I've never read it, what are the suggestions so I can tell you what's wrong with it?

Thanks for your reply - I think what you are doing is great

Krimmel - They wrote a book in 1992 about Hypo. Very informative and have a diet plan included in the book. I decided to try it ( before I found your plan).

Week 1 - Yogurt (low fat) every morning and last thing before you get into bed as snack.
Breakfast - Meat/eggs or oatmeal ( if you can take it) for breakfast.
Two snacks before lunch that would consist of cererly with square of cheese or raw/cooked broccoli or sprouts with yogurt.
You are allowed cheese but not milk only water.
Allowed as many veggies as you want ( obviously not allowed spuds or startchy veggies).

Lunch - meat and choice of two veggies.
Two snacks before supper - spaced apart.
Dinner - same as lunch.
Bedtime - 3 quarters cup yogurt.

Week 2 - basically same as week one with addition of almonds
Week 3 - Get to add 3 fruits ( avocado, strawberries or watermelon) but only one serving a day and not with bread. Bread can be added but only half slice at a time or whole grain Kavli crackers. Nuts such as walnuts and pistachios but only a quarter cup per day.
Week 4 - get to add a few more fruit choices, seed and grain choices and 4 oz. of milk.

I was having all the typical symptoms that everyone on this board has had when they first started the diet. I just did not realize how bad I would feel. I emailed the Krimmels because I was so desparate and spoke to them on the phone. Very helpful but I do not think I was getting enough carbs from from veggie in take on their plan. I ended up eating ALOT of cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt - especially when I was crashing. I was feeling hungry all the time ( just my body getting used to this new way of life, as I now know).

I started your plan 3 days ago and feel much better eating more food instead of just a handfull of nuts or a few veggies in between meals. I think I am making progress although everyday I get some new symptom such as ( dizziness, feel high, feel drunk and overall spaciness). The next day the symptom gone. Today I have felt the best ever. I have been so stressed about this that I was not sleeping, constant obsessing and worry.

SIDEBAR - I am very lucky that I do not have to work or else I could never make this diet work. Can't believe what some of the members have been through. I am 42, two years ago I decided to go back to school to do another degree because I was sick of my unfufilling job in accounting. So last dec., I quit my job and finished up school and have not worked since. I think that not having a job has brought on a lot of stress even though finanacially I could afford to take this much time off. I have always worked and so the stress of not be able to find my calling may have triggered my symptoms. I have always been mildly hypo since 6th grade - never diagnosed cuz never really had problems - until a few months ago and whammy I was in the ER. They told me I was fine.

Last night a sudden calm came over me after dinner and I felt wonderful like I could just relax and fall asleep. I stayed up till 11. ate my eggs,etc. ( kinda getting sick of eggs already but if it gets me a good night sleep) and boy I did sleep well until about 5:30. I desperately need some good sleep so that was a huge factor in changing my mood today.

I also had my first appointment with a psycholgist today to help me with the anxiety/depression side of things. Cuz that was the part of this that was freaking me out the most. She was very understanding of the mind/body connection regarding hypo so I think this will help.

I had an appointment with endo last week - told me I did not have hypo that all I needed was some better quality sleep. REM sleep.
I have another appoinment tomorrow with a diff. one and my first visit to a GP next week to rule out other things. I do not want to take the GTT as I know this will be torture for me.

Had bad morning today - I bought Brewers yeast flakes instead of powder so I tried to put them in some cottage cheese first thing. Halfway through my eggs I threw up. Not sure why but can only think of the yeast. Had some BY last night and today sprinkeled on top my veggies and feel fine. Is it OK to do this with the Brewers Yeast?

Thanks so much Stan!

