hypoglycemia

[ek01]

  2 months ago i was given doxycycline for a minor infection. I took it for 6 days before the side effects became unbearable.
   after this i developed blurry vision that seemed to wax and wane. my infection didn't quit clear up. so i went back to the doctor and was prescribed cipro. i took cipro for 3 days and got joint pains in calves, knees and knuckle.  doc said stop immediately and see if  infection was cleared.
   2 days later i started having more blurry vision and would wake up in the middle of the night shaking uncontrollably and sweating. so bad that i went to the e.r. once. (but i ate durning this episode, so when i got to the er doc 6 hrs later i was fine) they ran ekg, blood tests, and i still had a slightly elevated white blood cell count. so they prescribed me levaquin.
   i write this because i was just woken out of my sleep from numb hands and tingling numb legs with drenching sweats. my eyes were very glossy and i had trouble moving around. i ate some honey which actually helped about 20mins later
  my question is, does this sound like hypoglycemia? can this go away? does anyone think the antibiotics brought this out? also, i did drink alcohol but stopped abrubtly due to antibiotic.
  the last 4 days i've had one or two episodes a day...really scarying me, but i'm happy i've found a potential reason for what's been physically ailing me.
  any answer is greatly appreciated. thank you!

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

I suspect that you are right about the first test happening after your liver dumped emergency sugars to help you. The other two readings both are low. Normal readings are supposedly between 70-126. I personally can start to feel really awful when just barely low, say in the 60s. I also have noticed in the 37 years that I have been an insuline-dependent diabetic, that sometimes I can FEEL the drop happening BEFORE my sugar levels drop below the level of 70. In my case, my feelings are ALWAYS correct, and what I am feeling is a quick drop of glucose happening. In those cases, a second test a half hour later always shows me to be low. I do think that you can feel it when your glucose levels are perhaps normal but are in the process of dropping quickly. In my case, I trust my symptoms and treat it as if I am low even if the number is normal. You probably want to do the same. The symptoms are pretty unmistakeable when you know what to look for.

It sounds as if you have nailed the symptoms down well. I truly swear by small 6-oz cans of juice. Each has 22 carbs, just enough to provide some help, but not enough to overload my body on carbs. I keep two small cans in my purse, one on my nightstand, and several in my desk drawer. If I drop a little low but feel OK, I may opt to eat a snack, but if I am feeling really horrible and the glucose levels are severely low, I go for the juice every time. It is comforting to know that they are always right there if I need them.

I am married to an active duty military spouse, and when he is away (he travels a lot), I have set up an e-mail safety net with my sister. She has a telephone number to call if I don't sent an e-mail in the morning and I feel secure when I go to bed. Doesn't take but a moment to just fire off an e-mail with the subject line -- Good morning! I am fine!

By the way, my heart will race when I am hypo, too. I think this is due to the adrenalin dump that your body does when it senses that you are in danger (when the brain needs glucose and sends to the body for help). It IS terrifying, so I sympathize as only one who has been in those shoes can do. I do so hope your body goes back to normal after it heals from the infection.

[ek01]

once again i highly appreciate all your insight.

i bought a glucometer and tested my sugar lvls when i knew i was feeling bad. but it was 123. i was dizzy and having issues, heart was beating irregular...so i was perplexed.

tested it again one hour later and it was 54 after i had ate some food, then i ate some more food with carbs and it went to 67. and now it's at 111.

so i'm guessing that when i was in the midst of the attack my liver dumped the reserves into my system to try and normalize me.

i'm not eating any sugar, and i really want this to stop. i don't take vitamins because they make me feel really odd. i hope this all passes as soon as my body adjusts to whatever it was that through it out of balance/wack.


thanks very much - i really liked the saftey net idea. because waking up at 4am w/ my arms completely numb and my heart going 120 was a terrifying experience.

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

Really severe hypoglycemia can cause a person to completely pass out or lose control over muscles enough that you cannot get out of bed or walk. I have been there, done that, and it is terrifying. I keep a 6-oz. can of juice right by my bed at all times. It can just sit there, and won't go bad if not opened, but I know that if I wake up in bad shape, I can manage to pop the top and drink it even if severely low. This is much easier to manage than juice boxes with the little straws when muscle control is not there.

