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What does this sound like to you - hypoglycemia symptoms but BS ok

G

Glottis

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Hi

I get symptoms like hypoglycemia but after using a blood glucose tester for 3 weeks before and after meals, it showed my readings very always between 4.4mmol and 7.3mmol. Nothing out of the ordinary a diabetes nurse advised me. I've also had a prolonged glucose tolerance test and awaiting the results of that.

But I still get hypo like symptoms on a daily basis. The worse the food i.e. high GI, high sugar, junk, the worse it is.

Take today for example:

Slept well get up 7.30am
8.00am Rice crispies with skimmed milk (all low GI)
45 mins moderate walk
9.30am 2 snack packs of carrots, about 150grams.
11.00am Within 90 minutes feel tired, dizzy and lightheaded. This triggers anxiety in me.
12.00pm eat lunch salad (lettuce, cucumber, pepper, crotons, chive sauce).
13.00pm for last hour, anxiety leaving but replaced with headache and still a bit dizzy
13.30pm by this time feel back to normal.

This is a regular daily pattern for me. But if my blood sugar isn't fluctuating wildly could it still be pre-diabetes?

Just looking for some thoughts. I've tried to rule out allergies and intolerences and all blood work comes back clear. I do drink beer or wine most evenings but not often to excess, I'm wondering if regular alcohol is part of the cause. But I dont get any of these symptoms whilst drinking or after on that same day.

Thanks
G
 
I get this when my bg is too high, above 8 or 9 or so. A bit like being drugged.

Do you test when you feel dizzy?If so, what are you readings?
 
You can get dizzy if the change in BG (either up of down) is very fast - so if you eat something with very high GI and your sugar goes up very fast, it's common to get dizzy (as far as I know). I have that sometimes as well. The solution would be not to eat stuff with high GI or "lower" the GI by eating fat as well (fat slows down the digestion so the spike in BG is also slower).

The same thing happens when going both up and down - you can be in "normal" sugar range, but if the change is very sudden and fast, you can get dizzy and feel "funny" (though it's no fun...).
 
I can't see any obvious fat in your food. I have an anxiety disorder and have found my symptoms have lessened now that I have reduced carbs and increased fat. It stops my blood from spiking so much and prevents adrenaline swings. A lot of what you have eaten is high carb and would affect me, but we are all different.

Alcohol, as you will know, can heighten anxiety symptoms. It also lowers blood glucose levels but can cause a rebound hours later.
 
Brunneria said:
Rice krispies and skimmed milk would shoot my blood glucose sky high.

What makes you think they are low GI?
This site has them at 82 GI
http://www.gilisting.com/glycemic-index/2007/02/gi-of-rice-krispies-breakfast-cereal.html
And skimmed milk has the highest GI of all the milks.

Why not try a protein breakfast (scrambled eggs is ideal) and see what a difference it makes.
Click to expand...

100% agree with that. One of my highest readings (of 15), when I was struggling to work out what to do to get some control, was a couple of hours after eating a bowl of rice crispies and skimmed milk (no sugar).

Similarly, a midday meal of a large mixed salad and standard-sized omelette now usually reduces my BG from what it has been 30 mins before the meal.

If it helps, before my diagnosis, I'd almost always have cereal for breakfast and then go into work and wonder why I was so hot, sweaty and often dizzy and not particularly with-it ('brain fog') around 9.30 - 10.00 am. Post-diagnosis, I got into testing and found that none of the breakfast cereals (or mueslis) were doing me any good.

Porridge with skimmed milk has always been OK, though.

Given we're all a bit different and what works for me may not by completely OK for you, I'd suggest you experiment with your meter to see what foods work for you and which you'd be best off avoiding. To my mind it's the only way.
 
Brunneria said:
Rice krispies and skimmed milk would shoot my blood glucose sky high.

What makes you think they are low GI?
This site has them at 82 GI
http://www.gilisting.com/glycemic-index/2007/02/gi-of-rice-krispies-breakfast-cereal.html
And skimmed milk has the highest GI of all the milks.

Why not try a protein breakfast (scrambled eggs is ideal) and see what a difference it makes.
Click to expand...


I would agree with this. Glottis, maybe your hypo-like symptoms are hunger? You don't mention much protein in your example menu. Try some protein at each meal and see if this deals with your symptoms.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated.

I just assumed that rice crispies were low GI I should have checked. I'll try porridge or scrambled egg as suggested, thanks.

Weird that the carrots made me feel worse, although re-looking at the packet info it says per 80g pack 5.3g carbs (of which 4.9g sugars), thats 5% of sugar GDA. I had two packs to 10% GDA. These were Sainsburys carrot 'batons', are all carrots like this or are these ones washed in sugary water!?

On the topic of experimenting, I've found that I can cope with a snickers more than other types of chocolate bars. This will be the fat and nuts making it low GI then.

Also interesting point about not having enough fat might trigger anxiety, and that I may also be hungry.

All good pointers thanks everyone ;)
 
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