Hypoglycemia Forum - Anxiety / stress or hypoglycemia ??

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Q: Anxiety / stress or hypoglycemia ??

asked by: riprock on June 1st, 2009

New User

Hi there, i would love if someone could help me as i've been dealing with my problems for about a year now..

to make a long story really short... i used to be 100% healthy, felt fine eating anything and doing everything. I also used to party hard, drinking and doing drugs excessively. I wokeup one morning after binging on alcohol, waited till like 3 oclock before eating and went to the mall with my friend to KFC... i got fries chicken an orange soda and halfway through my meal i felt insanely dizzy and as if i were going to passout / die. I got my friend to take me to the emergency room because i was convinced i was gonna pass out... my heart was beating out of my chest and i felt faint. The nurse in the emergency room checked my blood sugar and said it was ridiculously low and then told me to wait. After that the feeling subsided and i left without seeing a doctor.

Right after my friend and i went to another fast food place and i got something else to eat and the feelings started happening again... since then i've been dealing with these symptoms that doctors are just calling anxiety but i swear it's not anxiety as i'm really not an anxious person, i dont have much to be anxious about.

My daily symptoms which are like crippling are
- strained bloodshot dry eyes
- tightness in neck , frequent headaches...they're like pressure headaches, not necessarily painful.. id never had them b4 until this occured
- shakey hands
- Then i get this feeling like my heart is beating out of my chest and sometimes i can feel my heart almost making my head shake
-and sometimes when i walk i get this little disoriented feeling like my heart missed a beat or something... feels like im changing elevations or something but actually am not ( hard to explain)

I never get panic attacks just a general feeling of unwellneess that's very correlated with my eating habits. Usually if i feel crappy and i eat a decent meal it will get beter... never 100% , but better. and if i dont eat i feel like im going to die basically or if i eat crappy foods like white bread and sweets

I've had numerous blood tests and they've said i dont have diabetes but i feel like it's strange how low my sugars were when i first had the attack.....

Im wondering if anyone could link me to this low carb diet i've been reading about on here or another hypoglycemic diet.

I actually weight lift seriously(4x a week) and have a developed physique so i do watch my diet... right now it is basically
Complex carbs - Brown rice, brown pasta, brown bread
high protein - lean ground beef, chicken , tuna, eggs, lots of milk

and i try to get in as much veggies and fruits as possible, lots of bananas etc

could someone please try and help me these feelings are ruining my life, thank you so much!!!

Replies(15)

Niklas89

replied on June 2nd, 2009

New User

First of all don't be fooled by what you didn't use to suffer from. My aunt became diabetic overnight at the age of 45. And most of us never suffered from hypoglycemia, it crept in subtly and slowly, symptom after symptom. Certain things are universally unhealthy and just because your body seems to tolerate an unhealthy lifestyle for longer than others you're not immune.

If you're reactive hypoglycemia your diet is not on the right track. Lean foods are not a good idea as if your body is not good at processing carbs, your best chance is to make your body better at burning fats. Also lean foods are high in protein but a diet too high in proteins will play havoc with your sugar and insulin balance. According to the biggest expert on a protein (Lemon PW) an strength athlete lifting everyday and competing need 0.8 grams of proteins per pounds. Amateur weight lifters need less. Most people on a low fat, high protein diet consume three times that amount. But whatever extra protein which won't be used for protein syntesys will be converted to glucose. Your diet is already very high in carb and extra glucose is not a good idea.

Lot of milk is not a good idea, milk is a carb not a protein (expecially if you use low fat milk) It contain lactose which is converted very fast to glucose. Milk spike the blood sugar of every person with blood sugar issues I know expecially diabetics. I can't drink any milk.

Brown pasta and brown bread are not much better than white pasta and white bread. Their glycemic load is extremely high anyway, their carb content is identical, the fiber content is not enough to decrease a sugar spike and the effect of blood sugar might even be greater. Brown rice is a better choice as are tortillas, beans and starchy vegetables.

Bananas are the worst fruit for glycemic control. I can't eat them. They are high in fast acting sugars, they're high in glycemic load and in glycemic index. Half small banana a day is too much for a lot of people, expecially diabetics, pre-diabetics and hypoglycemics.

You need to eat more fatty fish and also more fats in generals. For example if you eat yogurt you need whole plain yogurt as low fat is too high in carbs and will spike your blood glucose.

