Reactive Hypoglycaemia

[Nicola_F]

yes I'm already doing the low carb, seeing a great dietician in Luton, the test I had apparently, according to the letter was to exclude RH which is what I was initially diagnosed with, over the past years my blood sugar has gone into double figures, something which it never did before (now on a regular basis) and I can have a hypo without having food and I thought RH was about what you eat.
Apologises for all the questions, I'm probably just thick, I'm aiming to see my doc in about two weeks.
Thanks for the replies and I will read the info that was suggested time is pretty limited these days as I'm a carer for two people on a 24/7 basis

 

[Brunneria]

Hi, thanks for the clarification.

I have/have had RH for decades, and I can hypo without food.
My speciality (cough) is to forget breakfast, feel fine all morning, then crash with a hypo about 11am.
20 yrs ago, I wouldn't have crashed til 3pm.
I guess I'm getting old.

I currently have both RH and type 2.
VERY low carbing controls them both.
But as soon as I eat enough carbs to send my BG levels higher, I end up swinging low with RH again. I had a handy reminder of this only last week, when I ate toast (silly me) then RH struck 4 hrs later.

So, did you definitely, categorically get a clear diagnosis that you don't have RH?
Or are you still waiting for the official result?
Sorry if I am being dense, but I can't work that out from your posts.

If you don't have RH then we need to stop giving you dietary suggestions, until you get that diagnosis. Because we might be suggesting the wrong things.

But if you do have RH, then I would suggest 2 things: eat more regularly, and cut your carbs further (although without knowing how many g carbs a day you currently eat, that is rather vague).

If it helps, I can tell you I eat 20-50g carbs spread through a day. Not sure what quantity nosher eats. If I eat more than about 30g at a time, I'm risking a RH hypo a few hrs later.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi again,
The test proved RH. But if you are having hypos without eating, then there must be something else as well.
I'm not sure but cant' diabetic Hypoglycaemiacs have hypos without eating. I will have to look this up.
Have you been told you are not diabetic?

I can go hyper if not on meds after a high glucose or carb meal. Very quickly, within an hour.
My spike can be as high as 12 in one OGGT that I had. This is a symptom of RH.

There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

Keep asking!

Finally for now, if your dietician recommended eating certain carbs, then she doesn't know how to control the condition.
I very very low carb, if I have more than 50g a day, I'm being a bad lad.

If you want a typical day of eating, I will post it for you.

I've just had,Tesco sugar free and no carb jelly, full fat Greek style yoghurt about 4g and some chocolate. 85% dark choc about 3g. How's that for a supper?

 

[Lamont D]

For the record I will post a typical days menu for me.

Breakfast.

2 boiled eggs and 1 piece of black pudding. Black tea

Mid morning.

Small Apple Black tea

Lunch

1piece Bergen with ham and salad leaves. Green tea


Mid afternoon

Small orange or tangerine. Black tea

Tea

Chicken curry with salad. Diet coke.

Supper

Yoghurt with chocolate and berries.

Obviously with portion control, my control of my blood glucose levels is excellent!

 

[Nicola_F]

I was given the diagnosis of RH about 12-18 months ago, the diabetes doc I saw hasn't been convinced from day one however she has stuck with it for quite some time. My diet is basically the same as what nosher said except fortified milk and full fat things such as flora, what changed I'm nit sure but my bg's fell below 1.3 afew times, dont remember most of them lo. I suppose my big concern is its getting worse and in less than 12 weeks I have a massive surgery ppencilled in, something which I don't want to be delayed again, as I said I'm a carer and its taken nearly six months to get things sorted for those I care for, whilst I will be in hispital for upto 3 weeks, plus further 6 without being mobile.
Also the uncertainty or question marks against the original diagnosis of RH
Causes me some stress. I currently have between six to eight small meals a day all established through my dietician

 

[Lamont D]

When I was first diagnosed, the first few months were really an upheaval of my lifestyle, dietary and how i approached the condition.
at first i was relieved and then as it sunk in, i tried to discover what i could do to live with it.
Control is the key to living with it, not to have all them really horrible symptoms.
Im glad you are controlling it with a similar diet.

