Glucose intolerance?

Hello

I really hope someone can help with some advice - I'm really struggling to work out whats going on with my bod and any help would be very much appreciated.

I'm not diabetic, but I have blood sugar problems - I think I might be glucose intolerant, but I've got to that conclusion just through reading on the internet, so I might be wrong!!

Generally I am fit and healthy - I don't smoke or drink and apart from the odd diet coke, no caffine either. I'm a veggie but still ver balanced i.e. protein from pulses and I have dairy so I get calcium etc. However, pretty much all my life I have had the odd episode where it feels as though my blood sugar drops through the floor and I get a massive urge to eat - more often than not I feel like I have to give in to it and end up eating half a packet of biscuits and some bread within about 2 minutes. Its a physical feeling - like I am craving food and I shake, get very hot and feel weak. The wierd bit is that it happens about an hour or two after I have eaten a big (well, normal size) meal and not after hours of not eating. Its been happening more frequently over the past few weeks but I am at a loss as to whats happening as I always thought blood sugar dips that severe tend to happen if you don't eat for quite a while. Needless to say its driving me mad and making it increasingly hard for me not to gain weight and after successfully shedding over 5 stone 3 years ago, I don't want to gain it back!! I did some reading and it looks like glucose intolerance can cause blood sugar to drop after eating a normal sized meal, especially if you have carbs, so this fits with whats happening to me, but it would be really helpful to know if anyone else has heard of this or knows anything about it. I also read it can be a sort of pre-diabetic state, so again if anyone has heard of this, it'd be useful to know.

Thanks so much in advance for any help and advice.

Warm wishes,
Kim

 

[KimH]

Just realised I managed to post without adding my user name - doh!!

 

[Rick]

Kim, it's not groundbreaking advice but you need to get to the doctors asap. Getting advice and feedback from people on here's all well and good but it's not going to solve any problem that you may be having from a physical point of view. Don't be worried about it, if you've got diabetes then it's not the end-of-the-world that people think it is; just look at some of the posts on here, but if it's 'pre-diabetic' then you might be able to change your lifestyle a bit and stay complication free.
Hope this helps, Rick.

 

[Bobro]

Diabetes is not the end of the world... its worse its the end of Jelly Babys!!! :'(

 

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Rick</i>
<br />Kim, it's not groundbreaking advice but you need to get to the doctors asap. Getting advice and feedback from people on here's all well and good but it's not going to solve any problem that you may be having from a physical point of view. Don't be worried about it, if you've got diabetes then it's not the end-of-the-world that people think it is; just look at some of the posts on here, but if it's 'pre-diabetic' then you might be able to change your lifestyle a bit and stay complication free.
Hope this helps, Rick.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Hi Rick
Thanks ever so much for the kind comments. After I wrote my post I thought just the same thing and I now have an appointment for a blood test early next week. As you say, at least if I can understand properly whats happening I can do all I can to deal with it. Its great to find this forum though so I'll keep a look out for all the good advice

 

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bobro</i>
<br />Diabetes is not the end of the world... its worse its the end of Jelly Babys!!! :'(
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

argh! [:0] next thing you'll be telling me the gingerbread men are gonners!!

 

[Sukaren]

Diabetes is worse than the end of the world....you have to live a miserable, worrying life! Its a life sentence!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rick]

Sukaren, I appreciate that not everyone has perfect blood sugar results and suffers from complications but how about a bit of positivity; if you have a problem then let us know and see if we can help but my life's great and I'd like to think that everyone's could be.

 

[wishywashy]

Kim - I'm new to this too, but for whats its worth I've had exactly the same for quite a long time and I naturally cut sugar out of my diet cos I knew what would happen if had it, which was exactly what you describe.
I used to call it shaky hungry ! when I told my wife I was shaky hungry she knew I had to eat. Anyway to cut a long story short turns out I'm diabetic, doh ! didn't think of that !

 

[dominic]

This is a very similar situation to mine. From what you've said, it seems possible that you may have reactive hypoglycaemia. Unfortuately, this is probably better termed a syndrome, rather than a disease - and it's one you may struggle to either prove conclusively, or get a doctor to recognise - especially if you're in the UK.

If you are RHG, the hot feeling is caused either by excess production of insulin, or by the adrenal reaction as your body drags itself out of low blood glucose levels. Over a period of time, this can lead to adrenal fatigue.

You can self-test with a personal BG meter to get a better idea what's going on with your blood sugar. To do this, you need to test hourly over a 4-5 hour period after drinking 410ml of Lucozade from fasting 1st thing in the morning (NHS 2 hour tests are completely useless, as reactive hypo will give a completely normal reading at 0 and 2 hrs). Before doing this however, it's probably wise to speak to your doctor and to have standard diagnostic tests carried out for diabetes and thyroid function, as the glocuse load could be dangerous if you are diabetic and hyperthyroidism or late onset/autoimmune diabetes can cause similar symptoms.

If you are genuinely reactive hypo, there's no cure as such, but avoiding large intakes of carbohydrate will help, as will eating 6 small meals a day, rather than regular larger meals. There's also a lot to be said for supplementing with zinc and B complex vitamins, but this needs to be done carefully, as excessive zinc intake can cause other problems with copper imbalance, etc.

I would also say that, in my opinion, I believe that RHG is most likely a symptom of the body's endocrine system starting to fail. Careful management of your diet may well prevent the condition progressing into diabetes - but, equally, it may be an inevitable outcome so, even if you do test clear of diabetes at the moment, regular occasional blood glucose monitoring is probably advisable so that you can seek medical guidance if anything does appear to be changing.

You may find these sites useful:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/
http://hypoglykemie.nl/

...and just for the record, I'm in no way medically qualified, so please research all of the above to form your own conclusions. I've just spent a lot of time researching this subject just lately!

Dominic

 

[Dennis]

Hi Kim,

Your symptoms could be reactive hypoglycemia and, as Rick and Dominic have suggested, you need to get an appointment with your doctor to have this checked. This is another link that gives more info on reactive hypoglycemia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_hypoglycemia

but don't just assume that's what you've got - get it checked and confirmed.

 

[sugar]

Good luck Kim...hope teh Dr can help!

 

Hi all

Thank you so much for all the advice and kind replies - it really helps. It feels like a mini minefield of so many different outcomes that to get such great opinions is brilliant. Thanks especially to Dominic - I hadn't come across RHG so I will do some reading for sure.

Its very reassuring to find this forum - I will be sure to stay on, whatever my results come back to be.

Take care everyone and thanks again,
Kim