Aa
blood sugar levels?/strator
Hope everyone is feeling well today!
I have a question, and I hope some of you have some experience with this! I am going to be doing shot 6 on Thursday. For the past week or so, my blood sugar levels are really wacked out. Now, I don't actually check it because I have never had a problem, but I can tell. If I don't get up in the morning and eat protein immediately, it's like I can't recover for the rest of the day. My body is craving protein like crazy. The other day, I was in the car, it had only been 2 hours since I had eaten, and I literally felt like I was going to pass out. So, I guess my question is, is this normal/common on treatment? Or is this perhaps not related to tx at all and just another thing to add to the list? Just looking for a little insight. I realize that it is a matter of opinion :) Thanks for any thoughts :)
Strator- thanks for your post the other day re:emotions/faith. I hate to see anyone struggle on this tx. You are such a wonderful person, and it is so thoughtful of you to share such important details about your journey through this tx. Thanks for making a difference in my journey. I have ALWAYS been someone who struggles with faith and you gave me reason to pause and reflect a bit. I came out feeling a bit stronger :)
I have a question, and I hope some of you have some experience with this! I am going to be doing shot 6 on Thursday. For the past week or so, my blood sugar levels are really wacked out. Now, I don't actually check it because I have never had a problem, but I can tell. If I don't get up in the morning and eat protein immediately, it's like I can't recover for the rest of the day. My body is craving protein like crazy. The other day, I was in the car, it had only been 2 hours since I had eaten, and I literally felt like I was going to pass out. So, I guess my question is, is this normal/common on treatment? Or is this perhaps not related to tx at all and just another thing to add to the list? Just looking for a little insight. I realize that it is a matter of opinion :) Thanks for any thoughts :)
Strator- thanks for your post the other day re:emotions/faith. I hate to see anyone struggle on this tx. You are such a wonderful person, and it is so thoughtful of you to share such important details about your journey through this tx. Thanks for making a difference in my journey. I have ALWAYS been someone who struggles with faith and you gave me reason to pause and reflect a bit. I came out feeling a bit stronger :)
That's my belief. This is one of the situations in which I had a 4 wk pcr. I would have liked to track progression of tx with sugar and bp. It seems almost like too much of a coincidence that normal sugar and virus free would get there so abruptly. During tx my diet was good, just not much of it though due to lack of appetite. Sometimes the favors that you are thankful for are not so small.
Although I don't think I have a problem in this area, I have gotten a lot out of this thread. Lots of things to watch for with this insipid disease. I seem to crave meats more than sugars lately too.
NY girl - my husbands dad drinks his coffee and tea like that -- and he, like you is skinny. Wow - I don't like picking up his glass by mistake.
NY girl - my husbands dad drinks his coffee and tea like that -- and he, like you is skinny. Wow - I don't like picking up his glass by mistake.
I have been learning a lot about insulin resistance, apparently it is common among hep c active people, I wonder if that is what you had and that's why once tx it cleared, interesting to say the least....
Hi amommy, read your post with great interest. I have been a reactive hypoglycemic since the early-eighties (I think I contracted hep c in the late 70;s as a point of interest.) I have been through the ringer with this diagnosis. Many doctors have told me it is all in my head because my blood sugar readings on the glucose tolerance tests are in the normal range mostly, and I don't have diabetes (well, at least not yet knock wood.) There are different types of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) the most common, "diabetic hypoclycemia" happens when your body doesn't make enough insulin on it's own, (insulin is a substance that lowers blood sugar in the blood because youre blood sugar is too high when youre diabetic) and you have to take oral or injectible insulin to make up for this, and you perhaps inject too much insulin (which lowers your blood sugar too much.) This is the diabetic kind of hypoglycemia.
