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Q: Strange Symptoms For Four Months. Hypoglycemia?
asked by: juneau on September 26th, 2007
New User
First of all i just wanted to say Hi to everybody here. Very Happy

I joined this forum after reading the following article here and found that a lot fo the symptoms seemed very familiar..

http://www.fibromyalgiatreatment.com/hypog lycemia.htm

It all started roughly four months ago. I went to bed at my usual 11pm and 30-45mins later i suddenly jolted awake and noticed that i felt like i was shaking like crazy and my heart was beating really heavily. After the initial shock i went to the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water to fully wake myself and then stood in front of the mirror. I took a long hard look at myself and couldn't see myself shaking at all, even though i could feel it in my arms, hands, chest, neck and face. After a few minutes of my mind racing i calmed down and decided i should just try to get to go back to sleep and call my GP in the morning. After an hour (it's not easy trying to sleep feeling like you shaking) i managed to drift off. When i woke in the morning i noticed that i still felt like my body was shaking however it didn't appear to be as bad. Had my morning coffee, cigarette, called my GP and headed off to work. During the day i started to notice myself feeling agitated by the smallest things. Like dropping a pen for example. I found myself once or twice thinking 'get a grip!' The inner shaking and heavy than usual heartbeat continued throughout the day and night. 3 days later of continuous sypmtoms my GP appointment arrived and within a few minutes he came to the conclusion i was suffering from anxeity. Even though i was having a few agitated moments every other day i felt completely fine. But i've always known that the Doctor knows best. So i took his advice and a prescription for some low strength anti-depressants. It was about this time that started to suffer from a lot of pains in my legs when walking. I've always been an active person and walk to work daily. Which is a 4 mile round trip. After 15 minutes or so my the backs of my legs from the top of my hamstring to mid way down my calf muscle started to become painful and tight, as if they were running out of energy and cramping, and eventually my usual fast paced walk turn into a slow crawl. The best way i can describe it, is if it's the day after running a marathon that i didn't train for. I started to use a heat rub and took paracetamol but the pain continued. However once i stop walking the pain and tightness seems to drop away within minutes but come back again if i needed to walk a mile or so.

After a few of weeks of inner shaking, heavy heart beating, painful legs muscles i decided a trip back to the GP was in order. I told him that my symptoms were no better than before, even though i was feeling less agitated, i had picked up a new strange problem with my legs. So he quickly gave me a new prescription. A muscle relaxant. Which didn't work at all.

I had now been suffering with the above for a little over a month and no relief or answers as to why it was happening. Then it took a turn for the worst.

It was a Saturday night and i decided to have a relaxing night in with my girlfriend and watch some TV after visiting her parents in the evening for a BBQ. At 11pm as we were watching a movie i suddenly felt myself go extremely light headed and flushed. I told my girlfriend and calmly stood up and walked to the kitchen for a glass of water and sat down on the kitchen floor (tiled floor so it was nice and cold). After a few minutes the light headedness went away and we both went back to watching TV. 5 or so minutes later i felt myself becoming lightheaded again however it was worse than before and borderlining on dizzy. My heart and inner shaking also kicked up a notch or two. Again i went to the kitchen and grabbed a second glass of water, sat on the floor and waited for it to pass, which it did after a few minutes, and went back to watch TV. Less than a minute later i became extremely dizzy for the third time and my heart started to pound as if were trying to burst through my chest. It was then that i noticed that my left forearm and hand became numb and tingley like pins and needles. My girlfriend decided that was enough and rang for an ambulance. While waiting for the ambulance i suddenly had a massive urge to urinate that came out of knowhere and my right ear started to ring loudly. By the time the ambulance arrived the peak of my dizzy spell had subsided and my heart had calmed down a little. They popped my on a heart monitor, which was fine, and checked my pupils, which they said were very dialated. I was then shipped off to the hospital, and on the way had another dizzy spell that resembled much like the first one. At the hospital they took a bunch of bloods and a urine sample and an hour later the doctor returned to tell me everything was fine. He asked my of my recent health and decided that it may well have been a panic attack. I wasn't fully trusting of his opinion as i didn't feel panicked at all apart from worrying about the dizzy spells getting progressively worse. He told me to report back to my GP asap. I went home feeling exhausted and slept for 12 hours straight. When i finally awoke in the morning my inner shaking, heavy heartbeat and ear ringing were still there, aswell as a really dull fuzzy headache which lasted for the next two days.