My sister-in-law is a classic nondiabetic hypoglycemic, and she swears by proteins and whole grains to help regulate the problem. Caffeine really makes her much worse, so watch the caffeine, especially. If there doesn't seem to be a pattern to when this happens to you, you may want to work out a setup with your mom whereby you send a brief "I am OK" e-mail every morning by a set time, and if she doesn't see it, she calls. If she gets no answer, she comes over (she would need to have a key) or calls for an ambulance. That would give you some sense of security, and hopefully you would never need to use this safety net.

If you can get a glucometer, then you won't be guessing any more. If you feel crummy, you can do a quick test and eat a little something if low. The problem about sure signs to seek medical help is that by the time you realize that you are dangerously low, you usually cannot function well enough to make a phone call for an ambulance. So you may need to just make sure that a can of juice is with you wherever you go, and maybe some of those small individual packets of nuts, too. If you drive, make sure you have this kind of stuff right there in the car with you to protect you.

One more thing... one friend of mine started having definite hypo episodes after starting a regimen of vitamins. It turned out that when he started reading about the vitamins, he found that Chromium in those vitamins could cause hypoglycemia. If you are taking vitamins, you may want to check to see if they contain Chromium. Once he stopped the vitamins, his problems with hypoglycemia normalized.

[ek01]

thanks for your reply.

i've been eating mainly protein lately and very few carbs. such as turkey, nuts and cheese etc.

these symptoms have been going on for about 1 and 1/2 months and at first i developed anxiety towards certain places i'd go out to eat...because i thought the food was making me feel weird. (i love asian foods, like noodle soup which was triggering the "weirdness")
then i thought i was having allergies - but no allergy i knew of made it hard to walk or move my arms.
i do have nondiabetic hypoglycemia in my family. quite a few relatives have it actually, so i'm confused as to if this was always a problem of mine that is just amplified by the meds i put into my system or solely caused by them.

it's been scary as hell lately. i do have a docs appointment but not for a month away because i see a free doctor. i'm a FT student. i'll be sure and ask for a glucose test. also, my mother gave me some cash to go by a blood sugar meter.

one last question, i live by myself and don't know when my episodes are an emergency or not. a couple of times i couldn't swallow or move much. my hearing was also feeling distorted, as if everything was far away. are there any sure signs that i should seek medical help over?

eko1

[JDRF-VOL-SG]

We are not doctors on this Forum, but folks who either are parents of type 1 children or type 1 diabetic folks ourselves. Yes, your symptoms do sound like those of hypoglycemia, but an infection can also cause drenching sweats. When your body is battling an infection, stress hormones are released, and it is possible, I suppose, that your body is just not functioning at its best right now. Whether you have had mild hypoglycemia before or not, of course, we can't tell.

IF this IS hypoglycemia, you can do a lot to help yourself by making some changes in diet. Folks who live with hypoglycemia often avoid all forms of caffiene, which can speed up the body's functions and therefore increase the pancreas' dump of insulin. Also, many hypoglycemic people avoid all simple sugars and many find some relief in staying on a fairly low carb diet so as not to stimulate the over-active pancreas. If you find yourself in this condition and suspect that your blood sugar may be low, you probably need to take in some slower-acting carbs so as not to further stimulate the pancreas to start a snowball effect of insulin-low-hypo. Some people find that drinking milk gives some slower-acting carbs (about a cup of milk) and will help. Others swear by adding protein to the diet, which slows down the absorption of carbs so as not to overly stimulate the pancreas.

All in all, each person is  different, so you may have to try a few things to find what works for you the best. If you were drinking alcohol but stopped, I wonder if you have replaced the alcohol with sodas containing both caffeine and lots of quickly-digested carbs? Any change in diet like that could be causing the problem, so look carefully not only at foods but also at beverages you are drinking.

Of course, all of this is based on the assumption that hypoglycemia is indeed the root of the problem. I would talk to my doctor about it and perhaps have him or her run a glucose tolerance test on you to find out for sure. But if taking in some carbs seems to help within about 15 minutes, you may indeed have discovered your problem.

One more thought... you may want to call your local pharmacist and ask if your symptoms (and possibly hypoglycemia) can be an odd side effect of any or all of these antibiotics, and if so, if there are any that do not have this affect. You might also ask if hypoglycemic symptoms could be the result of an allergy to these drugs. Or if these drugs affect the endocrine system, for if your adrenalin levels have been lowered by these drugs, hypoglycemia could be an result (adrenalin tends to raise glucose levels, so lowering adrenalin and cortisol could cause glucose levels to drop). The endocrine system is amazingly complex, so affects on the body can be surprising at times.