Hypo after eating

[daffy1]

This has just started happening and my gp doesn't seem to believe me even though I've shown her my meter readings and diary notes. In the last couple of months I've had three hypos within 30 -45 minutes after eating a meal. I'm not eating anything unusual just meat and veg. No puddings. I get the usual symptoms sweats shakes and and tiredness. They have gone down as low as 2.9 . I usually have something sweet (glucose tabs) to bring it back up but it takes a long time to feel better. I have been told that as I suffer anxiety this can cause bg to drop by my gp . But surely after you've eaten your sugars should rise and not drop. Anyone else suffer this?

 

[urbanracer]

I am going to tag @nosher8355 and @Brunneria because it sounds a little like reactive hypoglycaemia. They have much more experience than me and can give better advice if that's what it is.

 

[AndBreathe]

This has just started happening and my gp doesn't seem to believe me even though I've shown her my meter readings and diary notes. In the last couple of months I've had three hypos within 30 -45 minutes after eating a meal. I'm not eating anything unusual just meat and veg. No puddings. I get the usual symptoms sweats shakes and and tiredness. They have gone down as low as 2.9 . I usually have something sweet (glucose tabs) to bring it back up but it takes a long time to feel better. I have been told that as I suffer anxiety this can cause bg to drop by my gp . But surely after you've eaten your sugars should rise and not drop. Anyone else suffer this?

Are you still taking Gliclazide Daffy? How long have you been on it?

What were your blood score before you ate, on the occasions when you suffered the hypos? When you say meat and veg, do you have details of the actual meals? Did you verify the hypos by retesting, and what did you come up to, once you had taken some glucose? What is your running range of your bloods, usually? Has that changed of later?

How long have you been eating the same way? Do you carry any excess poundage, and/or have you lost any weight of late?

Sorry for all the questions, but your post is a bit scant to really get an understanding of what's going on.

Sorry, sorry!

 

[Lamont D]

Hi, First of all, anxiety does not cause hypos! It may alter a few tenths but should not be directly the cause.
As @AndBreathe has said the effects of glicizide would bring on a hypo or the symptoms.

I'm not certain that you have RH, but I never had hypos that early or knew I was having hypos, if your awareness is not good, you wouldn't know if you were going low after the two hour testing. I would increase your tests to pre eating, then one hour to find your spike, then two hours, then longer, to see what happens. Of course not eating or drinking while doing this.
This will give you and your GP more of an idea, what is happening.

Saying that, if you have a problem with low bloods, he will have very little understanding of blood glucose disorders or insulin disorders like myself.
They are not been trained or have the knowledge to diagnose these conditions.

Hope this helps.

Let us know how you get on.

There is the RH forum, if you want more information on my condition.
You might recognise one or two things!

 

[AndBreathe]

Hi, First of all, anxiety does not cause hypos! It may alter a few tenths but should not be directly the cause.
As @AndBreathe has said the effects of glicizide would bring on a hypo or the symptoms.

I'm not certain that you have RH, but I never had hypos that early or knew I was having hypos, if your awareness is not good, you wouldn't know if you were going low after the two hour testing. I would increase your tests to pre eating, then one hour to find your spike, then two hours, then longer, to see what happens. Of course not eating or drinking while doing this.
This will give you and your GP more of an idea, what is happening.

Saying that, if you have a problem with low bloods, he will have very little understanding of blood glucose disorders or insulin disorders like myself.
They are not been trained or have the knowledge to diagnose these conditions.

Hope this helps.

Let us know how you get on.

There is the RH forum, if you want more information on my condition.
You might recognise one or two things!

Nosher - I need to clarify a couple of things on your post.

Firstly, I would say that Gliclazide could cause a hypo, or hypo symptoms. I don't think we can be too definite at this stage, without knowing quite a bit more about Daffy.

We don't know how often daffy is testing at the moment, but it sounds, from her OP that she keeps records via her "meter readings and diary notes". I would agree, however, that structured testing would seem to make sense, in order to build up quite an intense data set.

Until it's a bit clearer what's going on for Daffy, it seems a bit premature to suggest her GP won't have much understanding of how to deal with it, and actually, we have no idea.

