Probably like allot of you reading this, I have a health problem and am an avid Internet user so ive searched the internet for hours reading article upon article about my symptoms, desperate to try and improve my health. This forum is one of the only ones ive found on hypoglycemia so I wanted to share my first hand experience with other people searching the internet.
Im a 26 year old man who has suffered from fatigue, depression, anxiety, dizzy spells, nausea, weakness, blurred vision for my whole adult life. I cant pin point the exact time I first recalled these symptoms but probably around the age of 18. I went to my doctors (NHS) when I was 18 and had all the normal blood tests, all of them came back normal, apart from blood glucose which was very low. They sent me back for a fasting blood glucose test and it came back normal so they wrote off the initial reading as an error and I didnt think anything else of it. For my entire adult life ive believed ive had a mental illness, ive seen doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, councillors, accupuncture practioners, hypnotherapists all without any result. The whole time being off and on anti depressants which did make the symptoms feel better. The doctors were happy for me to live a half life relying on anti-depressants.
My life has been going well in recent years regarding my career, relationships, family so I decided to leave the medication (April 2008). For the past 9 months ive struggled with my mood, energy levels and symptoms going up and down. Ive always eaten healthy and exercised, ive run marathons and life weights. I tried all sorts of vitamins and minerals and herbs with no luck. I started to link the way I felt with food about 3 months ago, after 2 months I had worked out that simple sugars in excess caused the worst symptoms but I was still quite ill avoiding them. Id read that I should be on a low GI diet, tried it with no luck. I east just porridge as carbohydrate but I still suffered.
I went back to the doctors again, telling them about my findings. I had a normal blood glucose test and it was 1.1mmol. They then sent me for a fasting test, which came back normal. Again the doctor wanted to write it off as a error. I persisted and literally refused to leave the room until he gave me a Glucose Tolerance Test. I was sceptical that this test would find my problem as it only measures post prandial glucose 2 hours after consumption of glucose. Quite often the hypoglycemic dip is 3, 4 or 5 hours after eating. Anyway I was lucky, the result came back as 2.5mmol at 2hours which was enough to convince the doctor I had reactive Hypoglycemia and it was the probably cause of all my symptoms that they had treated with an anti depressant for years.
Im now seeing a specialist and having more tests done to try and find out why im so sensitive to carbohydrate, and I will report back. I know that even a mouthfull of orange juice, a spoon of porridge can give me RH.
Im a extremely healthy individual at a perfect weight who exercises daily. It isnt just people who eat unhealthy that get this condition, or obese people, or unfit people. It can occur to anyone, and it extremely disabling and shouldnt ever be underestimated.
Ive learnt in recent weeks, that drinking plenty of water and eating more fibre helps a little, which is giving me some relief while the doctors come up with a decision, perhaps in months this dietary change will cure it, who knows.
The doctor has suggested im Insulin Resistant, and im awaiting test results, this is quite possible, and they will probably treat it with Metformin which ive read has transformed some peoples lives with our condition.
It is important that everyone gets diagnosed by a doctor and tries and find the cause of the RH, there is drugs which have transformed people allowing them to eat anything they like.
Ive seen alot of people on here are following an elimination diet, which is great if it works for them. Whilst I agree its important to remove anything high GI or refined. For example pure orange juice hits me ten times as bad as just an orange becuase it has lost its fibre. I beleive we should be eating foods in combination with others. Im finding that carbs that when eaten on their own are bad, arent so bad when you eat them with a portion of fibre, protein and fat as well. Fibre slows the digestion greatly, giving a more controlled release of glucose to the blood which is alot easier for the pancrease to deal with. What im saying is a slice of white bread is bad on its own, but fine if you eat lettuce, leaves, vegetables at the same time. Try and aim for 35gram of fibre a day from a variety of sources and eat fibre at every sitting.
Sorry to go on, I truely hope that this helps at least one person. Feel free to contact me if youd like to chat and exchange support.
