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Am I Hypoglycemic?

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Dance4evr

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Am I Hypoglycemic?
Posted: 05-13-07 13:22pm

I've had physical problems for years. We've looked at all kinds of things from food allergies to cancers, done all the tests for everything from Sinus infections to crohn's disease. After a lot of searching, we finally arrived at IBS. most likely this is all triggered by stress.

The last few months have been abysmal. My stress level has been through the roof and it's really impacted my health. Because the IBS has been raging, food has become a major issue. I know I do not eat enough or eat reglarly. I'm concious of my diet, but food choices usually lead to a major internal debates as to what I can eat and how it will impact me. More often than not, I skip eating rather than deal with the side effects.

In short, I've kind of screwed myself health-wise.

In the last three months, I've started having what I thought were panic attacks. My heart starts racing, I have a hard time catching my breath. The first time I thought I was having a heart attack. Anxiety medication did nothing to stop or reduce the level of the attacks. Thats when I happened onto a book about Hypoglycemia.

All the symptoms seemed to match. And, reading here about stress and adrenal depletion causing hypo, it all seems to finally be coming together. I'm starting to think the condition I've been trying so hard to figure out all these years is actually some form of hypoglycemia.

I had a blood glucose test years ago and the results were kind of funky. My doctor didn't think anything of it because I'm pretty slender. Since I wasn't overweight (I fight to keep weight on), he said not to worry about it.

Since I started to suspect hypo, I've kept track of my sugar with a home glucose monitor. I don't seem to react too much to eating food. My sugars rarely rise above 102. Once it went to 145 after eating but that was it. I tend to hoover around the low 90's. When I'm feeling "hypo" the sugars are usually in the low 70's. Anything below 85 and I feel hypo.

From what I've read, these don't seem to be numbers that are out of the ordinary. Are they normal? Is there such a thing as "normal"?

Until the panic attacks started I was extremely active, dancing or swiming several days a week. Since the attacks began, my energy levels are almost non-existent. I'd love to get back to being physical again but I just don't have the energy. I spend the whole weekend in bed or laying low just recooperating from my work week.

Does this sound like hypo? Should I see someone about this?
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Stan

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Posted: 05-15-07 17:53pm

Sounds like it man, and it if so it will be the cause behind the lie of IBS for you. Can I have your complete test results? I need to see them to help you. The thing that most doctors don't know about the GTT is that for hypoglycemics, the level of the drop doesn't matter, it's the speed of the drop. From what you told me there, it sounds like you might be dropping pretty hard pretty fast.
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Dance4evr

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Posted: 05-15-07 23:02pm

It was about 2 years ago and I don't have the results. I recently tried to get them from my doctors office and they couldn't find them which I found kind of disturbing. It didn't instill a lot of faith in their record keeping.

I recall the numbers were odd, though. I don't remember the first one taken before I took the glucose. The test was done at half hour intervals over 3 hours. The second test was higher, in the mid-150's. It was the third one that was weird. It was 47. I remember that clearly because the lab even called it out as unusual and recommended a second test. The numbers slowly crept up to the low 70's before the test was done.

The other thing I clearly recall was feeling very strange in the last half hour or so of the test. All my energy just disappeared and I was hungry, craving sweets in the worst way. I mentioned it the the nurse who said I should just go home and lay down. I think she offered me some juice or something which I would have declined because I haven't been able to handel fruit juices for yuors. I remember sitting in my car in the parking lot for about 20 minutes then heading home in a fog. I spent the rest of the day in bed trying to recover. Eating didn't really help clear me up again either. Sleep was the only thing that made me feel better.

When I did the follow up, the doctor brushed it all off.

At the time, I thought little of it. The numbers were all over the place so I figured it was just a bad test or something. My doctor was not concerned (GP) so I forgot about it. It wasn't until I started putting the pieces together about the Hypo that I even thought about the test again.

I've tried kicking sugar but right now my diet is so restrictive because of the IBS, a very high-pressure job and an insane schedule, I fall off the diet within a couple of days and the cycle starts all over again.