Most meals shouldn't contain more than 30 grams of carbs. The exception is your post-workout meal.

cibolagirl

replied on June 2nd, 2009

New User

you should ask specifically for a glucose tolerance test. You fast and then drink something similar to the orange soda you mentioned (an orange soda would make me almost comatose)they then take your blood at certain intervals over about 3 hours. My GTT showed I did INDEED have hypo but the simple blood test without the glucose did not. I agree with everything Niklas89 said...it is tricky...I have not been following a good diet lately with birthday parties and summer celebrations and I have been suffering SUCH TERRIBLE symptoms...extreme anxiety, pounding heart and feelings of a tight band around my head. You just HAVE to get strict about what you eat.

riprock

replied on June 2nd, 2009

New User

Hi, thank-you so much for the replies.... yeah i guess i really need to dig deeper into the issue and get the correct tests. Like i mean i could possibly just not even be hypoglycemic and this could all be due to anxiety and stress. I mean it just happened one day and ever since i've been screwed up, like i literally cant even work 8 hour days anymore, all i do is go to university and that's almost impossible with how i feel... i have to fight to stay there cause i feel like i'm dieing all the time. I'm afraid because before this i was taking lots of ecstasy and ketamine as well as drinking and just think i may have permanently messed up my seratonin receptors / chemistry and thus now have permanent anxiety.

Niklas thank you for the diet advice... i workout alot so i think my diet may be somewhat different than someone else as i'm putting alot of stress on my body and need more calories. I always am trying to maintain my size and get bigger so i ideall consume about 3k calories a day.

An average day meal wise for me is

-breakfast = i make a homemade weight gainer shake kind
- 2.5 cups of milk
-1 cup of oats
- 1 banana (i guess i should replace this with diff fruit)
-3 tablespoons of olive oil
-flax seed
-a scoop of whey ( i was wondering if whey was ok too)

snack
- granola bar or something with a protein source

lunch - chicken breast brown rice

Snack - granola bar protein source

Dinner
-2 servings of vegetables
- lean proteins
- milk
- usually a carb like potatoes or something

snack - then before bed ill have like a half tub of cottage cheese or something.

Diabetes runs in my family, my grandpa has type I i think... the kind where you dont need to give yourself needles, just diet control..

I just got a new job and am supposed to start working on thursday and am insanely stressed out about how im going to make it through the day... i mean i have terrible dark circles and feel dizzy / weird when i walk and my heart is always pounding out of my chest no matter what. Sometimes i just want all of this to end, i cant deal with feeling like this anymore, especially when i used to feel perfect. Just one other weird thing that has happened since all of this is that my body seems able to gain bodyfat much easier... it's like i've developed more of a squishy feel and have never had that ever before all of this.

Ughhh... I'm going to look into that test, it just seems ive been trying to find an answer to all of this for so long and haven't taken the doctors orders of just taking zoloft or whatever. I had an MRI that was clear as well so i dunno.

Thanks again for the replies

Niklas89

replied on June 2nd, 2009

New User

The problem is that a typical bodybuilding diet is not a good diet for someone with reactive hypoglycemia. I would search on bodybuilding forums for alternative like carb cycling or low-carb nutrition with carbs only in the before and after-workout meal.

Potatoes, granola, milk, bananas, oats are all bad choice for an hypoglycemia metabolism and also lean proteins because the body of someone with hypoglycemia is better at burning fat as energy rather than carbs as energy.

Try bodybuilding.com, there are a lot of bodybuilders there who follow a low carb diet or a cyclical carb diet that have great results athletically and physically. What's important is that you never run out of muscular glycogen within 48 hours, but this isn't going to happen if your carbs are consumed around exercising time or if you have a low-carb diet in the 5 days a week and 2 days of carb load. There are many interesting options to improve from hypoglycemia while maintaining a bodybuilding lifestyle.

riprock

replied on June 2nd, 2009

New User

^^ thank you ... i actually post ALOT on bodybuilding.com under the same username as i'm using here. My problem is that as a result of this i've become seriously broke not being able to work and have been forced to move back in wtih my parents and have little money for a custom diet.

I need to get on getting that test to determine if my blood sugar is out of whack... that would help my parents understand better.

I've looked into carb cycling and keto diets in the past to cut bodyfat and think that i'll try one out....

maybe i've beeen feeling crappy in the past year becuase i did switch to a pretty full bodybuilding diet as opposed to my old diet where i didnt really care what i ate and ate alot less.

