Well the good news is that I DON'T have diabetes...I DO however have "low blood sugar". Believe me when I say THAT totally came out of the blue!!

Diabetes runs rampant on both sides of my family. My mother's mother eventually had to have both legs amputated (but she did live to be 82 years old.)

I had an appt. with my doctor yesterday (yes, concerning the meds, but nothing bad going on with them now). He was asking me routine things about how I was feeling and so on. I had to admit to him that (this being the first week TOTALLY OFF Paxil..I came off it slowly over a month's time) I have had nausea and a slight headache all day for the past week. He said that was the Paxil getting out of my system.

He asked if there was anything else...I told him yes, that I have been waking up everymorning for the past week feeling "drunk" and REALLY sick to my stomach. I told him that I believed THIS might have something to do with my blood sugar and he agreed.

They stuck my finger yesterday and my blood sugar was LOW. Like I said, surprise there because I would have thought if it were anything it would have been too high.

I had to go back this morning at 9:00 AM and have the 3 hr. test run...I couldn't have any food or water past midnight last night and they took blood 3 times during the 3 hr period. Oh and I had to drink that YUCKY really sweet liquid (I didn't think I was going to be able to hold that stuff down. It didn't make me that sick when I was pregnant!!)

I was SO relieved when he said that I didn't have diabetes!!! They will still be sending my blood off to another lab somewhere (to make sure they didn't miss anything I guess) but my Dr. said that he was confident that everything is as he told me.

He told me that I could control this by breaking my meals down from 3 meals a day to 6 smaller WELL BALANCED meals a day. The thing is, I thought that I had been doing pretty well in the nutrition dept., I know not PERFECT but pretty well.

I'm going to read up on this and try to understand a bit more about what my body is doing here. I see that I will have to do a bit more meal and snack planning than I have been also.

I know that there are several diabetics on this board, but is there anyone who has low blood sugar? If so, I would love to hear how you are dealing with it!!!!

OK, so much for the SKE crisis of the week!! LOL!!! Seriously, like I said before, I am VERY thankful that it isn't full blown diabetes and I am OK with this. I'm going to do my homework.

Hope that everyone has had a nice day!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Coaster Girl:
but because I tend to have a lower than normal body temperature, my body acts like it's hypoglycemic.

I mentioned in a reply further down the line that I felt like I had hypoglycemia but had never been diagnosed but your comment about a lower than normal body temperature makes me wonder if that is what happens to me. My doctors had me taking my temperature several times a day even when I wasn't sick in order to find out what normal was for me and I found that it is generally about 97.3 or 97.4 when I first get up in the morning. Today it was 96.7.


Also:
Kaye - my sister and my best friend go to two different diabeties doctors and they have both been told to limit the amount of carrots they eat. Don't really know why.

Hey Skedwards, how's it going? Hope you're feeling perkier!

Thanks again everyone!!

Sandy, that really does make sense because a few more carbs in the morning would probably help get me going and leaning more toward protein in the afternoon might "stick with me" better through the night and help me not wake up "drunk" in the morings.

You know, I have NEVER been a night-time or late night snacker. I have always wanted/needed more of my calories during the day than at or after supper, I never have the desire to eat anything else. If I have "cravings", they occur between mid-morning to mid-afternoon.

I'm making a few phone calls today. #1 will be to my Dr.'s office to see when I will hear the lab's results from my blood test. #2 will be to call a dietician (I think she is anyway) who lives fairly close to here. I found her name on the ADA website. My sister has a close friend who is a dietician and I'm thinking of putting a call into her as well (and may even call her before I call this lady that I don't know).

Ske,
I basically follow the ADA's guide for servings. My dietician set me up years ago and I felt so good eating this way that I generally kept it up.
My dietician talk a lot about timing- eating more carbs and fruit in the morning. I have a protein/carb combo most afternoons- skim milk does the trick for me.
I have had problems with blood sugars on and off- I have been (don't know if I am still) insulin resistant. When I follow ADA's suggestions and the advice of my dietician, I feel great and don't have symptoms.

Ditto what Bee said. Every person will have successes and problems with different foods. I really try to eat some of each group at every meal, which helps. I have also found that the food pyramid's latest recommendations happen to be foods that I eat most frequently.

Ske
I found my trigger foods by lots of trial and error. Even stuff that had a similar glycemic index effected me differently. Just try to stay in-tune with your body. It may also help to keep a food journal for a while so you can track any potential culprets.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and tips everyone!!!!!! I ordered an ADA eating guide booklet and looked over their site some yesterday.

Do the ADA's eating guidelines basically follow the food pyramid?

Also, is there any CERTAIN foods (I'm not talking about sugar and white carbs here) that I need to avoid like, for example, a certain fruit that causes your blood level to go whacky more than other fruit? I know that OJ causes your blood sugar to quickly rise as I'm sure that it also casues it to quickly "crash" unless you have some protein or something with it.

YOu know, I was just so excited to hear my Dr. say "You don't have diabetes" that I didn't ask him any other questions. I think he could have told me that even though I didn't have diabetes, I did have the worse case of the plague that has ever been seen and it wouldn't have even phased me!!

I'm going to call his office tomorrow and ask when I should be hearing the results from the lab where my blood samples were sent.....I didn't even ask that while I was there!!!!!

You know, it has crossed my mind that I might not be in this shape right now if the quack hadn't put me on Paxil....I basically "Slept" through this entire summer!!!

