Weak and shaky after I ate.

[GREGB722000]

Today about 20 minutes after my lunch I started sweating, feeling weak, heart racing, etc. I checked my blood sugar and it was 71 after eating a chicken salad, salad. I checked it before eating and it was 77 so why would it go down after eating a salad and a few wheat crackers? 71 is normal but again I felt horrible, weak, shaky, anxiety, etc. Could this be something other than Hypoglycemia? Before I had lunch I ran 2.5 miles on the treatmill and felt fine so this is beginning to puzzle me.

[Anita Ramsetty, MD]

Hi,
I apologize for the late response. Your question did not come in que until tonight, so I am very sorry about the delay.

I think that your exercise is likely the culprit. Many people have some hypoglycemia(through increased insulin sensitivity) after they exercise and the effect can last for hours afterwards. If you are on insulin, you can decrease your dose prior to exercising. Otherwise, you can eat some additional carbs prior to exercising and also afterwards, with some complexed in a meal so that it lasts for a while to prevent hypoglycemia later.
Until you can discern a good pattern and figure out how much carb you need(and for how long), please do remember to check your blood sugars before you drive, especially after exercising, and definitely pull over if you feel unwell.
Take care.

[Mary1994]

Sounds like hypoglycemia to me.  You'll feel the sugar dropping ...even before it's below 70.  

I take insulin, and this would happen to me if I still had breakfast insulin in me, and if I was exercising more vigorously than usual.  You are describing a timing problem: you just ate, but the food hasn't had a chance to be digested and raise your blood sugar.  So right after eating, most food hasn't done anything yet.

I will feel like I have hypoglycemia when my sugar is falling pretty quickly.  Even if my stick is normal, for me that feeling says ... low blood sugar is coming, eat some sugar  - don't wait until it's too low.  I keep candy around: smarties & Jolly Rancher.  Each piece or package has 5-6 grams of sugar.  If you suck on the candy, some of it will enter you bloodstream directly, sublingually (under the tongue)  Or if you drink something with sugar, you can swish it around in your mouth for a couple minutes - when you can't taste sweetness in your mouth anymore, most of the sugar in your mouthful is absorbed into your bloodstream.

Since you just ate lunch, you probably don't need many carbs to alleviate your symptoms of hypoglycemia.  I aim for ~15 grams of carbs when I have hypoglycemia, unless my measured sugar is lower.  If it's very low, I get sugar into me ASAP, and deal with that afterward.  

Your exercise will raise your metabolism & help you use insulin effectively.  On days when you exercise vigorously, you may need to have a snack to avoid a low blood sugar & these unpleasant feelings.

[PikaPika88]

Me too.  After eating, even drinking a cup of coffee, my heart would like an express train.  I also get sweaty a lot (mostly forehead), SOB and chest tightness.  Dr said my heart is normal, the gastroscopy and colonoscopy is very normal too.  After eating, I'll be like want to die.....  If I didn't eat for the whole day, I feel fine.  I'm waiting for that answer as well.

[PikaPika88]

Why the doctor not answer this?