I've finally decided to leave my job because it's the only way the pressure will ease up which in turn means I can control my diet better. But I can't leave for at least another week, perhaps longer.
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Stan

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Posted: 05-16-07 07:31am

Yeah that's a pretty severe drop. So which hour did that occur in, I'm confused? That will be enough for me to help you. What kind of diet do they have you eating for, chuckle, ibs? No offense, but that caca is a dustbin diagnosis, no one really has that stupid crap, it's the new fad for awhile. I was treated the same way, so if you want support you're going to need to find a new doctor, but there's not much they can do now. Can you go on medicl leave for your job? I tried that at first, before I knew what I had unfortunately, and used up all three months of it. But since you know what it is you could possibly treat it in that time.
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Dance4evr

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Posted: 05-16-07 09:05am

The drop was the third blood draw, so it would have been one hour after taking the glucose.

Medical leave is not an option. I'm an independent contractor. If I leave, I'm done. Another doctor suggested short-term disability but the stigma would follow me in my line of work if anyone found out.

The situation is pretty complicated. I used all my money and maxed out my credit cards in a very well educated attempt to pursue a dream so I'm living paycheck to paycheck these days. The "dream" is slowly beginning to come to fruition but it will be months at best before it begins to pay off.

The dream was making an indy film, a documentary. I had hoped for some financial help through grants but it never materialized (I wrote lots and lots of grants, never got one), so it was all up to me to finance this thing. And it was a very expensive documentary to make, involving travel all over the country over the course of three years.

So, leaving a job is a very tough choice right now because in short order I will have to consider bancruptcy. Then again, it only takes one person in the right place to like my film and everything will be solved. And, this Sunday could be the first step toward that. I'm having a screening and some potential buyers/distributors will be there. The film has already had amazing reviews from very well placed people, people who would not BS me, so I have faith in what I've produced.

The toll it's taken on me personally has been huge. Essentially working two full-time jobs for the past three years, no time off, never more than a one afternoon break from one job or the other. I finally realized it was either take a risk on creditors or follow the family tradition of early heart attacks. I chose to leave the job instead.

Changing the diet just isn't going to happen until I get rid of some of this stress.

I guess the next step is trying to find the right kind of doctor to help me with this. I doubt my GP would take this seriously. Should I be looking for an endocrinologist? How do you know a good one from a not so good one? I'm in Los Angeles. Are there any resources to help with that decision out here?

Part of me is struggling to be very Zen about this, telling myself to calm down and relax, take deep breaths. That's been a tough fight so far but I'm trying.
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Stan

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Posted: 05-16-07 09:26am

Rough situation. Is there no way you can adjust your diet at this time? It's imperative. What's the documentary about? I'm really in to underground films, so I'm curious.
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Dance4evr

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Posted: 05-16-07 10:04am

The problem with the diet is the stress level. Things change so fast in my current job they quickly get out of control. I start the day off with the best of intentions and, usually, a healthy breakfast, but by mid-morning or early afternoon I've been barraged from so many different directions I either am forced to skip lunch or find myself in a meeting where the lunch served leaves me no options for safe food. I have a refrigerator in my office but I've been so busy I can't get things for it. This week alone has been 5AM mornings working until 8:30 or 9 each night. Who wants to shop at those hours?

So, I get so hungy just I grab something. Usually it's something on my "bad" list. Part of the grab is hunger, part is a stress response. I'm aware of that at least.

Today for example, my schedule changed and I'm headed out to Malibu all day to work. No time to prepare something to take with me. The only upside is Malibu is loaded with healthy food choices so I can stop and grab something fairly safe.

The film is a documentary. It's my take on how concepts of aging are changing in society. I followed 5 women who came to the study of classical ballet late in life, and how it changed them. It's a pretty empowering piece and I'm very proud of it.

