A guy I play racquetball with has had his sugar readings spike lately. He is argumentative and angry . He has walked off the court because he got hit by a ball and another over a disputed call. He is argumentative between games.
He has a masters in computer science and is waiting to lose his job at Fords. That may be part of his problems.
He was rated as border line diabetic 10 years ago and dieted and the readings dropped. But now he spikes to 500 weekly ,followed by normal readings. so he says,i believe him. But he has been a pain to play with. So do higher sugar readings correspond to a bad temper?
Bump.
Or lump?Grump.
They could have a common cause. Cortisol is a hormone that tends to be higher if a under stress. It is a counter-hormone to insulin and acts to raise glucose levels. Likewise adrenaline has an anti-insulin action and can be increased by stress (though more acutely).
I wouldn’t normally expect high blood glucose in itself to cause high glucose (though low glucose can), but the cortisol and adrenaline could both be affecting his moods and his blood sugar.
My BIL is diabetic and I can tell when he needs to check his insulin levels. I do see a change in his demeanor when he has high levels of activity. It usually shows as confusion. But I’m sure people react differently.
When my blood glucose is high, I get that heavy sleepy feeling that you get after a very large meal. What I definitely don’t experience is a “bad temper.” Rather, I just want to take a nap.
Type 2 diabetic here, very well controlled on diet and meds (or so my doc tells me).
Two things I’d note:
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Echoing panache45’s observation: bad temper seems to be more associated with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) vice hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). But IANAphysician (much less an endocrinologist), so I’ll defer there to anyone who’s more qualified than me on that.
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His BG is spiking to 500? If it’s spiking that high, I’d really be worried about what it might be doing when he’s not observing it. My advice there would be “Hie thyself to thy physician, pronto.” If he’s not full blown diabetic, he still needs some help in getting those spikes down.
Cheers,
bcg
In 2001 he hit 930. He went blind for 3 days.After that he lost 60 lbs and it seemed to go away. He is under stress with a job he has had more than 25 years perhaps ending. I do not know the impact of stress on sugar highs. But like most people in mid 50s ,he knows he will not likely get another job, even though he has a masters. His son is going through U of M medical school and he has a couple more years of tuition to pay.