Weird Shivering

[delphicdragon]

I'm wondering if anyone else gets something like this, or something similar. I have what I call "panic attacks", which usually consist of nausea, tachycardia, very cold and clammy hands and feet and diarrhea. This morning something very strange happened. I woke up with a slight headache in the back of my head and I was slightly nauseous. I decided to rest in bed for a bit to see what was going to happen, if anything- expecting this to progress into a "panic attack". Instead I started shivering uncontrollably with my teeth chattering. The nausea never got worse, nor did the headache, but it stayed with me for the next 30-45 minutes. I was NOT tachycardic. Then I realized I needed to get to work, got up and got really nauseous- but the shivering stopped. The nausea was gone once I ate something.

Did my blood sugar drop out? Was this a migraine? Any other ideas? Help!

Sara

[firewatcher]

Sounds like catecholamines, I shiver really easily and my endo said that I was hypersensitive to catecholamines. I vaguely remember an article that implicates them in nausea as well.

β1-adrenoceptors are the most important adrenoceptors in the heart, where they mediate increase in heart rate and force. They relax gut smooth muscle, cause breakdown of fat, and cause amylase secretion from salivary glands. On nerve endings, they increase transmitter release. β2-adrenoceptors are on smooth muscle, including blood vessels, bronchioles, uterus, bladder, and the iris, where they mediate relaxation. They cause tremor in skeletal muscle (shivering) and the breakdown of glycogen in the liver to release glucose into the blood, and decrease histamine release from mast cells.

[Ernie]

Hi,

Do you have a glucometer to measure your blood glucose. It seems that it was caused by hunger.

[EarthMother]

I was having really bad episodes of the nauseous shakes late last spring ... before we discovered I was reactive hypoglycemic. Turns out some mornings my blood sugar is in the 50's! In my case these spells were the result of my body trying to get the liver to release sugar for my system. Unfortunately because of the nausea I wasn't eating when this happened. Sounds like you instinctively knew better. Good for you!

I now keep a small box of soy milk or some dairy milk in a thermos by my bedside. Both have enough carbs and protein to help me get my blood sugar in tact BEFORE I take a step out of bed.

Good luck on your healing journey, it looks like you are putting the pieces together!

~EM

[Csmith3]

Hi Sara

Yes, I have had that. It used to happen more frequently when I was a child. Now it happens rarely, say, once a year. It tends to happen late at night when I'm trying to get to sleep or when something has suddenly woken me up. It lasts about 30 - 60 minutes and I feel horrible, particularly for the first 15 minutes or so. It has just occurred to me that it is not unlike the feeling I sometimes get after fainting, except that only lasts about 10 minutes. The uncontrollable shivering is odd, particularly as I'm always in bed when it happens so I'm nice and warm. It's hard to lie in one place and let it pass, which is perhaps why you have used the term panic attack. But eventually it dissipates and then I drop off to sleep. I haven't noticed feeling any different the following morning and it has never come back the same night.

I have no idea what it is and have never had it investigated. I doubt it is blood sugar as mine is very stable.

[Guest Sandy Sims]

Yep this is EXACTLY how my troubles started out.

Since have found my BSugar is reactive hypogycemia. Means you will not get high values--you'll get low ones.

Hi Sara

Yes, I have had that. It used to happen more frequently when I was a child. Now it happens rarely, say, once a year. It tends to happen late at night when I'm trying to get to sleep or when something has suddenly woken me up. It lasts about 30 - 60 minutes and I feel horrible, particularly for the first 15 minutes or so. It has just occurred to me that it is not unlike the feeling I sometimes get after fainting, except that only lasts about 10 minutes. The uncontrollable shivering is odd, particularly as I'm always in bed when it happens so I'm nice and warm. It's hard to lie in one place and let it pass, which is perhaps why you have used the term panic attack. But eventually it dissipates and then I drop off to sleep. I haven't noticed feeling any different the following morning and it has never come back the same night.

I have no idea what it is and have never had it investigated. I doubt it is blood sugar as mine is very stable.

[delphicdragon]

Well, I technically have reactive hypoglycemia. But this wasn't typical of that. Usually I get very crabby when I need sugar - it's always been a personality change, never a physical change. That's why this is so weird. (My blood sugar has gotten down to 12 ( though I think that was not correct) without physical changes) And yes, eating helped, but drinking water helped more than eating. Maybe my body just wanted to stay asleep.

Sara

[ajw4790]

Hi,

I guess I get somewhat similar "attacks", but I don't consider it shivering, but more of a tremor or whole body shaking. I also get the other reactions you describe as well during these times. Mine tend to be hypoglycemia related, but I also have similar reactions if I get to warm in the shower and almost pass out. This is what first got me diagnosed with Neurocardiogenic Syncope. After these attacks passed I was also helped by eating and drinking water, because my body had just been in overdrive and needed to recover.