That sounds like a pretty good diet overall. How many carbs per day are you getting from vegetables? I get a ton, probably around 200g now, but at first it was around 90g I think, maybe a bit more. You may need to avoid grain for awhile, but I have a question first, how severe were your symptoms before the diet? As I've said before, it sucks, but you have to constantly keep in mind that this is not a quick fix, it can take months to get where you want to be. I would say I wasn't satisfied completely with my health until last Spring, and it took almost two years to get there. At first, it was terrible, I was almost every day and like you had symptoms that varied so much I swore I was dying. Changing symptoms are to be suspected, eventually you hit a position where you seem to have the same general cycle of symptoms if you eat incorrectly. I think that set in for me around the first year or so. Chances are usually that if you had severe symptoms before, they'll only get worse when you begin treatment. Not to bring you down or anything, but 20 days is nothing. Don't worry about the diet unless you hit the four month mark and notice no change, then you worry. Don't forget that you can prepare eggs any way you want, they're very versatile. I was getting sick of just sunny side up after awhile and starting making omeletes using green peppers and cheese and so forth. Always make sure to eat a whole avocado in the morning, this helps significantly and is incredibly good for you health in general. For fruits I've found apples to be most beneficial, berries are good but tend to be expensive even in non organic varieties. Watermelon I would not recommend, it has quite a bit of sugar in it. Wait on that, try apples mainly. When I was at my worst I was eating one slice at breakfast and then half a slice with other meals. Now I eat around two apples per day. What kind of yogurt are you eating? Sheep's milk is best but unfortunately expensive. I've found the cow's milk makes me get sick as though I ate sugar, which makes sense because it's pretty much a simple sugar. Sheep's milk, is not, and is better for you. Too bad the price is so high, bur perhaps you have a sheep farm not too far from you. It's quite easy to buy their raw milk and make your own. Give me a detailed run down of how you eat through the day including times so I can see something. Mention, or give me a list, of everything you have been eating.

I tried to do a quick calc today of the carbs yesterday and seems like I'm coming up short again. less than 60 - is that right? Here's what I ate today.

8:00 Bfast - olive oil, few almonds, Turkey ( cuz I threw up my steak and cottage cheese Brewers Yeast), 2 eggs, half avocado ( you said below to have a whole one, I will try this) and small handfull of blueberries. Did not finish eating until 9:00 since I was feeling crappy.

11:00 - Olive oil, almonds, Third chicken breast, half cup green beans, two large romaine lettuce leaves, small handfull BB.

2:00 - Same again but smaller portion of chicken, smaller portion of romaine.
4:00 - Same as above
6:00 - Same as above
8:00 - Same as above but had broccoli.
10:30 - Olive oil, almonds, 2 eggs, broccoli, romaine.

Yesterday I pretty much ate the same way except had steak and spaghetti squash and broccoli. Strawberries - small amount with each meal.

I don't feel that I am getting enough carbs from these veggies? What say you?

I am not eating yogurt in the past 3 days. I started off with low fat cows milk as I have not been able to source sheep. I then switched to full fat cow Stoneybook farm organic plain yogurt.

My symptoms before the diet were: I always was aware since I was little that I had to eat something if I got feeling a bit shaky or weak. When I did eat, I feel instantly better. If I was really bad I would have some juice to bring me up and don't really remember crashing after I had the juice or if I did not eat something along with the juice. I never really thought about it much, but always had a snack bar with me just in case.
Never had a panic attack or anything in 42 years. I did consume a lot of sugar and simple foods growing up but not anything unusual. I was always really athletic ( up until my 30's and but now work out more than the average peson), fast metabolism, type A personality and always skinny -never had to diet.

Early in June I woke up in the middle of the night with an attack. Never has this happend to me before. My wonderful husband thought I was just having a panic attack. I said no, it just that my sugar is low so I had some juice and food and felt fine a bit later. I had been noticing that for several months now I would have some days that I just did not have a lot of energy. I really felt like something was not right but never thought if was related to the hypo. But I did some research on it and decided to cut out all caffeine, alcohol and most simple carbs. i was still drinking fruit juice a lot and eating wheat bread with sugar etc. I did notice two improvements: I did not wake boiling hot at night and sometimes after I would eat a heavy carb meals, I would feel like my head was exploding a bit - like rush of blood. That rush feeling stopped so I thought I was making some improvements.

