Who's Hypoglycemic?

[zip2play]

Ok I was reading what everyone typically eats, so many of us noted hypoglycemia!

I am hypoglycemic and have been all my life. I can remember as early as 4th grade, after a typical breakfast of carb loaded cereal and milk, by 10:00 a.m. I was shakey and sweating! I have always struggled with it. Before I learned what it was and such, I thought I was just such a FAT KID that I needed to truly eat more than anyone else. That's why I was a mess a couple hours after eating!

Is there a link between hypoglycemia and Celiac? I do know that hypoglycemia if out of control, will lead to diabetes. I think I have read a link between being diabetic and celiac.

I am curious as to what others think??

In January 2002, I went on a low carb diet to lose weight. I was successful. Took off 40 pounds. Felt great. Then about 1 year later my gluten problems started! HMMMMM

Monica

[penguin]

To me, it makes logical sense that they would correspond. I mean, if you're not absorbing much in the way of nutrients, what's keeping your blood sugar going?

I know since going gluten-free, my hypoglycemia is A LOT better.

I haven't done any research on it, but I saw on a symptom list somewhere that hypoglycemia was listed.

[Clark Bent as Stupor-Man]

I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia after a glucose tolerance test a few years back. I've always been very symptomatic for hypoglycemia since a young age. When I was in middle school and had a late lunchtime, I had to get permission to go the nurse's office during the school day and eat a snack because I wasn't able to make it until lunchtime without feeling out of it. Both of my parents are hypoglycemic as well.

I'm hoping that my need to eat frequently will decrease with this whole gluten-free thing once I start absorbing nutrients properly and whatnot.

[penguin]

I knew I saw it somewhere:

Open Original Shared Link

[WGibs]

I am not diagnosed hypoglecemic, but I have learned that I need to eat regularly or I will get nauseated and dizzy. I used to be able to go the whole day without eating. Sure I would get hungry, maybe a little light headed, but I could get through. No longer!

The first time I knew something was odd was several months ago when I went to do some shopping after work. On my way home on the subway, I got so nauseated and everything went dark. I had to just sit down and put my head between my legs right in the middle of the car! It passed and I managed to get home, but it was only 8pm and that never would have happened before.

Now I feel hungry about every two hours...if I go 5-6 without eating, I get so sick that I'm basically done. I just have to eat and go to bed, and give my body a couple of hours to recover. This has gotten worse since going gluten-free, but I'm fairly new to the diet, so I'm thinking I'll adjust.

[Guest Robbin]

Hi All. I am hypoglycemic too and have been told by drs. that it is a pre-diabetic condition (Type 11) My oldest son is a type 1 diabetic (since age 9) but the weird thing was that when he was about 6, he had low blood sugar problems. My other son is showing the same symptoms (hypoglycemia) and I know they both have gluten problems. I am still trying to convince them and going through the gamut of tests myself, but the gluten free diet has helped me considerably. Rash gone, diarrhea gone--first in about 20 years of this off and on--also, my mother, brother, and both grandparents-who are all type 2 diabetics--all had low blood sugar problems years before getting diabetes. Some are overweight, but not obese, so I am convinced that I am on to what has caused this "curse" on my entire family. Hmm, maybe we should be some kind of medical test case for the researchers! Probably most of the people on this forum have similar stories. When will the medical community wake up and see these obvious connections to celiac/gluten? In all probability, there are a lot of drs/researchers studying this, just need to get the word out and the funding in.

Also, wgibs, always take a snack of protein and carb with you wherever you go. Keep a pack of lifesavers with you. Cheese sticks, rice cakes and peanut butter, things like that for the protein/carb if possible. It takes about 20 minutes to come out of it, and when you do you feel like crap, I know, but if you can eat a meal after the episode and lie down for about 30 minutes it helps snap you out of it. Eat the lifesavers or some simple sugar right away and then the protein if you feel like you will pass out. It is important to give it about 20 minutes to reach your blood stream. This can be dangerous. I learned these things the hard way. Nearly blacked out driving on the freeway one time. BE CAREFUL!!!

[BeccaM]

Wow!

This is wierd...

I was diagnosed reactive hypoglycemic about four years ago after a glucose tolerance test. Aren't those the worst?

I have so many episodes, and i try so hard to balance my meals, I guess that when you aren't absorbing correctly though, nothing is going to make a difference.

