Blood Sugar Crash While Sleeping?

[sansglutengrl]

Hey people,

So I've had this strange thing start happening since I was diagnosed celiac. My hunger has been almost out of control, almost all of the time. I've had a hard time finding foods that leave me satiated for more than a few hours for about a year - but I haven't gained any weight, or lost any, so I think I'm ok in that regard.

I'm worried about my blood sugar though - every once in a while I will wake up out of a deep deep sleep with symptoms that I can only classify as a blood sugar crash. My heart is racing, my stomach is nearly screaming with hunger, I'm weak and wobbly - but as soon as I get something in my stomach, water, some juice, a few crackers - I'm totally fine. My diet is very balanced, very regulated, and I eat at almost the exact same time every day - so I can't figure out why it's happening or what's triggering it.

The last time I went to the doctors, my glucose levels were fine, so I don't think it's an extreme problem, I'm just wondering if this is something I should worry about, or if anyone else has experienced it, and if there is any way I could avoid it?? Any ideas anyone??

Thanks!

[Nancym]

Are you eating a lot of starches and sugars? If so, you could be on the road for diabetes. Cut way back on them and concentrate on eating proteins and fats, meat, non-starchy veggies, eggs, whole fruits (not juices) etc and your blood sugar will thank you. What happens is when you eat a big load of starches and sugars your body releases a lot of insulin to bring your blood sugar down. The BS level falling will make you hungry again and can simulate low blood sugar, even if it is perfectly normal. Eventually after years of eating this way your body becomes insulin resistant and has to release ever more insulin. At some point your muscles resist the insulin but your fat cells won't. Then you'll gain a lot of weight. With real severe cases you can lose weight because your fat cells will also become insulin resistant. Then the blood sugar just hangs around and wreaks havoc on your eyes, kidney, etc, etc.

In the meantime, get tested for diabetes (as for an A1c test) and make sure you're not already there.

[aikiducky]

When I first went gluten free i had blood sugar problems just like you describe. I couldn't go anywhere without a stash of food because i needed to eat all the time. It took a few months and then it sort of stabilized. Now I'm three years into the diet and i can do three meals a day without problems.

Pauliina

[elye]

Yep, hypoglycemia is caused by two things: not enough food and/or too much insulin. Carbohydrates cause the blood sugar to rise, and therefore when they are ingested, your pancreas secretes insulin to bring it down. Therefore, a diet loaded with carbs (particularly simple, refined carbohydrate) will cause sudden releases of a lot of insulin, followed by the consequential plummeting of blood sugar levels. You definitely should have the HA1c blood test run...and you might want to have a look at the glycemic index science. Just google it, as it's everywhere. I am a type one diabetic and it has really helped me to keep tight bs control. Good luck!

[dlp252]

I have something similar. I don't get shakey though, but, in fact, the last two nights I've awaken at 1:30 and 2:00 in the morning with an intense burning hunger. I can't get back to sleep, and I know that if I went downstairs and ate something the burning would go away. Last night I even ate a couple of turkey slices about 40 minutes before bed thinking that might help if it WAS hunger...it didn't, lol.

This hasn't happened to me in several months...it used to happen frequently up until then. In my case, I think this was related to H.Pylori. It stopped after I did the treatment for it and hasn't happened at all since then until now. I'm also taking a lot of supplements at the moment, and have started some new ones in the last couple of weeks, so I'm actually hoping it might be that and NOT the H.Pylori.

[dlp252]

Sorry, forgot to add, that I USED to get shakey during the day if I went too long without eating (too long was more than a couple of hours, lol), and I'd kind of zone out. I was certain it was my blood sugar. I didn't have the specific test that was mentioned here, and maybe I should actually, but I did do an at-home test with a monitor (where you take samples at certain times of the day while fasting or after/before certain meals), and all except one reading was in the acceptable range.

[Yenni]

I had that and still get it some, but not as bad as it was. I used to feel like I had to eat all the time. It got better and rarely happens at night any more.

My blood sugar level has always had a tendency to do this my whole life off and on, but not as bad as after I got diagnosed and changed my diet.

I have had my sugar level tested many times and it has always been fine.

I can't eat Vitamins because of this for some strange reason. Since I got diagnosed that is. They make me extremely hungry and my blood sugar drops several times a day. But if I don't eat vitamins I am fine. Strange.

I feel like I have had to, and still do, relearn how my body works. It acts different now in so many ways.

