Extreme Sleepiness, Weakness and Shakiness?

[Ginger38]

I have recently been having spells where I get extremely sleepy, like can’t hold my eyes open, get shaky and weak. I fall asleep and am like out cold. I have been to the doc recently and nothing was out of normal for me. I do have other medical issues. Just wondering if this could have anything to do with gluten / celiac or if anyone else has had these spells. 

[knitty kitty]

@Ginger38,

Have you checked your blood glucose levels during one of these episodes? 

[Ginger38]

1 hour ago, knitty kitty said:

@Ginger38,

Have you checked your blood glucose levels during one of these episodes? 

No… I’m too chicken 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

[knitty kitty]

@Ginger38,

Are you keeping a food journal?  

Is there a food that might have been eaten prior to this reaction?  Some people have been known to faint when exposed to gluten.  

Have you eaten a high carbohydrate load before these episodes?  

Are these episodes related to POTS?  Were you physically active beforehand? 

What other medical issues?  

[Ginger38]

31 minutes ago, knitty kitty said:

@Ginger38,

Are you keeping a food journal?  

Is there a food that might have been eaten prior to this reaction?  Some people have been known to faint when exposed to gluten.  

Have you eaten a high carbohydrate load before these episodes?  

Are these episodes related to POTS?  Were you physically active beforehand? 

What other medical issues?  

I have been trying to keep a food journal. I had a spell like that today. I had eaten bacon and gluten free pizza.  I didn’t eat until around lunch. I try to count carbs bc of my sugar issues and I also have central hypothyroidism, ptsd, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, SVT/tachycardia and palpitations, fibromyalgia 

[knitty kitty]

@Ginger38,

Gluten free facsimile foods are not allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol Diet (AIP), if you're going to do the AIP diet.  

Gluten free facsimile foods are not enriched with vitamins and minerals like their gluten containing counterparts.  

So you basically had a high carbohydrate meal after skipping a previous meal.

Skipping meals is not a good way to keep your blood sugar down.  Developing low blood glucose can sneak up on you while you are waiting for the next meal.  Then with the sudden influx of food demanding digestion, there's not enough blood glucose to fuel both thinking and digesting, so the brain shuts down.  I have had some scary lows.

I have eaten high carbohydrate meals and could not stay awake afterwards.  Part of my problem was being diabetic and thiamine deficient.  (Up to 90% of diabetics are thiamine deficient.)  The body shuts down some functions (like thinking and being awake) so it can deal with the influx of carbohydrates and protect the brain from high glucose levels.  

These highs and lows are dangerous.  A person with extremely low blood glucose or extremely high blood glucose can go into a coma and not wake up at all ever.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-coma/symptoms-causes/syc-20371475

Be aware that many anti-hyperglycemic drugs like Metformin, glipizides and glyburides cause thiamine loss.

I have had hypothyroidism.  My hair fell out by the handfuls.  There's evidence that Thiamine deficiency occurs in hypothyroidism.  This article explains...

https://thyroidpharmacist.com/articles/thiamine-and-thyroid-fatigue/

And this one...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24351023/

I've experienced PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression.  Again, these are manifestations of Thiamine deficiency.

Neurological, Psychiatric, and Biochemical Aspects of Thiamine Deficiency in Children and Adults

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6459027/#!po=0.471698

I've had SVT/ tachycardia and POTS.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28531358/

And...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2644268/

I've had symptoms of fibromyalgia.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669831/

Thiamine deficiency affects how the whole body works.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8451766/

And...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8533683/

I've lost vision due to thiamine and other vitamin deficiencies.  I'm legally blind without my extremely strong glasses. I'm sensitive to light.  I get ophthalmic migraines when exposed to computerized screens on phones, tablets and flat screen tv's.  During ophthalmic migraines, I lose my vision.  Everything goes dark.  After several hours or days, my vision returns.  My ophthalmologist said that my vision may not return at some point after one of these episodes.  I continue to post  here so others can learn and not suffer unnecessarily.  (Thanks, @Scott Adams!)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9331791/

My doctors didn't recognize malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies as a cause of my health problems.  Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can and do occur in Celiac disease. 

Doctors are trained in institutions funded by pharmaceutical companies to prescribe pharmaceuticals which cover symptoms, but don't fix the dysfunction.  In seven years of medical school, they get about fifteen minutes of nutritional information. 

Thiamine deficiency affects the mitochondria, the power plants inside cells that produce energy so the cell can function properly.  If the cells cannot function properly, organs and nerve systems start to malfunction.

I took responsibility for my diet and my health.  It was a scary and a bumpy journey.  But I'm glad I can share what I've learned with others.  

Hope this helps!

Edited February 1, 2023 by knitty kitty
Additional information

[Ginger38]

6 hours ago, knitty kitty said:

@Ginger38,

Gluten free facsimile foods are not allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol Diet (AIP), if you're going to do the AIP diet.  

Gluten free facsimile foods are not enriched with vitamins and minerals like their gluten containing counterparts.  

So you basically had a high carbohydrate meal after skipping a previous meal.

Skipping meals is not a good way to keep your blood sugar down.  Developing low blood glucose can sneak up on you while you are waiting for the next meal.  Then with the sudden influx of food demanding digestion, there's not enough blood glucose to fuel both thinking and digesting, so the brain shuts down.  I have had some scary lows.