To my consultant, i have been a sort of guinea pig, i have been put on sitagliptin, which is a diabetic drug. what it does is without the science, gets rid of the excess glucose in your blood so you dont spike, which kicks off the low. the drug is an inhibitor and it does help me.
my last OGTT , i didnt spike, my highest was 8.7 but after nearly 4 hours i started to hypo, it has given me more confidence to eat without worry and cut down on having more smaller meals. i was having food every two to three hours.

I think that the doctors doubts are causing you to doubt it a little. if you can really accept it, or

I was given the diagnosis of RH about 12-18 months ago, the diabetes doc I saw hasn't been convinced from day one however she has stuck with it for quite some time. My diet is basically the same as what nosher said except fortified milk and full fat things such as flora, what changed I'm nit sure but my bg's fell below 1.3 afew times, dont remember most of them lo. I suppose my big concern is its getting worse and in less than 12 weeks I have a massive surgery ppencilled in, something which I don't want to be delayed again, as I said I'm a carer and its taken nearly six months to get things sorted for those I care for, whilst I will be in hispital for upto 3 weeks, plus further 6 without being mobile.
Also the uncertainty or question marks against the original diagnosis of RH
Causes me some stress. I currently have between six to eight small meals a day all established through my dietician

maybe get referred to a different consultant, as i said many specialists still think its diabetes. this may ease your mind. you have a lot going on and this is also probably having an effect.

Make sure when you go into hospital that your primary care understand your dietary needs, My first hand experience, is when you want something to eat its toast, weetabix or a sandwich and juice for you as a diabetic!!!!!!! What's your op for if you don't mind me asking?
I had to bring food in or go for bacon and eggs.

i don't think i've mentioned fats. I only eat or cook with saturated fat, no polyunsaturated or as few monosaturated as possible.

Gonna have my breakfast now, bacon, eggs and black pudding with a few mushrooms! That will have most dieticians have fits!!!!!

 

[Nicola_F]

lol what you're having for breakfast is what my dietician told me I need to eat and do eat for breakfast.
the op I'm having is gender re-assignment surgery, I was born with the external body of male but internally both genders, with it being a rareity things kind of get complicated very fast lol, its an off-shoot of klienfelters sydrome

 

[Lamont D]

What an extraordinary coincidence. My grandson, but not blood relation has been diagnosed with Kleinfelters. He has been having hormone injections.

Black pudding was wonderful!

Hope your op is successful, you must be like me strong minded and ready to do whatever it takes.

Keep posting ,let us know how you get on.

 

[Nicola_F]

Nosher, its nice to know that they are treating it properly these days and I hope the injections help, given that apparently its such a rarity the coincidence is huge. Anyway thanks for the advice over all, I finally had the last test this week a ct scan yet another fasting one lol, which passed off just without a hypo, 2 minutes later could have problems. I believe this was a scan for insulinoma, so I think my consultant is checking all the bases/possibilities, now its just a wait for the results

 

[Lamont D]

Yes, I know, I have had loads of tests, I have had scans and glucose tests, fasting tests, mixed meal, bloods sent to labs all over the country and God know where else. The worst was the 72 hours fasting to eliminate, cancer and pancreatitis and cirrhosis of the liver,kidneys and pancreas. And to give me the diagnosis for RH.
I have scans on my liver and for lumps around my stomach and also my testicles, I think my doctors thought that I had some form of cancer at times.
But as my symptoms was constant hypos, you can't blame them, they really didn't have a clue.
I think that your RH is a symptom of your other conditions (really don't know what to call it!!!) And you haven't said what form of RH you have.
Most RH sufferers get the condition from trauma or surgery.
I have had neither, or I should say nothing major.
If you look up in Wikipedia, it defines all the different types of RH.

I have what is called Late Post Prandial Reactive Hypoglycaemia.

