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Q: Hypoglycemia or high metabolism ?
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hypoglyfukd
on March 4th, 2009
New User
This also has a way of interfering with how fluently I can structure sentences together even with typing. Right now I'm feeling a little indecisive and know that I'm capable of communicating better than I am now, but I'm well enough to at least get my post out here.
Now after reading several posts on this site, it appears that hypoglycemics are trying to LOSE weight. I'm about 6' @ 132 lbs trying to GAIN. It seems like no matter how much I eat, I cannot put on weight. After reading this forum though I realize I might just need more protein in my diet, but is that really the case? If I'm trying to slow the breakdown of glucose, shouldn't I be consuming lots of fiber and (healthy) fats too? Any suggestions?
Just too high of a metabolism? I was prescribed ADD medication Vyvanse (Slow release Adderall/d-amphetamine) at the smallest CHILD dose they offer (30mg) and the stuff hit me REALLY hard all at once. What happened was my body seemed to have absorbed the entire pill within a couple hours which would should have been throughout the whole day. I say this because I became very very excited and felt AMAZING like I was on top of the world for a short period. I even went out and impulsively registered a domain name (which expired recently) for a web site idea I had for a while. Felt like I had the energy to do anything in the world. I told my psychiatrist how hard it hit me he honestly thought I was nuts. I know metabolism slows down with age so I wonder if just having a really high metabolism in combination with a minor case of hypoglycemia could be the problem? (BTW, the reason I started taking amphetamine was to battle the fatigue and tiredness spells I had from sugar imbalances.)
Here are some other things I wonder if are hypoglycemic related:
(Over the last couple years I've become very aware of my body's behavior and I'm always on my toes ready to detect any occurrence that takes place in my body. I detect what most people would never.
- Mental effects. Brain can go from sharp, fluent, and witty, to a point where I can't even perform simple logic. I become really indecisive; My brain's memory & cognitive ability becomes highly impaired: You could ask me a simple question and it would take me several seconds to comprehend what the question is actually asking and how I should reply. Again, this only happens when my blood sugar is imbalanced.
- Bloodshot eyes. They aren't severely bloodshot, but there are many noticeable blood vessels visible at all times. I also have a moderate amount of eye floaters.
- Dark circles under the eyes. Darkness levels will vary. Some days they aren't noticeable at all.
- Unpredictable acne patterns. I can go days with having no new pimples at times and even a facial complexion that looks good. The next day I could have a bunch of whiteheads and new pimples with poor complexion. By my age (21) I thought for sure that my acne would have been gone by now.
- Occasional pinch in fingertips. Every once in a while I'll get a barely noticeable pinch in a fingertip that comes and goes about as quick as it would feel if someone were to poke you quickly with a needle. Diabetic symptoms are similar in which you would look out for "tingling of the fingers". This isn't a tingling but rather a split second pinch.
- Occasional minor twitches in my arms, legs, sometimes other places. These feel like little muscle twitches that come and go really quickly. Again, it disturbs me to think it's probably my nervous system self destructing. These twitches were more frequent and noticeable when I was taking amphetamine. I don't remember having twitches before I was taking the drug because it was over a year ago, but I might have and just not noticed.
- Have felt like I was going to pass out on some occasions. I feel like I'm about to pass out about 4-5 times a year. There are only 2 occurrences in my life when I've actually lost consciousness for brief seconds. However, ever since I've learned how to eat a little bit I haven't had any issues. I do think adrenaline is related to this though. When I feel anxious about something when my blood sugar is low, I become dizzier and feel like I'm going to pass out. Just sitting in a classroom with people can make me feel like I'm going to pass out because of the anxiety of thinking about what would happen if I did.