I am so glad that I'm not alone in all of this.

-Becca

[Guest Robbin]

It does make you feel better somehow knowing you're not alone. I feel better finding all of you here, since my family, with all they have with the diabetes and the related problems with that, really are not listening to me about this, but I guess I can understand their side. They are emotionally overloaded and diet restricted already. Take care of yourselves, there is a definite link and we DON'T want anymore problems, right?

Diabetes is a hell of its own.

[penguin]

I believe this list has saved my life on more than one occasion, I usually keep a coke in the car for this reason: Open Original Shared Link

Also, I've read that there are two types of hypoglycemia, one is a precursor to diabetes, the other isn't. The one that is a precursor is when you wake up with low blood sugar and have low blood sugar between meals, the other one happens 1-2 hours after a meal.

My doctor told me mine is reactive and nothing to worry about.

Here's an article about it: Open Original Shared Link

I know reactive hypoglycemia kind of runs in the family, but I got the worst of it

And only 2 people in my family have diabetes (type 2), and they never had hypoglycemia before diabetes, it's a wierd thing.

[zip2play]

Wow this is so interesting! I am the reactive hypoglycemia. I have not had a medical test to prove it, that isn't necessary. I try to couple all carbs with protein. In our house, even prior to gluten free diet, all meals are centered around protein! That helps a lot. When my Gluten symptoms were getting worse, my hypo. was out of control. I mean horrible. Now that the diet is in check, it has been much better!

I know since going gluten-free, my hypoglycemia is A LOT better.

ME TOO!

This has gotten worse since going gluten-free, but I'm fairly new to the diet, so I'm thinking I'll adjust.

Are you coupling carbs with protein? That is extremely important. Never have just bread or such, always have some protein with any carbs, even sugar!

Monica

[penguin]

I try to couple all carbs with protein. In our house, even prior to gluten free diet, all meals are centered around protein! That helps a lot.

My mom goes into "feed Chelsea" mode when I get shaky and nauseated and basically shoves a block of cheese or a boiled egg down my throat.

A bowl of cereal for breakfast is a cardinal sin in her house

There was nothing worse than having mono, unable to eat, swallow, or move and being siphoned protein shakes through a straw by force

I still have nightmares about Ensure/Boost

[zip2play]

Chelsea did the cheese or egg help? When I have the shakes and such, SUGAR is the only thing that gets me stable.

I have 2 children, I watch them really closely to see if they have issues. My DD is 4, I am almost sure she is going to be hypoglyemic and am wondering if I should have her tested for gluten issues. My bloodtest came back equivacal and my biopsy was negative. But Gluten free living has saved me!

????

Monica

I should add, until just recently, I would not allow cereal in my house either. NOW, if they want cereal they first must eat either 2 eggs or sausage or something. MY POOR CHILDREN!

[penguin]

I've found that the cheese or egg does help, granted, it takes a few minutes more to work and it's harder to swallow when you're feeling like crap, but it buys you more time before your next food.

I know that drinking a coke or eating sugar only buys me about half an hour before I need to find protein. It's all about the protein

[Timber4est]

I am and each year have to go in for the six or 8 hours orange soda test. Those of you that have been tested for it know what I am talking about here.

I manage it through diet, but have found it a little more difficult with celiac to maintain correct sugar levels. I keep getting the shakes and "dumb brain" slow downs.

Deborah

[zip2play]

When I get the shakes, sweating and such, I have to have sugar, then protein must follow once I am in control.

Interesting stuff!

Monica

[Guest nini]

my daughter and I were both dx'ed hypoglycemic prior to going gluten free... the blood sugar issues are def. a lot better since we've been on the gluten-free diet.

[Guest cassidy]

I was hypoglycemic my whole life. It totally went away when I went gluten-free. I am shocked how it can be 4-5 hours after I ate and I'm not a shaky sweaty mess. I do find that when I'm glutened, this is the symptom that bothers me the most and sticks around the longest. The D will go away and I still feel shaky for a day or two.

[gemma]

I'm glad to see this thread was started. I was just going to post one. I posted on that thread about this too (the one about what you eat)

I'll post here basically what I just said there. I'm confused abaout what some of you say about reactive hypoclycemia. I was told there are at least 3 types of hypoglycemia.

