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Low carb failure

Emmar

Emmar

Well-Known Member
Messages
63
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I am type 2 diet "controlled" and have been low carbing since February - I have lost 12lb but my bs levels have barely changed. My HbA1c was 9.2% and is now 9%. About 3 months ago I began experiencing extremely bad anxiety and panic attacks. I have an ectopic heartbeat which has been behaving very badly, leaving me dizzy and more anxious . Today I ended up at the docs with a list of symptoms including night sweats, not sleeping, hot flushes, extra heartbeats, feeling faint. (I am on medication for anxiety but it doesn't seem to be helping much). The doctor says all these symptoms can be attributed to high blood sugar levels- is this true? I accept I must start medication and I am praying that this will cure all - but I don't understand how high bs can explain all these different symptoms (none of which seem 'classic' type 2 symptoms) - has anyone else have experience of 'unusual' symptoms of type 2 diabetes- I'm getting myself very worried that the doctor is pinning everything on my diabetes when it could be something else. (I am aware I do sound a bit neurotic, I am not in the best headspace at the moment). TFR.
 
I would say that yes, all your symptoms MAY be caused by high blood sugar.
- but there are other causes for all of them as well.

Are you testing your blood glucose? If not, then I urgently recommend that you get yourself a meter (T2s not on medication usually have to self-fund, and the cheapest meter I know of is the SD Codefree, available online. It is only £6 ish for 50 test strips, so it doesn't break the bank). Once you are testing, you can see if your symptoms coincide with raised blood glucose.

Can I ask what you are eating? Maybe there are some foods that you think are OK that turn out not to be? Maybe we can help?

There are other alternatives, too. How long have you been diagnosed? There are some people who have a version of T1 that comes on very slowly (called LADA) which means that while a low carb diet helps them tremendously, they will still develop T1 and raised blood glucose eventually. If your diet is very low carb, and your blood glucose is still high, then your doc can run some tests to check for LADA. They are called GAD and C-peptide tests.

- but check your diet out with us before you draw any other conclusions. :)

Hope that helps!
 
Thank you for your reply- I have been following LCHF on this forum, you guys were all very helpful at the start. My diet is very much meat, over ground veg, cheese, eggs, nuts. I do have a meter, my levels haven't gone below 7.5 this year. Last night I had salmon with hollandaise sauce, asparagus and roasted courgettes, tomatoes and peppers. This morning I had 2 eggs scrambled in butter and a cup of tea- 2.5hrs later I read 12.7. I am 5ft 4 and 11st 8lb. I have followed a lower carb diet on occasions in the past and found my levels have improved hugely. But for the last couple of years I have been somewhat lax in my diet. I'm 42 and type 2 for about 8 years.
 
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How old are you? I ask because from the 'advantage' of my great age you seem to have listed many of the symptoms of menopause. if you have already got through this, then it obviously isn't the problem, but if you're far too young it might be an idea to get this checked out asap whilst there is still time for it to be fixed - you may just need a course of hormone replacements and to get your bone density scanned.
Its more likely to be the diabetes so don't let me frighten you.
 
Emmar said:
Thank you for your reply- I have been following LCHF on this forum, you guys were all very helpful at the start. My diet is very much meat, over ground veg, cheese, eggs, nuts. I do have a meter, my levels haven't gone below 7.5 this year. Last night I had salmon with hollandaise sauce, asparagus and roasted courgettes, tomatoes and peppers. This morning I had 2 eggs scrambled in butter and a cup of tea- 2.5hrs later I read 12.7. I am 5ft 4 and 11st 8lb. I have followed a lower carb diet on occasions in the past and found my levels have improved hugely. But for the last couple of years I have been somewhat lax in my diet. I'm 42 and type for about 8 years.
Click to expand...

Thanks :)

I would definitely say that you need to test at the time of the symptoms, to see if you do get the symptoms at the times of highest blood glucose. Sometimes doctors get so fixated on our diabetes that they forget to see the wood for the trees!

If your blood glucose is high like that on that diet, then I would say that medication is a sensible option.
I simply don't have the medical knowledge to know if LADA is likely in your circumstances, but maybe you could persuade your doc to run the tests?

