Low Blood Sugar, Less Sugar Intake ? Posted: 07-10-07 04:32am
Why is that when you are hypoglycemic it
is important to avoid foods with lots of
sugar in them? I understand that
vegetables are always healthier, but how
does taking in more sugar cause more
problems with blood sugar levels?
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-10-07 11:18am
Because your pancreas overreacts and
continues to release more insulin than is
necessary. If you happen to have
functional hypoglycemia, it won't matter
what you eat, but reactive is the type
you're talking about.
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-10-07 12:46pm
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
Because your pancreas
overreacts and continues to release more
insulin than is necessary. If you happen
to have functional hypoglycemia, it won't
matter what you eat, but reactive is the
type you're talking
about.
Oh okay, I'm not really sure whether I
have hypoglycemia for sure or not, but I
do know my blood sugar is lower than most
people, so I might as well start taking
steps. Could you explain the difference
between functional and reactive?
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-10-07 14:08pm
Functional just means it's generally low,
but you'd be able to eat whatever you
want. Reactive means that it's low, but
you have to restrict what you eat because
certain foods and carbohydrate loads cause
your pancreas to overreact.
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-11-07 16:31pm
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
Functional just means it's
generally low, but you'd be able to eat
whatever you want. Reactive means that
it's low, but you have to restrict what
you eat because certain foods and
carbohydrate loads cause your pancreas to
overreact.
That makes sense. How could I tell which
one I have? If I have it.
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-11-07 16:33pm
If you can eat candy bars with no problem,
you don't have reactive.
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-11-07 22:55pm
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
If you can eat candy bars
with no problem, you don't have
reactive.
that's sort of a bad example, because i
never ever liked candy for some reason,
nor soda or anything of the sort. what
about fruits? they have alot of sugar even
though they're healthy.
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-12-07 08:18am
No, that's a very good example because if
you can eat something like that, your
pancreas is not overreacting. If you
can't, it is. It's the easiest test in
the world if you haven't started a better
diet yet. Fruit should not make a
difference even if you have it, so long as
you are eating no more than 1-2 servings a
day at first, nothing dried and no
bananas.
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-13-07 16:42pm
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
No, that's a very good
example because if you can eat something
like that, your pancreas is not
overreacting. If you can't, it is. It's
the easiest test in the world if you
haven't started a better diet yet. Fruit
should not make a difference even if you
have it, so long as you are eating no more
than 1-2 servings a day at first, nothing
dried and no
bananas.
ok, thanks, this information is helpful. i
do have one more question. my ears have
been popping lately almost all the day
every day, but at some points it's more
noticable than others. i also occasionally
feel like things get slightly more blurry,
it's hardly a problem, but it seems just
enough of a change that it's noticeable. i
read that both blurry vision and popping
ears are symptoms of hypoglycemia. but
these came suddenly after i'd had a case
of insomnia, which i'm over now. and
wouldn't my ears pop only when my blood
sugar is low? do you think it would have
to do with the blood sugar or anything
else that you know of?
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-13-07 16:51pm
Ear and eye problems are common,
especially tinnitus (spelling?), which
essentially means any ringing or odd
sounds in the ears. The insomnia is also
a symptom. What do you mean only when
it's low? If you mean that you feel fine
otherwise, the problem is that with
hypoglycemia (reactive), the constant
cycling of sugar causes problems to occur
after a readable level. So you could take
your sugar reading while feeling awful and
find it normal. The reason why is that
the effect took place before, and the body
is starting to adjust it but you haven't
felt the full completion of it yet. Just
how the body works. Imagine a lake that
someone dumps gasoline in and although the
initial corruption may burn off pretty
quickly, it could, say, gradually effect
plant life, which will then take time to
return to normal, same thing.
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-13-07 18:27pm
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
Ear and eye problems are
common, especially tinnitus (spelling?),
which essentially means any ringing or odd
sounds in the ears. The insomnia is also
a symptom. What do you mean only when
it's low? If you mean that you feel fine
otherwise, the problem is that with
hypoglycemia (reactive), the constant
cycling of sugar causes problems to occur
after a readable level. So you could take
your sugar reading while feeling awful and
find it normal. The reason why is that
the effect took place before, and the body
is starting to adjust it but you haven't
felt the full completion of it yet. Just
how the body works. Imagine a lake that
someone dumps gasoline in and although the
initial corruption may burn off pretty
quickly, it could, say, gradually effect
plant life, which will then take time to
return to normal, same
thing.
that makes perfect sense. my typical
readings two hours after a meal are
typically between 80-90. and one time i
got up in the middle of the night when it
had been a while since i last ate and it
was 73. so i'm not sure exactly how low it
gets when i haven't eaten for a while. do
you think that's low enough to generally
cause those symptoms?
the weird thing is they initially tested
my blood sugar and found it to be 90
fasting. and made me take this sugar drink
to take my blood sugar every half hour for
two and a half a hours. it took a while
for my blood sugar to go down although i
had plenty of insulin and c peptides
cycling through my blood stream. i think
it was kind of a fluke due to certain
exceptions.