I again had another attack in Las Vegas on vacation. I knew I did not eat right that day so I chalked it down to that. I also began to think that maybe I was having panic attacks too. A few weeks later I had another crash and after I ate I still did not feel right. So, off to the ER. Hours later they told me I was in perfect health. So I thought that there must be something to these panic attacks and if by magic I started having a few more of them or was I. I researched panic attacks and found that the symptoms are so similar and related. I found an excellent website that got me to think those attacks through - just being afraid of being afraid. Confont the beast and and it worked for me. Some Australian research suggests that panic attacks are caused by hypo and hypo only. I did some research of my own and decided that my panic attacks and hypo attacks were indeed different in this way. Panic attacks made me have to poop. Hypo - no poop. Crazy? or what.

So, I guess my symptoms were not that severe until a few months ago. Can't understand what caused this blowout now and not 10 -20 years ago - stress, I'm thinking? Symptoms starting in June - now I had trouble concentrating, social situations caused anxiety, looking at the computer made me so dizzy now whereas I could spend hours in front of it before. plus a dozen others symptoms like depression crept in. But after I drastically changed my diet 4 weeks ago, a rug was pulled out from under me and I feel so much worse. I guess it's just the withdrawl talking? I never had the dizzyness or spaciness or depersonlization until I went off the sugar.
I know it's only 4 weeks but I think I feel worse than before. I cannot exercise - not enough energy so that brings me down. Afraid to leave the house in case I might have to eat - even though I am bring food with me. The mental part of this is really beating me up and it makes the hypo worse than it really is, I think.
Thanks - gotta go eat!

Your diet sounds pretty good. I myself found that the olive oil seemed to be doing more harm than good in such large amounts (I need to adjust that diet for everyone). Try this instead. With perhaps 2-3 of those meals, make my salad dressing. Mix about a tablespoon of olive oil with double organic apple cider vinegar. Cut up perhaps a small tomato and onion. In the mixture, put in some italian seasoning (organic if you can find it, doesn't take much) and some sea salt. Mix and put on your salad using the romaine lettuce or green leaf or perhaps prepackaged mixed greens, never iceberg, it has almost no nutritional value. Trust me, it tastes great. Olive oil is hard for the body to digest, and being as sick as you are it makes it harder. I found this out through experimentation. Try Brewer's Yeast in the morning on an empty stomach just by putting it in your mouth and drinking it down with water. Walnuts are better than almonds. The turkey is not necessary at breakfast, have about 1/4 an apple instead (from one about the size of your fist). After that have 1 to 1/2 an apple slice or the equivalent in berries. I prefer apples, like I said, because they're cheaper and they seem to work better in fact. Organic string cheese is the best snack cheese you can find. I do not recommend nonorganic cheese. I know it's expensive, but I've found through terrible bowel symptoms it's the best thing for you right now. I have about one cup of green beans when I eat them. Increasing the apple a bit should get you the necessary amount of carbs. With the beans, lettuce, apples and what else you are eating there you should be around 100g or so. Don't drop below 60g, you'll get sick. By the way, your story sounds just like mine except my attack happened in the morning. Basically, it wasn't stress, so cut that out of your head right now. I can tell you from experience stress has little to do with it, though it can of course make it worse if you're feeling bad already, but it is not a direct cause. Your body just had enough of what you were eating before and your cells have lost their ability to process insulin, so your pancreas is secreting too much. Once you get stabalized further testing may be necessary. I for example am still completely unable to tolerate any type of grain, and they believe it may be because the beta cells in my pancreas are overactive. At any rate, a basic, generally stable level with as few symptoms as possible is what you want, and then you build on it. Another good treat is organic sunbutter, excellent stuff. Nothing else than that in that category though, the other types by the same company all contain sweetener, only the organic variety doesn't have it.

