First of all if you used to consume lot of carbohydrates, sugar and caffeine you will get withdrawal symptoms, typical of addiction to something.

Another more serious problem which may actually slow down recovery is the fact that your pancreas program itself a certain amount of insulin at meal time according to what it expects you will eat based on what you've eating. If you switch to an hypoglycemic diet cold turkey your pancreas will still release big amount of insulin but with even less carbs than usual to meet them. This might even promote worse hypoglycemia. According to an endocrinologist I talked to, it's better to gradually cut down carbohydrates counting the total amount of carbs you usually eat on your bad diet, dividing them equally for the number of meals you have and then removing 5 or 10 grams of carbohydrates from each meal at a time gradually reaching the perfect amonut of carbs per meal for you.

Another problem is that you might lose fat (even if not losing weight) and when you burn fat you release toxins stored in the fatty acids. The stored toxic substance will the hit your blood. You might even experience diarreah and fever but they're elimination symptoms.

Another problem is that by reducing carbs you're teaching your poor sugar burning body to burn more fatty acids. Even cars need a runnin-in when you change their predominant fuel. Your body probably never learned to buy fatty acids in between meals, that's why probably stored fat on the abdomen and felt good only at meal time. It doesn't know how to burn fat and need some time to learn how to do it efficiently. Since you're telling your body to burn for energy things it failts to recognize as good energy you'll feel hungry until you adapt to the new fuel.

Another problem is that your digestive system might not be used to the new foods you're eating. It might not be used anymore to an higher protein intake requiring more stomach acid secretions, it might no be used to veggies fibers and roughage and it is not used to bulky meals. In fact try not to consume bulky meal as bulky automatically activate an insulin surge.

Another less discussed problem is that your mind will go through a lot of modifications. You will rethink your life, you'll remember things, you will suddenly remember episodes which turned out bad because of your hypoglycemia and will suddenly realize how hypoglycemia has dominated all your life and the choices you have made. We often hear people saying "the old me is dead, I welcome the new me" ... where it is implied the "new me" is more confidence, healthy, secure, social. The truth is that you'll feel anyway to lose a part of yourself. Even if you switch from being shy to being confidence, you'll miss the shy you which has been a part of your for such a long time. You want to feel better but the self-person you know is the ill person, you kind of feel protective toward the ill you and in a way are affectionate to it. Eventually as the blood sugar will stabilize your emotions, thoughts and memories will too ... but at the beginning is a big emotional roller coaster ajudstement.

Awesome! thanks for the great info. That is exactly what I was looking for. That helps to explain alot of what I am going through. Can't wait for my body to fully adjust...

What is a hypoglycemic diet? I recently went to a nutritionist and was told to add more complex carbs to my diet. I need some ideas for menu planning. Thanks for the info above. I realize I was not going crazy just have many of the above mentioned symptoms due to out of control glucose levels. I am especially struggling with rapid drops from 228 to 53 in an hour.

Many people think that they need to eat low glycemic index foods to control their blood sugar issues. Even many experts believe so and most books about the glycemic index suggest ridicolous amount of carbohydrates. They simply justify their carb gorging with the fact that they choose low glycemic index foods.

The truth is that a food with a GI less than 55 might be low UNLESS you eat too much carbohydrates transforming a low glycemic meal into a high glycemic one.

So eating lot of pasta or whole grains claiming that they're low GI is not a good idea. It's still high GI by amount alone.

So a food is really low glycemic when the GLycemic Index of the carbs is less than 50 and the Glycemic Load is less than 9.

This rules out a lot of food that are otherwise considered healthy and to be eaten freely on many Low Glycemic Index diets or programs. Whole wheat bread for example or oatmeal or pasta and whole wheat pasta and pizza.

The 10 worst offenders are:

White and whole Bread (except sprouted)
White Rice
Fruit juices and sugared drinks
Sucrose and Honey
Pizza and sandwiches
Breakfast Cereals
Fruit Jam
Potatoes and French Fries
Candies and Sweets
Pastries and cakes

Switch to an high protein breakfast in order to avoid the Dawn Phenomen and if you want more carbs leave them for dinner. Never have more than 30 total grams of carbs in a meal. Never have a meal of just carbs. Get most of your carbs from veggies. Less sugar and less starches means more green and more colorful healthy vegetables.

