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blood sugar crashing/ reactive hypo

psychod787

Member
Messages
24
Location
United States of A'merca!
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Ignorant people. Donald Trump! lol
I will start by saying, that I used to be 400lbs. I went through massive weightloss, on my own, no surgery, I lost 210lbs in about 2 years. I lost the first 70 in one year just by walking and eating less.

I had a fasting bs at the md of 339, an A1C of 6.3, Triglycerides of 1200. I then separated from my significant other, and went a little wild, over 140lbs in a year! I am now 6'1" 184lbs. I lift 4 days a week, do 20 minutes of yoga 4 days a week and average over 7000 steps a day. I was fairly low carb while I was losing weight, but now that I am active, I need the energy now, so I have had to have carbs back into the diet. I never went VLC, usually about 150 a day. I now eat 200g protein, 250 carbs, low GI carbs!, and about 85 fats, most poly unsaturated, and monounsaturated.

The trouble I am having, is about 1h 15mins after eating, my bs falls out. I have never seen my bs go above 124 after eating about 70 grams of carbs, with 40grams protein and 20 grams of fat. I know reactive hypo usually happens when phase 1 insulin response is not strong enough to drop bs. Well mine kicks in no matter what I eat. Low carb, high fat with moderate protein.

I am eating 5 times a day as they say, with mixed media meals and vegetables with high fiber to slow the release of the bs, also high fiber low gi carbs, such as, quinoa, steamed brown rice, boiled and cooled sweet potato, with skin on. I am kinda lost. I went to the endo, and she told me to up my carbs. The real problem, is I have been falling out at the gym. I ate 30grams of carbs with 20 grams protein to 10 fat 90mins pre, Ezekiel bread 2 pieces with all natural, no added sugar almond butter, 2 tbsp,60 mins pre, and then strawberries 1/2 cup with 3/4 cup no fat greek yogurt with raw broccoli, and oilive oil 30mins pre. when I started my first set of bench, my bs was 104. Perfect. I got through 2 sets, and felt my heart rate elevate, 100 is high for me now, then a cold hot sweat, and shaking.heart palpitaions, BS was 61! I then ate the other half my berries and yogurt with 1 tbsp agave. BS was 109 30 mins later, as it should be. Then powered through the rest of my work out. When I finished, I was 46! WTH!

At this point I am lost. I am doing as they tell me, but bs still crashes! Help please if you have any! Is this my bodies way of trying to make me fat again? I crave sweet things constantly when I crash, but I refuse to eat them. I used to have a deep so called addiction to sugar! I rarely now even eat agave or honey because of my past.

My average sugar intake is about 48grams a day, and that includes my 1 serving of low GI fruit a day I have, and the high veggie diet I have with my meals. I generally eat low GI veg, such as broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, etc. I have been told that I do not have diabetes by one md, one said I was pre and another said there is nothing wrong with me, one says I am type 2 in remission. Last a A1c was 4.9, fbs usually american measurement 72-83. When I state 48g of sugar, I am stating the carbs that are actually sugar, not polysac chains.
 

First of all - huge congratulations and respect for what you have achieved so far - its truly amazing.

The one thing that jumps out at me is your fat proportions . You might like to think about adjusting those proportions to a more natural mix of the proportions that would simply come from real food - i.e. don't be afraid of the saturated fats - that would probably allow you to get a much wider range of foods in your diet . Overall evidence I've read has been that a good way to go is - eat natural proteins as you like, they will contain saturated and unsaturated fats . try and get your omega 3 % up - its generally very very low unless you deliberately add in fatty fish and limit seed oils.

There is also quite a lot of evidence that athletes can still eat low carb diets - look up Dr Ted Naiman a low carb fitness guy and Prof Tim Noakes - who has a lot of stuff on endurance , exercise and fitness on low carb diets. so maybe think about switching your diet around to a lot more fats including saturated fats and a lot less carbs. I know a few young guys who have made the switch to low carb eating and still include intense exercise with no ill effects as long as they eat enough food overall. If you can find a way to keep the exercise going but fuelled by fats instead of carbs you may find you have much less pressure on your system as you are actually exercising.


I eat 60% fat, 22% of that saturated - I've been doing it about a year now.
(My recent blood tests all show the saturated fats are good for my cholesterol - all markers)
One thing I have noticed is that the more embedded into my system LCHF is, the less my blood sugar reacts to anything - food - exercise, running, swimming, nothing much seems to change it . In the early days I could reliably change my high BS readings with exercise up and down depending- now it pretty much stays rock solid no matter what I do. I eat about 40 g carbs per day.

good luck
 
Real respect for the attitude and attention to detail about your weight loss, you are trying against all odds to be healthy despite your condition!
Welcome to the forum, we RH ers have our own sub forum and we have lots of information about how we treat the condition and the vatriety of types of hypoglycaemia that there is.
The thing that stands out for me is the amount of carbs you are eating!
Even low GI carbs can be too much.
Your initial insulin response is weak, so the secondary response is an overshoot to compensate, so you get the high then the low.
If you don't hyper, it follows you don't hypo.
Our endocrine system is wired to produce insulin in excess amounts, the trigger being carbs or glucose, doing very low carb is the only dietary course of treatment that can do this.
It helps steady your blood glucose levels and in my experience, being in or near normal blood levels is where my body likes to be.
It helps my health, symptoms dissipate and I have great energy levels and feel healthy.
Exercice is good but can and will intentionally raise your blood levels to compensate. Too much rigourous exercise will cause your lows. I found that moderate exercise can be just as effective and better for control.
You don't need the carbs for energy, I have lived, worked, have good health without carbs despite all the medical advice.
You are asking because it's not working for you at this time, you are trying to get information about how to get your balance of fats, protein and carbs right?
I had to experience and experiment with a glucometer to discover what food I could tolerate to not send my blood glucose levels high to offset the insulin response. My worst was starchy vegetables, then wheat and grains, rice, lactose, then fruit. I eat natural foods like salad vegetables and protein, meat, eggs!
Low fat is bad for me, full of sugar and lactose! I only cook in natural fats, no vegetables oils, anything polyunsaturated is not good.

