[Emile]

I'm just an averange guy that got reactive hypoglycemia 2 years ago.
So well, my blood sugar are obvious all over the place, but other than that I am good :biggrin:

So if anyone else have reactive hypoglycemia please share your frustration with me :devil:

 

[Emile]

Am I becoming a diabetic

Hi

Well, two years ago I were prescribed prednisolone, and shortly afterwards I got symptoms like frequent urination, excessive thirst and tierdness. "Luckily I have close family and friends that are familar with diabetes, and some of them caught up on my symptoms and advised me to start cheking my bg. The highest reading I got around that time were 212 mg/dl, so not too high. I got told that anything 202 mg/dl were on the high side.

I shortly after stopped taking prednisolone, as my physician thaught my high bg levels might be linked to the prednisolone. 3 months later I started to experience hypos, my bg still got "kind of" high, around the 160-175s, but it would also crash shortly after, and I would get a mild hypo. I found eating something sugary to be the best way to treat the hypo, some months later my physician diagnosed me as temporarily hypoglycemic. He couldn't tell me if my bg problems were a results of prednisolone side effects, or if my genes were to blame. He said it could take several years for the body to restore after prednisolone side effects. So he told me to just take care of my bg, and keep reading of my levels.

So I guess that leaves me to being patient and see if my bg will normalize giving the time.

My concern are that I still get elevated bg levels, and even my fasting blood suger have gotten worse. I still get hypos, but my bg are usually between 260-280 when I have eating something with carbs, and my fasting blood suger are always between 106-114 mg/dl.

I am 22 years old and thin, so the thought of a slow onset-type 1 have occurred me from time to time, but I don't get it to match with being a reactive hypoglycemic, having readings down to 60-70a and mild hypos.

Should I just give it time, may it be that the prednisolone just have messed my body up really bad, and I have to give it time? It just are so confusing when I got both low and abnormally high blood sugar :surprise:

 

[VeeJay]

Hi Emil

I had reacive hypoglycemia many years ago, that lasted about 10 years. During that time I ate a low-carb diet (followed Atkins) and found that when carbohydrates were restricted, it stopped the roller coaster of high blood sugar followed by a crash - which I'm sure you know makes one feel really awful.

Fast forward several years and the reactive hypoglycemia stopped being an issue (I was on my way to developing diabetes but didn't know that at the time.)

Now that I'm diabetic, I find that eating low-carb/high-fat (the added fats were something I didn't know about before) my blood sugar is low and stable which is what it should be.

Had I known then when dealing with reactive hypoglycemia, what I know now about how it is a red flag that one's body isn't properly and normally processing carbohydrates, and stayed on the low-carb way of eating, I probably wouldn't have developed diabetes.

 

[Emile]

Thanks, well you got type 2 diabetes, right? I don't seem to fit in that box either, or I least I don't feel like I am the typical type 2 diabeticas, as I always have struggled with underweight, is it normal to develope type 2 when you're young, and being thin?
I've tried to cut some carbs and eating more healthy, but then I start to lose weight, which are kind of a problem for me.
Anyway, thanks for answering me It really helps me more to understand this thing, and yes the blood sugar rollercoaster can be too much sometimes :/

 

[VeeJay]

Cutting carbs and "eating healthy" (which usually means low-fat) is counterproductive. It puts you into a starvation mode.

However, eating low-carb/high-FAT will stabilize your blood sugar and prevent the crashes of reactive hypoglycemia. And if one consumes enough calories (mostly from fats which don't impact blood sugars) one should be able to maintain weight and even gain. Take a look at this way of eating here Low Carb for Beginners

Being under weight certainly points to T1.5 (LADA). Have you had a GAD antibodies test run? That would tell you if you have the autoimmune type diabetes or not.

But it does seem to be that your steroid treatment messed up your glucose metabolism. Personally, it it were me, I would work very hard to keep my blood sugar down below 140 as much as possible. Those excursions above 200 are not good for you. Not only is organ and nerve damage being done at those levels, it sets you up for another hypoglycemic crash.

 

[Emile]

My bloodsugar seem to crash even by the smalles amount of carbs, and when I get high sugary food seem to be the quickest and easiest way to make me feel better again, so I guess I have gottem myself into a bad habit.
I have actually experienced that fatty foods helps to keep my bg more stable, so a logcarb/highfat diet sound like a good idea.
When you had hypoglycemia, did you have any good solutions that raised you bg fast without messing up and sending your blood sugar into a bad rollercoaster? I usually takes a soda, some chocolate or candybar when I get low, but that doesn't help my blood sugar in the low run. I know it is a bad quick fix, but I just hate being hypo.

 

[Emile]

"when I get high sugary food seem to be the quickest and easiest way to make me feel better again"

Meant "high" sugary foods, with high glycemic index, not low. Don't know how to edit posts yet :vs_worry:

I fixed that for you, Emile.