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-13-07 18:32pm
Did they tell you to fast before the test?
What were your readings again? It's not
the level of the drop, it's the speed
that's important, because your brain can't
cope with it.
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-13-07 20:05pm
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
Did they tell you to fast
before the test? What were your readings
again? It's not the level of the drop,
it's the speed that's important, because
your brain can't cope with
it.
right, the speed was slow because for a
while, at first it was at 200. but then it
started going down and doing what it was
supposed to do. i think that was 167 or
something around an hour/an hour and a
half.
However, since then, taking it on my own,
my readings have been low, and from what
i've learned my symptoms better fit
hypoglycemia than hyperglycemia. even
after drinking nearly half a Sobe(31g of
sugar in the whole thing), along with some
stromboli and spinach, 2 hours later it
was at 83. but without drinking the sobe,
it was 89 one time after i ate two pieces
of large pizza. so it seems that it may be
possible that i'm somewhat reactive even
if technically you have to be lower to be
hypoglycemic.
it's kind of unusual that it would have
been so high when they tested me. but i
believe it may have had to do with my
menstrual cycle. because i found a website
that said "many woman reject their own
insulin 3-5 days before, during, or after
their menstrual cycle." i don't know if it
could truly make it that high though. they
said they found plenty of insulin and
c-peptides in my blood though.
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-15-07 18:36pm
A drop of around 40 in an hour is not very
slow at all actually. What is your level
like when you get up in the morning? Does
it ever go over 90?
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-16-07 00:28am
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
A drop of around 40 in an
hour is not very slow at all actually.
What is your level like when you get up in
the morning? Does it ever go over
90?
no, i haven't seen it over 90, but i've
only taken it a few times. i took it this
morning an hour after eating a bowl of
rice krispies and it was at 87. but i
don't know what it was before. so what
does it mean if it takes my blood sugar
down low, but is also slow processing?
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-16-07 08:51am
I'm not sure I understand your question.
I suggest taking a reading before just to
see and then around every half hour
thereafter for about two hours to see what
it does.
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-16-07 11:17am
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
I'm not sure I understand
your question. I suggest taking a reading
before just to see and then around every
half hour thereafter for about two hours
to see what it
does.
that's what they did at the doctor's
office. i did something a little bit
similar to that this morning, but not so
many sticks. i took my reading this
morning when it had a been a long time
since i'd ate. then i took it again
immediately after i ate 2 bowls of rice
krispies. then i took it an hour later to
see how much it went down.
before-75
immediately after-103
hour later-80
but as for what i was asking: you said it
wasn't the reading that mattered so much,
but the speed that it went down. so i waas
asking what does it mean if blood sugar is
generally low but processes slowly after
you eat? or is that possible? because low
blood sugar is hypoglycemic. and blood
sugar processing slowly would be more
diabetic.
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-16-07 22:11pm
You have a decent drop there. What do you
mean by slow to process?
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Karcx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2007 Posts: 22 Location: VA
Posted: 07-17-07 18:28pm
Stan Stepanic
wrote:
You have a decent drop
there. What do you mean by slow to
process?
I meant as in blood sugar slowly lowering,
particularly referring to the test at the
doctor. But I think that was a fluke.
And you mean decent drop as in a good
thing? I've heard that these levels
(around 70-90) are normal and I've heard
that they are low from different sources.
I mean which are they and how can I know
for sure?
Oh, and also, I already mentioned that my
ears pop 24/7. I know that can be a
symptom, but it shouldn't be that often
should it? I'm not really sure if that's
due to blood sugar though, because I'm
having some issues with anxiety as well.
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1652 Location: ,
Posted: 07-17-07 21:50pm
The level is determined by the individual
primarily for hypoglycemia. If it drops
30mg in an hour and there are symptoms,
then that's low for that person. I wish
you had some sort of readings stretching
over about five hours. It would be a pain
but very helpful, one hour is not really
enough because I can't see what happens
afterwards. Sorry, but still am not
certain what you mean! Hahahahaha. You
say slow but the test at the doctors
indicates a 33mg drop in an hour. Mine
would only drop 30mg per hour and I would
get awful symptoms, so I wouldn't
call that slow.