Back to my GP and he looked through the report and instantly decided that it was a panic attack. I also told him that during the time at the hospital and this appointment i had been hit with very brief and small dizzy spells around mid afternoon, but they seem to be clearing up. he told me to cut down on caffiene and rest (i used to drink 4-5 mugs of coffee daily which i dropped to one in the morning and eventually made that one decaf) It had now been 6 weeks since it all started.

Into the second month i started to notice more seemingly strange problems. I would get suddenly hit with random patches of tiredness in the late afternoon which were sometimes accompanied with dull headaches. These headaches cleared up after a hour or so but left my head feeling a little spacey and fuzzy. It was also around this time that i noticed i was going to the toilet a little too frequently, at least once a day and that my stool was sometimes loose. It was about this time that i found the link at the top of this post, and it all seemed very familiar. I noted the big no no's like glucose, dextrose, potatoes, bread etc and looked at my daily diet and noticed that i was eating a lot of meals that contained the above. So i dropped a few meals here and there, like pre cooked meat sandwiches that contain dextrose to something else, apart from this my diet stayed pretty much the same, but i decided to eat less snacks like cakes, chocolate.

Into the third month and i noticed a change in my sypmtoms. Instead of being at a constantly bad level, i noticed a lot more highs and lows where my inner shaking and heart pounding would drop but then pick back up. And it was during this time where i had my first symptom free day since it all began. The next evening however it was back to square one. During this time my nose became very congested and i instantly put it down to being a cold. However my opinion on this changed when it had been 3 weeks and not cleared up or turned into a cold (i hadn't sneezed once. No sore throat or chesty cough as i get with every cold).

Now i'm into month four. Inner shaking, heavy heart beating, ear ringing, blocked nose, legs painful, tired patches and fuzzy head still here but less frequent, and two patches diarrhea in the last week, and no sign of it ending and no idea what's going on. Sad

Here's a quick recap of todays events. Woke up with minimal shaking and heart pounding. Decaf coffee and a cigarette for breakfast (bad i know, but i've never really taken to eating at breakfast). Off to work. Legs feeling quite good today with minimal pain and muslce tightness. Shaking and heart still feeling pretty good. Probably a 2-3 out of 10 (10 being worst). Had lunch pretty late at about 4pm. Fresh chicken sandwich on two round of wholemeal bread. Still feeling pretty good. Walk home. Little more pain than before but more uncomfortable than actual pain. Get home. Random home jobs. Still feeling good. Evening meal at 8:30pm. 2 Salmon En Croute (salmon in a cheese and chive sauce wrapped in pastry). 9pm, shaking picking up, heart beat feeling slower and heavy, litterally feel the veins in my neck throbbing. 10pm still feeling pretty bad. 11pm shaking dying off a little. 11:15pm off to bed for another non symptom free nights sleep and day tomorrow. Crying or Very sad

I've had many blood tests, an EKG, doplar test and they're all saying i'm completely healthy. Yet i'm not.

I'm 26, 5'9 and the last time i was weighed i was just under 11st (not sure how much this is in lbs). I smoke a little under 15 cigarettes a day. I hardly ever drink alcohol, and i eat pretty healthily.

Not sure if this matters, but my Mother is diabetic.

If anybody has any suggestions i'm all ears.

Smile
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DaveLee22
replied on September 27th, 2007
New User
Hey buddy,

Sounds serious...

I strongly suggest you take a look at "stan's diet" and read a lot of the older post on this board to learn all about hypoglycemia. your body is sending you a strong message to change your habits.

you have to stop smoking & you have to start cutting certain foods out of your life. This takes a strong commitment, but if you're health is important to you, you will do what's best.

take a look at the older posts and see if your feelings match any others on this board.

stay cool,

-dave
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juneau
replied on September 27th, 2007
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I think i need to probably make another appointment with my GP and ask for a GTT, but i think he'll need convincing. I'm having one of my bad wake ups at the moment where i feel tired and exhausted.

