Reactive to exercise?

Brunneria

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21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Those are great discoveries :)

Part of the awfulness of the symptoms are because when we RHers hypo, our body takes some emergency measures to try and sort things out.

I’m not familiar with all the hormone names, but basically, when our bg drops below where it should be, a number of hormones including glucagon, adrenalin and cortisol are pumped out rapidly. This triggers an emergency glucose release from the liver. Other processes too. The glucagon is an antagonist that is supposed to stop the action of insulin (which is driving the bg down). All of these hormones can go wonky too (excess production, imbalance and resistance...)

This raises bg and brings you out of the hypo.
And of course, it works.
Thank goodness.

But the massive stress hormone dumpage has other effects too. Pale skin. Wobbly knees. Trembly hands. That jitterly hollow feeling. Those aren’t the hypo. They are the knock on effect of the hormones that have desperately rectified the hypo. And it takes a while to recover. For me, it can take 2-3 days, after a bad one.

It is a very similar effect as a shocking near car crash, or a fall, or other similar.
Our emergency stress hormones don’t know the difference, and they behave the same no matter what caused the shock.
Classic Fight or Flight.

Plus of course, this happens to us RHers daily. Sometimes several times daily. After something as innocuous as a slice of toast. So our bodies lurch from panic stations to recovery, to panic stations, like a rollercoaster whenever we eat foods that trigger it. Sometimes for years.

That has a serious long term effect. In my case it affected emotional and mental health, sleep, stamina, and eating habits. Especially when the doc told me there was nothing wrong with me and the symptoms were basically figments of my imagination!

The body goes from neutral, to ‘shock’, to craving carbs to recover (sweet tea is traditional for shock, isn’t it?), and then repeats in an endless loop. We believe it is carbs that make us feel better, when in reality they are just setting us up for the next round. My body eventually went deeper and deeper into insulin resistance and raised my bgs, probably as a combo of coping mechanisms where it was on hair trigger hypo watch, while simultaneously pumping out excess insulin, desperately trying to stop the bg rise.

BUT now you know what is going on, you get to take control.
Avoid the hyper, and the hypo won’t happen.

And there are a LOT of delicious very low carb treats and snacks and foods that you can use to make a low carb existence very pleasant. :D
Just google low carb cookies, cakes, desserts and snacks, and you will see some amazing ideas.
I made this for my father recently.
I will take it over a toast/hypo combo anyday. :D
https://joyfilledeats.com/blueberry-danish/
 

Kirstyr

Member
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23
Thanks for the kind words, you are certainly right there are lots of nice things out there... I just tried the fathead pizza recipe... huge calorie and fat content, but for 13g carbs it certainly felt naughtier than that...and my blood sugar has barely budged (I presume due to the fat and protein!!) I don’t even eat pizza that often but thought it was worth a go. with keto been in fashion at the moment, there are lots of alternative recipes to the usual high carb things. (And as I cook mostly from scratch anyway it is no extra work, in fact the pizza took less time as I didn’t need to wait for the bread dough to prove)
 

Kirstyr

Member
Messages
23
GP isn’t referring me on, but has agreed it’s probably due to increased insulin, (reactive scenario) and it’s settled completely on low carb high fat diet and treatment wouldn’t be any different. So I’m a probably RH...
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,917
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
GP isn’t referring me on, but has agreed it’s probably due to increased insulin, (reactive scenario) and it’s settled completely on low carb high fat diet and treatment wouldn’t be any different. So I’m a probably RH...

It is really dependent on how your doctor's interpretation of what is happening to you.
If his prognosis is RH and his recommendation is to LCHF, and you are happy with this, and you can maintain the change in lifestyle.
However, getting a true diagnosis can be a life changing experience.
It would alter how you approach your diet, your attitude to what you can tolerate.
An endocrinologist who has experience with hypoglycaemic conditions, would be able to get the diagnostic tests required, and there could be something that your doctor has not recognised.
I would persist with trying to get a referral.

Best wishes
 

Kirstyr

Member
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23
So GP, WILL be referring to endocrine after all, the diet certainly stops my reactive episodes 90% of the time (tolerance per meal is dependent on protein/fat content but 30g carbs max per meal, usually much less, however some foods have been reacting unusually!), however, unfortunately I’ve been having very low blood glucose overnight, into the 2’s between 3am and 6am...and losing weight, despite increasing fat/protein, so she is checking thyroid, cortisol, u&e’s and sending me to the endocrinologist...
 

Brunneria

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Retired Moderator
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Type of diabetes
Type 2
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So GP, WILL be referring to endocrine after all, the diet certainly stops my reactive episodes 90% of the time (tolerance per meal is dependent on protein/fat content but 30g carbs max per meal, usually much less, however some foods have been reacting unusually!), however, unfortunately I’ve been having very low blood glucose overnight, into the 2’s between 3am and 6am...and losing weight, despite increasing fat/protein, so she is checking thyroid, cortisol, u&e’s and sending me to the endocrinologist...
I'm very glad they are taking it seriously and doing further checks.

And also delighted that your symptoms are reduced by 90% reduction in frequency. That must make quite a difference. :D

Hope they can get to the bottom of it, and you can reach 100% clear. :)

My own experience is that grains cause bigger blood glucose fluctuations than root veg or even sugar, gram for gram.
So I now avoid all grains and all gluten, and feel MUCH better for it!
 

Kirstyr

Member
Messages
23
It is good news, i’m making mistakes with putting foods together that in isolation don’t cause much of a spike e.g. I had takeaway curry and was ok, I had a low carb birthday cake separately and no rise and also I have a Greek yoghurt which alone causes no rise, but put the 3 together I rise from 4.9 to 10.1, and then had a mild hypo, but my symptoms are mainly due to speed of rise, and following speed of crash... I just need to learn to keep my carb load lower I think...
 
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Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,917
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
It is good news, i’m making mistakes with putting foods together that in isolation don’t cause much of a spike e.g. I had takeaway curry and was ok, I had a low carb birthday cake separately and no rise and also I have a Greek yoghurt which alone causes no rise, but put the 3 together I rise from 4.9 to 10.1, and then had a mild hypo, but my symptoms are mainly due to speed of rise, and following speed of crash... I just need to learn to keep my carb load lower I think...
You are right. You are learning and experiencing, your reaction to your intolerance. If you understand that the balance is right for you , then it could be portion size. For example, one slice of bread is too much, whereas a half a slice, will have less impact, and a bite of the slice of bread might be okay.
I found I don't need a lot of food to get me through the day. I do intermittent fasting as well. I used to suffer hypos through the night, but seeing as you are still not going through the day hypo free, this may mean that the hypo is because of the excess insulin still being produced when you hypo and then don't eat before and during going to sleep. With my RH, I would go hypo between three and four hours after eating. When you get good control all the time, this should stop.
You are doing really well, but still a while to go, to get hypo free. It will take time and patience and of course, you have to ward off temptation and get rid of the symptoms that will ease eventually.
Best wishes