Have you done much reading on low carb, and insulin resistance, and the effects of raised blood glucose over time?
I am thinking that Bernstein's Diabetes Solution might be useful to you. He recommends medicating early to prevent beta cell damage.

Apologies for asking, but are you normal weight or larger? If larger, then reading Jason Fung's blog Intensive Dietary Management may shed some light on insulin resistance and background insulin (this is the bane of my life!).

Hope that helps!
 
ExD - I did try to discuss the menopause (I'm 42) but I am on the pill so the doctor said hormone test would not show my actual hormone levels, I would have to come off it for a few weeks in order for tests to be accurate. (Apologies if this is too much info - but my 'periods' on the pill are virtually non existent for the last year or so which to my mind makes the menopause a possibility). The doc also suggested I was too young for the menopause?! I have read that the menopause can affect blood glucose control?
 
@Emmar I've lived with anxiety symptoms my entire life. The low carb diet depletes minerals and often requires supplementation with magnesium and sodium. My husband has atrial fibrillation, an electrical problem in the heart. Magnesium has greatly helped him.

When a friend is having unusual symptoms, the first thing I ask is what medications and nutritional supplements are they taking? Sometimes symptoms can be explained as a side effect of a medication, or a nutrient that the medication is known to deplete. You can search for this information online.

Also, there are certain nutrients that almost of us are deficient. And for those who have diabetes, there are some nutrients that need to be supplemented by most.

For someone who has diabetes, and is using the low carb diet, there are a few supplements that I believe are critical for us...

B-complex - important for brain and nerve health; 5 of the 8 B vitamins are used in higher doses to reverse peripheral neuropathy, a complication we're all trying to avoid by maintaining low blood glucose levels; as a person who has anxiety, I function best when I'm supplementing with a B-complex, I've met others who share my experiences. Some people can get all the B vitamins they need from diet, others can't for a variety of reasons - (I'm one of them). Even though I eat many foods rich in B vitamins, if I don't supplement, my brain doesn't work well. This has been true my entire life.
vitamin D3 - plays an important role in bone health, reduces chronic inflammation, most of us are deficient
fish oil - important for brain and vascular health, excellent source of EPA, DHA, and omega-3 fatty acids; known to reduce anxiety symptoms.
magnesium - anti-inflammatory, used in almost 300 processes in the human body, improves sleep, reduces anxiety; most of us are deficient. It comes in many forms. I take magnesium citrate, 450 mg a day, a third with breakfast, two-thirds at dinner. It's inexpensive but for those who have loose stools, magnesium glycinate works for most people. Learn more here - (types of magnesium are listed near the end of the article)... http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/12/17/magnesium-benefits.aspx
sodium - if you've greatly reduced or eliminated processed foods from your diet, you need to add salt to your food or beverages daily. If I don't feel well, I drink a cup of hot water with a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Sometimes I use a 1/2 teaspoon, but I had to work up to that much over a week or so.

In general, I think it's also a good idea to take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. I prefer vitamins made from whole foods, particularly my multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. I take both cod liver oil (for vitamin A) and vitamin K2 for vascular health.

It's possible the birth control pills are contributing to your problems. When I was in my 20's I had a flame hemorrhage in my eye. The only reason I knew was because it was located in front of my optic nerve, so I could see a squiggly line. It tracked with my eye movement. I saw an opthamologist that afternoon on an emergency basis. He said he'd only seen one other case like mine and we were both on birth control pills. He advised me to use another form of birth control. I did. And I never experienced another hemorrhage.

Sometimes, when we're having problematic symptoms, stopping a medication to see if the symptoms resolve or lessen is a good first step.

Two more thoughts:

Has your doctor checked your potassium level? Too much or too little will affect the heart's rhythm... http://www.healthcommunities.com/el...ch-potassium-too-little-potassium_jhmwp.shtml

Do you have other symptoms of overactive thyroid? http://www.thyroid.org/wp-content/uploads/patients/brochures/ata-hyperthyroidism-brochure.pdf

Hope you're able to get this sorted out. Increasing anxiety and panic attacks makes it so difficult to function and enjoy life. It can be so miserable.
 