Here's a link to my website:

www.everydaydancers.com

You can see the trailer on the "view the trailer" page. Some people have a problem watching it (I think because it's a redirect to Mac.com from another site). There are links to Youtube and MySpace on that page if you can't see it. It's funny, now that the film is done I want to go back and re-edit the trailer. It's very close to what the film is about, but I've learned a lot more about post production since then and I'd love to clean it up a bit. But thats just me being a perfectionist.
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Stan

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Posted: 05-16-07 13:57pm

Interesting, looks pretty cool. I'm more into weird documentaries like Sick and such, but I like stuff like this too. I don't know if I'd call that stress so much as poor planning. I believe if you could plan out what you need to eat, carry around things in a small cooler when you travel or keep a large cooler in the car, things would be better.
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Dance4evr

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Posted: 05-17-07 12:22pm

Trying to maintain a sensible diet with this job is about as close to impossible as it gets. I've been working 15 - 18 hour days and my schedule is subject to the whim of others which makes planning tough. The stress level is quite high, everything is now, now, now. So, it's not that I can't plan, it's that my plans get thwarted within minutes or hours of being set.

The only real answer to get my health back is to leave this job. Hopefully, next Friday will be my last day and I can concentrate on getting better. Finding a new line of work is definitely in the future as well. Perhaps going back to school again.

Thanks for all the tips and info though. Hypoglycemia explains so much of what happens to me and why past treatments haven't worked.

Should I be seeking out a doctor to help me manage this? So much of it seems like common sense: eating well, eating enough and on a schedule, getting enough sleep, etc. Would adding a doctor to the mix be wise or would it just muck things up?
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Stan

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Posted: 05-17-07 14:04pm

To be honest, I could probably tell you ten times what any doctor could unless you could find a rare specialist in hypoglycemia. Since I've struggled with it for four years (well, two because now I'm healthy) and had it my whole life, I can tell you anything you need to know about getting better. Sometimes, quitting is the only option, I had to do it and look where it led me. I'm currently pursuing my PhD and just got my Master's Degree this month, teaching myself a language and working hard to get it. Whenever I quit my old job, which though I loved it was 12 hour shifts, one of which was from 12PM until 12 noon the following day. It took it's toll on me when hypoglycemia set in, though I didn't know at the time what it was. I would try to get your test results if you can, they have to have them somewhere. Also, just curious, have you ever seen the documentaries The Gates of Heaven or Vernon Florida.
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Dance4evr

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Posted: 05-17-07 21:02pm

First off, thanks so much for the info you've given me. Being able to talk about all this with people who know what it's like is a tremendous relief.

I can't wait to leave this job because I can't wait to get my life back, not only in terms of my time and ability to relax, but in terms of getting my health back together. Today I had a pretty bad IBS attack late afternoon. I think part of it was my body realizing the end of the job is near and I've started to relax a bit, de-stressing in a way. The end is in sight and I'm thrilled.

I've never seen those documentaries but I'll look for them. I didn't know much about docs when I started this project. I never thought much about them and hadn't seen many. Being a documentary filmmaker was not my dream in life. I didn't even want to be a director. But I saw this incredible story I wanted to share and went for it. When I set myself on the journey that became this film I began watching lots and lots of docs. About six moths into it someone said to me, "Who's directing it?" Honestly, it hadn't occurred to me that I was the director until that moment. I never thought of myself that way and it certainly wasn't my career path. I studied writing at UCLA and knew production pretty well, but a director? Those were the guys who saw live theater and had interesting lives and talked about theory and emotions. I didn't think about myself that way.

Now, three years later and one film in the "can", I'm still not comfortable calling myself a director but I did learn to think like one. Even putting that title above my name in the credits was a weird moment.

I'll look for those docs.
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Stan

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Posted: 05-17-07 22:29pm

I know what it can be like to have absolutely no support system, that's why I try to help people here. You'll like those movies, start with Vernon. I don't really like his films after Gates of Heaven, but they're okay. The first two are classics. In Vernon he just goes around his hometown of Vernon to interview people he knew to show you how fd up they are and it's hilarious. There's this great scene where this old war vet talks about 'four bowls of the brain' and how his lets you move two arms, move a foot and read a newspaper at the same time. Gates is him documenting this hilarious event where this guy tried to start a pet cemetery in his back yard without a permit and the authorities came to dig it up, and this guy in CA heard about it and created a real pet cemetery with the corpses. Hilarious.
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