Thanks again for your reply.

I threw up my bfst again this morning so thinking it is the olive oil.

Question - are you saying to me NOT to eat meat for the breakfast meal at all ? I feel I have been eating too much meat so I think so that would be good.

Had another appointment with different endo this morning - left in tears. He was such a jerk. When I came armed with books and knowledge of my new diets - he was offended and told us so. He suggested that I have 5 hour GTT otherwise he cannot possibly diagnose me. I told him that I was very wary of having that done - recovery from that crash can take weeks and will set me back. What do you think?

He also suggested a round of bloodwork tests including: Prolactin,serum cortisol, IGF - 1, Plasma Metanephrines, serum ACTH, TSH, free T4, anti-thyrod peroxidase, anit-thyroglobulin,serum aldosterone, plasma renin activity, BMP (fasting). I don't know what half of these tests are yet but I was forceful saying that I needed some answers. He said he thought I had reactive hypo and all I needed to do was get my acceptable carb level correct and that the GTT would tell him how many carbs I should be eating and how often. His office just called me saying that he wants to issue some other kinda of test now as well. They are going to mail it to me. He knew we were pissed at him for being such a jerk.

I am so down now after this meeting - I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't think I can eat the same meal all day 6 times a day. How do you do it? Can I vary the choices during the day? Pretty please?

What scale do you use to track the carb amounts? I was using the Atkins carbgram counter. Is this ok?

Thanks!

I would only eat the eggs for breakfast. Meats are harder to digest, but eggs, being essentially the perfect food, are readily digested and most closely related to the proteins our bodies are made of, so it doesn't require as much work. In the morning your sugar is naturally lower, so anything that taxes your system will make it worse. Vomiting, unfortunately, seems like it may be a typical symptom for you, so don't worry too much about it though it does totally suck. I had it a little while when I was at my worst, but it went away, turned into a retching sensation, then nausea and then nothing. Depending on your activity level, around 1g per two pounds of body weight for protein is plenty. Check gram measurements, you'd be surprised how little meat it takes to get that level. I am eating around 90g per day. There is roughly 1/3 of that in about half a chicken breast. I've had my experience with jerks as well, but at least he seems willing to provide a slew of tests to make sure things are working properly. The GTT is useful, and it can help in determining carb level, but I found it useless in my case. All it showed was that I had a saw tooth curve and I should try eating around 1-2 hours each day to get it stable. This worked, but that's all I personally feel you can get out of it, it will show you exactly when you should be eating to keep yourself as stable as possible, every two hours or so may be too soon or too much for you. I took it in a time when I wasn't even on the diet yet, so it didn't really matter for me. But yes, depending on the severity of your case, and my own experiences with eating something I shouldn't, it will probably take from 5-7 days to feel back to normal, so there is that issue. Like I said, I need to really, totally revise that diet. You can certainly vary your foods, eating tuna, then perhaps a bit of steak if you want, turkey, whatever you want. Crab, shrimp, there are lots of options. That list I have there is the ultimate extreme to get better, but it takes serious discipline and force of will to make it through it. I try to eat red meat in small amounts and only later in the day, so you may want to do the same, sticking with leaner meats earlier. What do you mean by scale? I simply chose a level of carbohydrates to reach and ate that much, measuring as necessary. And don't give up! I know exactly how hard it is and what you're going through right now, the exhaustion, the trouble dealing with the lamest things and thinking you're crazy for it and so forth. There is hope! I am healthier than I've ever been my whole life, with the body I always wanted, I work out almost every day including weight lifting, and I have a better memory now as well as more confidence. Once you get through it, you'll be stronger with an incredible amount of patience for everything, trust me, it just takes a lot of work to get there.

A scale I was referring to is just a list of every food by weight/size/portion and the breakdown of protein/carbs/fat. I am using the Atkins diet one and I was just wondering if you thought that scale was accurate for figuring out the carbs etc.