Before I was dx-ed Celiac, I was a known hypoglycemic. In fact, Reactive hypoglycemia was my most dangerous symptom when the Celiac flared up. But there is more than one type: fasting (which everyone gets at times - like waiting too long between meals), reactive (where the sugar levels plunge AFTER eating something-usually caused by an allergy or intolerance, like gluten for instance ) and the type I have which is like fasting, but consuming sugar causes my insulin to kick up too high and devour all the sugar, making my levels drop.

If you are just waiting too long between meals, it is understandable you would have fasting hypoglycemia. But I have a theory about Celiac and hypoglycemia: Perhaps, b/c we are somewhat carbohydrate depraved (or, should I say, complex-carbohydrate-depraved), our body is craving sugar.

For those of you who start the day off with sugar, your body isn't getting adequate nutrition from the get-go and the sugar rush is causing your insulin to eat up all that sugar and then some. Same thing with sugary snacks. And this can leave you with no energy, jitters after a few hours, even headaches among other things. And it can take the whole day to get rid of all these symptoms. Your body is constantly fighting to maintain even sugar levels until you give it what it need nutritionally (not the sugar overload).

The best way for a hypoglycemic to eat is to eat sweets sparingly, including fruit, and always have snacks and meals in this combination: a fat, a protien and a complex carbohydrate. If you do get the jitters, begin with something sweet to get the sugar level back up, but follow it up with something substantial right away. I start my day with some orange juice to get rid of the morning jitters and having an egg and bacon - maybe even some gluten-free toast usually ties me over until lunchtime. Leftovers from dinner the night before are the best bet to get you through the afternoon - sans dessert. Having a snack before bed helps tremendously too - as long as it's not cookies and soda or something like that. I have popcorn with butter, then a cookie and milk. the fat from the butter and protien from the milk combat the sugar in the cookie. Gets me through the night, unless I have wine with my popcorn - then I need that OJ boost first thing in the AM. Alcohol is a real killer. I try to have healthy between meal snacks if I need them. Even chips and cheese are healthier than something sweet. Opt for water, decaf beverages or vegetable juice with your snacks. Save the sodas (preferrably decaf), and alcoholic beverages for your biggest meals where the protiens and fats will help control the sugar.

Foods to be weary of:

yogurt (most have atrocious levels of sugar)

dried fruit

baked goods (cookies, cakes, muffins, etc.)

sweet cereal

fruit - especially bananas (unless eating in combination with fat, and protien and maybe even a carb.)

candy (obviously)

alcohol

soda

The amount of sugar you can tolerate varies from hypoglycemic to hypoglycemic. I can't go over 5grams w/out waiting until after a really good supper. Even if I have a good lunch, I can't have a sweet that early in the day.

Just beware of this; reactive hypoglycemia: Open Original Shared Link

This is what causes Type II diabetes and it's very dangerous if not treated.

This was my problem before my Celiac dx. Gluten caused my reaction. I'm lucky to even be here my levels were so low after I'd eat what I thought to be good, healthy meals. It was very hard on my heart.

I should add, that I basically ignore the last half of that article I linked. I guess the Celiac caused me the opposite problem as far as weight, as I lost 10 pounds a week before I went gluten-free.

[penguin]

Hmm...conflicting information...

Oh well, I know the dr said I have the non-diabetes causing one...

She was sure to calm me down and tell me, because I went tearing into the health center first thing in the morning to test my blood because I was so paranoid after too much time on webmd

DH forbade me from going on webmd, not good for the nerves

So far so good on the no gluten no low blood sugar

[zip2play]

I am fine in the morning prior to eating. My overnight fasting bloodsugar levels are great. It is once I have eaten that causes me problems. For instance, if I ate a bowl of bran flakes and milk at 7:30 a.m., by 10:00, I would be sweaty and very shakey. I try to avoid sugar in the a.m. But if I am going to have a sweet treat, I have protein with it.

I am not diagnosed hypoglycemic, but I know I have it. I must not be as severe as some!

Monica

Cassidy, I too have noticed that when I have been glutened, the shakes come on soon!

[gemma]

Ok, I was wrong. There ARE only 2 types, but I can't identify which I am. According to this article:

Open Original Shared Link

I am both, reactive and fasting. But the article I linked in my previous post was what I was like pre-gluten-free. Maybe I still am reactive, but just not as severely (?)