One thing that I find interesting is that often I will feel most optimal right when I first wake up in the morning, but once I eat something I'll begin to start losing it. This doesn't make sense to me because we're talking 8-9 hours since I ate or drank ANYTHING. My blood sugar should be at it's lowest point in the morning right? I generally go to sleep between 1-2AM and wake up at 10-11AM. I always try to snack some time before I go to bed on mixed nuts, dried apricots, and some cereal. (Only low sugar and high fiber cereals/whole grain w/ roughly a cup of 1% milk)
Here are some quick facts:
- I never drink soda. The only sugary liquids I drink are orange juice, cranberry juice, and that V8 twist crap. But when I do, I have learned to keep my servings between 4-6oz and always eat something with high fiber or protein with it.
- I avoid simple carbohydrates and anything sugary most of the time. This includes anything with a high sugar content. When I eat ice cream, cookies or the like, I do so in very small portions. For instance if everyone were eating Oreos, I would only eat one (and only if I just consumed a full size meal). Then I eat a handful of mixed nuts after it.
- I eat an apple and orange/grapefruit every day.
- I don't get a lot of physical activity and never really have. I spend very long hours on the PC.
- My mom and her dad have sugar imbalances.
- Supplements taken: Vitamin-C; equate complete multivitamin (comparable to Centrum); Fish, Flaxseed, Borage Oil (All included in single tablet); Fish oil (1000mg 3x/day)
In conclusion, I can feel really good at times when I'm balanced, but unfortunately I can never seem to hold that feeling to feel exceptional for more than a few days at once. It's so hard to monitor every little thing I eat because my diet is so diverse and I'm usually not even the one cooking what I eat.
So, do you think I qualify as a hypoglycemiac? I know there are many diagnoses out there sugar/glycose related and I'd like to confirm that this is what I have. Any comments or advice would be appreciated. I want to find the ideal diet so I can have optimal mental sharpness more than 20% of the time. I get upset when I feel great because I know it won't last and it might be days, weeks, or even months before I feel that good again. I want to believe with some diet tweaks I can live a much happier life. My biggest issue is in the workplace, I'm either going to have an excellent day, good day, manageable day, or miserable day where I feel lethargic, watery-eyed, and can't focus or structure sentences together if my life depended on it.
Sorry for the long read, but this is my #1 nemesis and I'm desperate for help. Thank you.
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Replies(7)
raneyh
replied on March 19th, 2009
New User
Hello! Well, it sounds like you have a wide variety of factors affecting you. And while they seem to correlate with some of the symptoms of low blood sugar, your feeling faint for example, or tingling fingers, general foginess, as many medical sites say, sometimes these symptoms can be something else entirely than hypoglycemia.
But I understand your confusion and worry. I've had many of the same problems, but have not been diagnosed or tested yet. Really, I think the only way to know for sure if you have hypoglycemia is to be tested for it. I would recommend seeing a doctor about it. I think it'd be worth it as you have many hypo symptoms. Until then, try eating six small meals per day and make sure they are consistent. This can help regulate your blood sugar levels. It sounds like you're already avoiding sugars, but maybe cut them out completely?
Good luck!
But I understand your confusion and worry. I've had many of the same problems, but have not been diagnosed or tested yet. Really, I think the only way to know for sure if you have hypoglycemia is to be tested for it. I would recommend seeing a doctor about it. I think it'd be worth it as you have many hypo symptoms. Until then, try eating six small meals per day and make sure they are consistent. This can help regulate your blood sugar levels. It sounds like you're already avoiding sugars, but maybe cut them out completely?
Good luck!
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hypoglyfukd
replied on March 19th, 2009
New User
I don't really experience a tingling, it's feels more like a needle tip poking it really fast. I probably wouldn't even notice it if I weren't so observant of my body.
I do consume very little sugar. People act like I'm nuts when I have so little portions of sweets. They tend to think I'm over paranoid by saying something like "Oh come on that little bit won't hurt you!". But it doesn't take much for me to feel it.
I have been doing fairly decent recently, I was just seeking minor tweaks I could maybe make to be even more stable. Someone could just suggest I add something to my diet or take supplements.
