Why do I feel so ill?

[TracyC]

Ok so when my BG is around 7 or even 8 I feel fine, but when its in the 4 to 6 range I feel like death on toast, makes no sense because the lower it is the better its supposed to be, but it appears to work in the opposite way for me. I have been on a LCHF diet for a good while now but the yucky feeling is showing no signs of going away when my BG is on the lower side of normal. Is there anything I can do about it?

 

[Enclave]

Your body gets used to the higher levels of sugar and is not happy with the lower levels . its also missing carbs if your LCHF as carbs are addictive .. Are you eating enough full fats in your meals?
Keep on with your LCHF its working if its keeping you in the lower range .. also every time you go into the higher numbers the longer it is going to be for your body to be happy on the lower sugars

 

[TracyC]

Your body gets used to the higher levels of sugar and is not happy with the lower levels . its also missing carbs if your LCHF as carbs are addictive .. Are you eating enough full fats in your meals?
Keep on with your LCHF its working if its keeping you in the lower range .. also every time you go into the higher numbers the longer it is going to be for your body to be happy on the lower sugars

Thank you. I didn't really eat too much today, skipped breakfast, was out for a meal for a friends birthday and had a steak and mixed green salad and thats really it ... am nibbling on a square of 70% dark chocolate as I type right now as I was craving sugar ( that makes sense now after what you've said ) that and feeling a little better. It's so frustrating though lol. How long does it generally take for your body to become used to far fewer carbs? It's been roughly 6 weeks for me now, maybe a little less...

 

[Enclave]

it took me a few months before I started to feel brilliant ... we are all different ..

 

[Alicki]

What does death on toast feel like? Symptoms?

 

[TracyC]

What does death on toast feel like? Symptoms?

Light headed, headachy, a little bit sick to my stomach, ..irritable

 

[Alicki]

Thanks

 

[mfactor]

Light headed, headachy, a little bit sick to my stomach, ..irritable

yep I feel like that plus a lot of brain fog ,, have been like that since my bloods got to your levels as well, mmmmmmmmm,,,,, I have been on LCHF for 6 months +.........

But in the light of previous posts I am wondering if I am sabotaging myself by carbing up every once in a while........

 

[Dickensfan]

I hope none of you either on this thread or others, mind if I ask what sort of age groups you are in, as I do believe that makes a huge difference to how we feel on a daily basis. I feel like **** to be honest, and I have skin problems which is something I've never had in my life as I've always had good skin, and have never looked my age - but this past few months my skin face and body is so irritated, and is causing me a lot of distress.

 

[Willow_14]

When my diabetes is on the low side I tend to feel sick, shaky, tired etc so I know how you are feeling. I Normally have these things called dextrose when my blood sugar levels are roo low and they seem to do the trick very quickly and get me feeling back to normal soon,

 

[TracyC]

yep I feel like that plus a lot of brain fog ,, have been like that since my bloods got to your levels as well, mmmmmmmmm,,,,, I have been on LCHF for 6 months +.........

But in the light of previous posts I am wondering if I am sabotaging myself by carbing up every once in a while........

I haven't exactly loaded carbs at any point but i have had really bad cravings for the bad bad stuff, like I had a jam donut last week and hated myself for the rest of the day, sent my BG up to 11.1 .. I feel for you, I do, it sucks, fingers crossed it gets better! xx

 

[TracyC]

I hope none of you either on this thread or others, mind if I ask what sort of age groups you are in, as I do believe that makes a huge difference to how we feel on a daily basis. I feel like **** to be honest, and I have skin problems which is something I've never had in my life as I've always had good skin, and have never looked my age - but this past few months my skin face and body is so irritated, and is causing me a lot of distress.

Im 44...45 this year xx

 

[mfactor]

Yep I am 49........................ felt quite bad today, had some roast spuds last night but was probably still around 120g carbs so not super high, bloods were 7 post meal , and 4.8 this morning........

I might try a month or 2 100% low carb to see if my odd carbing up could be the problem.........

Trouble is as the doc said to me everything is connected, it could be stress or anxiety, or my meds which she has just lowered ( metformin and BP meds) or of coarse just the diabetes, or a bit of all 3....

Must admit physically I have felt worse these last few months with bloods around the 5 mark and very stable than last year when I was running at 7 or 8......

 

[TracyC]

Yep I am 49........................ felt quite bad today, had some roast spuds last night but was probably still around 120g carbs so not super high, bloods were 7 post meal , and 4.8 this morning........

I might try a month or 2 100% low carb to see if my odd carbing up could be the problem.........

Trouble is as the doc said to me everything is connected, it could be stress or anxiety, or my meds which she has just lowered ( metformin and BP meds) or of coarse just the diabetes, or a bit of all 3....

Must admit physically I have felt worse these last few months with bloods around the 5 mark and very stable than last year when I was running at 7 or 8......

Totally relate to how you feel, perhaps it is an age thing as well then just to add to the mix. I was wanting to be tested for the menopause because my mood was so bad, but the doctor said he wanted to get my diabetes stable first because it can effect your mood too, who knew?? Like you I have had the odd moment, today I did a roast for everyone here and I did have a small roast potatoes and I'd made them a raspberry pavlova...I just had raspberries and cream ( with a small amount of crushed meringue lol ) ...Thing is sometimes when I'm not in the best frame of mind it actually angers me, I get really P*&^%$£d off with it, its like I cant do anything I used to enjoy before...cant eat the nice things, cant smoke ( ok I know that was bad anyway but even so... ) Grrrr. I don't stay in that sort of mood for long though really, but those are the moments I tend to weaken. Just taken my blood now and I am at 6.1 .... never took them before dinner stupidly was too busy, but the way I see it is I just try and keep them at 7 and below and feel thats ok, at least I hope its ok. Chin up... one things for sure you're not alone! x

 

[Brunneria]

I work on the premise the lower, the better, even though my body sometimes disagrees.

I've been low carbing for years, and have to say that for me, death on toast only happens now with carbs.

However, my body likes the 5-7 mol/l range. It has never liked or been comfortable in the 4s, and nothing that I have ever tried has made any difference to this. I have long ago tried to stop forcing my bg below 5.1ish, because I feel pretty grim, and I never get used to it.

If I stray higher than my comfort zone, I start to feel bad at 8+ (and then feel cruddy for a day or two)
If I stray lower, (say 4.5 or below) my body starts to do the fluttery panicked hypo-incoming thing - but then I have reactive hypoglycaemia so I don't really know what it feels like for a normal T2 at those levels. I have seen some people write that they don't feel anything til they hit the low 3s. I envy them.

I suppose it really boils down to habituation. The body gets used to its usual running level. Stray out of that, and you will start to feel 'wrong'. The more you get used to something, the weirder it feels to stray outside it.

But it is well worth nudging your comfort zone downwards, if possible. As I said, the lower the better (within reason! lol) for your long term health.

I am 49 and feel better than I have for maybe 25 years. It was going very low carb that did it. Kind of like getting a body transplant, to be honest, but there are plenty of people on here who are much older and who run at better blood glucose levels than me - part of it is the hand you are dealt, and part of it is being willing to push through the temporary adjustments that changing ways of eating/lifestyle and exercise require. I remember when I started walking the dogs I had backache for maybe 6 months, then one day it just... wasn't there. My back is now hugely improved on how it was pre-dog, but some days during that 6 months I was crying in pain.