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Odd symptoms but not diabetic

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J

Jayke

New Member
Hi folks.

I guess I'm looking for people who may feel the same as I do. This seems to be a good place to start. I don't have diabetes so hope nobody is offended by me posting on here. But I think you guys will know what I am talking about and could perhaps offer some thoughts, as I suspect this is related to blood sugars?

I have always eaten a lot (and I mean a lot!), ever since I was a kid, and being of an athletic build there's little on me. I went to the doctors a few years ago because I was eating a lot and urinating a lot. I tend to pee pretty soon after I drink anything. Anyway, I had a blood test and everything was fine.

I went back a few months ago because I was eating a ridiculously large amount (I had been hitting the gym and my appetite naturally shoots up when I train) and had an episode where I had eaten a sandwich and then around three hours later suddenly came over all shaky, lightheaded, anxious and hungry, so I went into a cafe and ate a ridiculous amount of food. I felt fine after that. I hadn't been doing anything other than walking a short way to a train station.

Thinking back, this has happened now and then over the years but I didn't see it as a problem; I'd just eat and then feel fine.

Again, I had blood tests and all was fine. But nobody has done fasting bloods, just thyroid, count etc. in a single batch.

I wondered if this was something to do with blood sugars so I bought an Accu Check monitor a few weeks ago. I went to the gym one morning and had similar symptoms as above. I did a reading and it was 3.3. That said, I had a measly breakfast and hit the gym hard. I ate and felt fine.

My monitor over the past few days has shown an average of 4.2. It has gone to 7 after a good meal. I feel much better when it's higher than 4, although I am eating better and cutting out sugars and alcohol (boring, I know!) as I've tipped 40 and want to be a little healthier. Maybe I'm used to having higher blood sugars.

Before bed and upon waking it's usually just over 4 or 5 but oddly after breakfast (veg sausage or fish fingers and brown bread) it stays pretty much the same or may drop from, say. 4.4 to 4.1. Is that normal? The readings creep up later in the day but not over 7 and usually around late 4s or mid 5s.

Do you think this is just normal because I have a high metabolism? That's my theory.

I am booked in for further investigations but reckon it's just the way I am.

I figured it I had hypoglycemia episodes but not one doctor has mentioned that. I had to bring that up which then promoted them to ask me if I wanted referring. I said yes because I figured if they don't know, I should see somebody who would know.

What do you think?

Hope you are all okay.

🙂
 
I think you have naturally low blood glucose - 'ordinary' non diabetic is around 5-7 and still goes up a little bit after eating carbohydrates anyway, but comes back down to 'normal' fairly swiftly thereafter.

What you have described happening when yours drops down lower is hypoglycaemia - but all you need to do in that case is quickly get fast acting carbs down your neck - a cuppa with a couple of teaspoons of sugar in it should do the trick. This can happen to anyone at all - and as it happened when you hadn't had enough to eat before strenuous exercise - is hardly surprising to me especially bearing in mind you usual BG is so low, to be honest.

However - obviously if it is worrying you and your GP is offering to refer you - why not take up his offer and see an endocrinologist to gain 'proper' reassurance?

Let's see what others think on here.
 
I did have hypo episodes as you describe, not after physical exertion, but after a long surgery when I was a GP. It is your brain telling you it’s short of glucose. In those days, a Mars bar fixed it. That was years before I developed T1. You can’t reach dangerous levels of hypoglycaemia if you are healthy, your liver will fix things adequately.

Despite me as an example, this does not indicate that you will develop diabetes at any stage, it’s all physiologically pretty normal. My younger brother used to eat like horse - still does, but he’s as thin as lath and non diabetic, the lucky sod.
 
Thank you so much for your replies. I really appreciate it.

I will take the referral as it will at least help me understand myself better and help me consider my diet more so.

I’ll be sure you tell you of the outcome.

