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Jennyflower

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 85
Location: london

Help! Doctors Are Useless! Posted: 03-01-06 06:29am


Where do I start? Im still waiting for my year to begin. I had a terrible virus at the beginning of year and was ill weeks. Then just as I was gettign better someone very close to me died and I kept feeling faint all the time....At the funeral I had to stand by the door and keep going out all the time becoz I felt so faint. At first I was willing to listen to the doctors when they said I was run down and grieving and so it is stress. But im not so convinced anymore. I started doing research on low blood sugar...As I seemed to feel better once I had eaten....I purchased a home blood glucose kit yesterday and this morning upon waking my bs was 4.6 (i ate a bowl of muesli before bed at 11pm becoz scared of morning attacks). Then 2 hours after eating a bowl of muesli with semi skimmed milk - I started feeling funny...So checked my bs and it was 3.8! I was so scared! I ate a scone and an orange. And felt fine. I have no idea what I should b eating, doctors have been useless. I hate them right now. No-one will listen to me, my mum and dad are fed up of me and say its all in my head becoz my blood test results came back normal, I have no-one to turn to and I really feel like absolute s**t. Im too scared to exercise and I cant even go out with friends on a night out becoz im scared about having a few drinks and running myself down....Basically my life is wondering what to eat next and worrying about the next faint spell....Please can someone give me some advice...Will this ever go?

Jennyflower

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 85
Location: london

Posted: 03-01-06 06:38am


Sorry one more very important question - is hypoglycaemia the preceding condition which leads to diabetes?

Stan

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Posted: 03-01-06 07:47am


Yes, it will. If you look down a few posts below, in one of them I list my diet regimen, which i'm testing on damien to see if it really works for anyone else. Do you mean your sugar dropped to 46 or 4.6? I think you mean the former. Regardless, that's quite low. Always remember with hypoglycemia, it's not the length of the drop, but the speed of the drop that matters. You have it. I actually had a virus initially that caused my hypoglycemia, it was epstein-barr (virus that causes mono). What blood tests have been run on you? If you haven't had the glucose tolerance test, then you haven't been tested yet. Make sure you read about my diet and then post with any questions you have before you start. Hypoglycemia will eventually lead to diabetes over several years if untreated, yes. Stress will exaberate the condition, but it won't cause it. When you get stressed your body raises the blood sugar in the flight/fight response, which of course in a hypoglycemic will lead to a drop. Stress didn't cause it, but it can make it worse on the days you experience a lot of it.

Jennyflower

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
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Location: london

Posted: 03-01-06 09:17am


Im finding it hard enough to cope as it is, I would never handle diabetes! I just have no idea what to eat. No I meant 4.6. In the uk perhaps we use different units to u. Then 3.8 2 hours after breakfast. So is muesli not good then? I need a cereal I can eat in the mornings. I used to eat weetabix everyday…but found out its high glycemic…..Also for lunch I have a tuna and egg salad sandwich in a big nutty brown roll. I thought I would try having half instead and having the other half 2 hours later...What do u think of this? Also I have alpen bars as snacks…or maybe a whole orange. I need to think of some good snacks. Ive read ur diet but im still getting confused sorry…. The 5 hour glucose tolerance test scares me! I have a big fear of fainting...And I dont think I can go without food for that long without fainting! Won't testing my blood sugar everytime I feel faint for a period of a week will give a good set of results? Also I heard the 5 hour test often comes back normal even when hypo symptoms are being experienced by the patient. I heard of the 24 hour one…but that scares me even more! Sounds very unpleasant! Also how bad can u get with symptoms? I mean what if I wasn’t to eat when I got these symptoms? My symptoms are feeling faint. That’s it really. I get really faint and feel like if I don’t eat I will pass out. Its horrible! And this is everyday a few times a day….Very worrying! Is this normal for hypos? Finally…functional, fasting, reactive!? I don’t know which I have!

