Hi there,

I would do some more investigating to determine if it's blood sugar related. Anxiety can be from many different things.

You could buy a glucose meter and check your blood sugar when you are having an episode. For me, I notice symptoms in the 70's although have fallen as low as 50.

Also, what is your diet like?

I have seen a few doctors and you're right - most are just not convinced that it is as common as it is, or that your symptoms could be from low blood sugar. You have to be your own doctor here.

I am a great believer that anxiety/depression/etc are all related with our body/mind. You get out what you put in. If you are eating garbage you will feel like garbage. Sometimes, undoing the habits of bad eating is a huge challenge and can take months or years to really correct.

I NEED SOME REAL HELP, GOT INSURANCE, BEEN TO DR. I TELL DR. WHATS WRONG AND DR. WANTS TO CHECK BLOOD PRESSURE, ETC. SHE DOESNT DO ANYTHING ABOUT BACK AND LEG, NOW WAKE UP AND I CANT WALK AT ALL, HAVE TO DRAG LEG TO BATHROOM, VERY PAINFUL. PAIN STAYS WITH ME 24 HOURS A DAY. I GO TO SLEEP TO TRY AND EASE PAIN, FEELS LIKE A KNIVE BEING STUCK IN MY KNEE I NEED A DR. THATS GOING TO CARE ABOUT WHAT IS WRONG NOW, ONCE THE PAIN GOES AWAY I WILL WORK ON BLOODPRESSURE AND ETC. PLEASE HELP... HAVING A HARD TIME WITH TRUSTING DOCTORS

I've tried going on a hypoglycemia diet for a short time, but it probably wasn't long enough to get real results. Also, one of my main symptoms is anxiety, so since my brain has been conditioned to respond to all kinds of random things by getting really nervous, its sometimes hard to tell if this response is caused by eating or not. What gets me thinking is when I eat something like potatoes and then within an hour my heart start beating fast and I get nervous and can't figure out anything in particular that I should be nervous about, that gets me thinking that my body is trying to tell me something. I'm going to start to keep a food journal and keep track of everything for a while, see where that gets me. My question is, if the results point to hypoglycemia, where do I start? Just try the diet on my own? Find a doctor that knows what they're talking about? What kind of doctor? I'm really ready to do something about this - and it's taken me a long, emotionally difficult, time to get to that point- but I'm NOT ready to spend months going from doctor to doctor trying to convince people.
And if there's anyone here that has experienced anxiety as a symptom of hypogycemia, is it necessary to do behavior therapy or some kind of psychological treatment in addition to the diet in order to get rid of the way your brain has been wired to respond for so long, negative perceptions, etc. - or does the diet just take care of it?

I have anxiety as a symptom of hypo. Since Aug. I have been on a strict diet and a lot of my symptoms are gone or lessened. I was also diagnosed with Candida which can cause hypoglycemia as well. I have had bouts with anxiety that last a week at time and then go away.

At one point I was having panic attacks so often and feeling so hungry that eating every two hours - on Stans's diet - was the only thing that relieved me. Before all this happened to me, I never had anxiety/depression before. I think part of the anxiety is your brain/body is desperately trying to get used to eating a new way. With Candida, you are fighting yeasties who make you crave sugar to feed them. It messes with your brain - big time.

Part is also the sheer stress of feeling so crappy and tense about following a strict plan that throws your adrenals out of whack. Even now - I still cannot pinpoint what triggers my anxiety. I just think it is my body healing and releasing so many toxins that it is hard to cope. I am doing a lot to detox my body at the moment too.

For many, the diet does take care of the anxiety problem but for me I seem to have a few more problems ( heavy metal issues, congested liver). My diet plan is supposed to address all of these things but it is a load to deal with and 'die off' can be severe.