The kind I have, reactive hypoglycemia, is less common and only in these last few years has been widely recognized. Seems that illnesses that can't be tested through common testing don't acquire a lot of validity until enough docs themselves come down with it, and there are so many, many patients that complain of the exact same symptoms...that they can't just write it off as mass hysteria, although a lot of docs still do, belive me, I have felt the frustration of trying to ask docs what is wrong with me??? and getting blown off... I finally went to a "integrative specialist" a doc who has an MD but still utilized alternative methods. He asked me to fill out a questionarre with what I eat for 3 weeks on it, and what times I eat it. When he looked at it he said, "Says you don't even eat your first meal till the afternoon." I said, yeah, if I eat breakfast I get fat. He told me, "well, youre gaining weight so easily because you put your body through a mini starvation, if you eat 6 or 7 small nutritional meals a day, you'll actually keep your weight down, and your panic attacks will go. Youre a reactive hypoglycemic."
Well, I followed his advice even though it was soooo counter intuitive, and low and behold, my panic attacks were gone, 2 years of torture gone in a few weeks, and I could keep my weight down easily. This is one reason why I have a lot of faith in many integrative specialists, many are able to think outside of the box because they just don't blindly follow conventional medical doctrine. I paid big, big money to go to 3 Beverly Hills "specialists" over a years time and this guy is the only one that diagnosed me and helped me, without just handing me a bunch of valium. Many docs just have a "pill for every ill" type of treatment method.
Now he also told me to stay away from sweets, simple sugars, and even keep my fruit down a little because of it's high sugar content, even though fruit is much better than simple sugar. To concentrate on veggies, etc. Eat a certain amount of carbs with a little protein, especially before and after I exercise (exercise can bring your sugar levels lower) and this has been my life since then. (A good snack is a multi-grain cracker with almond or peanut butter with a V-8 or some other kind of veggie juice, this can count as a meal.) Sometimes I forget to eat cause I'm so wrapped up in something, and pow, I get it, the feeling like I'm going to lose it, the shakes even if it goes too long without eating, all the symptoms of panic. Then I eat some protein, maybe nuts with a piece of goat cheese, or a meal, and I'm fine, I get this feeling of well being again.
Now, what does cause me alarm is this thing I've read in the lit for these tx drugs. One thing it says that it can cause diabetes "and" hypoglycemia (opposite conditions though flip sides of the coin for some.) One woman I spoke to said she was like me, she had hypoglycemia for years, and once she went on the drugs, it lifted and she didn't have to eat as often and didn't get the shakes when she didn't, even though she still kept to the 6 meal a day thing. (Of course I'm hoping that happens to me.) Then others who say like you, that they develop hypoglycemia while on the drugs. This has me very, very concered, I don't see how I could handle being any more hypoglycemic than I am now. I know everyone is different, and it makes sense that their are blood sugar issues with the liver being the general of the hormones and pancreas.
Also, it seems on my hormonal days on the first of the month, that my hypoglycemia gets even worse, so it seems to be tied in with menopausal issues with me as well. On these hep c flare-ups my hypoglycemia gets a little worse too, so I do have reason to believe it's tied in with the hep, it's anyone's guess, because the docs can only tell me so much, this area is not really studied like it should be. So I probably confused you more then answered any questions, but here is a good article on this...
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/
there are also many good books on hypoglycemic diets (which are just foods that everyone should eat but prob don't, ha ha. As I said, for optimum good health, everyone should eat smaller, healther meals more frequently to keep your blood sugar levels constant.) Hope this helps...
Stator, once again I was blown away with your sense of metaphor and description, I really think your metaphor for "getting spritual" (with the little boy on the beach) is publishable. (I'm an editor/writer of sorts, so I think I have some knowledge on this, though little.) Please write these things down (maybe even register that particular one so no one else could use it, it's easy, you just send it to the writer's guild to register it), apart from here, though we all enjoy them too I'm sure along with your other musings. Even if it doesn't get published, and you never know, I think you should be keeping these for posterity....