Jennyflower

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 85
Location: london

Posted: 03-01-06 09:54am


Just some infohere about my diet and stuff....Is it best to see a nuitritionist or endocrinologist? I am 25, female, I weigh about 8 and half stone (56kg I think) and I am 5ft 3". I started getting faint all the time about 2 weeks ago. Before then it was every few days if that - just didnt think about it really. On a typical day I will eat: 7.00am - bowl of muesli/weetabix or two pieces of wholemeal toast (maybe with two eggs) 10am - apple and banana, or orange and banana. 12.30pm - sandwich on wholemeal bread (maybe ham with salad, or cheese with salad, or tuna) with a packet of crisps or some soup. 2.30pm - muesli bar 4.30pm - apple 6.30pm - yoghurt 7pm - wholemeal pasta with vegetables in a tomato based pasta sauce or meat/fish with potatoes and veg or chciken and veg with rice. 10pm - bowl of cereal nighttime eating has only happened since 2 weeks ago as I dread morning attacks. How does my diet look? Probably bad!!!

sreenivas

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
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Location: Bangalore

Posted: 03-01-06 10:02am

jennyflower wrote:

im finding it hard enough to cope as it is, I would never handle diabetes! I just have no idea what to eat. No I meant 4.6. In the uk perhaps we use different units to u. Then 3.8 2 hours after breakfast.

it is not mg/dl that is mmol/ltr uk parameters are different from us or indian parameters to get reading mg/dl just multiply mmol by 18 it gives you reading in mg/dl.

So 4.6 is equal to almost 80+ mg/dl which does not comes in range of hypoglycemia and even 3.8 comes to 68 or so not a hypoglycemic reading if you are not a diabetic on medication who initially had high blood sugar level.

So kindly check out with your doctor are you really having hypoglycemia or something else before thinking of these things

god bless
sreenivasa

Stan

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Posted: 03-01-06 10:07am


What's she's going by there forgets one thing. It's speed of the drop for hypoglycemics, not the level of the drop. Some have everything within a "normal" range, but have significant drops of 30 over only a half hour. This will cause a reaction. Oh, okay, I see, different testing methods then. No cereal in the morning, as you see in my diet you must avoid grains and breads at first. Muesli is not good. Brown roll is also bad, doesn't matter if you cut it in half. You have to remember, your pancreas is used to being treated poorly, so regardless of how many carbs you put in from bread now, it recognizes the food and reacts as it has been. Alpen bars should also be avoided, i'd bet there are sugars in them and you should never eat a whole orange for a snack. You can test your sugar yourself, as you have, and it should easily show a problem, but if you want a medical test to show to an employer or something you need to take the gtt. Also, this will prove if there is a problem or something else. I'm sure you have hypoglycemia, but it's always good to know for certain just in case. If you didn't eat when you got the symptoms, eventually you'd probably get very anxious as the sugar dropped lower and then panic attacks may set in until your body evens out the reaction, which could take hours. Fainting is a typical symptom, or at least fairly common. You don't have functional type. A friend of mine has that and you can technically eat anything as long as you eat three times a day. You have reactive, based on what you've stated. All the bread/grain products you have for breakfast are bad. A whole apple is suspect, but a banana must always be avoided at first. Some diets i've read even state that after getting stable you can eat no more than one or one half of a banana per week. Avoid them. Never have a whole orange either. If you're eating two pieces of fruit, you've already gone over your quota for the day and you've done it too soon and too quickly. No bread. Stay away from ham, especially if it's lunch meat, because it has sugar put into it. Cheese must also be avoided. Crisps are bad and the soup most likely has added sugar and additives. Muesli bar has either too many carbohydrates, sugar added or both. Can't have more fruit later, you ate it all in the morning. Another apple has put you over the limit. Yogurt should be avoided, especially if it contains fruit, sugar or artificial sweeteners. Pasta, potatoes and rice are probably three of the worst things you could be eating right now. Sauce probably contains sugar in some form. Vegetables you didn't specify, but regardless based on what you said you're already way over the carbohydrate and sugar limit for the day. Adding the bowl of cereal to this before bed is homicide.