Yours by your description sound similar.

My consultant says that I'm very, very rare!
My GP calls me weird!

I do still think, that they are joking, and I'm as normal as the next guy, but then reality strikes hard and I have to face it head on. It's difficult for people, mainly friends and some family to get there heads around the unusual things that I have to do and eat to be well. It is against all their dietary education that we shouldn't eat carbs, the sugar they agree about, but you can't have spuds or carrots? They say, why are you just having chicken for a meal, where's the rest?
Why do you have so many eggs and salad?
Surely you can have porridge, it's a super food? What do you eat for breakfast?
You eat animal fat? Eeeeewwwwww!
You have to have carbs!! You have to have complex carbs!

No I don't!


Sorry again for the long post.

Look after yourself. Best wishes.

 

[Balf2015]

Hi all,

I thought I would introduce myself as I am new to this forum.

In the last couple of weeks I've been getting very dizzy on a daily basis and it seems to happen just when I've just eaten lunch.

I had some blood tests and my doctor said that everything seemed fine and I had the opposite of Diabetes which he called 'Reactive Hypoglycemia'. This is the first time I've ever heard of it. He said that my body is too efficient at producing insulin that it gets rid of all the sugar and effectively gives me a 'dip' in sugar where I feel very dizzy and lethargic. I had never felt like this before and at first I was very worried about it and thought it was a virus, but it seems that becuase I have low blood pressure it's triggered these dizzy spells when I eat lunch.
I wanted to ask if anyone on this forum gets these symptoms and how do they manage it? I was told to start eating slow releasing energy foods to prevent me feeling dizzy.

I am a very sporty and slim so I dont' want this to effect me too much that I can't do my exercise.

if anyone can provide me with more information that would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Emma

 

[Lamont D]

Hi Emma,
I have the condition called Reactive Hypoglycaemia.
I'm glad that you have found this thread on this great forum.
I believe if you read the longish thread you will get an insight into the condition.

I don't get the symptoms any more. Because I low carb and eat often enough to offset the hypo.
I am also a guinea pig for my consultant and am taking a gliptin to lower my spike before I hypo.

If you eat small meals every 2-3 hours, stop the sugar and dump the carbs, you will feel better.
The condition can be lived with by diet.
Exercise is good and if you hydrate with water and not juice or sports drinks, you will feel the difference.

I would recommend reading the thread and also my blog called 'A Reactionary'

Hope this helps, ask the questions, I'll try and answer for you.

 

[Jey]

Hi Emma and welcome im a newby as well. I'm getting also low blood pressure and low blood sugar. Do u get episodes of it or nearly constant like that?! I get episodes, I tryed different ways of eating but doesn't matter how I eat, when I get them episodes I'm constantly low ( under 4) . Have it for 2 1/2 years. Have u a appointment by a endocrinologist ?

 

[Lamont D]

Hi @Jey

How are you? How are you coping?
If you are still getting continuous hypos (lows). Maybe have a rethink on your carb and sugar intake.

You still need to look at some of your low GI food, it might still be causing a reaction.
Hope you are keeping a record of your day to day blood glucose levels.

Have you had your low blood pressure diagnosed?

Keep posting and let us know how you are doing.

 

[lcorroth]

Re-post from thread:

For the last month I've been having weird symptoms. I've been extremely tired throughout the day especially after eating. I notice when I eat a meal high in carbs I'm even more exhausted. My eyes hurt and sometimes I get a headache that seems to center around my eyes or an eye socket. To make matters worse some nights I do not sleep well, this whole ordeal has given me horrible insomnia caused by sleep anxiety. I thought maybe I was not getting enough sleep but even with 7 or 8 hours nightly I was still exhausted after eating.