[marciab]

I started on the Paleo diet (meats, veggies and fruits only / low glycemic) in addition to the hypoglycemia diet (eating something every 2 - 3 hours) on November 1st, because of this. And it seems to be helping. I don't feel this way at night anymore and I keep forgetting to eat every 2 - 3 hours during the day. I just don't feel hungry / jittery as often. Those carbs were having a field day with my glucose levels.

I have a friend who has this too and she eats a piece of tuna late at night. This might help help you until your body adjusts.

I agree with Nancy on this. And I'm wondering if insulin resistance explains the muscle fatigue many of us experience too. If our muscles can't absorb glucose, they don't have an energy source. Just thinking out loud here ...

Marcia

[Yenni]

I started on the Paleo diet (meats, veggies and fruits only / low glycemic) in addition to the hypoglycemia diet (eating something every 2 - 3 hours) on November 1st, because of this. And it seems to be helping. I don't feel this way at night anymore and I keep forgetting to eat every 2 - 3 hours during the day. I just don't feel hungry / jittery as often. Those carbs were having a field day with my glucose levels.

I have a friend who has this too and she eats a piece of tuna late at night. This might help help you until your body adjusts.

I agree with Nancy on this. And I'm wondering if insulin resistance explains the muscle fatigue many of us experience too. If our muscles can't absorb glucose, they don't have an energy source. Just thinking out loud here ...

Marcia

I pretty much eat like you do.

I am wondering if the body requires extra when it heals too and one drops in BS if one already have had tendensies to do that from before.

Also just thinking out loud...

I was looking at your signature Marcia and I had the same thing happen with medications as you. Nothing helped. Now I eat mostly veggies and I am much better. I still eat Protonix, but I rarely have heartburn "burning through" the Protonix. I had that 24/7 before on double doses and I tried all the meds there is. I used to get sores in my throat very often and it always ran up my ears when I slept. I had to sit up and it still burnt like nothing else.. Now I sleep flat and I have nothing.

[BRUMI1968]

Just to add another element: are you getting enough water? Dehydration can cause racing heart and shakiness, and usually drinking water quells extreme hunger. I only ask because I often get a stomach ache if I dont' drink enough water, and I often wake in the night too hot and thirsty with a tummy ache.

[sneezydiva]

OMG I just returned to this forum after a few months away, and I had an incident just like that when I first went gluten free! I woke up shakey, sweaty and nauseous. I stumbled to the fridge and drank some milk and immediately felt better. I too, am familar with low blood sugar episodes, but this was much more severe and extremely frightening. If you look back to my posts, you'll see it.

I was doing phase 2 of the South Beach Diet at that time because I wasn't sure about things, and it was easy to follow and naturally gluten free. After that, I made a point to eat more white rice and potatos to prevent the shakes during the day, and to a eat a good meal of carbs and protein before bed. I never had an episode like it again.

[Guest j_mommy]

I would have an A1C done....just testing your blood sugar when you're at the DR won't tell you if you're haveing issues with diabetes...they need to look to see what's been happening for awhile not just once at a visit...A1C lloks at blood sugar over a three month period.

Eat a snack before you go to bed...crackers, popcorn ect.

[Yenni]

OMG I just returned to this forum after a few months away, and I had an incident just like that when I first went gluten free! I woke up shakey, sweaty and nauseous. I stumbled to the fridge and drank some milk and immediately felt better. I too, am familar with low blood sugar episodes, but this was much more severe and extremely frightening. If you look back to my posts, you'll see it.

I was doing phase 2 of the South Beach Diet at that time because I wasn't sure about things, and it was easy to follow and naturally gluten free. After that, I made a point to eat more white rice and potatos to prevent the shakes during the day, and to a eat a good meal of carbs and protein before bed. I never had an episode like it again.

I don't eat any carbs really and I have noticed that if I don't eat the Very berry Bars (that has carbs) I can get BS drops that are nasty.

Some people need them more than others.

[sansglutengrl]

Ok - this is kind of scary! Maybe it sounds stupid, but I NEVER considered diabetes to be an issue... Sounds like I need to wake up and smell the starch~! If you have blood sugar highs and lows (I kind of always have) does that mean you may be predisposed to diabetes or something?

Like I said, I try to be VERY balanced at every meal and I think on the whole I eat much more protein than carbs, and if I eat sugar at all - it's organic - but when I'm super busy or stressed I definitely lean back into the comfort food zone; rice, bread, etc. etc. Yikes!!

