Hypoglycemia

[Saved1]

I was Dx in 2001 with 1a. One night I was at my computer and started feeling like I was going to fall through the floor. I checked my BP because my family has a history of strokes. My bp was 205/110 so I went to the hospital. They refered me to a Dr. I was Dx with HCV and went through the full year of Tx :( I've noticed that that same feeling would occasionally strike. I didn't know what it was and all the Dr.s acted like I was crazy, so I just dealt with it. Recently I discovered that HCV can cause Hypoglycemia(low blood sugar). I have recently changed my diet and just about eliminated all of the symptoms.
Headaches, stinging sweat, dizziness, tiredness, blurred vision, chronic backache, salt cravings, stomach problems, tinnitus and brain fog just to mention a few. (a partial list is at www.drz.org/asp/conditions/hypoglycemia2.asp)
If you have these or other symptoms on the list do yourself a favor and get you glucose checked. You may be suprised I was.
I feel great now.

Good Health to all.
Jim

[FloridaMouse]

I wanted to bring this thread back to the forefront as I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia today.  My "non-fasting" gluclose has been low for several years now, running between 88-104, it has not dropped to 53.  This is pretty dramatic since "fasting" gluclose normal ranges are about 65 - 99.

I have been placed on a grazing diet as I call it (6 small meals a day) and will go for fasting gluclose next month.  

I'd like to see more input on this subject to help me out here.

Mouse

[tonya_c]

What can I do about my hypoglycemia and hepatits c?  I recently found out I am pregnant and my sugar has been dropping alot and this has been going on long before I found out I was pregnant.  Last night my glucose reading was 55.  What are some safe treatments for Hep C and Hypoglycemia?  Pls email me as I am not always able to surf the web TONYA ***@****

Thanks so much
Tonya

[Saved1]

I feel you, for sure. The kind of Hypoglycemia that we have is called Reactive Hypoglycemia. When you eat sugar or starch your body releases to much insulin and then your glucose level plumits. I went to my PCP two weeks ago with a list of symptoms. She told me "oh, I wouldn't be concerned. There are many things that could cause these symptoms." She was more concearned about why I even had a glucometer than my health (can you believe that ****?) They checked my glucose and of course it was 101. Within normal range. I also told her that it was in the fifties for a couple of weeks till I bought a book called 'Hypoglycemia for dummies'. I was on crestor for high cholesterol and triglycerides which I did not know can be caused by hypoglycemia. I stopped taking it on my own a week before the Dr's appointment. I am positive the crestor made the hypo worse. I think that and the fact that I read the book and adhered to the same diet you mentioned is what turned my condition around. It sure feels good not having that damn lump in my throat all the time or acid reflux. I also lost 10 pounds so far. Even though I've been eating more than I had ever eaten before. I was like you, I never ate in the morning. Only drank 2 or 3 cups of coffee(shouldn't have caffine either as it turns out). At the dr's office the reaction was just like what the book said. They act like you don't know what you are talking about. I guess it's because I don't have a hundred years of medical school. Anyway I ignored her because I knew better. I was already feeling like a million bucks compared to the way I was feeling before. I've been keeping a log and my glucose has been rising stedily. It's been in the 80's most of the time. I've even had some in the 100's. This book said that you should not have the Glucose Tolerance Test alone it wont show much. You should have what is called a Glucose Insulin Tolerance Test.
I never had one because she just wrote me off. I don't need her oppinion. I also told her that it was a spell that lead me to a dr that discovered the HCV. She claims that HCV never has any symptoms until you have jondice or liver failure. I know that's a bunch of malarky because I had them. Maybe some people can't tell that there is something wrong with them; but I could. I don't care what she says. Thats why they call them practicing phycicians, they are practicing. LOL That the joke of the century.

Good health to you.
Jim

[Forseegood]

hmmm, know a bit about hypoglycemia, unfortunately...years ago when I was going to graduate school (never came close to finishing, and one of the reasons was hypoglycemia and panic attacks...and plain ole immaturity if I'm honest with myself).