I've also just noticed that i cannot find this post via the forums. Only going through my profile works. Confused
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admin
replied on October 1st, 2007
Advanced Support Team
Dear Juneau,

Sorry about that - our moderating system picked up the URL you posted as potential spam. The message should be scrollable again so you can find it through the search tool at the top of the page.

Again, on behalf of the forum, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Best,
Admin
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foxforce5
replied on October 1st, 2007
Experienced User
Hi - I had almost the same exact symptoms and crash as you - out of the blue. Check out my posts with Stan called 'Krimmel Diet - worst crash ever'.

I thought for sure that I had 'hypo'. I believe I was having panic attracts that were caused by the hypo and not just panic attacks. The low blood sugar crash feeling was exactly the same for me as a panic attack but with one exception which is that when I had a panic attack, I need to poop. But now have come to think that I am suffering from anxiety with a touch of depression. After going to several doctors, all telling me I'm fine, one saying that I had anxiety but I did not believe him.

By going to a natural doctor that my sister-in law recommended, I got diagnosed with having Candida just last week. I could not believe it. I still think I have hypo and not yet convinced about anything. I began treatment for this a week ago and it has helped. I've been on a strict 'hypo' diet since August and have not really been feeling any better so I was relieved in some way that this might be candida. This natural doctor is convinced that once I get rid of the candida, I will be fine. Meanwhile, I was so freaked the anxiety that I started seeing a therapist too - which has helped.

The more and more I deconstruct my past and read books about anxiety, I am thinking that a lot of my psychical symptoms are directly related to the anxiety. Tricky stuff.

Just last week, I was trying to make a choice if I should go on some sort of medication like you for anxiety or try the candida treatment first. I decided to try the candida treatment first and try to deal with the anxiety with my therapist. If you continue on the meds, please see a therapist as you really need to treat the cause, not just the symptoms of anxiety.

I have had some breakthroughs when I accepted that I did really have a lot of anxiety in my youth that was never really resolved. My book says that anxious kids become anxious adults. I never really had a big problem with anxiety/depression before - I'm 42 - so I thought it MUST be something medical. But the more I unravel, I feel that this could be much of my problem. So don't discount any leg cramps or other psychical symptoms as just being medical as I think they could be related to anxiety.

I was having a lot of dizziness despite being on a perfect diet for 2 months, this last week is the first time that this symptom has gone. Trouble is I'm sure if it is because of the candida treatment or my mental breakthroughs or what. I'm just glad that it is gone. I am feeling a bit better and I was really bad - so slow though - each day.

Another reason that convinced me that a lot of this could be mental was that I spoke a friend who said that a long time ago she was having numbness in her limbs. Her father had recently died and through therapy she found out that stress caused these numb symptoms to appear out of nowhere. She went to counseling and got the help she needed. A good book is called 'emotional fitness'.

Changing your diet and having a GTT done is a great idea. I did not have GTT cause i was feeling so rotten already that that would have sent me over the edge. Change your diet slow though, I went cold turkey on everything and suffered greatly. When you first start feeling like shite on the diet is when most people give up, don't do this.

I wish you all the best!
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juneau
replied on October 3rd, 2007
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Thanks for the replies so far. I have never actually heard of Candida before, so i will talk to my GP about it this afternoon when i have my appointment.
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juneau
replied on October 3rd, 2007
New User
Ok, i just had my appointment. My GP told me that GTT are for diabetics only, something which i have read about on these forums. He did give me a blood sugar testing kit and told me to test myself once my inner shaking and heartbeat start to pick up.

He pretty much ruled out Candida. "Your symptoms don't at all sound like thrush."

As i write this my symptoms are very low. My heart feels fine like it used to be and in turn my inner shaking drops too. My right ear is still ringing very slightly and that's about it. Yet i know for sure that sometime today the above problems will go through the roof.
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foxforce5
replied on October 3rd, 2007
Experienced User
With Candida, as with hypo, most doctors do not have a clue as it is hard to diagnose. I've been to 4 doctors in the last 3 months. Check out yeastconnection.com to get more info on candida. Read up on everything!