I weigh 125LB so I have been eating way too much protein. Red meat works well for me though. Hey something works for me! Hurray!

I cannot tell how severe hypo I am. That's really bugging me! I was always manageable and it really did not affect my life except for a few times recently. I keep thinking I am going way too extreme on the diet and there is no going back. I struggle with the balance as you can see!

Question - If I take the GTT now that I have been on the strict diet for a month as opposed to if I had taken if months ago - would I get a different reading?

Thanks for the inspirational words - I needed that today.

I struggle too because I believe the body/mind has the power to heal by giving it the right foods/rest etc. (and one should not have to eat every couple of hours to achieve this) and that it should not take this long for it to sort itself out.

Enough of that! Positive thinking is a must!!

Oh, I just got to a nutrition information website and base all measurements on that if it's not written on a package I buy it in. www.nutritiondata.com It sounds like you're quite severe to me and very similiar to what I went through. One good thing to keep in mind that seems common is that if you feel like crap on the diet, it means it's working. As for the GTT. My doctor told me that yes, if you're on a generally healthy diet the readings will not be as severe. You'd have to eat like absolute crap for about a week before the test according to him. Unfortunately, you are wrong! It does take this long to sort out. It's just like nature. You've been eating incorrectly for what, around 20 years? That's a heck of a lot of time. Look at something like the Salton Sea, which was destroyed by water drainage and such within a span of about 15 years or so back in the 70s or 60s. They're still working on getting it back to a natural stasis to save animals. When you upset a system like that, it takes a long time for it to get back to normal. You're creating chaos and a new order, it won't happen over night. Think about that with anything, putting gasoline in a pond perhaps. How long would it take for it to filter itself out? That's exactly what you're doing.

Thanks! I have to learn patience. It's hard because my life is at a standstill. I am not used to being this inactive. That is probably the one reason why I am not sleeping well. What do you suggest I eat when I wake up hungry at 5:30 AM? I was trying yogurt.

From my experience when it happened to me, eggs were by far the best. It always seemed to work fastest and was best in terms of what you should be eating and how long it took to kick in.

Hey Happy Labor Day!

I had a great night sleep last night - did not wake up starving hungry until 6:30. Quality sleep has been the biggest factor in my recovery so far.

I was wondering if you heard of a supplement called Cinnegen. Diabetics use it and on their website, hypos claim it helps them regulate their BS too. I know cinnamon is supposed to lower BS, that is why I see it as a problem for hypos.

My mom heard about it and went to 2 health stores in her area, apparently they can't keep enough on the shelves.

Oh another fun fact is that I look up what my normal daily carb intake should be for my weight/build if I was 'normal'. Roughly 189g per day. I am sure I ate tons more than that in a typical day.

Great! So things will work out! Expect to have good and bad days! You'll learn to appreciate things more in the long run, trust me. We seem to be better people once we get our diets right, so we do have that benefit. I'm not sure about that supplement. In a severe state of hypoglycemia or a severe case like yours it may not be a good idea. Avocados are the ideal thing for something like that. Don't know if I told you, but they and only they possess a very special sugar (called seven stage, techincal term is d-mannaheptulose) that suppresses insulin. Dropping blood sugar could be disastrous, I myself had this problem when I tried cayenne pepper in supplement form for circulation. Try it and see, but I suggest reading the label first and telling me what's in them before trying it.

I had an appointment with my GP this morning. I never really had a GP for several years cuz I only really needed to see a GYN.
Anywho, he said he was convinced that I had hypo by my symptoms and thought the GTT would be a waste of time too. He said that I needed to find the diet that works best for me. I told him about the "horrors" of the last month kicking sugar. I don't think anybody really knows how hard it is to do until they have to do it.

