@David_Jackson I forgot to say that I also wonder if the hunger is also being triggered by your body calling out for extra nourishment due to the CFS. So tweaks to your diet and/or checks on iron, protein, vitamin levels might be sensible, if you haven't already explored that, of course.
The CFS forum members may very well be able to help the OP with his diet. As a DCUK forum member however, I was tagged into this thread and was trying to be welcoming. We have low and high carb posters on the veggie sub forum, it is a broad church. All welcome.@Avocado Sevenfold The OP has normal blood sugar levels with no spikes, and a normal HbA1C, so more than likely may not need to lower his carbs at all. He doesn't have diabetes, and the BS numbers he's reported here are beautifully normal.
As he has another health condition, then I think he's best served by speaking to a doctor or dietician if he feels he could improve his diet. Or indeed, a CFS forum may be able to offer dietary advice that has helped other people in the same situation.
I don't know much about CFS, but know that a bit of fat in your diet can help with curbing hunger pangs. Perhaps you might consider fatty snacks to keep you going until you have your tests done. Nuts, nut butters, avocados, olives, oils for vinaigrettes and plant mayos come to mind.Thanks for the invite @Avocado Sevenfold; yes, I do have some more tests to run before we can say for sure what is going on, but I don't think there is too much harm to be caused by trying a different style of eating and seeing if it helps with the symptoms. And I'd be interested to see how the vegans manage to go low carb, as I was under the impression it was very hard to do as a vegan.
As far as we know david_Jackson doesn't get high BS levels after eating, or rapid on-set lows following, his BS levels are as already mentioned 'beautifully' normal - personally I think we can discount false hypos as well as actual real hypos. But a series of home blood tests would answer that - sorry your fingers will take a beating!
A question to the floor:
What could cause severe hunger pangs typically after 3hrs post prandial? Obviously an empty stomach for one. Other possibilities we've touched on are lack of nutrients and the body crying out for more, unfulfilling diet, sleep deprivation, long term illness. Anything else?
What causes the hypo like symptoms? We seem to agree - hormones. Of the above which is more likely to cause the hormones to kick in? But are there any other bodily mechanism that produces those symptoms?
And David, Can I ask another question, what is your height and weight?
OK, finally I get time to respond. Firstly, I want to say thanks for all the replies, suggestions and theories; this kind of thing is the very reason I joined the forum, and I just knew there would be some brilliant people on here who could suggest some things. Now, my responses:
Yes, I will take a look at the Reactive Hypoglycemia posts, a very good suggestion.
@Brunneria:
Thanks for that, this is certainly a possibility. Actually, one other guy with CFS who has similar symptoms attributed them to something just like what you are describing. He had hyperinsulinemia, and the high insulin would cause his blood-sugar to drop suddenly, resulting in hypoglycemic symptoms. And yet his blood-sugar levels were normal... sounds a lot like me. He had his insulin levels tests with an endocrinologist. I had an appointment with one of them too, at one stage, but didn't have the energy to leave the house... that is the difficulty in getting things tested with CFS, especially when you are housebound or bedbound.
However, if the adrenaline and cortisol corrects the drops in blood-sugar, why do the hypoglycemic symptoms continue? That part is not quite adding up to me. If I were to test my blood-sugar levels every 15 min, do you think I would catch the drop, or could I still miss it? Would a monitor like @paulliljeros is suggesting, help with that?
To take it one step further, lets say your theory is correct, and it is dropping very fast... what to do about that? How to fix it?
@slip:
I'm vegan. So going very low carb is pretty much impossible for me, I think. However, almost all my meals are slow acting carbs, like beans and brown rice etc.
I'm not sure that the stomach is completely empty after three hours... but that is an interesting theory. But why would that be the case? I've never heard anything like it before.
@nosher8355:
Yes, I've heard of idiopathic postprandrial syndrome before... I agree, it does sound a lot like it. How could one fix this kind of thing?
@catapillar:
Sorry, but I don't quite understand... isn't the function of eating (mainly) to keep our blood-sugar good? What would happen for a normal person? Would they eat breakfast, and, then, after about 5 hours, what would their blood-sugar levels be when they started getting hungry for lunch? Would they be around 4mmol/L or 72 mg/dL, as you said above? In other words, wouldn't their blood-sugar going to that level trigger their hunger?
If that is the case, why would I desperately need to eat with a blood-glucose level of, say, 5 or 6mmol/L?
Once again, thanks for all the replies.
Thanks for that @Freema.
Naturally, B12 was the first thing we checked when I lost my energy. It was fine. And, yes, I do supplement it, and I have heaps in the body.
Yes, I have heard the benefits of EPA and DHA. I have tried supplementing with algae oil for a source of these, but saw no change, so have to assume that my fatigue has other causes.
Thanks for your suggestions.
is there EPA and DHA in algea oil....?
Well I see algae oil is seen to be even safer for pregnant women than fish oil ...
Well, there was in the one that I was taking:
http://www.iherb.com/Nordic-Naturals-Algae-Omega-625-mg-60-Soft-Gels/42486
Yeah, I'm considering getting back into it.
I think some fish oils get mercury contamination, among other things, what with how polluted some oceans are now. I think that is why algae oil is considered safer... after all, the fish get their Omega 3's from algae, so why not bypass the middleman (middlefish?), and go straight to the algae?
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