 

[VeeJay]

When you had hypoglycemia, did you have any good solutions that raised you bg fast without messing up and sending your blood sugar into a bad rollercoaster?

High-carb and sugary foods just set me up for another roller coaster ride later on.

Here's what I did back then, before I understood I should have been eating more fats. I relied on protein. When I first got up I had a small serving of protein powder in water (kept it in a jar on the bedside table to add water to). It seemed to keep me stable until I could eat. Then I ate several times a day, no more than two hours apart. I would carry the protein powder in a small jar and anytime I was out and felt my BG going down or felt a bit of hunger and wasn't in a position to get something to eat, I'd add water to the powder in the jar and drink that. (timing was important and sooner, rather than later, was the key to heading off a hypo episode).

Now that I understand about fats, I would have had some fatty food first thing in the morning (bacon or cream cheese maybe).

But, the best way to treat R.H. is to not go high in the first place. And LCHF way of eating works very well for this.

 

[mbuster]

Hi Emile, welcome to the forum.

I may have missed it but what are your low blood sugar readings? A sudden drop from high levels to normal levels can give you the same feelings (false hypo) as a real hypo. Many say going below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L) is real hypo. Treating a false hypo that is not dangerous does make you feel better, but also sets up the roller coaster ride. It would probably be best to ride it out, control your BG (reducing carbs) to keep it from going high to begin with to get a handle on the RH. If not not getting below 60 and still dropping, you may not need to do anything. There is probably more in Bloodsugar101 about this but here, here, and here are a few places to learn more.

Being skinny does not make you immune to type 2, it is unlikely, but not impossible. I agree that LADA or MODY seems more likely. You should have further tests to confirm yes or no.

 

[Emile]

High-carb and sugary foods just set me up for another roller coaster ride later on.

Here's what I did back then, before I understood I should have been eating more fats. I relied on protein. When I first got up I had a small serving of protein powder in water (kept it in a jar on the bedside table to add water to). It seemed to keep me stable until I could eat. Then I ate several times a day, no more than two hours apart. I would carry the protein powder in a small jar and anytime I was out and felt my BG going down or felt a bit of hunger and wasn't in a position to get something to eat, I'd add water to the powder in the jar and drink that. (timing was important and sooner, rather than later, was the key to heading off a hypo episode).

Now that I understand about fats, I would have had some fatty food first thing in the morning (bacon or cream cheese maybe).

But, the best way to treat R.H. is to not go high in the first place. And LCHF way of eating works very well for this.

Protein Powder sound like a great way to keep it stable, but protein Powder are expensive as hell were I live, 1000g cost almost 30 USD, and only have 7g carbs per 100g, which means it give you 70g sugar for 30usd. That's just as much as a coke, so I would need a **** load of protein Powder if I get a bad hypo. I sometime uses energy bars as an alternative when I get low, they only have 10g carbs per bar and consist of slow carbs. They kind of help, but they usually won't last long before I drop again, so if I try protein powder I am afraid that I have to use it often, and that it would be rather expensive.
But it might be worth a try if they keep me from getting more severe hypos. So will give it a try

 

[VeeJay]

The point of the "emergency" protein powder is to tide you over until you can eat - which should be within the hour, preferable half hour. It doesn't replace a meal. Smaller low-carb meals throughout the day are more helpful than waiting too long and having to fix the problem.

But, as I mentioned, I used protein powder (no sugar in what I had) before I understood the role fats play in keeping blood sugar levels stable. They do a much better job than protein.

BTW - a severe hypo is below 2.2 (40). A BG (blood glucose) of 3.9 (70) is actually normal. It just FEELS low if one is coming down fast from a much higher level.

If you try the LCHF (low-carb/high-fat) way of eating for a few weeks, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that these reactive hypoglycemia episodes will be a thing of the past.

 

[Emile]

Hi Emile, welcome to the forum.

I may have missed it but what are your low blood sugar readings? A sudden drop from high levels to normal levels can give you the same feelings (false hypo) as a real hypo. Many say going below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L) is real hypo. Treating a false hypo that is not dangerous does make you feel better, but also sets up the roller coaster ride. It would probably be best to ride it out, control your BG (reducing carbs) to keep it from going high to begin with to get a handle on the RH. If not not getting below 60 and still dropping, you may not need to do anything. There is probably more in Bloodsugar101 about this but here, here, and here are a few places to learn more.

Being skinny does not make you immune to type 2, it is unlikely, but not impossible. I agree that LADA or MODY seems more likely. You should have further tests to confirm yes or no.

I alwayd treat myself when I get close to hypo or what you call a false hypos (rapid blood sugar decrease), but that are just because I know how bad it gets when I get a real hypo. When it got really bad it goes down to 2-3 mmol, might been lower in some cases where I weren't able to check. But I don't get real hypos very often, no more then once a month, usually. But I always eat something when I know I'm getting close to a real hypo, or when I feel it drop fast.