Improvements?

Dear jenny,

that is great that you're seeing some progress in the way you feel! You really have to appreciate the small gains and don't be discouraged if you have some setbacks.

The book that stan recommended "hypoglycemia: the disease your doctor won't treat" is really very encouraging, you should try to find a copy. It tells about the different phases a person goes through when recovering and it's not steady or predictable but you will make progress.

I think writing in a journal is a very good idea. Writing down what you eat and how you're feeling helps you develope a pattern and when your not feeling as well you can look back and see the progress you've made.

Just an idea, keep up the good work!

Dj

I strongly recommend writing in a journal as well. If you can get that book, do it, it is still in print, just under a different name. If you notice, you were feeling worse whenever you had more carbohydrates than protein and fat. This is the balance you need to find if you're going to eat those things. You're feeling better in the evening for a very simple reason, your body has built up enough sugar through what you've eaten throughout the entire day. Why haven't you been adding fat if you're worried about losing weight? You keep saying this but never seem to mention you've tried adding fat. Make sure you've tried almost every angle before you decide to supplement with more carbohydrates. Something tells me you haven't added fat. Jenny, are you being sneaky!!! Shame!

Ive been adding two tablespoons of olive oil to my salad and I have a tub of humus a day. What other fat is there? I can't have nuts or cheese becoz of the candida....Pls let me know what other fat there is...Also what about seeds? Do they contain alot of fat?

I keep a food diary at the moment and most of the time its hard to say why I feel the way I do - for example, the flu like feelings the past 3 days have gone today - yet ive changed nothing in food - today I have dizziness instead....Very weird....And I had the dizziness after i' had my usual tuna with salad....

It's nothing surprising, just a feature of the treatment, you'll have weird symptoms coming and going all the time for awhile. Some seeds have fat in them, I was going to suggest eating more olive oil. Seriously, it might sound gross, but drink down a tablespoon of it between meals or with every meal. This will slow everything down and add a ton of fat, but, here's the best part, it's all good, plus olive oil is supposed to suppress candida function.

I woke every hour last night....I had terrible dreams of death - I think this is more the grief than the low blood sugar. Yesterday was a terrible day - I had bad anxiety - so bad I thought I was going mad. I felt like I should drive to a mental institution. It was terrible.

Anyway this afternoon I went 3 hours without food! And no symptoms! :)

im having a blood test in the morning to look at my insulin levels? Do u think there is any point in this, as I have a huge fear of blood tests and ive had terrible anxiety thinking about the faint spell im going to have after the blood test. Thing is, if im anxious about a blood test, how on earth am I going to go thru with the gtt? :( :shock: :cry:

Hi jenny,

i know from experience that in times of stress, blood sugar problems are much, much worse.

Don't expect too much information from a single blood test. Your blood sugar varies from minute to minute so you need a series of tests to diagnose hypoglycemia.

I think that if you stick to your eating program and get through this period in your life, things will be much better in general. Relax and take care of yourself.

Dj

Hi diana,

i think they are basically trying to rule out a tumour in my pancreas. I really dont think a blood test is going to show that anyway, so thinking of not bothering, and as u say - stick to the eating plan. Im far too stressed right now to go thru with a blood test and work myself up about that. Im grieving so badly right now its driving me mad - the hypo on top of it is just making me a wreck..... :(

It's actually making the grief worse, trust me, you don't seem to realize how much the low sugar will do to your brain. Let me explain so that when you feel like "driving to an institution" you understand what's happening and stop blaming yourself for it. Here's what's happened. 1. The brain has become used to the frequent drops in sugar. 2. Because of this, it begins to assume this is simply going to happen regardless. 3. Compound this with the fact that it knows when the sugar is low, and it starts to think on its own. It pretty much says "okay, I have to keep this area over here (heartbeat perhaps) running otherwise the body dies, so let me see, I really don't need this over here so i'll draw energy away from that temporarily." 4. What sections? Well, typically, it shuts down the neocortex, which is responsible for our social functioning. This will increase depression, grief, anxiety, you name it. This is exactly what's happening. Currently, your brain is freaking out because even though it's getting better food now, it wants to be given sugar in quick doses, so it's trying to get you to eat bad foods again. You're teaching it a lesson, but it's a hard one for you to learn as well. You're going to feel bad for a week or so, up to five as people say. It may only be two weeks, but it may even be a bit longer. Just always remember, this is the low blood sugar, it's not you, you have to realize this or it will make it worse. This has nothing to do with you. Sure, you're dealing with grief, i'm not downplaying that at all, but your feelings of grief are intensified because of what I explained above. Always remember this. I didn't ask this before, but where do you work? Sorry if you already said. If you work somewhere where you can be put on medical leave, that would be your best option. Use up vacation if you have to, it's a good idea.

Hi stan....Ok will bear that in mind as much as I can. Yesterday was a good day. Especially the nite - I was very relaxed and myself and even managed to things I used to do. This is what I ate:

7.30am - 2 shredded wheat with soya milk
9.30am 1 actimel (a dairy yoghurt drink with good bacteria - this is for the candida diet and yes it does conflict woth hypo diet but its just for a month).
10.20am - 1 pear and organic low fat soya yoghurt
12.00pm – tuna with salad (carrott, cucumber, lettuce, green beans, sweetcorn and cherry tomatoes) and 1 egg
15.30pm - 1 red pepper and humus
18.00pm - had 2 rice cakes with tahini spread and some pices of chicken.
19.30pm - turkey with brown rice, swede and brussell sprouts.
11.30pm - bed

but out of nowhere I woke up after an hour of being in bed and had another attack. This time I just went back to sleep tho.

I cancelled my blood test this morning - I couldnt go thru with it.... :(
it was to test my insulin levels...

And now all morning I have been incredibly sleepy..And had weakness. Im worried this is the lack of carbs.....Ive been on the diet for about 11 days now....

Not to worry, that's not even two weeks yet. If you said two months, then i'd worry. You need to remember that this diet is very, very healthy, so technically you wouldn't be having a problem if you were "normal" other than maybe some occasional hunger pains due to adjustment. That's it. Always remember, this is the adjustment phase. Your body is going through a ton of changes right now and it will make things difficult. I have about one moderate attack per week currently, so don't expect to not have them, you're going to. They will slowly decrease in intensity and frequency and you'll learn to cope better because your brain will have more sugar. Always remember the good days and keep track of symptoms. This will help to put things into perspective.