I had a breakthrough yesterday emotionally, I have been doing some work sorting out my past and I don't know what the hell happened but I have unlocked something. I feel so calm today and the dread feeling in my stomach is gone. I am not feeling hungry now - even tho I was eating every 2 hours - sometimes I was starving. I am believing more in the mind/body connection that was making me sick. This sounds silly but know I know what people mean now when they say that they eat to fill a void. I never really got that until now. My body was actually sending me physical signals that I was hungry.

Good luck and stay positive!
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juneau
replied on October 3rd, 2007
New User
Thanks for staying with me in this foxforce5. I've been doing a little reading about Candida and there are some striking resemblances. I read that one of the first thing it causes problem with is your joints. During the previous winter about two months before all these other problems started my joints litterally died on me. It first started with my knees and slowly spread to each joint and lasted a total of about 2 months. My GP said that it was more than likely arthritis.

I've been thinking about buying some pro-biotic drinks like Actimel. Would this be a good idea?

I too saw a psychologist for 6 weeks and i feel better anxiety wise. I was feel agitated by the smallest of things. My last episode of this was months ago, and i generally feel better mentally.

Did you suffer from strange inner shaking symptoms?

I am also having the strange feeling where i'm really hungry. I can eat a full meal and still be craving more food afterwards.
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foxforce5
replied on October 3rd, 2007
Experienced User
I'm here for you as I know how scary this all is.

I don't really get the inner shakes - except when I am having a 'hypo' crash or a panic attack. I have not had a full blown panic attack in a while but still have anxiety.

I am just off to the store now to get some probiotics in pill form or drinkl - yogurt is not enough with the antifungals I am am on now. Basically any time you take antibiotics, and I have taken a lot, It wipes out all the good and bad bacteria. So one must always take probiotics especially when on antibiotics. So get some good ones such as probiotic pearls or ultimate flora that contain over a billion organisms.

The resemblances for candida and other problems are striking and confusing. I still am on the fence about it but decided that the treatment cannot hurt me just my pocketbook.

Check out Fibromyalgia as well.

The hunger thing has plagued me as well even though I was eating every two hours. Stan suggests eating more fat. The last few days I have not had the hunger pains so much.
What are you eating?
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juneau
replied on October 4th, 2007
New User
I'm eating what i regularly eat. The only thing that has changed in my diet is my caffiene intake. I've gone from 4-5 a day to 1 decaf in the morning. The rest of the time i drink tap water.
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foxforce5
replied on October 4th, 2007
Experienced User
I would try 'Stan's diet' to see if you feel better. Try to get yourself off of the caffeine ( which sounds like you have done) & ciggies first.
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juneau
replied on October 5th, 2007
New User
Hey ForceFox5. I've been busy over the past 2 days so unable to reply until now. I've been doing a lot of heavy thinking about my health and all problems i've had over the past 6 years. I'm really leaning towards Candida now and i'm looking to get a second opinion.

Apart from what you already know, i've remembered more strange problems that could very well be linked.

Since 6 years ago i've been a long time sufferer of Chronic Cholinergic Urticaria and still am to this day. I've had every medication known to man thrown at it, from antihistamine courses to high dosage steriods, and nothing has cured it. I'm now classed as 'untreatable'. During my 3rd year of urticaria i suddenly became totally intolerant to heat, with no explaination why.

18months or so i had been getting very random stomach pains. Sometimes it could be 2 months in between each one. But sooner or later one would appear, last for 5-10 miinutes then go away as if nothing had happened.

At the end of last year my right hand fingers became very red and extremely itchy. My GP said it could be some sort of infection, gave me some gel and sent me on my way. It didn't help and eventually went on it's own after about 2 months.

Now onto my joint pain. It slowly spread through my body and i was in agonising pain, and even ended up in the A&E on the first night. They said arthritis, and so did my GP. Pain pills given and sent packing. No relief from the medication and i was using two walking sticks for a month and it took over 2 months for the pain to finally go away.

2 weeks later i started with the knee ligament and leg muscle pain. I was on beta blockers at the time as my GP thought it would help my inner shaking. I eventually came off the beta blockers, however my leg pain continued. It's only recently that it's subsiding. Strangely it lasted for a similar time frame as my joint pain did.

The rest you already know.

But here's two more things, that stupidly i ignored. About 2 months ago the nails on both my big toes turned a pale yellow colour. I hear that's the sign of a fungal infection.