Anyway, I'd be in class and start to feel faint, which of course put me into a state of panic, then get a huge panic attack...I had no idea what panic attacks were, I thought I was: A. going crazy....and B. about to die...

I went to no less than 3 Grand Poobah Upper Buttcrack Beverly Hills renown physicians, all telling me it was my nerves (after my blood sugar tests came back normal) and they all prescribed various tranquilizers...I really think this was one of the worst 2 years in my life cause I just had no idea what was going on and these docs did nothing to help me cept give me pills so I'd be drooling and falling asleep in class...not good...

I finally went to this Harvard trained "Integrative Specialist" MD (a holistic thinking MD, so to speak) because a friend recommended him very highly for helping her with some malady she had...

He did something none of the other docs did....he asked me what I ate for a two week span? morning, noon and night, and what my eating schedule was, etc...he said, "Says here you don't eat till 2pm? I said, yeah, if I do I gain weight...he said, change that...the not eating for so long is what is making you gain weight, youre body is going into siege from not having nourishment...(he said this years and years before I heard this in the national language)

He told me all my symptoms, habits, etc...pointed to hypoglycemia...

I promptly told him these other docs told me only diabetics could experince "true" hypoglycemia, and that what I experienced had to do with bad "nerves." Hogwash (his word) that there are more than one types of hypoglycemia, that people like me have "reactions" to their own blood sugar becoming low, where other people don't react as dramatically on a metabolic level...and that the type of hypoglycemia that I have often will not register in glucose tolerance tests, or not all the time...

He told me to start eating every 3 hours, without fail...to take peanuts with me, maybe a piece of cheese, to make sure that I have complex carbohydrates, and protein on me at all times, to carry it with me if I'm going to be away long...to eat 6 to 7 small meals a day, (lots of veggies, some fruit) not 3 big meals...(since then I've heard that's good advice for anybody, hypo or not.)

I said, well, shouldn't I eat a piece of candy when this happens? "No, that's a diabetic, you eat what I tell you to, in fact, cut down on processed sugars, not good for people like you...in no time at all youre panic attacks will abate"...

And low and behold, my panic attacks and other symptoms slowly went away just like he said, I got off those god awful valiums I was taking, and I was able to drive myself around instead of having my friend chauffers, I got my life back!!!! That was my first lesson that just because a doctor has a lot of credentials, doesn't mean he's going to be the one to solve your problems, not necessarily...and that there might be something to integrative specialists...at least for some maladies...

This guy was ahead of his time, because when I told the other docs this stuff, they said nonsense....Now the popular medical community is going the way of that Integrative Specialist from way back then....from what I can see. At least on this particular issue...

There are a lot of good books on this syndrome, I hope my post has been helpful to you...one of the things about treatment that is worrisome to me is that it says in the lit that it can actually cause hypoglycemia...which would be bad for me...as far as friends I've had, one friend told me her hypoglycemic reactions were lifted with the treatment...another told me that the treatment caused hypo in her....so there you go, everyone's different...be well....

[FlGuy]

HCV can cause blood sugar abnormalities - in both directions.  Dx's with diabetes and confirmed hcv about the same time. Had hcv 33 years, not overweight, pretty active, good diet.  Was on insulin during tx. Magically, diabetes cleared up about the same time as first und pcr at 12 weeks. Saw endo guy throughout tx - he stopped the insulin.  Lot more to hcv than just a virus.

[Rogirl]

Wow--you are a lifesaver!  I am on 6/48 and for the past couple of weeks have been experiencing these symptoms.  I thought about hypoglycemia--I see my doctor next week and will request a glucose test before.  I think I needed your post to wake me up and realize I should check this out.  Thanks!

[Stvski80085]

Good info. Thanks for passing it on.

Take care,

Steve

[Saved1]

Sorry use this address http://www.drz.org/asp/conditions/hypoglycemia.asp