November 4, 2002
Other Illnesses
Question from Northampton, Pennsylvania, USA:
I have type 1 diabetes, and am on an insulin pump. I have been getting major muscle cramps throughout my whole body sometimes (10-15 cramps at a time) which seem to occur if my blood sugar goes under 140 mg/dl [7.8 mmol/L] or over 190 mg/dl [10.6 mmol/L]. I had all kinds of blood tests which were all normal, and I have gone to a neurologist who checked me out and could not find anything.She also gave me a test to check my muscles which showed nothing.I think the test name was an EMG.
I can go weeks before I get these cramps, and it also seems if my blood sugar is getting low I eat something sweet my cramp goes away.On the other hand if I have a high blood sugar and get my sugar level drops down too quickly, I get these major cramps throughout my whole body. Maybe you can help me with this problem. I went to different doctors, but got no help.
Answer:
As much as I would like to help you, I am not sure why you get the symptoms you describe. It is known that serum potassium varies with the level of glucose in your blood. If sugars are high, the potassium tends to be high. When you over-treat your sugars, the potassium may go low. How fast these changes occur is for debate. If they are gradual over time, you may not have symptoms.
I think it would be helpful to document symptoms in relation to your sugars. You can keep an hour-by-hour chronicle of sugars and see how that relates to symptoms. Obviously, it would be best to avoid rapid swings in your sugars.
JTL