@daffy1 - A really comprehensive diary of your tests, food you have eaten and where you were on your anxiety scale at the time, might be helpful. Obviously having a hypo is liable to make you feel anxious, but I'm thinking of the time leading up to it. You might also want to add any exercise you do into those records, because some people find their bloods drop either during exercise, or sometimes a while after, when it appears their energy reserves have been used up.

One final thing I hadn't thought of before; have the hypos you talk about occurred at the same time in your cycle?

Daffy, I'd say you are probably in for a bit of detective work for yourself here as fast rising and falling blood scored can take a bit of understanding, as there are so many factor in play.

Keep posting and keep asking questions.

 

[Oldvatr]

This has just started happening and my gp doesn't seem to believe me even though I've shown her my meter readings and diary notes. In the last couple of months I've had three hypos within 30 -45 minutes after eating a meal. I'm not eating anything unusual just meat and veg. No puddings. I get the usual symptoms sweats shakes and and tiredness. They have gone down as low as 2.9 . I usually have something sweet (glucose tabs) to bring it back up but it takes a long time to feel better. I have been told that as I suffer anxiety this can cause bg to drop by my gp . But surely after you've eaten your sugars should rise and not drop. Anyone else suffer this?

Yes I have. I once flopped from an 8.4 mmol/l to 2.1 within 1 hour of eating a substantial meal. Turns out the meal was particularly low carb, and I had taken my full dose of 1000 mg Metformin, and 2x Gliclazide tabs just before the meal. I had also taken a herbal supplement. This was a surprise to me, but I have reduced my Gliclazide dose, and although I get low readings still, they are mangeable. I am certain for me it was a combination of VLC meal with no carbs to speak of, and an 'overdose' of a hypoglycemic drug. Meat and veg can be quite low carb. and may not raise sugars much. The protein in the meal can trigger an insulin response, which can drop your bgl before the protein can be digested into glucose

 

[Lamont D]

Nosher - I need to clarify a couple of things on your post.

Firstly, I would say that Gliclazide could cause a hypo, or hypo symptoms. I don't think we can be too definite at this stage, without knowing quite a bit more about Daffy.

We don't know how often daffy is testing at the moment, but it sounds, from her OP that she keeps records via her "meter readings and diary notes". I would agree, however, that structured testing would seem to make sense, in order to build up quite an intense data set.

Until it's a bit clearer what's going on for Daffy, it seems a bit premature to suggest her GP won't have much understanding of how to deal with it, and actually, we have no idea.

@daffy1 - A really comprehensive diary of your tests, food you have eaten and where you were on your anxiety scale at the time, might be helpful. Obviously having a hypo is liable to make you feel anxious, but I'm thinking of the time leading up to it. You might also want to add any exercise you do into those records, because some people find their bloods drop either during exercise, or sometimes a while after, when it appears their energy reserves have been used up.

One final thing I hadn't thought of before; have the hypos you talk about occurred at the same time in your cycle?

Daffy, I'd say you are probably in for a bit of detective work for yourself here as fast rising and falling blood scored can take a bit of understanding, as there are so many factor in play.

Keep posting and keep asking questions.

Yes, that should have been 'should' not could.
But in my experience, having discussed this with many GPs and dsns and a couple of endocrinologists, it seems that most medical practitioners have not had the training.
But I am assuming!

 

[Mep]

Sorry to hear this is happening. I'm wondering if you're like me and have a mixed reaction to vegetable carbs? I can have a hypo after eating with vegetable carbs, but not grain carbs. I can also get hyper after eating the exact same. I have discussed it with my endo and dietician and they tell me that we all tolerate various carbs differently and if I notice this to make sure I eat a different type of carb with my meal. That works better for me. I don't have reactive hypoglycaemia though. I wish you the best.

 

[daffy1]

Thanks for all your replies. I do have a good understanding of what my body can take in carbs. I've been taking gliclazide since 2010 apart from a short while a few months ago due to my sugars dropping suddenly. But they went high again so I was put back on gliclazide. I am slightly overweight at 10 St 8lbs have been told I need to lose another stone. The only other thing is I have been diagnosed with a fatty liver a few years ago and last year I was diagnosed with a fatty pancreas and was wondering if that was connected and having an effect on BGs. I don't test my sugars every day mainly due to the gps saying I should only be testing twice a week. But if I can feel a hypo coming on I will test a few times over a few hours til, they are back to some normality
I would also add that since Christmas my partner has been having intensive cancer treatment and just recently major surgery that is adding to my anxiety