In essence, what you have been told is healthy is probably not!
You have to eat to not trigger the insulin response.
You have to find your own personal healthy lifestyle, like I did!
Your glucometer is a great tool to teach you what is healthy for you and seeing the raise in blood glucose levels is bad!

Do read our sub forum.
I have reactive hypoglycaemia and have had one hypo in nearly four years since my last eOGTT.

Best wishes
 
thanks for all the responses, but one of the things I am trying to understand is, why am I dropping, if my bs never get's too high? It tends to be below a hundred at the 45 minute mark after eating. I have actually taken my bs ever 15 mins post eating to see how high it gets.
 
If your carb intake triggers a large insulin release, then it may also overshoot, and send you too low.

This happens to a lot of people with reactive hypoglycaemia.
Basically, carbs => rising blood glucose => insulin response => keeps the blood glucose down, and then drives it further than ideal => a hypo.
There is a second hormone called glucagon which is supposed to be released to halt the action of excess insulin, but for some of us the glucagon is also a bit out of sync. And there is another process called a liver dump, where stored glucose is released from the liver to top up dropping blood glucose levels. But with exercise, that may not happen quickly enough.

All speculation, of course! you would need proper tests to establish exactly what is happening in your particular circumstances.

Everybody varies a little, and it may be that exercise is part of the process for you. In contrast, I tend to find that exercise prevents me from hypoing, but as I say we all vary.

Ideally, you would get referred for some testing, and then get some sensible advice about carb control and avoiding the excess carbs that set you up for the situation. But that rarely happens with the NHS. It is well worth talking to your doc about it though, and see if he/she is one of the enlightened ones.
 
LOL! I am a bloody yank! We have private healthcare! LOL The NHS might be better! Thanks for the info ma'am. My endo told me she thinks its me not eating enough carbs. I am starting to wonder. I also put a message out to my online lifting/ nutrition coach to see if I can do a lean bulk low carb higher fat.
 

Since my last test, my spike isn't as high as it use to be.
Good control and getting my balance of food and exercise more or less right has helped this. I don't eat carbs!

Simply put, various foods spike you.
Your blood sugar levels rise higher than normal.
Your first insulin response is supposed to correct the spike, it doesn't!
A secondary response happens, this floods the bloodstream, an overshoot.
The overshoot perpetuates an excess of insulin, which drives the blood sugar levels down to hypo levels.
Because of the imbalance of your glucose/insulin, glycogen/glucagon chemical make up of your blood, your brain triggers symptoms of the spike and the hypo!
Constant food of the wrong type (usually carbs) this is the craving for sugary foods.
You eat carbs to counter the symptoms, you again spike, you again go low.
Your fluctuating blood sugar levels up and down causes more symptoms and your health suffers.
It is a viscous circle, only stopped by dietary control.
Eating to keeping your blood sugar in normal range is the best treatment.
Exercise will help, as will portion control.

Regardless of where you are, sir!
A very low carb diet will help you control the condition and bring better health with it

Best wishes!
 
wow! I do crave sugary things Lamont! I just have not been eating them! So I guess the only good news from this is, I am probably not a diabetic. As far a portion control, I have been weighing and measuring for the last year or so. So, that is not a problem. I have also stopped taking the Alpha Lipoic Acid my MD told me to take. If I am going hypo, do I need to make myself more sensitive to my insulin? I will say this, you folks have given me more info than I have been able to find in weeks! I love to learn. Is it true a low carb diet makes you less hungry as well? I appreciate the best wishes, and will reply with a, "CHEERS".
 
I haven't felt hungry for years!
I have been in ketosis for about two and a half years or more.
When I said that I eat when I want, I use intermittent fasting when and where I am. Food is not a three meals a day. I believe I just eat because I need food, I'm not sure I do. I feel better without food!
It's weird, maybe because its weird to have a pancreas that misbehaves.
I think I have trained my system to accept that food is not as necessary to cope with my active life, as I fat burn for energy, the food that I do eat goes to muscle fat and I can't believe how little food I need to be healthy. And I am!

I lost between five and six stone, just reducing my carb intake and doing a little more and eating less. Fasting is good for me, finding that balance, is crucial!
Testing, experimentation, testing, tweaking your foods to suit your tastes.
Eating healthy for you! (It probably won't be what a doctor or dietician would advise!)
But that is why we are here!
We are weird and wired up different to how we 'react' to what is supposed to be a staple food diet!
For every staple food there is a low carb alternative.
I eat fresh meat, veg, proteins and use natural foods and fats.

No processed foods, no low fat, no complex carbs and certainly no low GI foods.
They all have an effect!

Cheers!
 

I actually make my own smoked salmon 3 times a week! I do get my omega 3's! lol I also eat eggs and some butter. I just try and limit them.
 
psychod787 said:
I actually make my own smoked salmon 3 times a week! I do get my omega 3's! lol I also eat eggs and some butter. I just try and limit them.
Click to expand...

great - please post how you you smoke it there is no need to limit eggs or butter particularly - just carbs
 
CherryAA said:
great - please post how you you smoke it there is no need to limit eggs or butter particularly - just carbs
Click to expand...
I have a small portable natural gas smoker. I usually smoke over apple or cherry. Oak or Hickory can overpower the fish. I usually use a light lemon brushing, and finish with stone ground mustard and fresh dill! I often let hit cool in the icebox overnight, and eat it cold.
 
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