Type 2 Reactive hypoglycaemia

Brunneria said:

@Mete90

I had a rather unfortunate incident with a burger and fries from a motorway services, once.
Started with bg around 6, rose to a little over 12, and then took less than half an hour to drop down to below 5mmol/l
Rather an unpleasant experience, and I very nearly fell asleep at the wheel driving through the Peak District.
Not something I will EVER repeat.

Moral of the story: I ate too many carbs, my body dealt with the sudden rise by pumping out a lot of insulin which drove my bg down quickly too. I didn't hypo, although it felt horrible.
Easily avoided in future by avoiding the carb overload that set the up>down process off.
What I should have done was have a low carb meal, perhaps meat and salad, or crustless quiche and coleslaw, or egg mayo with a spoon. That would have kept my bg nice and low and steady, with no sudden rises or drops, and no nasty symptoms. I would have also felt a lot less tired, and arrived at my destination feeling great, instead of like a limp dishrag.

(I do have RH, and have recorded a number of well below 4 RH hypos, but the example given above didn't take me down to below 4, so wasn't a hypo)

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Antje77 said:

I think you're looking in the wrong direction with thinking it's reactive hypoglycemia. You haven't described dropping quickly after eating carbs (which is RH).

You have described what happens when you lower your blood sugars to more healthy levels after getting used to high levels.
When your body is used to higher levels, like the 7 to 12 you mention, it's expected a 5 or 6 will feel like a hypo.

With your monday lunch you didn't eat carbs so you dropped to healthy levels because you had no carbs to make your blood sugar go as high as you're used to.
Exercise can bring down your blood sugar levels as well, which is perfectly normal.

Can it be you're simply getting your diabetes under control and lowering your numbers instead of RH? It may be just your body needing to get used to the new normal.
Like needing time to get in a hot bath to get used to the temperature. First it feels like it burns (the hypo feeling) before finding out the temperature is actually pretty comfortable.

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Lamont D said:

Hi @Mete90
I'll just tell you about my experience with my RH and how carbs have a direct effect on your blood levels. The same symptoms effect both RH and T2.

Depending on your insulin response, the amount of carbs dictate how quickly you spike, if because of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia which does happen to some T2s. This means that your blood levels rise quickly. If I did this, I would get hyper symptoms, starting with headache and eyes blur a lot. Once I've spiked probably in double figures from normal within an hour, my blood levels would start falling steadily because of a secondary insulin response, this is when I get more symptoms as you describe, when you say you are having a hypo, it's a false hypo.
But because my insulin continues, I go hypo!
Most T2s, only go hypo when meds are involved. Unless they have T2 with RH. Or have another condition which will cause Hypoglycaemia.
A lot of doctors are not trained in the way to treat diabetic conditions and follow NHS guidelines. Which are not tailored to everyone.
I would if I were you would keep a food diary and record the readings you are getting.
I would also limit my carb intake, and persevere with getting good control of your blood levels.

Keep safe

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JoKalsbeek said:

Trust in your liver. It'll dump glucose when you're too low. (And especially if you're panicky and stressed, as stress hormones signal the liver to release glucose). Otherwise, if you are really panicking, just eat something. Preferably fats and protein, no carbs, but.... If you feel a desperate need to go for carbs out of sheer panic, have a LITTLE.... Don't go for 15 grams of sugar, but just a little bit. A little nudge. I know it's scary, I remember certain times all too well, where I grabbed a half a roll of Dextro's because I didn't know what else to do. No judgement here if you do. Just don't overdo it, okay? You'd get a massive peak and you want your body to get used to not having to deal with those any more. You want it to get accustomed to normal, healthy blood sugars that don't harm you. So take it slow.

You can do this.
Jo

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JoKalsbeek said:

Going from an 8 to a 5 is... Sorry, but it sounds healthy to me. Your body doesn't agree yet, sadly... But it will get better. Take your time. And give yourself a break after you feel like this. Hypo's, whether real or false, take a LOT out of you. You can still feel wobbly the next day. So you go and be gentle with yourself, get some rest if you can.

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