I mean all i eat are lean meats, milk, brown rice brown pasta etc and try to stick away from fatty things.

thanks again

cibolagirl

replied on June 2nd, 2009

New User

People on this forum will probably freak totally out at this suggestion. BUT if your life is so messed up by this, as mine was these past couple of months, I went on an antidepressant ...one especially for anxiety.I was desperate!!!! It has really helped or I could not have gotten through the last two months of teaching school.Now I can get back to concentrating on my diet. This summer I will wean myself off the AD.
You may also want to look into Candida if you have taken anything like antibiotics that could have allowed yeast to take over your digestive chemistry. Candida can cause hypoglycemia.

riprock

replied on June 2nd, 2009

New User

yeah if i don't end up being able to make it through this new job i got due to the crazy feelings i get, i'll be going on zoloft for sure. I've been trying to battle this the natural way for almost a year now through various herbal supplemetns etc and nothing has given me relief. Sucks but i guess it may be what i have to do... thanks again for the replies Sad

Niklas89

replied on June 3rd, 2009

New User

The point is that riprock doesn't seem to suffer at all from depression or anxiety. He seems more physically chalenged by energy swings. I have known people with anxiety and depressive disorders and I always roll my eyes when I see people believing that they have depression even if their major symptoms are tiredness, lethargy, spaciness, unability to leave the bed because of muscle ache. The mental health lobby has done a great job at brainwashing the population if now they believe physical symptoms of weakness are most likely caused by "hidden" mental issues. It's one thing to say that you can't leave the bedroom because life seems pointless to you, because you see everything black and hate everyone, because you keep ruminating about bad experience or worry that everything will be bad. It's another thing not to leave the bedroom because you can't physically convince your muscles to cooperate while you struggle with spaciness, swollen legs, short breath. In this instance there is a certain degree of anxiety and maybe sadness as well, but we must discriminate between a main anxiety/depressive disorder with few physical consequences and a main physical/energy disorder with few mental consequences.
It makea all the difference of this world. I can't stand how people who suffer from genuine Myalgic Enchephalopaty have been considered depression sufferers for years, even if their main symptoms were physical and organic from the very beginning.

riprock

replied on June 3rd, 2009

New User

So is the general consensus to go on a lower carb diet to help control this??????

Are there any links to ideal hypoglycemic diets?

I want to try following a low carb diet and probably will in the next couple days, im just assuming that you'll feel way way worse at first as your body adjusts

mamacta

replied on June 3rd, 2009

New User

wow thats really interesting..i have headaches body pain and achiness,and i have panic and anxiety issues.ive been told my anxiety is what causes all these symptoms but im convinced its something else going on..i wish i had health insurance.lol..

cibolagirl

replied on June 3rd, 2009

New User

You are missing the scope of "antidepressants". I do not condone their use either. Only when a person is desperate.They should be labeled according to what they are...SSRI for example. It is all chemistry...WE are chemistry and electrical reactions and interactions etc.
My husband takes Cymbalta, not because he is depressed but because it relieves diabetic peripheral neuropathy. It is the only thing that works for him otherwise he is in terrible pain.

KASZX14

replied on June 27th, 2009

New User

Hello, I am new to forums and this one in particular. My meter usually teters between 65 to 96. usually more in the 75 range. My doc say I am hypoglycemic. All the systems Riprock experiences is what I also experience. Looking thru the internet has "really" not shed much light on the situation. Thanks -

Stan

replied on July 7th, 2009

Moderator

Rip, just so you know, I too lifted a lot of weights (had to cut back because of a physical test coming up), and did just fine using my diet.

KASZX14

replied on July 11th, 2009

New User

Riprock, can you please post me if you find a solution as your situation is IDENTICAL to mine. I will try to dedicate more time to this forum thingy but it always seems I have too much other stuff to do.

Cc_ryder65

replied on July 21st, 2009

New User

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but Riprock, your symptoms are quite similar to mine so I wanted to share the following in case it helps you out. Try researching Adrenal Fatigue and see if the symptoms seem to fit. Thsi could be a root cause for your sudden hypoglycemia, especially since you work out quite a bit. I had a hugely stressful job for the last year, wasn't eating very well, etc....and it just hit me one day - the extreme fatigue, muscle cramps, dizzyness, pounding heart, palpitations, headaches, red, watery eyes, insomnia. I went to the ER twice and first time, they said I was slightly low on Potassium & gave me a supplement. A week later I was back, and they gave me nothing except Xanax. All my tests are normal, and my regular Doc says I'm perfectly healthy and it's anxiety. However, I also see a naturopathic Dr. who explained Adrenal fatigue and how it makes your body lose it's ability to regulate blood sugar, aong other symptoms. It really gets to me because I went from being able to go for hours without eating (and not feeling very bad) to feeling shaky, dizzy and just plain awful after 2 hrs. with out food. I'm really fighting to not go out on disability because I've just recently started a new job, but it's tough...

BTW, Stan, your diet so far is helping a TON - I have researched so many sources and so many diets and yours makes by far the most sense and is very easy for me to follow. Many thanks for sharing your hard-earned wisdom with us.

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