Jennyflower

Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy

Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 85
Location: london

Posted: 03-01-06 10:16am


So what do I eat?! That rules out everything! Im sorry I just have no clue what to eat. I was thinking of buying some peanut butter, avocado and oat cakes for my snacks mid morning and mid afternoon. And lots of websites have said wholemeal pasta is fine.....Ugh this is so confusing stan! I find it hard enough getting variety from food as it is.....But ruling everything out...Wow I dont know where to begin. What do u eat everyday? Like for breakfast? And whats the best thing to eat b4 bed to avoid morning faintness? So I wont fall into a hypoglycaemic coma then? Thats my worst fear. And I worry it will happen at night when im sleeping! Thank u so much stan! At last someone hears me!

sreenivas

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 2
Location: Bangalore

Posted: 03-01-06 10:32am

jennyflower wrote:

just some infohere about my diet and stuff....Is it best to see a nuitritionist or endocrinologist?

I am 25, female, I weigh about 8 and half stone (56kg I think) and I am 5ft 3".

I started getting faint all the time about 2 weeks ago. Before then it was every few days if that - just didnt think about it really. On a typical day I will eat:

7.00am - bowl of muesli/weetabix or two pieces of wholemeal toast (maybe with two eggs)

10am - apple and banana, or orange and banana.

12.30pm - sandwich on wholemeal bread (maybe ham with salad, or cheese with salad, or tuna) with a packet of crisps or some soup.

2.30pm - muesli bar

4.30pm - apple

6.30pm - yoghurt

7pm - wholemeal pasta with vegetables in a tomato based pasta sauce or
meat/fish with potatoes and veg or chciken and veg with rice.

10pm - bowl of cereal

nighttime eating has only happened since 2 weeks ago as I dread morning attacks. How does my diet look? Probably bad!!!

you need 1800 kilocalories atleast in a day even if you are not exercising, more if you are exercising and I don't think your calorie intake is even touching 60% of requirement.

Don't worry of putting on extra weight and start dieting too much. Start eating a normal diet of what your family members take, without restrictions and then keep a check on your weight and see are you really putting on weight if not, that diet suits you. Don't go into technicality of any diet untill you have a health condition which demands it. You are too young to think about strict dietary habbits.

Just be normal every thing will be taken care off by your body.

God bless
sreenivasa

Jennyflower

Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy

Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 85
Location: london

Posted: 03-01-06 10:40am


Just tested my blood sugar and it was only 2.1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im really scared now....Surely something serious will happen if it gets too low!??? :shock: :shock: :shock: im now having other half of my sandwich....

Jennyflower

Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy

Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 85
Location: london

Posted: 03-01-06 10:43am


Actually I dont think I got a decent drop of blood out tho.....Maybe that wil skew the results? I was there for a while squeezing my finger and applying it to the strip......Altho the reader doesnt work unless enough blood is there tho....

Stan

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Posted: 03-01-06 11:54am


Hhahahah!!! Are you serious? So you're saying, based on that comment, that i, for example, should be eating pizza and cake? This will not, not ever, work with someone with hypoglycemia. You will progressively get worse and may even end up in a mental institution (it's happened to a few people i've talked to because they didn't listen at first). The body will not adjust, in fact, that's what it's already done. You have to make it readjust so you no longer have symptoms. If you follow my diet, by the way, you'll lose weight, not gain it. If she has it, she absolutely has to restrict her intake of certain foods until her sugar processes stabalize. She can't just "eat what her family eats," this will lead to disaster. It would be good to be tested though, to be certain. A nutritionist would be better than an endocrinologist because the latter can't give you any dietary recommendations in the same level as the former. You're currently doing enough to keep it from getting too low, but over years if you don't correct the diet it will get worse. Look in the thread below somewhere, I tell you exactly what you have to eat. Don't worry about enjoying food now, worry about getting healthy. It takes hard work, but you have to do it if you're sure you have this. Peanut butter and all nut butters should be avoided at first. Last edited by Stan on 03-01-06 13:07pm; edited 1 time in total

fatfamily02

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Joined: 20 Jul 2005
Posts: 3050
Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: 03-01-06 12:34pm


We all had low blood sugars and would feel deperately ill, without eating. And now I myself have turned high blood sugar--my children are still low blood sugar. Anyone know what is the process that makes it change from low to high.?? For my children sake? And I myself have had an 89 while taking meds and I felt I could die any minute. Now I use insulin which works better for me. I would love to be off of it all--but I dont know how I could eat or live without starch, flour, breads, tortillas. These items make me feel better at first--then I crash.