Actually, I was soooooo much better the past year or more until recently. I've suspected that I may be getting glutened somewhere. I'm so tired of not knowing what the heck I'm eating unless I make it from scratch!

[Clark Bent as Stupor-Man]

After my glucose tolerance test, one doctor said my results were borderline. Another doctor told me I had reactive hypoglycemia. As far as I can remember, I was told that the treatment for reactive hypoglycemia is the same as hypoglycemia, and no big deal of reactive hypoglycemia was ever made to me.

I saw two different endocrinologists in the past 3 years. I never got a concrete feel of what was going on with my body and blood-sugar from either one. One I only saw a couple times, and he might have been on the right path as he mentioned something about essentially not processing food right (my body dumping nutrients right when I get them, etc.). The other endo could never figure out what was going on. She always said I had all the symptoms but could never figure out what the problem was.

When I was younger, I was able to manage my fluctuations throughout the day much better. When I was a kid through high school, I simply knew I had to eat frequently, and as far as I can remember, as long as I didn't go long without eating, I was pretty much fine. In college, I could go a lot longer without eating than I can now and could also eat (and drink ) a whole lot more carbs. In the past 5 years (now 25), this whole eating/hypoglycemia thing seems to have become much worse.

I eat a ridiculously high protein diet. I eat protein in pretty much every meal and many snacks. I've been on a low carb diet for a couple years now probably and have avoided sugar for the most part. None of this seems to have been able to solve my medical problems, which has lead me to becoming gluten-free and trying an elimination diet.

I wake up with a headache daily but start feeling better through the morning and don't eat for 2 hours after waking up. If I wait much longer, I will start feeling out of it though. Once I eat, I usually feel alright for some time in the morning, and from then on, it's different each day. After lunch is typically when I feel worst. I've pretty much stopped eating lunch and just broken my workday into 4 or 5 smaller meals to try and manage this.

[gemma]

My endo. couldn't pin down my source of hypo either. We tried absolutely every test he could think of. At first he was firly certain of Adrenal Issuficiency, but cortisol stimulation tests proved normal. He even did a scan for insulinomas. It is incredibly better since going gluten-free, but I do have to be very careful about what I eat and when. I really think that limiting carbs is not the solution for hypo - and was also told this by my endo. Unless gluten-free carbs are substituted we are basically on an Atkins diet, which is known to cause health problems for certain people.

I'm still not convinced this is reactive hypoglycemia. What is it 'reacting' to? Before I went gluten-free I would say it was reacting to gluten, but now I just seem to react hours after eating which makes me believe it is fasting and I just have a fast metabolism. Before being gluten-free I would literally react to eating within 30 minutes. It was horrible. I felt like I was starving all the time and eating didn't fix the problem and only made it worse. I had extremely low blood pressure too I should add, which is also not a good thing. I think what I have now and what many people hear are describing is the fasting type. I just don't see anyone else describing the reactive-type of symptoms I had. It was not just a nuicance and it was not simply remedied by eating. That is a good description of the fasting-type, however.

I am curious how many of us hypo.s are underweight? I am - always have been.

[

[zip2play]

I am not underweight. I am actually closer to NORMAL weight than I have ever been. Most of my life I have been overweight! To the tune of up to 50 pounds. Now I have about 10 pounds to lose!

Monica

[elye]

I have been a type one diabetic for thirty-two years, and a diagnosed celiac for six months. Quite challenging at times! Because I've been tightly controlled for years, I am very often borderline hypoglycemic, in fact I can now function with my blood sugar at around 3 mmol. But when it dips below that, man, get me food! I have found through years of managing this that the best, fastest and longest-lasting food source to take when I'm having an insulin reaction is one or two glucose tablets. I never used to buy these as they're not cheap and I just took hard candies or sugar cubes. However, candy and white sugar are only 50% glucose, and 50% sucrose. Sucrose takes MUCH longer to get into your bloodstream and help you out than glucose does. Glucose takes about a minute, and hangs around for a couple of hours. The tablets are 100% glucose, and they really do act immediately. I've been so many places and felt myself slipping under, everywhere from a bank lineup to the treadmill to an exam room, and a couple of these tablets save me FAST, much more effectively than sugar cubes ever did. Pricey, but worth it, so I advise anyone with hypoglycemic tendencies to try them. Of course, protein shortly after!