Reactive Hypoglycemia

After all this time, after all the tests, the doctors couldn't tell me what was wrong. I happened to be looking for some high protein snack ideas, and found the answer. I have been tested repeatedly for diabetes, and I don't have it. Other things, yes, but not diabetes.

It seems that every day, after a meal, I tend to want to fall asleep. It is a dangerous type of sleepiness. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing - I'm going OUT. That includes driving, so I have to be really careful. It also makes it difficult to lose weight, and that's been going up again. I've started using glucose tablets to stop "the sleepies" in an effort to not offend my college professors, and get my money's worth on this education...

The symptoms of this include sleepiness, headache, trembling or weakness (why I keep falling), headache, dizziness, double vision (not yet), and convulsions. This is serious stuff! And no doctors have even been concerned. They take the diabetes tests and tell me I'm OK, but I'm NOT OK!

I've come to the conclusion that if you are female, with a male doctor, or even a female doctor trained by male doctors (all of them) that you are on your own when you have some weird thing going on. Ask anyone with fibro-myalgia, and they will tell you the same thing. It isn't in our heads, we aren't crazy, and we aren't making this stuff up! Doctors need to LISTEN TO THEIR PATIENTS! 

I started with a site talking about "postprandial (reactive) hypoglycemia" and how it is not related to diabetes.

They talk about a "breakfast test" that diagnoses the problem. You eat protein, carbs, and get blood tests for about 5 hours afterwards. This is different from the usual glucose tolerance test or an insulin tolerance test.

The causes of this are unknown, but there are several hallmarks that you can use to figure it out.
1)  If you are sensitive to epinephrine, or have a lot of it in your body during times of stress.
2)  If you don't make enough "gluogon." This is a hormone that raises blood sugar levels to counteract insulin after you digest your meal.
3)  You've had gastric bypass surgery (not me).
4)   If there is an enzyme deficiency in a child (again, not me, I'm an adult).

All this is lab work, but you can test it yourself at home. Eat a breakfast of 60% protein and 40% carbs. Test your blood sugar before you start eating and then every 30 minutes over a 3 to 5 hour period. Keep hard candy around in case your blood sugar drops too fast. If you have to use the sugar, your blood test needs to stop. Your blood sugar is much too low, and it bottomed before you took the candy.

Take these readings to your doc, and see if they can help you. If they can't, find an endocrinologist who works with folks with reactive hypoglycemia. You have to ask. If they don't know what you are talking about, hang up and call the next doc on your list.

To treat it, the typical hypoglycemic diet works: several small meals, high in protein and low in carbs. They say to stay away from high carb, low fiber diets. Stay away from breads! They are loaded with carbs and simple sugars. Eat a low-glycemic diet as much as possible.

Carry sugar in the form of hard candy or glucose tabs for emergency.

I'll get some gluten-free mix at the health food store, add some protein powder to it, and make up a base I can use for snacking bars. I can use oatmeal ground to a flour and soy flour to make it more like crackers.

I'll add stuff like nuts, peanut butter, some low-glycemic dried fruits, and seeds like pumpkin or sunflower seeds. I can add agave for sweetness for a sweet snack.

I'll probably add cheese with some broken-up dried vegetable chips. That would be a good additive team for a savory snack. When I perfect the recipes, I'll share them here.

Anyway, I figured that this has to stop, and I'm glad I found out all this about it. It validates that I'm not nuts, and that this condition is experienced by others. That makes me feel a lot better. 

And who knows? Maybe by getting this under control I will finally start to lose weight! Sheesh! I'm sure walking enough!

Sleepless Clarity

I hate sleepless nights. I have enough of them lately. Another one last night.

What happens, though, is that I get clarity. I see clearly about things that have bothered me. Things that have happened lately. I see the truth hiding behind the half-smiles, the looks, the thoughtless words.

I got clarity on a failed marriage last night. I realized that I wasn't wrong to end it. Sobriety taught me to not accept things that are bad for me, and that I don't have to stay around people who don't like me. I was thinking about how much I loved the man, my husband, and why I had to leave anyway. His son, you see. His son hated me. He was grown, but lived with us for reasons I don't care to explain. Because I wasn't his mother, he hated me. He made it clear in so many little ways. And my dear husband either didn't hear or ignored my pleas to make it stop. He never acknowledged my pain. So I left. I had to leave for my sanity. And when he begged me to return, I could not. Things had not changed. I had changed.

I also got clarity on a situation I'm dealing with today at school. An organization with which I've aligned myself has no clear identity, and I've been uncomfortable. Now I know why. I will deal with it. I will discuss this with others in the group, with our adviser, and consult my own conscience. I will go forward from there.

A friend commited suicide last weekend. I heard about it on Facebook, not knowing how he died. I found out from another friend by phone. "He died sober," she said. Did he? A permanent solution to a temporary problem. On a dry drunk, I would say. Acting out on old behaviors, and not checking with his sponsor. Not sharing the truth of his feelings and doubts. I sad outcome to a problem with another solution.

These are the things that floated through my mind overnight. I was cold, I was hot, I had to go to the bathroom. For all those reasons, I could not sleep. I miss my cats. I miss my home, I needed to cry and mourn. I needed to mourn a relationship and let it go, and I needed to mourn a friend's passing. I feel strangely rested, for all that.

I know that by the end of the day I will be over-tired and unable to sleep. I'll be sure to take care of myself so that I sleep tonight. My immediate concern is for a mid-term today. I have to do an essay, and I don't write well on the spur of the moment. I need time to draft and polish my words. So, that is my most pressing concern.

A cup of coffee, a long shower, and I'll be ready to face the day.

Please Vote This Year

Several of my friends are saying they can't vote for Obama because of some things they read on the internet. I want to say publicly that a person who does not vote for Obama is effectively voting for Romney.

I can guarantee you that you don't want Romney in the White House. He has a "blame the victim" mentality whether for poverty or sexual assault. He will effectively put corporations in solid charge of the White House and the Supreme Court. With corporations already running the House and Senate, the country will be lost.

He will cut all social programs for poor people, make education prohibitively expensive and remove all access to student loans, because he thinks parents should pay for school, not the state. Not that the state pays, because loans must be paid back - with interest.

Health care will be eliminated for the poor and elderly, the disabled, and the persons in the margins.

I must say that these folks need their heads examined. Really! Even if you don't like Obama because of his person, his background, or his parentage, you need to vote for him, or you are effectively voting for Romney. Don't let marginalized facts and figures stop you from exercising your right to sufferage, which men and women have spent over 150 years securing. Do not allow your rights to be subverted.

Vote. It's too important.