A couple weeks ago, shortly after awaking. I stood up and got extremely dizzy. I had to crouch down or I was sure I would faint. I was rushed to the ER because every time I stood for a while I'd feel faint again. I was kept at the hospital and was informed my blood sugar was low. I don't remember the exact reading but it was low enough for them to keep me. I was given juice. After drinking it my blood sugar was checked again and it had gone down once again. After a while I was given more juice, graham crackers and peanut butter. My blood sugar was checked again and it was normal. I stayed for a couple more hours and was given a full meal,I ate a little and again, my blood sugar was normal. The issue was I had not eaten since the day before, around 12:00pm. However,I had done that MANY times in the past and never felt faint.

I was told it was hypoglycemia and nothing major. My instructions were to eat every few hours. I was told to visit my family doctor to have my levels checked on to see if there was another cause to my hypoglycemic episode. I visited the doctor but since I was convinced the problem was lack of sleep,I was only given an anti-depressant for sedation at night and another anti-depressant to take in the morning my worsening depression over this whole ordeal. I did not mention my ER trip or anything about blood sugar. The problem remained and still remains, no matter how much sleep I get I am tired during the day after eating. Yesterday, I had a meal consisting of a bacon burger, a lot of fries and a huge cookie. Afterwards, I felt horrible, I was barely able to keep my eyes open. After doing my research I'm prepared to get another doctor's opinion and have my blood sugar constantly monitored if needed.

I looked up reactive hypoglycemia and it sounded exactly like my symptoms for the past month.
Horrible headaches centering around my eyes
Daytime fatigue
Brain fog/Confusion -this has lessened over time
Feeling better after eating but then horrible after a couple hours
Shaking hands
Dizziness- esp after a big meal
Heart palpitations- this happens randomly but noticed yesterday it was after my meal
Extreme anxiety for no reason
Light-headedness
Trouble sleeping
Craving sweets
No increased hunger, probably because I'm so stressed and don't take much enjoyment out of eating now since this all began. Plus my anti-depressant is known to decrease appetite


I have yet to change my diet, although I know that may help. However,I'm still unsure if this is a blood sugar issue or maybe chronic fatigue syndrome? Just very strange I had the hypoglycemia episode and that this always worsens after eating.

 

[Jey]

Hi Nosher8355. Thank u for u'r post. Hope u'r well? And u got through Easter well. I'm still waiting for a appointment by a endocrinologist, could be up to 9 months. I'm not measuring my blood sugar, the stripes are just too expensive even through internet! Try to order them soon again! My trampling and shanking has stoped I think it is because better, more healthier food. When I get low I don't notice it much, just my eye vision gets blurry. After that not bad. I'm just a bit sick of all that! Try to egnor it! I'm sorry don't want to sound negative. When I read yours then I think I'm not bad at all. All on u's, have a nice weekend

 

[catherinecherub]

I have deleted your other post @lcorroth rather than having a duplicate on the forum but will still tag @nosher8355 for you.

 

[Lamont D]

Re-post from thread:

For the last month I've been having weird symptoms. I've been extremely tired throughout the day especially after eating. I notice when I eat a meal high in carbs I'm even more exhausted. My eyes hurt and sometimes I get a headache that seems to center around my eyes or an eye socket. To make matters worse some nights I do not sleep well, this whole ordeal has given me horrible insomnia caused by sleep anxiety. I thought maybe I was not getting enough sleep but even with 7 or 8 hours nightly I was still exhausted after eating.

A couple weeks ago, shortly after awaking. I stood up and got extremely dizzy. I had to crouch down or I was sure I would faint. I was rushed to the ER because every time I stood for a while I'd feel faint again. I was kept at the hospital and was informed my blood sugar was low. I don't remember the exact reading but it was low enough for them to keep me. I was given juice. After drinking it my blood sugar was checked again and it had gone down once again. After a while I was given more juice, graham crackers and peanut butter. My blood sugar was checked again and it was normal. I stayed for a couple more hours and was given a full meal,I ate a little and again, my blood sugar was normal. The issue was I had not eaten since the day before, around 12:00pm. However,I had done that MANY times in the past and never felt faint.