I kept track of all I ate for months and it drove me crazy. I could not tell anything by it. But if you start eating the same things and then introduce just one item back in at a time, you are supposed to be able to tell if you are reacting to that. I've tried it all - glucose meter, several doctors, shrink, meditation etc. One doctor refused to treat me unless I did a 5 hour GTT. I refused because I was so sick at the time plus I knew I had hypo. Another doctor - a top endo - told me he did not believe in GTT. Get some books - 'Hypoglycemia for dummies' is actually a good book to start with.

Try Stan's diet posted on this forum and read past posts.

hey!
i have hypoglycemia and anxiety issues and what i notice is when i get low on sugar, it reminds me of symptoms of an anxiety attack and starts me up on one.
so you just have to realize how your body feels and know the difference.
what helps me is just carrying a bottle of pepsi around and i havent had a problem since!
goodluck<3

Maybe someone can help explain this- from what I understand, when we eat, blood sugar levels go up, then insulin is released to trigger receptors to take glucose into cells and out of the bloodstream. In the case of hypo, too much glucose is taken in and levels get too low too fast. Also according to my understanding (and this is where it gets fuzzy), sometimes the body sees the low levels as a state of emergency, and the 'fight or flight' response kicks in, adrenals release epinepherine and that's the anxious response some people get. I'm confused about whether that's a response to the initial high levels of glucose, or to the subsequent low levels of glucose. For me, the anxious feeling comes before the symptoms characteristic of the drop (ie headache, tiredness, etc.) Does this make any sense biologically? Is it possible that you feel the adrenal response before you feel the low glucose effects even though it actually happens in the opposite order? Or is my understanding incorrect?

No, too much INSULIN is secreted. You are right about flight or fight and also the brain will eventually begin diverting glucose from less necessary areas to keep things like the heart running smoothly, so thus depression and other nasties can creep in. The adrenal reaction should happen after, but if it's been going on a long time it could happen at any time really because the levels are so unstable. You need to get to an endocrinologist to be properly tested first. I am currently carrying around a glucometer that they gave me for free, so instead of spening money on one when you might not even have the problem, though it DOES sound like you do (especially the potato thing), go to them and they should order for you several tests including fasting, a GTT, post-prandial, hemoglobin A1C and so forth. Get the tests done first. Don't change the diet yet, get them done while you're in a state of suck.

I finally decided to do my own gtt. I figured I may as well test every 30 minutes if I'm doing it myself, so it's a lot of numbers. Basically I'm confused by the results- I did it again another day to make sure I did it right, and got the same type of curve (higher numbers, started with more sugar).

1st try:
fasting: 82
1/2 hr: 119
1 hr: 95
1.5 hr: 105
2 hr: 102
2.5 hr: 93
3 hr: 110
3.5 hr: 87
4 hr: 81
4.5 hr: 83
5 hr: 89
5.5 hr: 82
6 hr: 92


2nd time:
fasting: 86
1/2 hr: 139
1 hr: 110
1.5 hr: 106
2 hr: 121
2.5 hr: 108
3 hr: 133
3.5 hr: 112
4 hr: 111
4.5 hr: 102
5 hr: 84
5.5 hr: 76
6 hr: 83

The numbers barely get below fasting level and I don't think any of the drops are that extreme or fast, so to me it does not look like any of the typical hypoglycemic curves. At the same time, it does not look like any normal curve I've ever seen. I'm no expert, so I might be missing something here, but is it normal for blood sugar levels to fluctuate so much? Maybe someone with more experience can help me out...

It can be normal, yes, they fluctuate throughout the day. Unfortunately, it looks like everything is normal, you're never even reaching into pre-diabetic levels, either lower or higher. Those are normal curves. However, a home tester is not the best method, unless you did it right. If you had ANYTHING on your fingers at any time, it can scew the results, so hopefully you followed the directions properly.

I'm glad I did this myself before I wasted time with a doctor.
But I thought normal is a jump in response to sugar, and then it levels out over a few hours. Is it normal to go up and down three times before stabilizing?

Yes. It doesn't have to just go straight down.