When i wake up in the morning i fell wrecked. I always sleep straight through for roughly 8 hours, yet i feel like i've had no sleep at all.

I'm not one to jump to conclusions but i'm really starting to push towards Candida and not Hypo. I just want to be healthly again. I'm also starting to wonder if i've been suffering for longer than i thought.

Today i picked up some probiotic juices and health suppliment tablets. I'm hoping these two sources of good bacteria might help.... if only a little.

I also think i may know the cause of my problems.
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foxforce5
replied on October 6th, 2007
Experienced User
Hi Juneau,

I have joined a couple other candida support groups online - they have tons of info - go to yahoo health- http://health.dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/Hea lth___Wellness.

Search for candida. They also have other hypoglycemic support groups as well.

Sounds like you have had a tough time. I'm sorry. Yes, The yellow toenail sounds like fungus. My major complaint too for the past couple of years has been non-restorative sleep.

I just asked someone on the candida forum for some advice ( her name is BEE) and she told me that all candida sufferers have hypoglycemia.
Because Candida causes defective cell membranes. Defective cell membranes may interfere with the ability of blood sugar to penetrate the various cells, a job normally accomplished with the help of insulin. When cell membranes are damaged, the insulin will have trouble doing its job - and insulin levels may have to be increased {by the body}. This may result in low blood sugar which explains why you have hypoglycemia symptoms, and it can also cause you to gain weight!

She told me for every year that you have had Candida, it takes 1 month of healing time. Trouble is, I have no clue how long I have had this as I have never been sick really - just troubled with UTI's over the past 8 years. My ND - Natural Doc. - told me that the antibiotics I had been taking were the major cause of mine.

Try to find a doctor who can help you if you think it is candida. From what I'm reading you really need to do colonics as part of the treatment - which I am doing now - and you need someone trained to do that. A lot of people are using enemas instead but I just could not do that to myself - plus colonics are much better IMHO.

P.S. I used to live in England.
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vina
replied on October 27th, 2007
New User
peanut butter on Brown rice cake plus watered down orange juice when you feel shaky should help : )
careful with sugarless peanut butter in the morning though...mornings are more sensitive but cheese works well.

Eat a peanut butter and brown rice cake in the middle of the night and a plain one when you first wake up before you even get out of bed.

Doctors are taught about what drugs work on what in their training.
naturalpaths are taught about natural alternatives which leads them to know alot more than doctors about a lot of illnesses. They can so all the same tests too and almost guarenteed you will find an answer through one if you went. They look for a reason and try to stop it where it starts where as doctors more try to give you a drug to stop what you feel but it keeps happening.
Plus doctors don't know alot about hypoglycemia. They do not seem to take it seriously.

Tell us how your testing shows up when you get these episodes on your monitor : )
Vina
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Stan
replied on October 29th, 2007
Moderator
Rice cakes aren't good, you shouldn't be eating those. I'm not sure where you got your diet information.
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vina
replied on October 29th, 2007
New User
I thought brown rice was ok. That is basically the only grain that I eat. It seemed to be working ok for about a month and a bit but, I am starting to get grossed out by them now. My diet is just based on stuff I'v read on the internet in the last few months.

Why are ricecakes bad?
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Stan
replied on October 30th, 2007
Moderator
Processed grains must be avoided. Brown rice can be okay, if actual rice and not processed.
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juneau
replied on October 31st, 2007
New User
Hey everybody. Sorry it's been so long since my last reply.

I'm currently having a few tests done for Candida. My GP took some clippings of my affected nails and sent them off for analysis. Firstly to check them under a microscope to see if Candida spores are evident, which has come back negative. And now they're performing a culture test, which i should know the results of soon.

It may sound stupid but i'm actually hoping that it comes back positive. I'm getting to the point where i'm sick and tired of illnesses that can't be diagnosed.
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foxforce5
replied on October 31st, 2007
Experienced User
Go to yeastconnection.com to get more info and take the questionnaire. There is a great book by the same person - Dr. Cooke.

It will be interesting to see what your test comes back as. My ND ( and several others) say that there is no definitive medical test to see if you have Candida. Guess because it exists in all of us. But I have heard of some stool test that are used as well. I guess it depends on who you talk to.

Good luck & keep going until you find a doctor who can help you.
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