I was told it was hypoglycemia and nothing major. My instructions were to eat every few hours. I was told to visit my family doctor to have my levels checked on to see if there was another cause to my hypoglycemic episode. I visited the doctor but since I was convinced the problem was lack of sleep,I was only given an anti-depressant for sedation at night and another anti-depressant to take in the morning my worsening depression over this whole ordeal. I did not mention my ER trip or anything about blood sugar. The problem remained and still remains, no matter how much sleep I get I am tired during the day after eating. Yesterday, I had a meal consisting of a bacon burger, a lot of fries and a huge cookie. Afterwards, I felt horrible, I was barely able to keep my eyes open. After doing my research I'm prepared to get another doctor's opinion and have my blood sugar constantly monitored if needed.

I looked up reactive hypoglycemia and it sounded exactly like my symptoms for the past month.
Horrible headaches centering around my eyes
Daytime fatigue
Brain fog/Confusion -this has lessened over time
Feeling better after eating but then horrible after a couple hours
Shaking hands
Dizziness- esp after a big meal
Heart palpitations- this happens randomly but noticed yesterday it was after my meal
Extreme anxiety for no reason
Light-headedness
Trouble sleeping
Craving sweets
No increased hunger, probably because I'm so stressed and don't take much enjoyment out of eating now since this all began. Plus my anti-depressant is known to decrease appetite


I have yet to change my diet, although I know that may help. However,I'm still unsure if this is a blood sugar issue or maybe chronic fatigue syndrome? Just very strange I had the hypoglycemia episode and that this always worsens after eating.

Hi @Icorroth

Only a fasting test will discover wether you are REACTIVE Hypoglycaemic.
If you have read through the thread, you have many of the same symptoms as I did.
The only thing is I suggest you immediately eat a lot less carbs and sugars and reduce the carbs even more if you can.
You need to stabilise your blood glucose levels. When you do you will notice a lot of the systems lessen and many go completely.
It is the carbs doing it.
Look at the low carb forum.
I still have up to 8 small meals a day, all very low carb. There are many recipes on the low carb forum.
Stay away from processed foods, cook your own and eat more veg and protein. Especially leafy salad type veg.
If you feel the lows(hypos) don't do the high sugar drink way of relieving the low. Have a cuppa preferably without milk and sugar with one or two plain biscuits, then eat a low carb small meal, you will feel better.
If there is any more you need to know poo w ask and also read around the forum and my blog on my fight to get diagnosed.
You will need to see someone especially an endocrinologist, who knows about reactive Hypoglycaemia. As a few wouldn't know from tennis elbow.
Hope this helps.
Keep posting and let us know how you are doing.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi Nosher8355. Thank u for u'r post. Hope u'r well? And u got through Easter well. I'm still waiting for a appointment by a endocrinologist, could be up to 9 months. I'm not measuring my blood sugar, the stripes are just too expensive even through internet! Try to order them soon again! My trampling and shanking has stoped I think it is because better, more healthier food. When I get low I don't notice it much, just my eye vision gets blurry. After that not bad. I'm just a bit sick of all that! Try to egnor it! I'm sorry don't want to sound negative. When I read yours then I think I'm not bad at all. All on u's, have a nice weekend

Hi Jey. Don't treat your condition lightly, you shouldn't have to put up with the way you are. Go back the docs and demand that you need someone to look after your health. You need the testing strips to see what foods do the damage to you. Insist on a trial period testing and make sure you keep a record.
Your post seems to convey you are coping with the low carb diet and your symptoms have eased, the eyes will get better, when the up and down blood glucose levels stabilise. Mine took quite a while to go away. But it will as long as you are in control. Try and remain positive, it will get better if you get to grips with the condition.
Easter was fun with everyone swapping Easter eggs, all the grandkids brought me fresh eggs and some 85% dark chocolate! Wonderful.
Keep posting, keep well, keep fighting.

 

[Jey]

Hi thanks for u'r positive post. Did fresh eggs colouring with my daughter. Not to see the choc eggs all the time . Was good fun and the eggs where delicious and healthy. U too take care