I know I can feel good for several hours at a time if everything is right, but I'm just trying to pinpoint what it is exactly that's making me feel good so I can be that way more often. I have a pretty unbalanced and unpredictable diet and what I eat and when is never consistent. Just seems too troublesome to manage.
Thanks for the reply.
I do consume very little sugar. People act like I'm nuts when I have so little portions of sweets. They tend to think I'm over paranoid by saying something like "Oh come on that little bit won't hurt you!". But it doesn't take much for me to feel it.
I have been doing fairly decent recently, I was just seeking minor tweaks I could maybe make to be even more stable. Someone could just suggest I add something to my diet or take supplements.
I know I can feel good for several hours at a time if everything is right, but I'm just trying to pinpoint what it is exactly that's making me feel good so I can be that way more often. I have a pretty unbalanced and unpredictable diet and what I eat and when is never consistent. Just seems too troublesome to manage.
Thanks for the reply.
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wscott
replied on April 24th, 2009
New User
Hypoglycemia
Your post sounds very similar to my situation. I am 6' and usually weight between 130 and 140lbs. I have tried everything to gain weight but it never works. Growing up I started complaining about feeling tired and they kept running blood work for anemia and viral infections. Finally my mother spoke up that she was hypothyroid and they checked my thyroid levels. They were low. They did not think to test me for this because I was so skinny. Being hypothyroid usually causes people to gain lots of weight. My thyroid medication helps my symptoms, but only slightly.
I have been prescribed both Vyvanse (they do make a 20mg version) and dextroamphetamine. They have been the only medications that has helped my energy and cognitive functions. Unfortunately they completely shut down my appetite and I begin loosing weight. At my size this is not an option.
I have also been prescribed a slew of antidepressants. Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor, Cymbalta, Pristiq, Serzone, and Wellbutrin. No positive effects from any of them. When you tell a doctor your are tired and have difficulty thinking they seem to jump to clinical depression more times than not.
Where you and I differ is you seem to experience regular bouts of improved function and I do not. I constantly feel tired, fatigued, irritable, and shaky. I also have bloodshot eyes, dark circles under the eyes, very poor cognitive functions, minor muscle twitches and difficulty sleeping. My problem has been on going for 15 years and gets worse each year.
I have been through more testing than I care to say. I have been called a hypochondriac by most of the doctors I have seen including General Practitioners, Endocrinologists, Rheumatologists, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Neurologists, and Immunologists. Even though I exhibited many symptoms of hypoglycemia not a single doctor ever tested me for it specifically. I started experiencing severe back pain with no physical explanation. They ran blood work several times but everything was normal, until the third go around. My blood glucose was low this time. They had me go in and do a three hour Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT).
For this test you have to fast for 12 hours. They then draw your blood to check your fasting blood surgar level. After that they give you a drink that is loaded with a specific amount of glucose. Next they draw your blood at 30 minutes, 60 minutes, two hours and three hours.
My fasting and half hour blood sugar was normal. Then my blood sugar plummeted. By three hours it was down to 46 mg/dL. This type of hypoglycemia is called Reactive Hypoglycemia. Reactive Hypoglycemia is caused by your body over reacting to the intake of sugar. It would be nearly impossible to detect without medical testing. From your symptoms it sounds like this may be what is causing your problems.
It is important to seek medical advice because this form of hypoglycemia can be a symptom of a more serious condition. This could be anything from Endocrine deficiencies to a tumor in the pancreas. Sometimes the cause is unknown and you can easily treat it with a change in diet. It also could be that this is not your problem at all and something else is the root of your troubles. Self diagnosing and medicating can easily hide the real problem.
I hope this helps. I just had my test done a few days ago. I am scheduled to see a nutritionist in a week. The doctor wants me to stay on a very strict diet and come back for more testing in a month.
I have been prescribed both Vyvanse (they do make a 20mg version) and dextroamphetamine. They have been the only medications that has helped my energy and cognitive functions. Unfortunately they completely shut down my appetite and I begin loosing weight. At my size this is not an option.
