Any Hypoglycemics here?

[Sue777]

In addition to all the other fun things and stressors that have been going on in my life lately, I suspect that I have a problem with blood glucose levels. I've been monitoring my blood sugars several times a day and I seem to spike too high and crash too low, which is probably why I've spent so much of my life feeling "yucky". But it's getting worse now, supposedly from my "hormonal changes", or as my doc put it: "Congratulations - you are verifiably a shriveled up old prune now!"

(Gotta love my blunt doctor - we've been through a lot together over the years, including aging!)

Anyway, I'm reading all I can about it and it seems I'm going to have to go back to low carbing. Anyone here ever dealt with blood glucose problems?
Sue

[Carrie]

Hi Sue. Nope - I haven't had any problems with hypoglycemia so I'm afraid I can't be of any help. I must say, though, that since getting LC a year ago I've been looking back on my past eating habits. I realize that I have always preferred high protein and low carb meals (especially low gluten foods but not by design). I don't know what, if anything, that might mean. BTW I can go all day without eating with no problems (I don't do that any more; since LC I try religiously to eat three meals a day).

It will be interesting to hear what others have experienced with hypoglycemia. Good luck, Sue.

Love,
Carrie

[moremuscle]

Hi Sue,

If I am not mistaken Geri has some problems of that nature and she knows a great deal about how to control it with her diet choices. She will probably tell you about it herself.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can control your glucose levels or rather your insulin levels there is an excellent book written by a husband and wife team of MDs that is called "Protein Power". The book not only explains the mechanisms that take place in your body when digesting glucose it also explains how this relates to many other civilization diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterole, diabetes etc. In addition there is concrete directions to follow in order to get these things under control - they have a great deal of experience from their practise and refer to many case stories throughout the book. I recommend it highly. The authors's last name is Eades - you should be able to find more info about them and their book on the net.

Love,
Karen

P.S. I think your doctor may have been a little too blunt in this case - but perhaps his/her words seem harsher out of their context? Your picture makes me think that he/she was difinitely wrong - you look young, healthy, and beautiful.

[Lucy]

A long time ago, I had a funny eating pattern due to my schedule, so I would experience serious drops in my blood sugar after my heaviest meal in the evening.

What I did to get over it was, first of all, to quit eating my mid-morning donut with my coffee. That was probably the worst thing I did as I don't think I was eating any protein until lunchtime, and by then, I'd been up a very long time. Then, a couple of hours after the donut, I'd usually eat a sandwich with potato chips or another starch, and probably a coke to go with it.

The cafeteria served large sandwiches (lots of bread), so I guess my sugars were so low a couple of hours after the mid-morning donut, that I was hungry enough to eat this big, heavy carb-laden lunch. Probably would've been hungry for sugar mid-afternoon, but i don't remember.

Guess I probably ate lots of carbs with my dinner, so it was a couple of hours after that that I nearly blacked out, and thus, went to see the doc.

The remedy worked like a charm -- just spread out the protein throughout the day in 6 smaller feedings, and of course, eliminated the donuts, and got something healthier (no sandwich/chips/cokes) for lunch, and solo carbs in midafternoon, etc. I've never had another problem since, mainly because I try to include some protein whenever I have any carb of any kind, and of course, the gluten containing ones aren't an issue any longer.

It was interesting that I was playing with a church softball team, and every time, my first time to bat, I'd stand up, walk to the plate, lift the bat into position, and get weak in the knees. No telling WHAT woulda happened had I actually hit the thing! Haha! Anyway, I think the reason it always hit right then was because it was approximately the same time after eating my heaviest meal in the evening that I would stand to go to the plate.

Good luck with controlling this as I know when the blood sugar's out of whack, it doesn't feel good at all, and can effect your life in many adverse ways.

By the way, a diabetic diet is a great diet (if you exclude any foods that otherwise pose a problem for you and sub with one that doesn't). Often times, your doc will have one of those tear away sheets with sample diets for several total calories levels. Be sure to ask while you're at the doc's if s/he has one of those as they are helpful in getting you started. Your doc should be able to help with the amount of calories you should have in a day.

If you're given an information sheet that's not quite the no. of calories you need, see if there's one on the opposite side of your calorie need, and that way, you can sort of interpolate the amounts you will need of the sample foods during the day. Hope this makes sense.

Probably nowadays, there are places on the net to get exactly what you need, but I have no idea where to find them. I would probably hit the bookstores.
At one time, I used to have a good meal planner that I got from American Diabetic Association (or was that Dietetic (sp)? (I really thought I knew how to spell that, but it looks funny to me now!)

