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Very unpleasant experience, can anyone help figure out what happened?

Emmar

Emmar

Well-Known Member
Messages
63
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Yesterday I had a really awful day which ended up with me popping to a and e. I'm hoping someone can help me identify what I did wrong! I have been following LCHF for nearly 2 weeks and it has been going ok. (I'm type 2 diet controlled, although my diet has been bad for a good while and my bloods much higher than they should be - which is what I'm trying to rectify). You need to know that I have suffered panic attacks for about 20 years (although haven't had one for about 2 years) and take a slow release beta blocker daily and 20mg citalapram which I am reducing to 15mg at the moment.
So, yesterday this is what I ate (b) 2 cracker breads with phili and ham, (s) salami and 2 babybel, (l) pea and ham soup with half a small buttered roll,, a few almonds, (d) 2 eggs ham and bit of cheese omelette and a slice of white toast as I was still hungry. I then went walking the dog and had a weird panicked feeling a couple of times, got home checked my bloods which were 9. As the evening went on I didn't feel great, had a lot of going and fringe picking up son, then at 9 o clock I started feeling really hungry, checked my bloods, still just above 9. (I'd had a bag of snack a jacks which hadn't staved off hunger) and all of a suddenly I had the most massive panic attack I've ever had, so bad I honestly thought It was something worse. My sugars started climbing and got up to 20. Because I felt so ill I ended up going to a and e (11 at night) - - I also have an ectopic heartbeat which started playing up yesterday too. Drs found nothing, no infection in urine, heart trace fine (although they did note lots of ectopics). Blood sugar started to come down, noted ketones in urine. And don't know what happened. Today I did realise that yesterday I also started a different contraceptive pill (non branded version of my old one, so supposed to eat identical). Got up today and still don't feel much better.
Can anyone point out something I did wrong, I'm very confused. I'm sorry for the huge essay, but I wanted to give all info. thanks for reading x
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry, I can't address your specific medication, or blood glucose levels, but I can state with certainty that stress and hormones definitely affect blood glucose levels, both upwards and downwards.

For me, stress often raises my glucose levels and makes them fluctuate more, which makes everything more unpredictable. Prolongued stress can (for me) also trigger hypos, but it doesn't look as if you had a hypo.

Can I mention yesterday's food? You had bread or bread like stuff 3 x yesterday, and no veg. The bread probably doesn't add up to that many carb grams, but it may still be causing your bg to shoot up quickly and then drop sharply - which always makes me feel awful, even if it doesn't show up on the 2 hour-after-food test, because it all happens before the 2 hr test. Introducing more fibre into your meals (veg) would slow the digestion and make your blood glucose rise more gently and drop more gently, which is kinder to the body.

Hope that helps.
 
Hi @Emmar. As @Brunneria says, we can't diagnose but one thing jumped out at me in your post. You say you are reducing your citalopram. Could that have caused your "incident" which would cause stress which may effect you blood sugars. Don't know how long you've been on it (and I'm no expert) but a 25% reduction sounds abit drastic all in one go!! I would be heading back to the doctors are telling them what happened and getting their professional advice. Xx
 
For the last 2 weeks I have been meal planning very well, plenty of salad, lots of green veg etc, and not having toast also. Yesterday suddenly became a different day due to a number of reasons and I had lunch out (the pea and ham soup was the best choice on the menu) and I didn't have time to make the casserole I had planned (now in the oven lol) - so I personally felt unsettled with my meal choices and not at all full. It's actually good to hear that you wouldn't consider these good meal choices, as I wondered if they had had a negative effect on me. They certainly weren't filling as I felt hungry all day, although my bs levels weren't low.
 
Mrspuddleduck, thank you for replying. I've been reducing over the last couple of weeks 1 day 20, 1 day 15, 1 day 20, 2 days 15 and this is much less drastic than the 50% reduction the doctor told me to do. If there were side effects from that I had thought they would have been sooner. However, I did wonder about the reduction combined with my ectopics reappearing - I spoke with the doctor today and he was neither use nor ornament! X I have been on the citalapram for a long time, and not being a doctor it is impossible to know what's going on inside , maybe that was a factor. X
 
Emmar said:
For the last 2 weeks I have been meal planning very well, plenty of salad, lots of green veg etc, and not having toast also. Yesterday suddenly became a different day due to a number of reasons and I had lunch out (the pea and ham soup was the best choice on the menu) and I didn't have time to make the casserole I had planned (now in the oven lol) - so I personally felt unsettled with my meal choices and not at all full. It's actually good to hear that you wouldn't consider these good meal choices, as I wondered if they had had a negative effect on me. They certainly weren't filling as I felt hungry all day, although my bs levels weren't low.
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:D Don't know what level of fat you have been eating recently (i chug it back with enthusiasm), but if your food changed a lot yesterday, and it less fat rich, then that would make me feel wobbly and hungry, and maybe hollow is a good way of describing it.

We (well, me at least) get used to the security and satiety of higher fat quite quickly. :)
 
Yes, I have been eating more fat (mmmm) and yesterday looking back I didn't- hollow is an excellent way of describing it. There was neither volume nor satiety in yesterday's food I think. May I ask how you increase the fat content of your diet - other than cheese and adding cream I'm finding it difficult x
 
When i am out and about, and not able to eat MY food, i tend to have a couple of coping mechanisms :)

I have a big protein/fat breakfast before i go out
I have 9bars in my bag (they are beautifully slow release and don't spike me)
I ask for cream in my coffees, wherever possible. I could actually run all day on coffeencream.

Sliced cheese is also good. Your salami and babybel were a good idea, but you might have needed bigger portions.
 
Try Duloxatine as a citalopram replacement. I find 60mg a day amazing. It also has a painkilling effect to a certain degree.
 
There are so many different types of antidepressant families, you would like to think your Doctor tailors the one they choose for you to start on. Tailor is one of the big buzz words used by the medical profession lately.
Concerned to hear you have been on your meds for a long period of time, that makes cutting back the dosage and perhaps coming of them (if that is your aim) incredibly fraught with side-effects which can make you feel truly awful, so decreasing the dosage slowly is the better way to go, you may even need some sort of medication to get you thru that.
Citalopram and Duroxetine are not the same family of antidepressants therefore are not interchangeable per se. If you have faith in your prescribing Dr, ask for something to help take the edge off while,
( and no other word for it really) detoxing from citalopram. If the aim is to move to something different,I hope you have a safe and uneventful transition. And congrats on working on LCHF, I am a convert too :)
 
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