Stan

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Posted: 03-01-06 13:05pm


That's exactly why you have to learn to initially live without them. Your brain is tricking you into eating these things because it wants the quickest fix possible, regardless of what this does to it in the future. I'm not sure what causes the change. I would assume that with such a constant surge of insulin in the bloodstream, the cells eventually switch to become insulin resistant, which then leads to diabetes.

fatfamily02

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Location: Georgia, USA

Posted: 03-01-06 13:29pm


Makes sense to me too---we have always ate high complex carbohydrates. That is what it is called. The carbs that turn to sugar in the body??

sandyallen

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Jennyflower Posted: 03-01-06 14:37pm


I totally understand where you are coming from! I too am a hypoglycemic and I am always carrying around snacks with me, not necessarilly good ones but just something to keep me going, cheese and crackers, raisins, cookies, and I realize that it is not too good for me but in all honesty it helps me to stay on my feet, ever since I have tested positive for mono(ebv) I have had these problems plus cfs(chronic fatigue syndrome) along with other medical problems but we have to keep rolling with the punches and try not to let it get us down. A nutritionalist would be a good idea for you and I am sure that they have some good info on the computer but to me what works for some does not work for others so keep that in mind, I have just learned to eat small amounts more often. But I am no dr but I know my body and even though their are times that I do not make the right decisions, I pay for it later. But their are some good Dr.S out their but their are not alot that I have seen. Good luck to you!

Stan

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Location: ,

Posted: 03-01-06 17:53pm


In all honesty, it's going to make things totally bad in a few years. It will eventually get so bad you won't be able to stand it, trust me, I know because I was first diagnosed with ebv, which led to this and did the wrong things for two years. You don't have to listen, but be warned if you don't, you're never going to get better. I would bet as well that the "cfs" is all related directly to this. Cfs should never be diagnosed without ruling out nearly every mental illness and physical illness in existence. If your doctor was just like you have this without testing for anything, find another doctor. Finding a good doctor is tough, I was lucky enough that my original family doctor was versed in hypogylecmia. What works for some here will work for others. You have to ultimately limit carbohydrate intake. My diet is a suggestion and I want to see how it works for others. Regardless, you need to change things. It would be easy to test things yourself to make your own diet, but you can't do it eating the things you have been. If you have any questions about what to avoid, I can give you a list, or you can just list more things you eat.

Stan

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Posted: 03-01-06 17:58pm


Oh yeah, and you're talking about simple carbohydrates up there. However, keep in mind, everything you eat or drink is converted into glucose for energy, it's the speed at which it is changed that effects hypoglycemics. Thus, simple carbs are fast and complex carbs are slow. The latter is better, of course, but there are some sneaky complex carbs hypoglycemics should never eat until they get their sugar regulated. I've known some who have struggled for the past ten years because they simply refuse to stop eating things like corn and potatoes. It's your choice, suffer for 10, or perhaps, like me, return to normal in a little over a month.

Jennyflower

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
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Location: london

What Did I Do Wrong? Posted: 03-02-06 03:53am


Last night was the worst night ever. I was awake every hour feeling faint and horrible. I had a meal at 8pm of 2 fried eggs in olive oil, organic heinz baked beans, and 2 pieces of seedy wholemeal bread with butter. Then 2 hours I took my blood sugar and it was perfect at 4.6. So I thought, ok good, result! Then just to prevent blood sugar from getting too low at night, I had two teaspoons of peanut butter (25%less fat kind). Two hours after that I was all faint and horrible. But I was too tired to get up so fell back asleep, then an hour later I was so bad I got up and had a few sips of fresh juice and then 4 rasberries. Still I had a rough nights sleep. Blood sugar this morning was 3.9 whereas yesterday morning it was 4.6.....And the night before that morning I had eaten a bowl of muesli with semi skimmed milk and had a good night's sleep. It looks like muesli works well for me... What amazes me is how this got so bad so quickly? It was literally over a couple of days - my grandad died and bam! This happened. Im posting detailed posts about what I eat and how I feel - mayb it will help others?

Jennyflower

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Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 85
Location: london

Posted: 03-02-06 06:58am


Vegetable tonight - I going to fry some veg in olive oil - I was thinking of courgette, aubergine and red/green pepper.....Are these ok? Also what about mushrooms and olives? For lunch im having lentil and bacon soup......Wondering if this is ok too...