I have also been prescribed a slew of antidepressants. Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor, Cymbalta, Pristiq, Serzone, and Wellbutrin. No positive effects from any of them. When you tell a doctor your are tired and have difficulty thinking they seem to jump to clinical depression more times than not.
Where you and I differ is you seem to experience regular bouts of improved function and I do not. I constantly feel tired, fatigued, irritable, and shaky. I also have bloodshot eyes, dark circles under the eyes, very poor cognitive functions, minor muscle twitches and difficulty sleeping. My problem has been on going for 15 years and gets worse each year.
I have been through more testing than I care to say. I have been called a hypochondriac by most of the doctors I have seen including General Practitioners, Endocrinologists, Rheumatologists, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Neurologists, and Immunologists. Even though I exhibited many symptoms of hypoglycemia not a single doctor ever tested me for it specifically. I started experiencing severe back pain with no physical explanation. They ran blood work several times but everything was normal, until the third go around. My blood glucose was low this time. They had me go in and do a three hour Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT).
For this test you have to fast for 12 hours. They then draw your blood to check your fasting blood surgar level. After that they give you a drink that is loaded with a specific amount of glucose. Next they draw your blood at 30 minutes, 60 minutes, two hours and three hours.
My fasting and half hour blood sugar was normal. Then my blood sugar plummeted. By three hours it was down to 46 mg/dL. This type of hypoglycemia is called Reactive Hypoglycemia. Reactive Hypoglycemia is caused by your body over reacting to the intake of sugar. It would be nearly impossible to detect without medical testing. From your symptoms it sounds like this may be what is causing your problems.
It is important to seek medical advice because this form of hypoglycemia can be a symptom of a more serious condition. This could be anything from Endocrine deficiencies to a tumor in the pancreas. Sometimes the cause is unknown and you can easily treat it with a change in diet. It also could be that this is not your problem at all and something else is the root of your troubles. Self diagnosing and medicating can easily hide the real problem.
I hope this helps. I just had my test done a few days ago. I am scheduled to see a nutritionist in a week. The doctor wants me to stay on a very strict diet and come back for more testing in a month.
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Stan
replied on April 24th, 2009
Moderator
All of your symptoms sound pretty much like the majority of what I went through years ago.
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Niklas89
replied on April 28th, 2009
New User
Underweight
Being underweight is caused by starving muscles. Your body can't use carbohydrates properly. It doesn't burn them properly and release ungodly amount of insulin when they're eaten.
This leads to hyperinsulinemia storing sugar away as fat, body proteins being destroyed to provide glucose and cells becoming impermeable to insulin so they can't be nourished.
You're probably skinny but have visceral fat or abdominal fat accumulation. Have your body fat percentage measured and you'll see for yourself what I mean. Well toned non-starving people can't have a body fat percentage as low as 7% without being skinny at all. Skinniness due to sugar metabolism problem occurs also at body fat percentage as high as 18% (all stored in the abdominal area)
Can you see your abs muscles, your 6 pack?
Recently I have read a lot of papers about Reactive Hypoglycemia and according to some researchers it is actually what people diagnosed as schizophrenic, alcoholic, obsessive compulsive, clinically depressed, social phobic and chronically anxious, really suffer from.
A paper by an endocrinologist used these exact words: "I find it find appaling to think of the number of people who need their sugar tested not their psyche probed!"
People with Fibromyalgia suffer from RHG and it's not still clear whether the Fibromyalgia is actually caused by the hypoglycemia.
More evidence are being published that an impaired sugar metabolism and hyperinsulinemia are the main culprit in the development of cancer and heart disease. In fact a recent studies showed that lowering insulin level and blood sugar levels starve off cancer cells.
Hypoglycemia is a misnomer and it makes it appears less invalidating and severe than it is. The real definition should be "metabolic endocrine hyperinsulinemic syndrome of impaired glucose metabolism" or "carbohydrate intolerant adult-onset phosphate diabetes"
This leads to hyperinsulinemia storing sugar away as fat, body proteins being destroyed to provide glucose and cells becoming impermeable to insulin so they can't be nourished.
