visualization, meditation, or deep breathing exercises to help lower stress and keep your blood pressure on an even keel.  If you feel the need, schedule in a nap, but make it a short, refreshing "power nap" - any more than twenty to thirty minutes, and your body will have entered its deeper REM (rapid eye movement) sleep stage that's much harder to wake from, and you may feel half-asleep for a while.