The kind I have, reactive hypoglycemia, is less common and only in these last few years has been widely recognized. Seems that illnesses that can't be tested through common testing don't acquire a lot of validity until enough docs themselves come down with it, and there are so many, many patients that complain of the exact same symptoms...that they can't just write it off as mass hysteria, although a lot of docs still do, belive me, I have felt the frustration of trying to ask docs what is wrong with me??? and getting blown off... I finally went to a "integrative specialist" a doc who has an MD but still utilized alternative methods. He asked me to fill out a questionarre with what I eat for 3 weeks on it, and what times I eat it. When he looked at it he said, "Says you don't even eat your first meal till the afternoon." I said, yeah, if I eat breakfast I get fat. He told me, "well, youre gaining weight so easily because you put your body through a mini starvation, if you eat 6 or 7 small nutritional meals a day, you'll actually keep your weight down, and your panic attacks will go. Youre a reactive hypoglycemic."
Well, I followed his advice even though it was soooo counter intuitive, and low and behold, my panic attacks were gone, 2 years of torture gone in a few weeks, and I could keep my weight down easily. This is one reason why I have a lot of faith in many integrative specialists, many are able to think outside of the box because they just don't blindly follow conventional medical doctrine. I paid big, big money to go to 3 Beverly Hills "specialists" over a years time and this guy is the only one that diagnosed me and helped me, without just handing me a bunch of valium. Many docs just have a "pill for every ill" type of treatment method.
Now he also told me to stay away from sweets, simple sugars, and even keep my fruit down a little because of it's high sugar content, even though fruit is much better than simple sugar. To concentrate on veggies, etc. Eat a certain amount of carbs with a little protein, especially before and after I exercise (exercise can bring your sugar levels lower) and this has been my life since then. (A good snack is a multi-grain cracker with almond or peanut butter with a V-8 or some other kind of veggie juice, this can count as a meal.) Sometimes I forget to eat cause I'm so wrapped up in something, and pow, I get it, the feeling like I'm going to lose it, the shakes even if it goes too long without eating, all the symptoms of panic. Then I eat some protein, maybe nuts with a piece of goat cheese, or a meal, and I'm fine, I get this feeling of well being again.
Now, what does cause me alarm is this thing I've read in the lit for these tx drugs. One thing it says that it can cause diabetes "and" hypoglycemia (opposite conditions though flip sides of the coin for some.) One woman I spoke to said she was like me, she had hypoglycemia for years, and once she went on the drugs, it lifted and she didn't have to eat as often and didn't get the shakes when she didn't, even though she still kept to the 6 meal a day thing. (Of course I'm hoping that happens to me.) Then others who say like you, that they develop hypoglycemia while on the drugs. This has me very, very concered, I don't see how I could handle being any more hypoglycemic than I am now. I know everyone is different, and it makes sense that their are blood sugar issues with the liver being the general of the hormones and pancreas.
Also, it seems on my hormonal days on the first of the month, that my hypoglycemia gets even worse, so it seems to be tied in with menopausal issues with me as well. On these hep c flare-ups my hypoglycemia gets a little worse too, so I do have reason to believe it's tied in with the hep, it's anyone's guess, because the docs can only tell me so much, this area is not really studied like it should be. So I probably confused you more then answered any questions, but here is a good article on this...
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/
there are also many good books on hypoglycemic diets (which are just foods that everyone should eat but prob don't, ha ha. As I said, for optimum good health, everyone should eat smaller, healther meals more frequently to keep your blood sugar levels constant.) Hope this helps...
Stator, once again I was blown away with your sense of metaphor and description, I really think your metaphor for "getting spritual" (with the little boy on the beach) is publishable. (I'm an editor/writer of sorts, so I think I have some knowledge on this, though little.) Please write these things down (maybe even register that particular one so no one else could use it, it's easy, you just send it to the writer's guild to register it), apart from here, though we all enjoy them too I'm sure along with your other musings. Even if it doesn't get published, and you never know, I think you should be keeping these for posterity....
Angie gave me the advice of eating smaller meals a few hours apart several months ago and I have to say it was great advice...I have been doing it ever since and I feel a lot better, I have an appointment with a dietician in a few weeks to discuss many things about proper diet and one of the things I will get input on is the "4C's guide to nutrition advice" If it gets the gold seal of approval I think Angie should do a weekly thread on MH regarding nutrition, so many could benefit by it, don't you all think?
*slim dip*
*slim dip*
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