Did you seem to have any trigger? Hot/cold, pain, nightmare? Or even with a headache and add in an alarm clock startling you awake? The startle from the alarm can trigger the "flight or fight" reaction in some of us, and make us feel bed upon waking due to that sudden "shock" to the system. If drinking water helped, it could have been helping to rehydrate, increase your BP, and help you out of that state. It may have been more of a low BP moment then high HR.

Hope you feel better now!

[MelissaCrystal]

I shiver when my blood pressure is too low.

[lloppyllama]

I get shivers and my teeth chatter, but I actually have never figured out why, its usually when I feel really sick though and am out with people. Like when I think I might throw up I do it.

[Sunfish]

like the other melissa, i've had similar "reactions" when my BP is too low &/or when i'm ridiculously fatigued (in which case my BP is generally also pretty low). thought mine are more like the tremors some describe rather than a shaking. and sometimes i'll feel like i'm shaking, sort of "shaky inside" but not be visibly shaky to myself or anyone else....similar to tingling throughout my entire body that reminds me of the neuropathic sensations i always have in my feet & calves (& sometimes in my ands & forearms) but not exactly. when i have this it's usually first thing in the morning & may or man not last throughout the day. i don't think the "body tingles" have ever started any time other than when i first wake up though (although that may be in the afternoon!) i've had blood sugar readings down to 40 but never had shakes related to that (nor any other symptoms for that matter).

i've never had a panic attack in my life so can't comment on any relation to that. nausea is a frequent companion of mine thanks to pretty over-the-top gastroparesis & pseudo-obstruction, but there's never been any correlation for me between nausea & any of the shivers or tingles. years back i would get pretty shakey - almost violently so - after fainting but at other times as well, enough that people thought i was having grand mal seizures (which i wasn't); thankfully i have't had those episodes in a while (one of the few things that's gotten better for me over the years..yippee!), but dr. grubb never seemed surprised by them being part of my "repertoire", so to speak, nor by any of the rest of my shaking, tingling, etc (nor have any of the other autonomic specialists that have crossed my path over the years). it's only been non-autonomic docs, i.e. epilepsy specialists, who have thought i must be having seizures and, upon realizing that i wasn't, decided the only alternative must be that i was nuts.

all that said, the most severe shakes i've had are when a fever is taking root, but they are shivers/ shakes way beyond (in severity) anything else & bring with them high fevers due to systemic infection, so you'd know if that's what you were dealing with.

melissa

[mkoven]

I would think it's part of the adrenaline response. Pre ans symptoms, we had an suv drive into our home (bedroom and bathroom!) Fortunately no one was hurt, but I was shivering/chattering for hours even though it was warm out, so freaked by what had happened and what might have happened. (I normally would have been in bed at that hour and would have definitely been roadkill if I hadn't been up unusually late that night watching tv. YEs, tv saved my life!) Anyway, my doc told me that this is a typical reaction to an adrenaline surge.

[MelissaCrystal]

i've had blood sugar readings down to 40 but never had shakes related to that (nor any other symptoms for that matter).

Are you diabetic? I've had blood sugar readings that low as well and I feel very bad during those episodes. What the heck causes that? I've never been diagnosed with any glucose problems and I have never had any basic metabolic panels that showed diabetic tendencies. Why was your blood sugar so low? Is that something to worry about?

[Csmith3]

I didn't think too much about this when I posted my first reply, but this thread seems to have raised some interest.

In my case, I am almost certain it is not related to hypoglycaemia. I am not diabetic. Years ago, the doctors thought I might have reactive hypoglycamia and I had all sorts of short and long term tests to try to provoke a reaction, but to no avail.

I've had a quick browse on the Internet, but can't really find anything. It might be adrenaline, but I can't help thinking that if I have an adrenaline rush during the day, it doesn't feel the same as this. For me, it feels like I've suddenly come down with some terrible illness with a fever and uncontrollable shaking. It really is quite scary. I am totally lucid when it happens. Thankfully they don't happen very often at all and I know that they will pass within an hour and then I'm fine.

I'm most tempted by the "body in shock as it has been woken suddenly out of deep sleep" idea. Maybe that is the same as an adrenaline rush, it's just not so snappy!

[Tammy]

I get these symptoms too. There's times it really hits hard and other times it just happens for 10 or 15 minutes and than it goes away. The worse happened a few years ago, as I got out of a swimming pool. About a minute or two after being out of the water, I just crashed... shivers, nausea, horribly weak, etc. I don't know if the change in temp or that I had burned off some energy so my blood sugar dropped or what, but it was awful. I haven't been well enough to swim since, but would guess that the same thing would happen if I tried.