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I too was 42 when I started menopause. Night sweats were unbearable for a couple of years. Hot flushes day and night.and sleep was a major issue.

I still have some similar symptoms but the cause is now known to be a lack of oestrogen which I am now dealing with
 
Thank you so much for all of your replies - regarding the menopause I plan to give it a few months to get my bs levels sorted with medication, then maybe come off my birth control pill and get my hormone levels checked for my own peace of mind.

I have decided to ask my doctors for a print out of my last blood test results - I need to educate myself as to what is metabolically happening in my body. Are things such as potassium levels routinely tested for? Would I have to request specific mineral level tests?

Can anyone answer another question for me? I have tried to research but can't seem to find an answer - my blood pressure is very high at the moment, can high blood sugar levels cause this too?
 
@Emmar many people report blood pressure normalizing after starting the low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet. Mine did too. High blood pressure is one of the five risk factors that make up metabolic syndrome... http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/ms

The test your doctor would order to measure your magnesium level isn't helpful. I'd have to do a search to provide an explanation as to why. Your potassium level may have already been checked, perhaps your thyroid too. Something I forgot. Hyperthyroid symptoms can proceed hypothyroid conditions too, a condition that is very common.

I think it's a good idea to get a print out of your lab results. The first time I got my lab results, I did online searches to find out what the results meant. Informed in empowered. :)
 
Hi Emmar, I'd had a hysterectomy but I went through it too, I must still have had my ovaries.
I was given HRT which was like a wonder drug and made me feel on top of the world - so much energy, felt great, skin and hair much improved ..... wow I couldn't believe it. But when I stopped it thats when the trouble started - found I had non-coeliac gluten intolerance, put on weight, high blood pressure, arthritis in both ankles, high blood sugar - I could go on.....
in spite of medication the problems have persisted.
If I were you I would NOT risk a baby at age 42 by coming off the pill, so if there's no other way you'll have to disregard that option and put up with the symptoms and see if its something else, it does end eventually. A printout of your lab results would seem a good way to go, as Winnie suggests, then you can do a bit of Googleing.
As an afterthought - is your doctor a man? Might be worth asking at your surgery if anyone specialises in 'womens medicine'.
 
@ExD yes the doctor was male - I did wonder if this made him a little blasé re menopause .

@Winnie53, I now have my blood test results in hand - thyroid, urea and electrolytes are all mid normal range, apart from potassium which is 3.9 (norm range 3.5 - 5.3) I wonder if this is why I've been having many more ectopic heartbeats. Frustratingly, cholesterol is also at high end of normal range.
 
@Emmar your cholesterol sounds fine if it's within the normal range. Besides the research is showing that cholesterol is not a useful marker of heart attack or stroke risk. A better marker is your triglyceride/HDL ratio which should be less than two. For example, if your triglycerides are 100 and your HDL is 50, you have a ratio of 2, which is good. A good book on this topic is The Great Cholesterol Myth by Stephen Sinatra, M.D.

It couldn't hurt to take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement with some magnesium... http://www.drsinatra.com/benefits-of-magnesium-supplements-for-heart-health/ to see what happens. Magnesium glycinate is tolerated well. I take magnesium citrate. Initially I took 150 mg with breakfast, 150 mg with dinner. Give it at least a couple of weeks to work.

Here's information on other supplements you could try. Lower dosages than Dr. Murray recommends likely would work for you because you've only recently begun to have symptoms... https://doctormurray.com/health-conditions/arrythmias/

It's been my experience that once nutritional deficiencies are addressed with diet and supplements, symptoms resolve. However, if you your symptoms worsen or continue, I encourage you to got back to your doctor for more testing. You're probably fine, but if symptoms continue for months or significantly worsen, better to have a second look at what's going on.

Hoping you're feeling a lot better soon. :)
 
@Winnie53 thank you so much for taking the time to provide this information- bit annoyed with myself as I've just bought 90 days worth of well woman vitamin tablets only to discover they only provide 27% magnesium rda and no potassium- although maybe I can allow myself a banana a day??
 
Oh, I'm so glad you mentioned this. Your multivitamin and mineral is fine. Magnesium needs to be supplemented separately - (the multi and magnesium capsule would be too big to swallow if taken together). :)
 
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