-----------------------------------------

I agree with Nancy on this. And I'm wondering if insulin resistance explains the muscle fatigue many of us experience too. If our muscles can't absorb glucose, they don't have an energy source. Just thinking out loud here ... rolleyes.gif

Marcia

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Marcia -

Does this mean that the jumpy-legs that I get every night before sleep could be because of this same issue?!?!?! Could that jumpy-legs be a manifestation of muscle fatigue????? :o

[elye]

If you have blood sugar highs and lows (I kind of always have) does that mean you may be predisposed to diabetes or something?

If you ever have high blood sugar, you've got diabetes.

[silk]

Ok - this is kind of scary! Maybe it sounds stupid, but I NEVER considered diabetes to be an issue... Sounds like I need to wake up and smell the starch~! If you have blood sugar highs and lows (I kind of always have) does that mean you may be predisposed to diabetes or something?

Like I said, I try to be VERY balanced at every meal and I think on the whole I eat much more protein than carbs, and if I eat sugar at all - it's organic - but when I'm super busy or stressed I definitely lean back into the comfort food zone; rice, bread, etc. etc. Yikes!!

-----------------------------------------

I agree with Nancy on this. And I'm wondering if insulin resistance explains the muscle fatigue many of us experience too. If our muscles can't absorb glucose, they don't have an energy source. Just thinking out loud here ... rolleyes.gif

Marcia

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Marcia -

Does this mean that the jumpy-legs that I get every night before sleep could be because of this same issue?!?!?! Could that jumpy-legs be a manifestation of muscle fatigue????? :o

Actually, diabetes is not the only possible villian here although I did read that 3 in every 47 type 1's is has celiac.

Hypoglycemia is the opposite of Diabetes and you can have a tendency to run really low blood sugars which will not necessarily show on a standard fasting glucose test in the Dr's office. Doing the HA1C is a much better way to go.

As a type 1 diabetic I was concerned when I went gluten free about eating too much of the processed stuff because it is soooo loaded with refined carbs which translate into out-of-control bs for me (the other B S too!) I decided right away to leave the processed stuff alone and eat only unrefined (natural) grains and fresh fruits and veggies and I am doing just fine. The only problem I seem to have ocassionally is that I take a quick acting insulin when I eat, calculating the number of units depending upon the number of carbs that I am consuming. I have found that maybe because of the type of carbs that I am eating that I need to pull back on the amount of insulin that I allow for this. Last night was a prime example. I ate Hathor's delicious hot cereal for dinner (yeah, I'm weird. I eat breakfast at dinner and dinner at breakfast.) and took what I thought was an appropriate amount of insulin and crashed two hours later with a blood sugar reading of 42! Had a hard time functioning enough to eat something to bring it back up and the real trick here is that when it's that low you become desperate to eat anything you can put your hands on to bring it back up and I really have to be careful not to overdo it with the carbs. It's really hard not to grab the first thing you see and end up getting seriously glutened! I did a banana with honey and peanut butter and then a little plain yogurt and I was still really good with my BS this morning. I have also noticed that I have had to pull back on the slow acting insulin that I take at bedtime. I am thinking that this is because I am getting the gluten 'poison' out of my body and it is beginning to function the way it is suppose to. Would love to get off of the stuff forever but I think that's probably just wishful thinking. But the situation with my insulin bears out what everyone seems to be saying here that with careful attention to your diet things should balance out eventually.

Low blood sugar feels just awful. I tell my family it feels like I want to crawl out of my skin, eat a horse, and run a 10 mile race barefooted (I get really overheated when I go low) all at once!

If you have a snack before bed, I would really recommend something like an apple or a pear (naturally lower on the glycemic load so it will take longer to work through your system and won't cause a BS spike) and eat it with a few nuts, almonds, walnuts, peanuts or peanut butter, or cheese if you can eat them because protein/fat help to slow the glycemic burn and keeps the carbs in your system longer.

Hope this helps.

[marciab]

I only copied in a small portion of this article, but it explains why some people with hypoglycemia have trouble sleeping through the nite ... and what to do about it ... I'd recomend reading the whole article though. Dr. Myhill does an excellent job of explaining all of this ...

Oh and even though this was written for people with CFS, our bodies all work the same when it comes to blood sugar regulation.

Open Original Shared Link

Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) - a problem for many Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia patients, but treatable

by Sarah Myhill, MD

ImmuneSupport.com

07-24-2007

SYMPTOMS OF HYPOGLYCEMIA

The problem is that when the blood sugar is high people feel

[sansglutengrl]

Oh wow - what excellent information!! Thank you all so much!