Ostomates Experiencing Weakness and Dizziness: Causes?

hi all can anyone help!

i read on here i think about ostomates getting really weak and dizzy from low glucose levels?is that right and if so what are the symptoms? how do you know it;s happening and what do you do about it?does this also cause extreme fatigue and if so is it because the food passes through so quickly that our bodies are not getting what it needs fron the food? sorry i know thats a lot of questions but i didn't pay attention when i read about this before,any help or advice would be appreciated

isabella

Hi, I have an ileostomy... but even before this, if I went without food for a while, I'd get light-headed. These days, I find that yes, being an ile not a colostomy drains me even more. I only have to not drink enough water for the day—I will hit the deck and flip around like a mud-skipper on speed. Sorry, that means that when I pass out, I also have an epileptic fit while out. So now I make sure I have water with me EVERYWHERE. Food? I find I can go without now for a day or so with no big dramas. But getting dehydrated is soooo not good. I find now my body tells me before I twig that I'm as dry as a bone. Firstly, I get weird kind of bright squiggles in my peripheral vision. I hope I spelled that right, but it can stop me from doing what I'm doing for a few seconds as it makes it hard to see properly. Or I feel very hot, even sweating, but I get cold shivers all the time as well while sweating. That's my body telling me to hurry up and drink. Funny, but as a kid, I used to pass out more than any kid should, and all the doctors told my mum was I needed glucose. Hell, a good feed and a drink of water every day would have been better. Anyway, what I was meaning there is, because it happened so much as a kid, it didn't scare me when it started to happen again with this. Until I realized how much it could do me more harm. Here's a little something I found out as well. One week after getting out of the hospital, my doctor called me, very unusual here for them to do that. He asked if I was feeling okay. I said well after what I've been through, I kinda feel pretty good. He said I NEED you to be here first thing in the morning. He scared the hell out of me. I get there, he asked again, are you sure you feel okay? I'm like yes I feel fine, why? He showed me a blood test result. Um, what am I looking at? He then asked if I got the second blood test done, two days after the first was to be taken. I said yes I did. He rang them, got them to get the results to him A.S.A.P. He explained my salt level was dangerously low on that test, got the second one and he looked shocked. Seems I fixed the problem without even realizing it. Couldn't understand why I was craving salt all the time. I was pouring it into my hand and wet my finger, suck it off, all day and all night for about 4 days straight, and a drink permanently to my lips. Great if you want to try and stop smoking, no fingers or hands left, lmao. Anyway, seems my salt level was well above what it should have been. He asked me how the hell I did it as even he couldn't get his other patients' levels up that fast, even with salt tablets. I just poked my tongue out and showed him my swollen tongue, and said, Maybe from eating salt every day and night might have helped, as well as salt tablets.My tongue was okay, just side effects from so much salt, but gee, funny, as I walk out he says, be careful okay, your sugar levels are low too. OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!! What next I think. But knowing also now that lack of salt in your system can drive you mad, make you think you're feeling fine when in truth you're going round the bend. I automatically eat a lot more salt than most. Anyway, bit of a long-winded reply, hope you get something from it. Cheers, Tara

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I am signed up for a year and the system will not let me sign in what can do it will not even let me send them an email Rick

try this link...did you try clearing the "cache" on your machine??  heres the link...if it doesnt work post again and i`ll contact them for you.     https://www.meetanostomate.org/index.php?page=contact_admin

i get that same sensation tara after i`v had a pint of tequila...... did i ever tell you about that time i woke up with the triplets....well probally not cos i only remember the waking up part. anyhow tequila also makes my singing and dancing skills soar and everyone else hard of hearing..so you have to almost shout for them to hear you. funny stuff that tequila....i had to give it up......

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Getting Support in the Ostomy Community with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

I went on a Vodka diet once... I lost 3 days!!....And yea it did make me a little dizzy.

I was not going to respond to your post. However the more I thought about it, well the more I thought.

If you have the means, please get a good blood test done. What you desribe can be caused by many, many things.



Rick.....

Tarababy....you just explained my life to me and now I have a better grasp as to why I too have been feeling this way, passing out and even though I'm out, I can feel the convulsions I'm having. I too constantly have a bottle of water with me, I also crave salt and have plain chips available on each floor of my house as well as my desk. Now just to get the iron to come up a bit.....

Hi Isabella. I get weak and dizzy a lot of the time - its not something I had thought would be connected to my ileo.... until now!  I am also a diabetic, so can go hypo with low blood sugar if not eating properly, a feeling akin to being p****d, shaky, weak and disorientated, and if I don't then have something sugary, followed by some bread or some other carbohydrate, I could go into a coma - never got that far fortunately.... Just lately however, I have been having terrible sweats, can be just sitting doing very little and it just pours off my head, or conversely have cold shivers just like Tara has described, none of which are weather or low blood sugar related. This has been put down to having Fibromyalgia and /or the Menopause/ or drug side effects.... but I seem to have so much wrong with me that Lord knows which condition my symptoms come from! Some days I can't keep my eyes open and just want to sleep all the time, other days I can hardly move as I'm so stiff, other days I'm in a lot of pain, and there are even a few where I feel not so bad!



I do remember staff telling me when I first had my ileo that I needed to drink a bit more and have a bit more salt, eg a bag of crisps every day, but nothing was ever said about sugar levels, suspect I don't drink enough. I won't have anything to drink after 7pm as it gets me up in the night, and once up, that's it.... i can't get back to sleep again.



Over the last few months however, the dizziness has increased and is not sugar related, when tested they are fine. I also get very nauseous with it and several times have also actually been sick. I get very clumsy, walk into things and I have also fallen over twice, so am not sure why that is happening? I'm sure that none of this has helped you much, but it helps to have a rant!

Rachel x

Has your G.P. said anything about Meniere's?  dizziness, nauseous, clumsy walking into things and falling and being sick are signs of an attack. I have meniere's have the same problems. Don't know if this is any help for you.

Has your G.P. said anything about Meniere's?  dizziness, nauseous, clumsy walking into things and falling and being sick are signs of an attack. I have meniere's have the same problems. Don't know if this is any help for you.      

Hi panther, many thanks! Have had a google - some of it relates, but I haven't noticed any hearing difficulties, although I do get a bit of 'brain fog' when I'm not sure what day it is, cannot quite find the right words etc.... or maybe that's just my age!

hi lottagelady

has your gp investigated that your symptoms could be ME/CFS .I work with someone with this condition and the symptoms you describe sound very similar and can also be intermittment.just a thought for you to think about,i have had blood tests done and used to consititently be anaemic but now get shots of vit b12 which has  solved that so far,my bloods were showing that my liver results weren;t good and the doc was worried that the crohns had begun to affect that too(apparently it can travel in the blood stream  and affect other organs,which i never knew before scary)but after having a 3rd test the results went back to normal so who knows,it gets frustrating i just wish they could dianose whats going on and hopefully treat it,it feels like always being on tenterhooks waiting on something else,anyway thanks to all that replied and tarababy thanks for your input,i don;t eat enough salt and maybe i need to up my intake i do however drink loads,so i don;t think this is due to dehydration and i have been tested for diabetes and it s fine,i,m due to see the consultant again at the end of the month and i;ll discuss this with him and see if he comes up with any ideas

thanks to all

isabella

[quote="isabella"]hi lottagelady

has your gp investigated that your symptoms could be ME/CFS



Hi Isabella - I've been down that road - he has 'sort of' diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia so maybe it is that which is giving me these strange symptoms? Rachel x