Avoid coffee, chocolate and tea and drink enough water

As for meal ideas that's where everyone struggle more or less. If our hypoglycemia is really bad it means that we are used to a bland unhealthy diet and are too mentally confused most of the day to think of healthy meals. My suggestion to write in a dairy how you feel, what foods you reacted negatively to, what you ate, what you did and also new interesting recipes to use as staples.

Let me share few examples of meals I like:

For breakfast I like

ground meat cooked in a pan with onions and a bunch of spinach, then eggs beaten with tabasco are added.

fried eggs with pork fat (non cured fresh bacon) and stir fried chopped zucchini with cream

stir fried mixed veggies with pork sausages and asparagus with melted blu cheese

Other meals for lunch and dinner that I like:

pork chops with walnut sauce and pumpkin
bunless hamburger with mayo and ketchup and onions
small tortillas with cream cheese and cucumbers
pork ribs with mashed cauliflower and hot sauce
fish fillet with mashed avocado and tomatoes
salad with sliced boiled eggs and fat dressing
fried chicken wings with grilled asparagus and baby peas
parmesan breaded and fried shrimps, zucchini, artichokes
soup made with broccoli, asparagus and cream
caesar, fish or egg salad with a side of plain yogurt
meatballs with eggs, flaxseeds over stir fried veggies
mushrooms and squash with pesto sauce and sliced roasts

nuts, cheese, yogurt, 1 oz of meat, sardines are good snacks.

Thank you so much for the quick response. I had a terrible day yesterday, going from 224 to 53 in an hour. My body is really struggling as so is everything else (sight, mind, mood). I will try some of your meal suggestions. Are these meals like those in the Atkins diet? I don't know much about them but am willing to learn.

I don't think ketchup is a good idea - lot's of sugar

Are you still feeling ill and having major side effects from the food or have you balanced your glucose levels? I decided to have a high protein breakfast; chorizo, eggs, & spinach. My glucose level didn't go up too high 142--45 miutes after the meal but dropped down to 88 just 20 minutes after the previous measure. I read that I should not drop more than 50 points two hours after eating. I'm sure I will be back down below 70 by the time two hours pass. This is what I really hate. The extreme highs and lows.

There's sugar free ketchup but according to Dr. Thompson the trace amount of sugar in salad dressings used in small amounts don't have a big effect on blood glucose. A dash of ketchup has a glycemic load of zero and it's not enough usually to cause an hypoglycemic effect.

Chilindrina the meals I listed are not exactly Atkins like. Well Atkins has an induction phase, seven ongoing weight loss phases, one pre-maintenance phase and one maintenance phase (which includes fruits, beans and whole grains) So basically whatever diet could look alike a stage of the Atkins diet.

The meal I suggested or not like the strict induction phase of Atkins and they're too high in carbs. Also you should get extra carbs from vegetables not listed in the meal. Those are just ideas on how certain foods mix well with others or what kind of preparation options are available there, but you need to tweak everything to your needs.

Your drop doesn't sound too bad.
A normal person with a fasting blood glucose level of 80 will have his sugar spiked to about 130 15 minutes after eating. It will be about 100 an hour after eating and 80 two hours after eating. So your blood sugar should be back at normal level two hours after eating.

Are you sure the chorizo didn't contain sugar?
What you ate the night before? Remember that the previous meal affect the next meal. A wrong dinner affects the tolerance to the breakfast no matter what foods you choose.

Also you will go into a period of adaptation where your body will miss some of the carbs while learning to burn more of the fats in between meal. You might feel more tired and your sugar might be a bit crazy, but that's supposed to stabilize after a week.

Remember to have more carbs at lunch and dinner, mostly from yogurt, fruits, veggies, nuts, starchy vegetables, avocados but also if you can tolerate them small servings of legumes and sprouted bread.

Remember to add fats to your meal. Sprinkle olive oil generously, eat fatty meat and fish, eat fat cheese and yogurt, snack on nuts and avocados, have butter and cream. Proteins are converted to glucose, an high protein but low fat meal can spike your blood sugar like an high carb meal. You need the fat to avoid the insulinogenic effect of protein and for energy, since you're reducing carbohydrates.

Thanks for all of the advice. I did have a difficult day yesterday and am still feeling the effects of the highs and lows. I searched amazon and found books regarding the subject. I will be reading those as soon as they arrive. I will keep checking in to get more info as time goes on. I have also requested an appointment with a specialist to gain direction. I am actually on disability now while trying to figure things out.