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What Could Be Wrong?

Cam158

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I have been having episodes of hypoglycaemia after I eat. This has happened 3 times since summer of 2020. The episode will slowly get better and will last for about a week or 2. The first time it occurred, I had eaten a lunch of steak and salad, no carbs. Within about 30 minutes after eating, I started shaking, sweating, had confusion, and asked a co-worker for help. She felt I was having a hypoglycaemic episode and gave me a Gatorade and some candy to eat. This made things much worse! Then I got sick to my stomach and ate some Ritz crackers and drank some water. Athough I felt better, I was weak and shaky and had a hard time driving home. My father & sister are both diabetic and I always have a glucose monitor and periodically check my blood sugar levels, which tend to be on the low side. When I got home that evening, I tested my blood sugar and it was 100. I went to the endocrinologist the next day and she tested my blood sugar and it was 93. I went the following day and had labs drawn. My results were my A1-C was 5% and my fasting blood sugar was 119. However, my blood insulin was 56. She told me to follow a low carb, moderate protein and fat diet. I did this and it took a few weeks to feel back to myself again. She wanted to see me back in 6 months but I felt much better and just monitored my diet and fasting blood sugar. Again in October, 2021, I had another episode. I went back for more labs which showed my fasting blood sugar at 87, A1-C at 4.9% and my blood insulin was 6.1. She advised that I'm may be going too low carb, to add more healthy carbs, fiber, fat, etc. into my meals. A week later, I felt better and went on about my life with no further symptoms. I started eating more carbs and have actually gotten into the bad habit of snacking on popcorn in the evenings and have been eating more carbs lately. However, this past week, I had another episode. I ate a normal breakfast and crashed hard within 20 afterwards. I checked my blood sugar and it was 71. Back to the endocrinologist and more labs with a fasting blood sugar of 92, A1-C at 4.8% and blood insulin at 7.2. I was getting better as the week has gone by but another hard crash this morning after a breakfast of a poached egg with ham, mushrooms, and arugula on small piece of white toast with butter and coffee with no sugar, only cream. Overall, I don't eat fast food at all - I cook everything I eat and have fresh organic meat with fresh cooked variety of vegetables, sweet potatoes or white potatoes maybe every other day, not a lot of bread, some fat (probably not enough) and a very good wholesome no sugar no fat yogurt. I'm not able to drink much milk - it seems to bother my stomach, as does high fat foods like heavy beef cuts. But overall, I think I eat fairly well and the rest of my labs are very good. However, my vitamin D levels have consistenly been very low over the past 5 years - below 20, so I have worked very hard taking supplements to get this level up and on my labs this week, I'm at 27! I also work an extremely stressful job, drive in heavy congested traffic, which makes me very nervous, and I feel this in my neck and shoulders almost constantly with tightness and stiffness and sometimes a mild headache. I have always had anxiety and been a nervous person anyway so the job and traffic do not help! I'm looking for a new job - but with covid changes in the job market, I can't seem to get something else. Regardless, I just need a bit of guidance from anyone who may have experienced similar symptoms with feeling crashed and hypoglycaemic-type episodes after eating. My endocrinologist told me this morning that my labs look good but I have a very sensitive body and need to up my carb intake some to be sure I'm not going completely carb free, that I need some carbs. Is it that simple that I'm missing the amount of carbs I'm eating?? Am I eating the wrong carbs? Not enough? Too much? I'm not sure I understand the carb / protein / fat intake. Thanks for any help or suggestions!
 
