Reactive hypoglycemia Success Story

[mejuliee]

Hi all,

I'm not one for posting but this site has helped me so much over the last 13years that I have been suffering with RH that I wanted to share my experience so it may hopefully help others.

My doctor was the same after diagnosis, not very informative and just advised me to eat little & often if I felt hungry! Needless to say this advice didn't work and I discovered after visiting this site that it was in fact carbs that was causing the reaction.

I cut my diet down to very low carb, following some good recipes on the Diet Doctor, a tip I got from this site! And my symptoms improved but didn't go. I was still getting the sick/hunger shakes every 2-3hrs, and although I would manage them with many carb free/low carb snacks throughout the day, I was still not myself.

After many years of this I eventually went Keto for 18months and lived totally symptom free while following Keto. As you have to be very disciplined it is very hard to stick to and so I would allow myself a small amount of carbs on a Saturday and Sunday (usually a small amount of chips on Saturday and a few roast potatoes on a Sunday - that was it for carbs in the week). After following this diet for 18months I have now reversed my RH completely. All of my symptoms have now totally gone and for the last 8 months I have been able to eat completely normally again without any restrictions, something I never thought I would be able to do again. I am still wary of sugar and try not to eat too much, as I believe it was all the energy drinks I used to consume at work that discombobulated my system. However I can now eat chocolate, cakes and as many chips and roast potatoes as I like and I do not have any reaction. I am so thankful to be rid of all the terrible brain fog, irritability, shakes, anxiety - personality changes etc that I hope my experience can at least help someone else.

I hope it can work for you too.
x

 

[EllieM]

@mejuliee welcome to the forums and congratulations on an awesome result. This is a very old thread, would you like me or another mod to move your post to a new thread either in this forum or in the Success Stories and Testimonials Forum.

If so, I'd suggest a title like
"Reactive hypoglycemia success story" (or suggest your own title).

In any case, it's really good to hear your story. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi all,

I'm not one for posting but this site has helped me so much over the last 13years that I have been suffering with RH that I wanted to share my experience so it may hopefully help others.

My doctor was the same after diagnosis, not very informative and just advised me to eat little & often if I felt hungry! Needless to say this advice didn't work and I discovered after visiting this site that it was in fact carbs that was causing the reaction.

I cut my diet down to very low carb, following some good recipes on the Diet Doctor, a tip I got from this site! And my symptoms improved but didn't go. I was still getting the sick/hunger shakes every 2-3hrs, and although I would manage them with many carb free/low carb snacks throughout the day, I was still not myself.

After many years of this I eventually went Keto for 18months and lived totally symptom free while following Keto. As you have to be very disciplined it is very hard to stick to and so I would allow myself a small amount of carbs on a Saturday and Sunday (usually a small amount of chips on Saturday and a few roast potatoes on a Sunday - that was it for carbs in the week). After following this diet for 18months I have now reversed my RH completely. All of my symptoms have now totally gone and for the last 8 months I have been able to eat completely normally again without any restrictions, something I never thought I would be able to do again. I am still wary of sugar and try not to eat too much, as I believe it was all the energy drinks I used to consume at work that discombobulated my system. However I can now eat chocolate, cakes and as many chips and roast potatoes as I like and I do not have any reaction. I am so thankful to be rid of all the terrible brain fog, irritability, shakes, anxiety - personality changes etc that I hope my experience can at least help someone else.

I hope it can work for you too.
x

Thanks for that!
This is the first time in my experience that someone has posted that their RH has gone and now eating carbs again.
I'm not doubting you, whatever it was that changed your trigger, the initial insulin response, then the overshoot which gave you all the symptoms. I would like to know.
I have been in Keto for years now and I don't have symptoms. It's about my control and healthy foods for me.. ..
If you have found that you don't get symptoms because of what you are eating. But to me, it's about avoiding the unhealthy carbs and sugar that trigger the reaction.

If you have a specialist, what tests have you had?
Do you still use a glucometer?
Have you tried fasting?

,I am so pleased that you have got your health back, and for sharing.

Best wishes

 

[mejuliee]

@mejuliee welcome to the forums and congratulations on an awesome result. This is a very old thread, would you like me or another mod to move your post to a new thread either in this forum or in the Success Stories and Testimonials Forum.

If so, I'd suggest a title like
"Reactive hypoglycemia success story" (or suggest your own title).

In any case, it's really good to hear your story. Thank you so much for sharing.

Hi Ellie,

That would be very kind thank you.

 

[mejuliee]

Thanks for that!
This is the first time in my experience that someone has posted that their RH has gone and now eating carbs again.
I'm not doubting you, whatever it was that changed your trigger, the initial insulin response, then the overshoot which gave you all the symptoms. I would like to know.
I have been in Keto for years now and I don't have symptoms. It's about my control and healthy foods for me.. ..
If you have found that you don't get symptoms because of what you are eating. But to me, it's about avoiding the unhealthy carbs and sugar that trigger the reaction.

If you have a specialist, what tests have you had?
Do you still use a glucometer?
Have you tried fasting?

