Bit confused, getting some hypos.

[SHORAN]

Hello there,

Can anyone tell me what may be happening ? I've been sticking to a LCHF regime.Ive been doing very well on that score keeping my sugars pretty stable ( usually between 5 - 7 sometimes rarely 8 )

I've now started getting hypos, not often but suddenly in the last 2 weeks my sugars have dropped below 4 - usually in the evenings particularly if I have had a very low carb meal. Like tonight I had salad- lettuce, avocado, coleslaw, tomatoes, cucumber, Kippers and a decent amount of quinoa. Now usually in the past when I stuck to my particularly low carb or almost zero carb meals I was fine. Only difference now is that recently for the first time I've been trying things like lentils in my meals which don't seem to spike me ( I have only just started this new trend - and my sugars never go then higher than 8 two hours after )

It's almost as if because I have recently deviated from avoiding carbs as much as possible to actually trying to add a few complex carbs - particularly lentils- so now if I go lower on the carbs ( like no lentils ) I get a bit hypo which never used to happen !!... so annoying.

Odd or what ?... or perfectly explanatory ?......

Any suggestions ?

Thanks,
Shoran.

 

[Ljc]

Hi Shoran Sorry I can’t remember what diabetic meds you are on or if your just diet controlled.
Is their anything else that’s changed. Ie more exersize.

At the mo I’m needing less of both my insulins , I’m putting it down to the vagaries of Diabetes as normally when my body thinks winter is on its way, my need go up a bit.

 

[Martin Canty]

Certain classes of drugs will cause hypo's if you go low carb..... Can you advise? A typical one which appears to be prescribed a lot in the UK is gliclazide; you may find that you don't need it any more.....

 

[SHORAN]

Very quickly after I was diagnosed I stopped Gliclazide - within two weeks of diagnosis - I figured this quickly back then at the very beginning of June. I've just been on 2 Metformin a day since then ( 500mg tablets ).....I was diagnosed on 30th April.

It's baffling to say the least and a tad worrying. ( these new hypos )

 

[SHORAN]

Nothing much has changed exercise wise- I still try to maintain my fitness same as I always have done...now I am maybe not quite as active as a was when I was first diagnosed... but then again I didn't go particularly hardcore with exercise in the first place.
Like I said the only difference I can think of is I have recently tried to eat lentils ! - upping my ('good') carb intake a bit. Sometimes - like today I didn't feel particularly hungry - but I still forced myself to try and eat 3 decent meal's throughout the day ( though possibly very slightly smaller than my usual portions because of my lack of appetite )... come to think of it the other hypo I had a week ago - I wasn't that hungry that day. I wonder why, strange.

Shoran.

 

[Ljc]

How low did you go
Though we normally say Metformin doesn’t cause hypo’s, I’ve seen two or three people on here where it seems to have. I’m not saying this is the case with you.
But it does seem strange that this has happenened when you’ve increased your carbs a bit .
Sorry no ideas yet.

 

[SHORAN]

I have reduced my cheese intake a bit recently- maybe the nuts too. I was stuffing my face more with this stuff after diagnosis.....

Scratching my head here....... thinking thinking....

 

[SHORAN]

One evening last week I dropped to 3.3 after a salad and chicken leg meal ( I had been a 7.8 earlier on before the chicken leg meal - 3/4 hours beforehand ). This eve two hours after my meal - a salad with kippers etc I was 6.9, with a metformin. Come 11.15pm I'd dropped to 3.6......

 

[SHORAN]

Had a drink of Vimto after my hypo episode this eve... 15 mins later my sugar jumped up to 7.3.... then 1.5 hours later at 1.30 am I am 12.3 !! ahhhhh..so going to do some press ups !

 

[SHORAN]

Woke up this am, checked my fasting level at 7.15am it was 5.3....
I am thinking perhaps I have been a little stingy on the meat recently and fats and maybe when ( this is when it's happened twice and only then ) when I have a salad and some meat - if it's not quite as 'large' as usual - because my appetite like I said has been a little low recently - I should either make sure I don't do a metformin tablet with that meal ...or make sure I throw in some carbs ?!! ( like lentils ! )..... or try and double up on the meats I am eating ?. I haven't had a hypo when I have had a big broth / stew with vegetables i.e. beef, broccoli , tomatoes etc or chicken, cabbage , pepper etc .


Ideas anyone ? See the start of the thread.....

Thanks in advance,

Shoran

 

[HOBIE]

Had a drink of Vimto after my hypo episode this eve... 15 mins later my sugar jumped up to 7.3.... then 1.5 hours later at 1.30 am I am 12.3 !! ahhhhh..so going to do some press ups !

You are doing it right in my book. T2 who knows how much your pancreas works ? Stress is a mystery for me. Makes me go low ?

 

[SHORAN]

Hobie,

Thanks for that. I did wonder if it was stress that was sneakily mucking things up a bit for me ?.. I don't feel particularly stressed though!... mind you theres been a thing or two on my mind ( but not terribly / worryingly so ) the last few weeks and I am a tad depressed... dunno why really. My situation is still sort of the "same" nothing very drastic has happened. So it's possible that the underlying "stress" added with what I said earlier has compounded the "problem" - brought on hypos. I just have to keep checking my levels and try top up the fats / meats etc.... and if my meal looks a bit thin and light like a salad... drop the metformin for that evening.

Sound about right ??

I did sprout up a lovely coldsore a few weeks ago just under my lip - this only ever comes on when I am stressed out. ( maybe once a year if that ) But like I said I wasn't feeling particularly "worried" about anything.....

It's like being a flipping detective - trying to work things out ! ...

Thanks again,

Shoran

 

[trophywench]

I have found as the years pass, the cold sores I only had to ever worry about when I also had a stinking cold, now appear when it's literally boiling hot and if it's windy as well - wham. Always thought 'How odd' when one of my friends came back from skiing trips with a fantastic tan on her face and cold sores. Now I don't.

Unfortunately we do like to go to Rousillon beach holidays in the summer so I'm stuck with em. Once we have the virus - they are a fact of life, not a surprise - though I agree, when it isn't the weather that did it, being 'run down' is typical.

You know when you do plummet - do you actually feel 'I don't feel right, what's going on?' which is why you tested - and OK you drank some Vimto but then got on the low - high seesaw. Would it would be better to only treat with a tiny bit of sugar like one fruit pastille or two jelly babies? - cos it sounds a bit like reactive hypoglycaemia?

You've also hit the nail on the head with either highs or lows - they happen, we have diabetes LOL - but the really important thing in either case is WHY? so we can try and avoid it happening again!

 

[Drummer]

I suspect that you are eating more carbs and inducing an insulin spike - and having reduced your insulin resistance, which would be lower later in the day anyway, you are getting a form of reactive hypoglycaemia.
I got the same thing which I saw that my numbers were dropping, it was like going back to my late teens and twenties when I would get the same thing in mid afternoon after a starchy school dinner or lunch in the canteen.
Watch the amount of quinoa you eat, as a high carb food it could put you back into problematic eating.
I solved my problem by altering the timing of my first meal (I only eat twice a day) and reducing the amount of carbs - but as we are all different try making various alterations in your routine, but above all add up all the carbs and use a meter to test how you react - test every half hour from starting to eat a couple of times and you might be able to track just what happens.