It has ALSO crossed my mind that my "breathing spells" (I know y'all are getting so tired of hearing me talk about them) might not be caused entirely by panic attacks but from "low blood sugar" attacks....I read on WedMD (yes, I can be accused of trying to self-diagnose myself!! LOL!!) that one possible cause of hypoglycemia is linked to liver problems AND another symptom of having liver problems is oxygen not being carried to your blood steam like it should causing shorteness of breath or other difficulty in breathing...AKA:BREATHING SPELLS........

I have ALWAYS believed that my problem was something physical and not totally mental. The Paxil did help my spells not to occur as often but I still did have them and still do. I think one reason the Paxil might have helped is because I just slept through everything and wouldn't know if I DID have a breathing spell!!!

I did request that they check my liver and "the lab" will do whatever tests to check that out. My doctor just smiled that little smirky smile of his and simply said that he didn't believe that they would find anything wrong with my liver.

It is just EASE my mind to know whatever the results are though!

I also read (on WebMD ) that alcohol and excessive exercise can really lower your blood sugar. Well, I can't blame excessive exercise with this BUT I can blame PAXIL for the reason being that I'm not excessively exercising!!!!!!!!!! I can't blame alcohol right now either because I haven't had a DROP of wine (I don't drink anything else) in almost 2 weeks now. It turns my stomach to even think of taking a sip of anything with alcohol in it!!!

Oh well, like I said, thanks for the tips everyone!!!! They are really helping me see what I need to do!!!!

I've been sticking to a mix of protein and starch at each meal and seem to keep my blood sugar issues under control pretty well. I'm not officially hypoglycemic, but because I tend to have a lower than normal body temperature, my body acts like it's hypoglycemic.

I also tend to shy away from straight sugary & white starchy stuff (although I LOVE white rice). I try to stick to WW or Barilla Plus pasta, and really don't miss regular pasta one bit. Ice cream is probably the one thing that I cannot leave alone, since it's one of a few dairy items that I will eat. But even that is very carefully portion controlled.

Laura

Ske
Ditto what Lori said. Hypoglycemia and diabetes are actually very closely related. I'm borderline hypoglycemic and have to be very careful to eat every three to four hours otherwise I get light headed and sick.
I too had gestational diabetes when pg.

Ske
I have low blood sugar, sometimes it runs in the 40's. I try to follow a semi-diabetic diet. The problem I have ran into is that the diabetic diet has two many carbs for me, and that I have to eat more fiber, so that the sugars break down slower. Also working out is vital for me, or my sugars go two high, which I think is worse, I know how to fix low blood sugar, high blood sugar is a different story, When I say high sugars, I am talking 130's, this is not 'considered' high but considering I normally run in the high 70's low 80's it is really high for me.
I think you are going to have to experiment with food, and find what works for you. For me I eat A LOT of oatmeal, and yogurt, many veggies and fruits apples, bananas, berries and oranges (have trouble with tropical fruits, and melon) And lean protein. I try to stay away from pasta, potatoes, and sweets.

My tips for you
keep a snack with you at ALL times- ie A Granola Bar
Maintain a eating schedule, and eat by the clock
Know how you act/feel when your sugar goes low
Enlist family members to help- DH throws granola Bars at me when I get really cranky

I hope this info helps
jen

I have never been diagnosed with it but I sometimes feel the symptoms of it. Diabetes runs in the males in my fathers family. I feel sure my mother and several people in her family have had low blood sugar. Mother complains of what she calls a "weak spell". She gets woozy and says her legs feel like rubber. I sometimes feel that way also but if I eat something starchy it goes away. Starch turns to sugar in the blood but does not cause it to go up suddenly and then drop suddenly like sugar does.
I can eat do-nuts, candy or ice cream till the cows come home on an empty stomach and it has no affect on me (except to make me fat ) but just let me eat waffles with syrup and not load up on starchy hash brown potatoes at the same time and the bottom falls out in about an hour.

Thank you so much for your info as well, Synesth!!!!!!!!

I don't have low blood sugar, but I do know a bit about it, working in a health-related field.

First of all, although low blood sugar and high blood sugar sound opposite, the same diet plan helps for both. This means a diet rich in complex carbs, legumes, and proteins. It means that you should eat many small, well-planned meals (as your doctor advised).

Snacks such as cheese and whole wheat crackers or fruit, three bean salad, tuna or chicken with veggie sticks, are all good choices.

Get to know your body's signals that your blood sugar is dropping and eat that protein/complex carb snack before the symptoms hit. Some people feel logey, irritable, etc. Some people know just by the time on the clock, when to have that snack.

It sounds like your doctor has given you a good eating plan to follow. Be sure and bring up any concerns you may have.

P.S. It is interesting, because diabetes and hypoglycemia both relate to imperfect function in the same system in your body. So diabetes running in your family, and you having hypoglycemia, does not seem that far fetched.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS INFO LORI!! (My doc didn't tell me that ) I will most definitely look into this!!!

Thanks again!!!!

Ske,

When I have been diagnosed with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) during 3 of my 4 pregnancies, I have been counseled by dieticians and the American Diabetes Association to follow a diabetic diet. The way it has been explained to me is that hypoglycemia can also be a precursor to diabetes.

BUT they put me on a diabetic diet. I have a couple of friends that are either themselves hypoglycemic, or have a family member that is, and they also follow diabetic diets as set forth by the ADA.

You might want to contact the ADA and set up an appt with one of their dieticians. It was free of charge when I met with them 13 years ago.