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How long to get past having false hypos?

ButtterflyLady

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,291
Location
New Zealand
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Acceptance of health treatment claims that are not adequately supported by evidence. I dislike it when people sell ineffective and even harmful alternative health products to exploit the desperation of people with chronic illness.
I've been back on the LCHF wagon for 2 weeks and it's going well. My fasting BG is averaging around 5.2 and I'm staying well under 7.8 after meals. I think my ability to tolerate normal BG levels is improving, because 2 weeks ago I would feel weak, dizzy, and spacey between 5 and 6, and now that only happens when I am below 5. I am hoping that one day I will be able to tolerate being at 4.5 or even 4.0 and feel fine. I imagine people with no BG regulation problems feel fine at 4.0? Is this do-able for a T2 diabetic?

I would like to be able to go up to 5 hours between meals and not have to worry that if I don't have a snack after 3-4 hours I will feel terrible and then be tempted to overeat. I have slow colonic transit and at times I have no appetite... I think my lower GI tract is saying don't eat or the upper GI tract will send it back as reflux or just make me feel too full and uncomfortable, even with a small meal.

This morning I woke up 830am and had no appetite until 130pm when I was feeling weak with a false hypo at a BG of 4.7. I'd had a boiled egg at 1030 to try and fuel my body while I waited to get an appetite. I ate a small bowl of yoghurt and berries and felt a bit better. It's now 3.45pm and I feel full and bloated with no appetite... most probably due to the slow colonic transit. Sigh.

I would love to be able to wake up, eat a small breakfast and feel fine until lunchtime, eat a small lunch, and feel fine...

I'm trying flaxseed for the SCT, and trying to drink more water.

Can anyone relate to the discomfort of false hypos, and does anyone know if they get better over time?
 
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones because I don't think I've ever had a false or any other kind of hypo - I think I have a trigger liver though and get dumps well before that stage. I've never taken a measurement below around 4.5, so no idea what it would feel like to go lower. After my intermittent fasting experiment, the good thing is that my liver dumps aren't taking me nearly as high as they used to, which is a huge relief.
 
It feels a bit like how you feel if you have a tummy bug or a fever or a fainting/dizzy spell. When it happens I feel weak and clumsy, and a bit panicky too. It gives me an insight into what T1s and others on insulin go through with real hypos, which are no doubt worse.
 
That's interesting - I've been getting the fainting/dizzy spell feeling (along with weak and clumsy) and have been putting it down to raised blood pressure. I'll have to check my BG next time it happens.
 
Still having false hypos... does anyone know if this gets better?
 
CatLadyNZ said:
Still having false hypos... does anyone know if this gets better?
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Of course it does, usually you ask the poster to reduce the baddies a bit more but not in your case. You will have to be a little patient. As with a lot of things in a change of diet/lifestyle, carb flu etc, it's will power that will see you through it.
Up the full fat a little if you can, drink more water, add a little salt.
You do know these things, but because it's you, it is different. For You!
 
CatLadyNZ said:
Still having false hypos... does anyone know if this gets better?
Click to expand...

How frequently and at what times of the day/night are you having these episodes? Can you associate them with any particular food or beverage? The false hypo sensations could also be a sign of sensitivity to something you're eating. (Just trying to think outside the box.)
 
Thanks for your post. At the moment I think I will hold off on upping the full fat because I am having GI issues and I suspect the recent increase in fats may have contributed to my already diagnosed slow colonic transit getting slower. I think both problems are inter-related - I feel miserable and have low appetite from SCT/delayed gastric emptying, which lowers my BG and takes me into false hypo territory, then I feel nauseous and have a headache, which puts me off eating further. It's even hard to drink water because my stomach tells me I am chock full when I'm not. I am seeing my GP today for something else so I will ask about the SCT.
 
I'm not sure, I'll monitor it and let you know. It seems to be at all times of the day. My FBG today was 5.1 and I felt unwell. Thanks for your post.
 
I saw the GP and she prescribed an additional stronger laxative that should gets things moving again over a few days. I am feeling much more positive now.

My FBG today was 5.1 and all I've eaten today is 150ml of yoghurt and two barley sugar lollies, and it's after 1.30pm now. But I don't feel weak or hungry at the moment and I'm sure my BG has not gotten too high from the lollies. I can't face the thought of being below about 6 at the moment, until my severe constipation has been relieved and I feel like drinking and eating normally again. Then I will try to tackle the false hypos (and obviously will not be eating lollies, lol).
 
When you had the 4.7, given that meters can be out, you might have been havung an actual hypo. DonnellyDogs takes flaxseed for SCT and I can vouch that it works because I don't have SCT and one tsp gave me a rear end incident
 
Celeriac said:
When you had the 4.7, given that meters can be out, you might have been havung an actual hypo. DonnellyDogs takes flaxseed for SCT and I can vouch that it works because I don't have SCT and one tsp gave me a rear end incident
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Thanks for the info. Sorry you had that experience... I wish flaxseed would do the same for me but I now think it will take a few weeks to work. It's amazing how slow my colon can be - I'm on movicol, laxsol, lactulose and psyllium and still nothing after 4 days I am about to call the doctor and ask for something stronger.
 
CatLadyNZ said:
Is this do-able for a T2 diabetic?
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I think it is do-able. I used to get low BG symptoms at 4.6 and now I wake up, do 30 min of exercise, take a shower and I'm 5.3 before I eat breakfast. I could never do that before, I'd feel faint and fear collapsing 3 min into exercise. I no longer have low BG symptoms before meals.

I have been adjusting my diet for the past two years though and the low BG symptoms have been getting better at every stage, but it's the LCHF that's knocked it on the head. So now you're on LCHF and you say things are getting better for you, I would say you're on the path to a life without low BG symptoms. So stick with it!!

I do hope you get your digestive path working, it's not nice being bunged up.
 
Many thanks
 
I have been on LCF for about 18 months now. My BG averages between 4.2 to 5.8, with an occasional 6. When it started going below 4.8, I started to get some of the symptoms you describe, and I now that I need a boost. I carry Fruit Pastiles around with me, and use them.

These occasions are rare, I can count about three in the last six months, and I think that early warnings are if I start to feel a bit 'strange' meaning not my normal self. I will do a quick check to see whether BG might be the issue. Portable kit is handy to have around. I don't have high blood pressure or similar ailments which might cause such symptoms, so normally attribute them to low BG and respond accordingly.

I have had one episode in the period since diagnosis, which seriously worried me. Early this year, I was away for a weekend training, and traveled by road. When I arrived I felt quite 'strange' faint, sick and dizzy. I quickly checked my blood and found it down at 2.5. I was able to take some sweet drink and a snack and 1 hours later it was back over 4.5, and I felt better.

The worry of course was driving in that condition? Now, I am more careful and check BG before travel, ensure that I have eaten and have plenty of fluid available and an emergency pack of chocolate of similar just in case. Fortunately, it hasn't repeated itself and when I spoke to the DNS and GP, both said that it was probably because I hadn't eaten before travelling and not to worry too much about it.

For me, I hadn't felt the affects of low BG coming on, perhaps because I was driving, but that has made me much more alert to the problems of missing meals etc. And I ensure that I follow my routine of eating 3 regular meals a day no matter what else is going on.
 
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