You can do this, and the sooner you start to feel better, the easier it will be.

Yours, Luce

[Sue777]

Thanks, guys. Yes, I've gotten a few books off the internet that were highly suggested for hypos, and actually I have read Protein Power, The Zone, and a couple of others back when I was doing the Atkins diet. Time to get those out and dust them off I guess.

I'm sure that once I learn which foods spike my glucose level and which don't, it'll be much easier to eat wisely, but right now I feel like I'm being deprived from EVERYTHING I love. Fruits did me in the other day, and I always found it hard to believe that fruit could be harmful to anyone! Very disappointing. But just the small amount of improvement in the way I feel already will be well worth some of the foods I have to give up, I'm sure.

And no, my doc and I have a lot of fun together, and we've known each other for at least 25 years, so we always kid the other about getting old, since we're doing it at the same pace. I was able to come back to his crack with "yeah - well at least I still have all my hair!" He said "oh yeah? well some women start losing their hair at menopause, so enjoy that while you can, smart ass!" Our bantering certainly takes the stress out of doctor's appointments, and gets some funny glances from other patients in the waiting room. LOL

OK, off to eat some protein before bed!

[JJ]

Hi Sue,

My sister suffers from low blood sugar...she had the glucose tolerance test and almost passed out on the way home. Very scary for her, but now she is very careful about what she eats. She eats small snacks every couple of hours(protein). She also avoids refined sugar and eats only whole grain bread, etc. She eats almonds and meat/cheese sometimes as a snack and feels much better since she watches her diet. It has also improved her moodiness....we can tell if her blood sugar is low...she gets pretty crabby! Good luck...JJ

[Sue777]

Hi, JJ:
That's one of the biggest improvements I've noticed already.... I'm a lot more "human" to family members! I almost feel like I should apologize to everyone for being such a cranky b*tch for the past 20 years, but then again, it is SO HARD to be sociable, tolerant, and pleasant when you're feeling so lousy and worn down and are hanging on for dear life, trying not to faint while someone is lecturing you or boring you. LOL

And then I think, all those wasted YEARS of feeling like crap - I wish there were some way to get them back and do them over again, but I think I'll just be grateful that I may have finally found the problem while I'm young enough to enjoy it. I'm sure many people go through their entire lives feeling poorly and never knowing why. I'm glad your sis is feeling better.... I think I will be soon, too, as soon as I learn which foods set me off, which stabilize me, etc. Thanks for the post!
Sue

[JJ]

Good luck....I know you will feel better. I will add that my sister had to go off hormones because she had breast cancer.....the lack of hormones still makes her cranky sometimes, ha ha....but....she is MUCH better.

Take care...JJ

[Geri]

Hi, Sue!

I was excited to see your post on hypoglycemia...not because I'm excited you are having problems.. just that I have suffered with it for a while now, and it seemed that no one here had a problem with it, and I felt very lonley with this disorder.

You are wise to begin treating it with lifestyle changes. Hyploglycemia is a warning sign of things to come..namely diabetes. The pancreas gets tired and worn out from spikes and drops in blood sugar..and if changes aren't made, it will not be able to function normally, with the end result of diabetes.

I have always been a carb-aholic. I lived on carbs and sugar..didn't care for meat. I started having blood sugar drops a few years ago, and it became so bad that I would have to eat every hour or so, or I would be sick. The turning point came when I woke in the middle of the night soaking wet, shaking, unable to walk and could barely speak enough to tell my husband to get me some gatorade. That scared me. Low blood sugar can kill very easily. Our brain needs glucose to function, and if the glucose level drops too low, and no sugar is taken into the body, you could go into a coma and die. Low is more dangerous than high.

A good way to begin is to cut out all refined sugar. Diabetics need carbs, but good carbs, or low carb foods. Some good examples of low carb foods are..greenbeans, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, carrots, I avoid white potatoes and rice...I eat sweet potatoes...they are lower in carbs. Some good fruits are pears, apples, strawberries. Avoid the high-sugar fruits like watermelon, canteloupe, pineapple and a lot of grapes, and veggies high in starch such as white potatoes and corn.

Foods high in fiber maintain stable blood sugar levels, BUT..we have a problem with fiber, so try to eat foods with a good fiber content, but not to much fiber to cause problems with your MC. Good examples are sweet potatoes, greenbeans.

