Then cut out the soy and focus on lean meat, it's simple. What were your test results?

Well, I do cut out the soy. Sometimes its difficult, because its in everything, but I know that is not my problem with the tiredness. It makes me tired too but I also get allergy symptoms. If I eat something with sugar in it but no soy, I usually just could go to sleep.

I dont know what my results were, I just took their word for it that it was fine. I've heard of having a "sugar sensitivity" so I just passed it off as that, but I wonder...

They probably read the test wrong. Are you not eating meat? Why so much soy?

I don't understand your question. Maybe my thoughts were all jumbled together... I have been tested and retested and have a soy allergy, and I know this.

I have symptoms when I eat sugar whether it has soy in it or not.

Yes I eat meat.

I don't know the results of my last blood sugar test, they just said it was normal, so I passed it off as sugar sensitivity...

You said you were having problems because of soy but I don't understand how. Unless you were eating tofu and soybeans or drinking soy milk it shouldn't be an issue. If it is, it means you're eating processed foods, which you should not be doing, otherwise there you should be no problem is you're eating healthy breads, whole grains and so force. Sugar sensitivity is not really possible and true cases of it are extraordinarily rare. The reason is is that everything you eat actually turns into sugar, it's the speed at which foods are coverted into glucose that is the problem, and this is hypoglycemia.

Yes, I do eat some processed foods. For instance, I have yet to find a plain cracker without soy, unless its something so dry you can't chew it up. But, anyway, that is not what I'm concerned about right now, I know I will find something. I just brought that up to note that I am already on a restricted diet.

My concern is whether I should be concerned about my sleepiness I experience after eating sugar. There are many symptoms on lists I have seen. I don't experience the shakiness, sweats, nervousness, etc.. Its really just fatigue, sometimes heavy fatigue, so then I'm also irritable and usually need a nap. So, if sugar sensitivity is rare, then I guess its likely it could be hypoglycemia since it didn't show up on my fasting blood test?

Hypoglycemia can't be tested for using a fasting test, so if that's what they went from it's wrong. Sugar sensitivity is actually a very serious condition and you don't just get sleepy. It sounds like you are having a high insulin response, but nothing too serious so long as you eat a whole grain diet and avoid soy. I would recommend not eating processed foods too much if you don't want any problems.

When you say whole grain diet, what does that actually mean?

Stuff like brown rice, wild rice, any oats that aren't instant, buckwheat groats, anything that says 100% whole grain or is sprouted and so forth.

I have reactive hypoglycemia due to hereditary factors. It is very difficult to deal with, but I have been very successful for the last 2 and a half years in controlling it.
If you are tired, cranky, have mood-swings, cold-sweats, nausea, trembling, blurred vision, feelings of weakness or even panic, you may very well be suffering from it as well. I personally get very physically cold to the touch and incredibly sleepy after I eat sweets or anything with white flour. Reactive Hypoglycemia is nearly impossible to test for. However, if you eliminate all refined sugar - this includes sugar, corn syrup, honey, fructose, sucrose, white rice, white flour, white bread etc., and substitute whole grains, brown rice, and sucralose, sorbitol and other non-nutritive sweeteners for 3 weeks your symptoms should disappear if it is hypoglycemia. This may sound terribly difficult at first, but focus on the fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats. You will be rewarded with so much energy, it will amaze you. If you have reactive hypoglycemia, your body can not derive energy from these processed sugars, and goes into storage mode, depriving your body of all available blood sugar. It then does this with even healthy food or whole food that you eat as long as you continue to eat these sugars. If you are eating sugar you are effectively starving all the time regardless of what you eat with this disease. By removing sugars from your diet, your body will begin to process the food that you eat for its full nutritional value. After you reach baseline - 3 weeks or so - you can test for individual differences, such as sensitivity to honey, fruit juice, etc. I personally cannot even tolerate fruit juice, but each hypoglycemia case is unique. The best advice I have come across is figure out what your body tells you. For myself, I can generally tell if I can tolerate a sugar or new food (if I am at baseline) fairly easily. If I test a food, and the next day have gained roughly 3 pounds, it is a definite no. The food has caused my body to store all that I ate that day as fat. Not good! But if I don't gain weight, it's probably just fine. Bad sugars generally trigger cravings for more sugars as well. Sorry this is so long, but it's advice I wish I'd had all in one spot 2 years ago. Best of luck!