You're probably skinny but have visceral fat or abdominal fat accumulation. Have your body fat percentage measured and you'll see for yourself what I mean. Well toned non-starving people can't have a body fat percentage as low as 7% without being skinny at all. Skinniness due to sugar metabolism problem occurs also at body fat percentage as high as 18% (all stored in the abdominal area)
Can you see your abs muscles, your 6 pack?
Recently I have read a lot of papers about Reactive Hypoglycemia and according to some researchers it is actually what people diagnosed as schizophrenic, alcoholic, obsessive compulsive, clinically depressed, social phobic and chronically anxious, really suffer from.
A paper by an endocrinologist used these exact words: "I find it find appaling to think of the number of people who need their sugar tested not their psyche probed!"
People with Fibromyalgia suffer from RHG and it's not still clear whether the Fibromyalgia is actually caused by the hypoglycemia.
More evidence are being published that an impaired sugar metabolism and hyperinsulinemia are the main culprit in the development of cancer and heart disease. In fact a recent studies showed that lowering insulin level and blood sugar levels starve off cancer cells.
Hypoglycemia is a misnomer and it makes it appears less invalidating and severe than it is. The real definition should be "metabolic endocrine hyperinsulinemic syndrome of impaired glucose metabolism" or "carbohydrate intolerant adult-onset phosphate diabetes"
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Stan
replied on April 29th, 2009
Moderator
Definitely agree with that man, I myself had symptoms so severe I thought I was either dying or going insane. It is amazing the effects of something like this on the body and mind overall, simply amazing, but not in a good way. The more I think about it myself, the more I think it's a huge problem behind a lot of issues. And to show you how idiotic some people are, I saw this doctor on the news about three weeks ago who actually said there is new research that proves SUGAR HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIABETES. Oh my god, are you serious? With that logic they can eat sugar then, what in the world are you talking about? It's in EVERYTHING. I always feel bad for vegetarians out there, for example, who go to the health food store and buy all these 'organic' cereals and tofu burgers. They're LOADED with sugar! Turbinado or white sugar, doesn't matter, SAME DANG THING. So explain the six pack thing, are you saying if you can see it you're good to go, because I'm handing out free samples of beer over here if that's the case.
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steveyboi6
replied on November 18th, 2009
New User
hypoglyfukd, your first paragraph states exactly how i feel almost all of the time. I'm almost always zoned out, not very aware of my surroundings, out of focus, fatigued, always slurring my sentences and not quite saying words and sentences properly to the point where people can't understand me properly. Always indecisive. I'm about 5'11 and have weighed 60kg since I was about 13. I'm 19 now and still the same weight. I don't have a very nutritional diet. Not alot of fruit or vegetables. But I still have vegetables most days. Fruit maybe once a week if that. For a while I ate a lot of cheese and gained a tiny amount of weight. I eat a decent amount of junk food (Ice cream, chips, kfc, mcdonalds, quite a few things with sugar, fat, sodium etc). I drink juice occasionally. I don't eat cereal. I take multivitamins, anti-fatigue pills which reduce my fatigue. I work night shifts so I usually sleep from about 5am-2pm. I drink alcohol most weekends. I don't drink quite as much water as I should.
Among those problems Iv'e had recurring bronchitis, pneumonia once, After running even a short distance I can't breathe normally for about 5 minutes and my heart pounds and beats fast. Dizzyness occasionally. That clicking sound in my brain occasionally when I walk.
I'm mainly looking for a solution to the unfocusedness, and all of that mental stuff. Anyone got any solutions?
Among those problems Iv'e had recurring bronchitis, pneumonia once, After running even a short distance I can't breathe normally for about 5 minutes and my heart pounds and beats fast. Dizzyness occasionally. That clicking sound in my brain occasionally when I walk.
I'm mainly looking for a solution to the unfocusedness, and all of that mental stuff. Anyone got any solutions?
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