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I have been having episodes of hypoglycaemia after I eat. This has happened 3 times since summer of 2020. The episode will slowly get better and will last for about a week or 2. The first time it occurred, I had eaten a lunch of steak and salad, no carbs. Within about 30 minutes after eating, I started shaking, sweating, had confusion, and asked a co-worker for help. She felt I was having a hypoglycaemic episode and gave me a Gatorade and some candy to eat. This made things much worse! Then I got sick to my stomach and ate some Ritz crackers and drank some water. Athough I felt better, I was weak and shaky and had a hard time driving home. My father & sister are both diabetic and I always have a glucose monitor and periodically check my blood sugar levels, which tend to be on the low side. When I got home that evening, I tested my blood sugar and it was 100. I went to the endocrinologist the next day and she tested my blood sugar and it was 93. I went the following day and had labs drawn. My results were my A1-C was 5% and my fasting blood sugar was 119. However, my blood insulin was 56. She told me to follow a low carb, moderate protein and fat diet. I did this and it took a few weeks to feel back to myself again. She wanted to see me back in 6 months but I felt much better and just monitored my diet and fasting blood sugar. Again in October, 2021, I had another episode. I went back for more labs which showed my fasting blood sugar at 87, A1-C at 4.9% and my blood insulin was 6.1. She advised that I'm may be going too low carb, to add more healthy carbs, fiber, fat, etc. into my meals. A week later, I felt better and went on about my life with no further symptoms. I started eating more carbs and have actually gotten into the bad habit of snacking on popcorn in the evenings and have been eating more carbs lately. However, this past week, I had another episode. I ate a normal breakfast and crashed hard within 20 afterwards. I checked my blood sugar and it was 71. Back to the endocrinologist and more labs with a fasting blood sugar of 92, A1-C at 4.8% and blood insulin at 7.2. I was getting better as the week has gone by but another hard crash this morning after a breakfast of a poached egg with ham, mushrooms, and arugula on small piece of white toast with butter and coffee with no sugar, only cream. Overall, I don't eat fast food at all - I cook everything I eat and have fresh organic meat with fresh cooked variety of vegetables, sweet potatoes or white potatoes maybe every other day, not a lot of bread, some fat (probably not enough) and a very good wholesome no sugar no fat yogurt. I'm not able to drink much milk - it seems to bother my stomach, as does high fat foods like heavy beef cuts. But overall, I think I eat fairly well and the rest of my labs are very good. However, my vitamin D levels have consistenly been very low over the past 5 years - below 20, so I have worked very hard taking supplements to get this level up and on my labs this week, I'm at 27! I also work an extremely stressful job, drive in heavy congested traffic, which makes me very nervous, and I feel this in my neck and shoulders almost constantly with tightness and stiffness and sometimes a mild headache. I have always had anxiety and been a nervous person anyway so the job and traffic do not help! I'm looking for a new job - but with covid changes in the job market, I can't seem to get something else. Regardless, I just need a bit of guidance from anyone who may have experienced similar symptoms with feeling crashed and hypoglycaemic-type episodes after eating. My endocrinologist told me this morning that my labs look good but I have a very sensitive body and need to up my carb intake some to be sure I'm not going completely carb free, that I need some carbs. Is it that simple that I'm missing the amount of carbs I'm eating?? Am I eating the wrong carbs? Not enough? Too much? I'm not sure I understand the carb / protein / fat intake. Thanks for any help or suggestions!
hi and welcome to our forum @Cam158 ,
I have reactive hypoglycaemia, but from what your information tells me is that you maybe having symptoms of hypoglycaemia or what is known as false hypos,, there doesn't seem to be actual very low blood glucose levels,
However, there are other conditions of the pancreas that can give you symptoms similar.
There are many forms of hypoglycaemia even a few where you actually don't go hypo, the sugar crash is helped by a liver dump of glucose. And there is a syndrome called Idiopathic postprandial syndrome, which is likely!
I would ask for a referral to a specialist endocrinologist who has had experience of hypoglycaemic cases, where hypos are caused naturally and not by meds!

Best wishes
 
Thank you, Lamont. I've also been told that I have adrenal insufficiency or adrenal fatigue, due to a stressful, overloaded lifestyle - work, home, lack of sleep, lack of down time. I'm exhausted, burned out, irritable, and negative - which is completely the opposite of my true personality. My family and friends are all telling me how different I am - but they don't need to. I feel it! I have read about adreanl insufficiency and hypoglacemia being hand in hand and I am curious if anyone else has also experienced these symptoms at the same time.
 
However, my blood insulin was 56

Serious alarm bells, I've seen levels lower than that at 1 hour on the OGTT.
Have they ever scanned you, MRI on your pancreas to rule out insulinomia, you are pouring out insulin in a fasting state.
 
No - no scans. My endocrinologist simply suggested to follow a low carb diet. Strange thing is, when I have had one of these episodes, it takes about a week, sometimes 2, and I will get better. But during that week, I'm completely wiped out. I can barely get from the bed to the couch without having to sit down. Past doctors have attributed this to vitamin D deficiency, since my levels on my blood test are always so low. I'm doing that now - severe exhaustion! I have a book on adrenal fatigue and I can check all the boxes. My family - mother, aunts, grandmother, and my older sister - have always had thyroid issues. I don't know to what degree. They feel that is what is going on - a crash so to speak, then a recovery, only to crash again. The weakness episodes I have been having for about 20 years. The low blood sugar after I eat is a new addition since July 2020 to these episodes of exhaustion. That is again, as before, getting better as the week goes by with a very good, whole foods diet & rest. I'm not sure where to go from here.
 
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