Seeking advice on hypoglycemia

[ana0520]

Hi everyone, I’m a newbie here and thought I would try and seek advice on a particular situation I find myself in lately. English is not my native language so I do apologize if my writing gets a bit confusing at times.
I’m 24, I am not diabetic, and for a few weeks now I have been experiencing dizzy spells that I think are related to my blood sugar. They would usually occur an hour or two after eating and my symptoms can vary, I usually feel quite dizzy, sometimes a bit shaky, and I feel a bit spaced out as well, as if my vision was getting a bit blurry. Usually if I eat or something sweet it will go away. I think I eat quite well and healthy although I do have a bit of a sweet tooth and tend to go for sweet stuff regularly out of pure love for sugary stuff.
One of my housemate is a type diabetic, a few time when those dizzy spells were happening he was able to test my blood sugar. It was always between 4 and 5 when those episodes were occurring and usually I would have a sweet and it would go up again and I would feel a bit better. However my housemate told me that having your blood sugar between 4 and 5 for a non diabetic person is perfectly normal. He told me to try and eat less fast sugar food like cakes and pasta and try and have more fibres and fats which I have done, especially for breakfast but it does not seem to make any difference to me, if anything I feel like my body works really slowly and difficultly without a bit of sugar here and there (which I guess is normal).
I have talked to my GP about this and have done a blood test, everything seems fine, I’m quite healthy and my fasting blood sugar was normal (4.1), although right after my blood test I did have to sit down in the nurse’s room and have something sweet because I was on the verge of passing out.
These past few days, those dizzy spells seem to have gotten worse at times, yesterday I almost passed out at work, I had to have to sweet drinks to help me get better..
I wanted to know if any of you here have been in similar situation and they handled it maybe ? This is quite new for me and I have tried and done a bit of research but I do find the situation a bit overwhelming. If anyone could share any helpful experiences or knowledge that would be absolutely amazing!

Thanks so much

Ana

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Hi everyone, I’m a newbie here and thought I would try and seek advice on a particular situation I find myself in lately. English is not my native language so I do apologize if my writing gets a bit confusing at times.
I’m 24, I am not diabetic, and for a few weeks now I have been experiencing dizzy spells that I think are related to my blood sugar. They would usually occur an hour or two after eating and my symptoms can vary, I usually feel quite dizzy, sometimes a bit shaky, and I feel a bit spaced out as well, as if my vision was getting a bit blurry. Usually if I eat or something sweet it will go away. I think I eat quite well and healthy although I do have a bit of a sweet tooth and tend to go for sweet stuff regularly out of pure love for sugary stuff.
One of my housemate is a type diabetic, a few time when those dizzy spells were happening he was able to test my blood sugar. It was always between 4 and 5 when those episodes were occurring and usually I would have a sweet and it would go up again and I would feel a bit better. However my housemate told me that having your blood sugar between 4 and 5 for a non diabetic person is perfectly normal. He told me to try and eat less fast sugar food like cakes and pasta and try and have more fibres and fats which I have done, especially for breakfast but it does not seem to make any difference to me, if anything I feel like my body works really slowly and difficultly without a bit of sugar here and there (which I guess is normal).
I have talked to my GP about this and have done a blood test, everything seems fine, I’m quite healthy and my fasting blood sugar was normal (4.1), although right after my blood test I did have to sit down in the nurse’s room and have something sweet because I was on the verge of passing out.
These past few days, those dizzy spells seem to have gotten worse at times, yesterday I almost passed out at work, I had to have to sweet drinks to help me get better..
I wanted to know if any of you here have been in similar situation and they handled it maybe ? This is quite new for me and I have tried and done a bit of research but I do find the situation a bit overwhelming. If anyone could share any helpful experiences or knowledge that would be absolutely amazing!

Thanks so much

Ana

Go to the Forums section in the red bar at the top of this page and then type in Reactive Hypoglycemia in the search box.
I hope this helps!

 

[Antje77]

a few time when those dizzy spells were happening he was able to test my blood sugar. It was always between 4 and 5 when those episodes were occurring and usually I would have a sweet and it would go up again and I would feel a bit better. However my housemate told me that having your blood sugar between 4 and 5 for a non diabetic person is perfectly normal.

Your housemate is correct.
If your blood sugar was between 4 and 5 while having one of those dizzy spells multiple times, the dizzyness wasn't caused by hypoglycemia, as you weren't hypoglycemic at the moment.

What else has your GP tested you for? There are a lot of things which can cause dizzy spells.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi everyone, I’m a newbie here and thought I would try and seek advice on a particular situation I find myself in lately. English is not my native language so I do apologize if my writing gets a bit confusing at times.
I’m 24, I am not diabetic, and for a few weeks now I have been experiencing dizzy spells that I think are related to my blood sugar. They would usually occur an hour or two after eating and my symptoms can vary, I usually feel quite dizzy, sometimes a bit shaky, and I feel a bit spaced out as well, as if my vision was getting a bit blurry. Usually if I eat or something sweet it will go away. I think I eat quite well and healthy although I do have a bit of a sweet tooth and tend to go for sweet stuff regularly out of pure love for sugary stuff.
One of my housemate is a type diabetic, a few time when those dizzy spells were happening he was able to test my blood sugar. It was always between 4 and 5 when those episodes were occurring and usually I would have a sweet and it would go up again and I would feel a bit better. However my housemate told me that having your blood sugar between 4 and 5 for a non diabetic person is perfectly normal. He told me to try and eat less fast sugar food like cakes and pasta and try and have more fibres and fats which I have done, especially for breakfast but it does not seem to make any difference to me, if anything I feel like my body works really slowly and difficultly without a bit of sugar here and there (which I guess is normal).
I have talked to my GP about this and have done a blood test, everything seems fine, I’m quite healthy and my fasting blood sugar was normal (4.1), although right after my blood test I did have to sit down in the nurse’s room and have something sweet because I was on the verge of passing out.
These past few days, those dizzy spells seem to have gotten worse at times, yesterday I almost passed out at work, I had to have to sweet drinks to help me get better..
I wanted to know if any of you here have been in similar situation and they handled it maybe ? This is quite new for me and I have tried and done a bit of research but I do find the situation a bit overwhelming. If anyone could share any helpful experiences or knowledge that would be absolutely amazing!

Thanks so much

Ana

Hi @Ana and welcome the forum,
I have Reactive Hypoglycaemia and I do recognise those symptoms.
However, seeing that you have not had any readings that are below normal levels which because you are non diabetic, is below 3.5mmols.
The symptoms you describe, in my experience is similar to a 'sugar crash'. But that is a simple way of saying that there is an imbalance in your response to certain episodes of your lifestyle.
The only thing that I can advise, is because you need tests to find out what the cause is, there could be many reasons why, so a referral is needed to an experienced endocrinologist in Hypoglycaemia, so that you can get the necessary tests.
I do know, that this may take time because of covid.
So, do have a good read of the Reactive Hypoglycaemia sub forum, and if you believe that it is RH, and have a look at your dietary intake, and again, if it is, then reduce your carbs and sugar. Because if you are having episodes of hypoglycaemia, then lowering your carbs is a good treatment.
Just to add, it is higher than normal levels that triggers the response.
And not enough followed by too much insulin is what is the reason why I go hypo.

Also, if it is RH, don't treat the symptoms with more carbs or sugars will only exacerbate the symptoms. It may improve for a while, then the symptoms come back and again and again. Have instead a very low carb alternative to just nudge your blood glucose back into normal levels.

There is no magic pill to treat this, so a glucometer and a food diary is really important.

Best wishes.

Let us know how you get on.