Like Luce said, you need a good balance of protein and carbs with each meal...and try to eat six small meals per day at least,with a protein snack at bedtime. It is hard to find a good balance. It is mostly trial and error. A good indicator that you are getting a good balance, is you will feel a good sense of well being if you are eating right. Also, hunger is a good indication that you may have eaten too many carbs or high sugar foods the previous meal. Hunger is telling you that your sugar level is getting low, and you need to eat something.

Mornings are the most important time of day to hypoglycemics. You need a good breakfast of protein, and a few carbs to keep you going. Again, a problem for us who avoid gluten. I usually eat eggs, some sort of breakfast meat, and a small glass of Lactaid milk for carbs. Sometimes I will have some strawberries instead of the milk. Avoid sugar at all costs in the am. The morning sets you up for how you will do during the day, and is the worst time of day to eat sugar.

I cut out all sugar from my diet. I never indulge in anything sweet at all. I use Splenda in my teas, and the only sugar I get comes naturally in low-sugar fruits..and I don't do a lot of those. I do drink milk, though, which does have sugar, but I was having trouble getting some morning carbs while avoiding gluten.

I am much better. I no longer walk around in a fog with a horrible feeling of doom around me. I felt so bad constantly, that I told my doctor that I was dying...LOL. It will make you feel so.

I know this is a lot if info. I would love to talk about this with you more later, I have been out all day, and am going to bed. I hope I didn't confuse you even more.

Start out with cutting out as much sugar and high sugar fruits and veggies that you can, and go from there. Remember, protein with each meal, and if you do eat carbs, make sure you have some protein with it.

I hope you get to feeling better soon, and I look forward to talking to you tomorrow,

Love,

Geri

[Sue777]

Thank you, Geri! I just dropped you a private message on here giving you my e-mail address. I figured I'm going to be asking you a LOT of questions, so rather than take up space here, we should take it to e-mail.
But rest assured, you're not going to be a "lone hypo" in here anymore!

[kate_ce1995]

Sue,

I for one would not mind at all if you guys took up some space here for this discussion. I have some issues with low blood sugar and since going on hormones for all my GYN problems, they seem to have gotten worse. When I was a kid, my Mom took me off sugar to help irratability and crankiness. At that age, when I didn't understand it, I think it just increased a lot of the crankiness because I was being denied something I really like (I too am a carb junkie).

Katy

[tex]

I have to agree with Katy. The purpose of this forum is to discuss anything and everything that interests you, so long as it's not offensive, and we're all here to learn.

You'd probably be surprised to know how many of us have mysterious issues with sugar. As Geri is well aware, I'm one of those, who is hungry for insight and information on the topic.

Never hesitate to post about somthing like that, because for everyone who may find it boring, there is probably someone else who is thinking, "eureka, that's exactly what I've been looking for". LOL.

Wayne

[moremuscle]

Hi friends,

I agree with Katy and Wayne that the topic is very interesting and may apply to more of us if only we knew. Sometimes a discussion like that can open new doors; it will give insight into a part of human digestion that we all have in common - even if we are not borderline diabetic we all digest glucose (carbohydrates) in the same way; the mechanisms are the same. It is valuable to understand this so we can begin to be aware of how the food we eat affects us in our everyday lives.

I am intrigued by what Geri said about the feeling of doom that she experienced sometimes before she started getting her glucose levels under control. I have always suffered from mood swings and often experience what I refer to as desparation, lately I have started thinking of it as a feeling of panick. Just reading Geri's description of her experience makes me think I ought to pay more attention to how/if there is a correlation between getting this feeling and what I have eaten prior to it.

Please, don't be shy to use the forum for discussions relating to our digestion or health.

Love,
Karen

[Geri]

Hello, everyone.

I'm glad that Katy and Wayne suggested continuing this topic here, because I feel that sugar plays a big role in MC, and that it is the cause of continuing problems when diet and/or meds don't work.

I was also interested to read Sue and Katy's posts about low blood sugar being connected to hormonal changes. I never thought of hormones being to blame, but I started having problems with blood sugar around the same time as perimenopausal symptoms started. If anyone knows more about this subject, I would love to hear from you.

I think sugar is as addictive as any drug, and causes so many problems to our heatlh. It is very hard to give it up, and even after being off of refined sugar for a long time, I still crave it at times...I don't give in, though.

I will be looking forward to reading everyones thoughts on sugar, and hearing from others who may have had problems with blood sugar levels.

Love,

Geri

[starfire]

I'm glad you are continuing the discussions here also. In fact I have sent my sister the URL for this thread. Thought she might be interested. Visitors can read posts but not respond - Right??

Shirley

Hi Vickie (If you read this)!!!