Hello, I am new and need some advice please. I have been having quite severe stroke like symptoms now for nearly 5 years and still no diagnosis as we have always assumed a neurological disorder, however, I have been diagnosed as hyperglycemic from a two hour glucose tolerance test by my endo. I have noticed that many of my stoke like attacks are preceeded by food and this lead me to look further into how my blood sugars could possibly be causing these symptoms. This is when I came across reactive hypoglycemia. (Hypoglycemia being able to mimic stoke like symptoms?)I have one question though, how soon after eating do you all become hypo? I have read around an hour is normal but my symptoms can come on even before I've finished the whole meal! I usually feel so much better when I haven't eaten to when I have. I feel exhausted all the time and really need to get to the bottom of this. Some mornings I can barely get myself out of bed as I have so little energy. Another thing I have noticed is that about 4pm I start to feel a little better and my energy levels increase only to crash again after our evening meal. I have only had an improvement of these symptoms when I have been on a strict calorie controlled diet which was something that made me look into blood sugars to begin with. I have used a BG monitor at home and find that my glucose levels seem to be lower after I have eaten than before which really confuses me. HELP!

Hyperglycemia is much more dangerous, so if that is a possibility, you should use a blood sugar monitor very regularly. To answer your question - my hypoglycemic symptoms can start occuring while I am still eating. This happened last night. I was having a piece of "sugar-free" pie. Turns out the crust was bleached wheat flour. I started feeling sick half-way through. It usually takes less that 30 minutes from the first bite of sugar for me. Your experience with the blood sugar monitor sounds like it could be Reactive Hypoglycemia. The blood sugar dropping right after a meal is what is expected from this disorder. The meal itself (as long as it contains any simple sugars at all) would be causing your body to store all the glucose in it as fat, so your blood sugar will drop like a stone. You have to avoid all those sugars in everything you eat if that is what's going on. This and eating very regularly can help control the symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia. What symptoms are you having that are stroke-like that lead you to think you might have it?

I basically look like I'm having a very severe stroke. My whole right side becomes very weak, sometimes to the point where I can't even walk, my speech is slurred but brain function remains normal, I understand perfectly about my surroundings. I go very cold, tired and sleepy prior to this and I feel like there's a sinking feeling going on inside my body. The best way to describe it is if you sit in a bath full of water and let the plug out and you suddenly start to feel heavy as the bouyancy no longer supports your body. Not a very good analogy but that's how I feel. These bouts can last anywhere from 20 mins to several hours. My energy levels first thing in a morning are dire to the point where some mornings if you said there was a million pounds outside the front door I'd have to pass! Also my symptoms are worse 5 days prior to menstruation which is when insulin rises can be noted due to progesterone and oestrogen levels raising too. Also I feel much better when I've had some chocolate (psychological? lol!) or maybe it is because my sugars are low. I am trying to be really good and watching my carbs and sugars and eat proteins etc but it's early days (only day 3) How long does it take to see an improvement if it was a sugar problem? Interestingly, if I get plenty of sleep and wake naturally rather than with an alarm I don't seem quite as bad. Maybe that's just conincidence, I don't know, but it is something I have noticed over the years. Any advice or experiences regarding this would be greatly appreciated, thanks

My symptoms are much worse in the morning. You won't see a leveling off of your blood sugar for about 3 weeks. It will be tough at first, but I would recommend forgoing restrictive eating and eat until you are entirely satiated for the first three weeks. If you steer clear of processed foods and only eat fruits, vegetables, and lean meats with occasional whole grains, the calories and sugars should remain within acceptable levels. You may have a problem metabolizing sugar from fruit; if you find yourself craving processed sweets like candies after the first 3 weeks, try restricing the fruit you eat to 4 or so pieces a day. After the first three days, your body should be deriving energy from the healthy foods. If you are still sluggish after meals, analyze what you are eating. The things that give hypoglycemics trouble are simple sugars. Make sure you are aware that this can be a tricky thing to define. (For example: Potatoes are mostly simple sugars, so hypoglycemics generally have to be careful of them. I can have whole potatoes, but not instant mashed potatoes, because their starch and fiber has been processed too greatly.) If it's too simple, a hypoglycemic's body will use a sugar like super-fuel to store all of the blood sugar they have. Be aware of the complexity of the food you are eating. The closer to it's natural form something is, the less likely it is to affect blood sugars adversely. Conversely, generally the more processed a food is, the more trouble hypoglycemics have tolerating it.

Eating white flour and sugar is not the problem with hypoglycemia unless those foods are the primary source of calories in a meal. It's all about the pace at which the sugar is released into the bloodstream. So if you eat a snickers bar (high in sugar) you will find that it has a lower glycemic index than whole-grain bread because the high fat and the peanuts slow the release of the sugars dramatically. Table Sugar doesn't cause excessive insulin response of reactive hypoglycemia and neither does white flour. It's all about how quickly it moves through your digestive track. Just remember this: don't eat refined sugars or refined carbs alone. Always eat it with protein and fat.

I've never seen a hypoglycemic who can eat that stuff, unless they had insulin tumors, where it doesn't matter what you eat.