🙂
 
Something odd just happened. I tested my blood sugar 45 minutes ago which was just over 3 hours since I ate. It was 4.5. Then I started feeling a bit off. I tested my blood sugar again just now and it was 5.4. Any ideas as to why?
 
Jayke said:
Something odd just happened. I tested my blood sugar 45 minutes ago which was just over 3 hours since I ate. It was 4.5. Then I started feeling a bit off. I tested my blood sugar again just now and it was 5.4. Any ideas as to why?
Click to expand...
Could be several reasons.
You have to remember that meters aren't 100% accurate, for a start. They are allowed a 10%discrepancy at the lower end (15% at higher figures)
Also, blood isn't homogenous, doing a test on a different finger, or your other hand, will,produce a different result.
It could also be that your liver recognised that your blood glucose was dropping, and kicked in to churn out a bit extra glucose to keep your levels steady.
 
Good points, Robin. Thank you for your reply.

I had no idea about any of this until recently and this forum is such a great place to help figure things out, and the people are so friendly.

I think I should stop worrying as that can’t help!

🙂
 
Obviously we can't diagnose things here, but it sounds to me as though you may have reactive hypoglycaemia - there's more info. about this here.

My partner has it, and someone else here mentioned it recently so I posted about it on their thread - I'll copy my post over here for you ...

"My partner has hypoglycaemia too, so I can understand the panic eating of sugary stuff to try to keep your blood sugar up. He has found though that the things which help with it in the long term are eating little and often rather than eating big meals; combining fat with sugar so the effect lasts longer (eg eating a yogurt instead of a piece of fruit); and in particular eating that yogurt last thing at night, so he doesn't wake up in the night starving. He's also found that very small amounts of sugar are enough to raise his blood sugar when he's hypo - a carrot will do the trick just as well as a biscuit, as well as being healthier! Not something which would work for someone on insulin having a hypo, but for reactive hypoglycaemia it's a useful thing to know."

As you don't have diabetes and do have low blood sugar generally, I'd also suggest eating dried fruit if you feel shaky and dizzy, rather than binging on ridiculous amounts of food - it brings your blood sugar up quickly without being too high in carbs. We always travel everywhere with a bag of dried apricots, just in case. But if it is reactive hypoglycaemia you have, then the main trick to manage it is to avoid big carb-heavy meals and eat lots of smaller ones.

I agree it's worth seeing the endo, in case it turns out to be something else, and to put your mind at rest.
 
I thought about reactive hypoglycaemia before I responded - however Jayke says the hypo happened after exercise following a 'meagre' breakfast - so I ruled 'reactive' out.
 
Thanks for the input. Yes, I also figured it’s not reactive as I have been testing regularly and after meals my sugars do not go down, with the exception of mornings when they may dip from, say, 4.6 to 4.2. My levels upon waking is usually around 5.

I did a test by eating spag bol and drinking a Coke and my sugars went up but not high. Chicken and brown rice followed by fruit crumble took them higher to 7.
 
Tbh from my experience with R, I'd say that hypoglycaemia doesn't follow the exact pattern it's supposed to (any more than diabetes does!). He tends to fall asleep immediately after big meals rather than hypo-ing, and he hypos at pretty random lengths of time after eating. But his symptoms are exactly what you describe - shaky, lightheaded, anxious, and hungry. Sometimes he is so shaky his legs go completely and he collapses - but if he eats something, within a couple of minutes he's fine.

It doesn't sound as though you need worry too much though, Jayke, you're clearly not diabetic, and you are managing whatever it is by eating, so seeing the endo would be just to set your mind at rest. I wish I could eat rice followed by crumble and not go higher than 7! 🙂
 
Thanks, Juliet.

I've been feeling a little spaced out recently (anxious, I guess - hoping that's all it is) and tested just now after eating a few hours ago (bowl of Alpen) and my reading was 3.7 I tested a few times. The last time I had what seemed to be a hypo (albeit subtle) was at 3.3 a few weeks ago. Since then it's always been above 4. I'm going to test again in an hour and see what it is.
 
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