,I am so pleased that you have got your health back, and for sharing.

Best wishes

Hi Lamont,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to share your experiences over the years. Your knowledge on here has helped me immensely over the years so thank you for that.

I do not blame you doubting. At first I found it unbelievable myself and feared it would come back. However I am now 8 months+ since reversal and thankfully it has not returned.

I took 5 years for me to get a diagnosis from my Endocrinologist and so I have had a multitude of tests. My Endo told me to keep a food diary. Which I did and that was how I noticed sugar was the problem causing a high then low. This led finally to a diagnosis. After diagnosis I used an app called 'My Fitness Pal' as it was a handy way to count nutrition.

I do not know what caused me to develop this illness, or what has caused it to be reversed. Unfortunately neither do my docs. So sadly I do not have the answers you need. All I can tell you is once I found out what the problem was I cut all refined sugar out of my diet, kept my natural sugars under 30g per day, and kept carbs very very low. I did this for 13years. No sugar, no fruit (inc tomatoes!), no milk and v, v low carbs. However I would still get symptoms. For me, it was only when I went Keto with no carbs, that I had no symptoms at all. I never fasted. After 18months of being pure Keto, and becoming very thin (I have always had a very high metabolism), a personal situation lead to me being unable to follow my diet as strictly as I would normally for a week. That was how I discovered I could eat small amount of carbs with no symptoms. Otherwise I would still be on the diet now. Then I tried eating other foods I had not touched for years and discovered they too were now ok for me. 8 months later I am now able to eat freely again with no symptoms.

The only other fact possibly worthy of note, is that previous to becoming ill I could not tolerate any spicy food. Even mild chilli was too hot for me. However during my undiagnosed years I started craving green chillies and would even eat a bag of finger chillies like cherries! I could not get enough and would add them to my food all the time. When I asked my Endo about this he said chillies are known to have healing properties and to keep eating them if my body craved them. I would add them to everything, even my daily breakfast of baked mushrooms, scrambled eggs, avaocado & spinach! Not sure if they did help but it's certainly very unusual so who knows?

I'm sorry I can't give you the answers you need but I hope this helps.

 

[EllieM]

That would be very kind thank you.

Done. Here's your new thread.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi Lamont,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to share your experiences over the years. Your knowledge on here has helped me immensely over the years so thank you for that.

I do not blame you doubting. At first I found it unbelievable myself and feared it would come back. However I am now 8 months+ since reversal and thankfully it has not returned.

I took 5 years for me to get a diagnosis from my Endocrinologist and so I have had a multitude of tests. My Endo told me to keep a food diary. Which I did and that was how I noticed sugar was the problem causing a high then low. This led finally to a diagnosis. After diagnosis I used an app called 'My Fitness Pal' as it was a handy way to count nutrition.

I do not know what caused me to develop this illness, or what has caused it to be reversed. Unfortunately neither do my docs. So sadly I do not have the answers you need. All I can tell you is once I found out what the problem was I cut all refined sugar out of my diet, kept my natural sugars under 30g per day, and kept carbs very very low. I did this for 13years. No sugar, no fruit (inc tomatoes!), no milk and v, v low carbs. However I would still get symptoms. For me, it was only when I went Keto with no carbs, that I had no symptoms at all. I never fasted. After 18months of being pure Keto, and becoming very thin (I have always had a very high metabolism), a personal situation lead to me being unable to follow my diet as strictly as I would normally for a week. That was how I discovered I could eat small amount of carbs with no symptoms. Otherwise I would still be on the diet now. Then I tried eating other foods I had not touched for years and discovered they too were now ok for me. 8 months later I am now able to eat freely again with no symptoms.

The only other fact possibly worthy of note, is that previous to becoming ill I could not tolerate any spicy food. Even mild chilli was too hot for me. However during my undiagnosed years I started craving green chillies and would even eat a bag of finger chillies like cherries! I could not get enough and would add them to my food all the time. When I asked my Endo about this he said chillies are known to have healing properties and to keep eating them if my body craved them. I would add them to everything, even my daily breakfast of baked mushrooms, scrambled eggs, avaocado & spinach! Not sure if they did help but it's certainly very unusual so who knows?

I'm sorry I can't give you the answers you need but I hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing your battle with trying to get your diet right to stop the merry go round of highs and lows, the symptoms and the frustration of being told to eat what was making you ill!

I hate chilli! But never had a craving, and, I have a mild curry once a week.
But your breakfast I would enjoy as long as the spinach is not cooked, and because I fast every day, it would be sometime in the afternoon, today, my meal before my window ends is gammon and eggs, maybe a fresh tomato.

My endo, didn't know what caused mine and the other hypoglycaemic patients, I am leaning towards the gut bacteria theory. When something like heliocobacter pylori is prevalent and the likelihood hinders the hormonal response.
But the cause is not the be all and end all, it's about stopping the triggers.
And getting your health back.

Congratulations and best wishes for the future, there's nowt like good news.
I would certainly be adaptable to being low carb and try and put a little weight on.
If you need help, that is why we are here.

Keep safe.