I have eaten high carbohydrate meals and could not stay awake afterwards.  Part of my problem was being diabetic and thiamine deficient.  (Up to 90% of diabetics are thiamine deficient.)  The body shuts down some functions (like thinking and being awake) so it can deal with the influx of carbohydrates and protect the brain from high glucose levels.  

These highs and lows are dangerous.  A person with extremely low blood glucose or extremely high blood glucose can go into a coma and not wake up at all ever.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-coma/symptoms-causes/syc-20371475

Be aware that many anti-hyperglycemic drugs like Metformin, glipizides and glyburides cause thiamine loss.

I have had hypothyroidism.  My hair fell out by the handfuls.  There's evidence that Thiamine deficiency occurs in hypothyroidism.  This article explains...

https://thyroidpharmacist.com/articles/thiamine-and-thyroid-fatigue/

And this one...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24351023/

I've experienced PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression.  Again, these are manifestations of Thiamine deficiency.

Neurological, Psychiatric, and Biochemical Aspects of Thiamine Deficiency in Children and Adults

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6459027/#!po=0.471698

I've had SVT/ tachycardia and POTS.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28531358/

And...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2644268/

I've had symptoms of fibromyalgia.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669831/

Thiamine deficiency affects how the whole body works.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8451766/

And...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8533683/

I've lost vision due to thiamine and other vitamin deficiencies.  I'm legally blind without my extremely strong glasses. I'm sensitive to light.  I get ophthalmic migraines when exposed to computerized screens on phones, tablets and flat screen tv's.  During ophthalmic migraines, I lose my vision.  Everything goes dark.  After several hours or days, my vision returns.  My ophthalmologist said that my vision may not return at some point after one of these episodes.  I continue to post  here so others can learn and not suffer unnecessarily.  (Thanks, @Scott Adams!)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9331791/

My doctors didn't recognize malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies as a cause of my health problems.  Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can and do occur in Celiac disease. 

Doctors are trained in institutions funded by pharmaceutical companies to prescribe pharmaceuticals which cover symptoms, but don't fix the dysfunction.  In seven years of medical school, they get about fifteen minutes of nutritional information. 

Thiamine deficiency affects the mitochondria, the power plants inside cells that produce energy so the cell can function properly.  If the cells cannot function properly, organs and nerve systems start to malfunction.

I took responsibility for my diet and my health.  It was a scary and a bumpy journey.  But I'm glad I can share what I've learned with others.  

Hope this helps!

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge to help others!! I must admit I have not been as dedicated as I need to be with the sugar issues. It’s just hard. I have been prediabetic / insulin resistance for years. This year I’ve had 2 A1C readings in the diabetic range for the first time. I do take metformin. I just don’t know what to eat. It was so much easier to manage sugar when I could have gluten. These gluten free breads and crackers and pizza crusts and things seem I really screw my sugar up. I like tuna but I want something with it. Peanut butter crackers was a go to for me. Can’t have those anymore. I mean I’m truly losing my mind over this. 
I know skipping meals isn’t good.. I just get so bummed out over figuring out what to eat I just don’t. The diabetic coma thing is very scary I guess I just figured mine isn’t that bad.. yet 
 

[Eileen1959]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:31 AM, Ginger38 said:

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge to help others!! I must admit I have not been as dedicated as I need to be with the sugar issues. It’s just hard. I have been prediabetic / insulin resistance for years. This year I’ve had 2 A1C readings in the diabetic range for the first time. I do take metformin. I just don’t know what to eat. It was so much easier to manage sugar when I could have gluten. These gluten free breads and crackers and pizza crusts and things seem I really screw my sugar up. I like tuna but I want something with it. Peanut butter crackers was a go to for me. Can’t have those anymore. I mean I’m truly losing my mind over this. 
I know skipping meals isn’t good.. I just get so bummed out over figuring out what to eat I just don’t. The diabetic coma thing is very scary I guess I just figured mine isn’t that bad.. yet 
 

Hi Ginger, I have similar problems and have to cook all my food. Do you eat rice? I buy my gluten free flour and pizza mix from gfjules.com  Jules Gluten-Free flour and mixes are on her site and it is a good company that is dedicated to just serve people who need gluten free products. 

As far as crackers are concerned, I have found a good rice thin cracker that is from the Sesamark company. I order them on Amazon. I try to keep things simple...meat and vegetable dishes, beans, eggs, etc. Do some research if you can and you will feel more empowered over your diet and not feel so bad.  I hope this helps. 

[Scott Adams]

Unfortunately rice would not be the first choice for those who are pre-diabetic, as it converts quickly to sugar in your blood. You may want to explore the low carb, high protein products, and there are many, including crackers.

[knitty kitty]

@Ginger38,

Sorry it's taken so long to reply.  We've had some connectivity issues.

I started the AIP diet because I was having difficulty controlling my blood glucose levels.  On Metformin, I had lows when it kicked in and then highs as it wore off.  Add in Gastroparesis and I was a mess.  

I also started Vitamin D supplements.  Vitamin D helps improve insulin resistance.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4499086/

After I began the AIP diet, I didn't have extreme highs and lows.  I feel so much better.  With a low carb diet like AIP, SIBO bacteria get starved out and beneficial bacteria can flourish.  It does take a period of adjustment.  It's the SIBO bacteria sending messages to your brain to eat more carbs because that's what THEY like.  But that's not what works for your body.  

Do keep a food journal.  

Hope this helps!