He did take the time to talk about all the other things going on in my life and agreed that I should continue to see my psychologist. He thought I was was too wired and wrapped up in the 'diet' and my condition. My husband agrees - it has been torture on us both. I agree too - this diet has caused me more stress than I have ever known. Not to say I am going to go off of it but I am to manage things differently and try to get off the 'I have to eat now or I might have an attack.'
Case in point - I ate my last meal at 12:30 today just before I went to the Dr's. We stopped off at the grocery store after- the only thing I have done in the last month is go to the freaking store. We did not get home until much later and I did not eat until 4:00. I was fine. I do think the stress of worrying about food or being out without food is a HUGE debilitating factor in this whole mess. I am done worrying about it. I know many on the boards stress the importance of eating 'on time' but I think I have let it get to me and the stress is causing A LOT more of my symptoms now than what or when I am eating.

Just my take on things today...

Cinnergen has stevia in it, a natural sweetener that has a terrifying blood sugar lowering effect. Avoid it. And you're wrong. How do I know? Because I had the same thoughts on several occasions. You always want to peg it on this and that, and stress is an easy decision, but it's not correct. Of course, certain times, you will worry about what you're eating and it can effect you, but over time you'll find, as you get more stable, that these thoughts slowly go away and it has nothing to do with stress. You're thinking this way now because you experienced a common coincidence for hypoglycemics, the 'I forgot to eat but wasn't thinking about it and felt fine' phenomenon. Trust me, you're not just stressing about it, that was a coincidence, a brief period of stability that hints at how you'll eventually be. It's easy to worry because of the symptoms you experience, but 80% of this worrying is because your brain is not functioning properly, trust me. This opinion will change in a few days or perhaps next week when it starts to happen again. What will probably happen is you'll notice that 'changing your ways' (whatever it is you're deciding to do) did little, if anything, to help your situation. Then you'll think to yourself, if this is just stress why can't I deal with it like 'everyone else', which will then cause you to worry you have some mental problem or are going insane. It's all the sugar, you'll find out sooner or later.

Too bad about the Cinnergen - no magic wonder cure yet - someday maybe.

You are correct about the stress issues. I want my brain back - and the rest too!
I am still following my 2 hour plan just weaning off the protein amount a bit. I had another great night sleep last night and no dizziness for the past two days. Doing some mild stretching exercises too and a few trips to the dog park with the pooches. My pooches have not left my side for 31 days now. They are so perceptive and know that I am sick. Without them and my husband, I could not have done this.

I had a tablespoon of brown rice 2 days ago with one one of my meals - so far so good.

I have not had any vomiting since I stopped the olive oil in the morning.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Good, just keep trying! Don't expect to go crazy exercising yet, I took a ton of time off and slowly went back to my ways, be thankful you can do that much for now and slowly increase it as time goes on. Let me know how the rice goes, I still can't handle anything like that.

Don't worry about me going crazy with the exercise. I never considered vacuuming exercise before. But on my second week of my diet I became exhausted pushing around my 20lb Dyson vacuum just trying to do something I took for granted before. For me, doing light cleaning, dishes and laundry or going to the grocery store/Dr's/park is about all I have been feeling like doing. Although I am dying to get out more.

What symptoms exactly am I looking for with the rice - a crash or sugar rush feeling?

Hahahaah, how much more similiar can we get? I used to be the same way with, that's right, my Dyson!!!! Hmmm, it depends on the person. If I eat something I shouldn't, I get a reaction within about 5 days. The thing is though, this reaction essentially goes back to just a little how I used to feel, so because I'm so stable now I have a good comparison. In such a fragile state, it's not as easy, but here's what I think. If you can handle grains, which you may be able to, I found out I couldn't after much hardship and six months trying it (!!!!), you will just function on the diet as most people do, maybe feeling good at first or worse, but eventually worse, and then suddenly better and it will fluctuate until it slowly goes away. If you're really sensitive to it like me, you'll be pretty bad off after about two weeks, just getting worse and worse, so unfortunately it will just be trial and error to see what it does. I hope that doesn't stress you out, but it will definitely make you strong, you just have to say feck it and go with it to see what happens.