Hypoglycaemia worries, super anxious and stressed

[anxious_thoughts]

Hey guys,

I'm still struggling with the fear of hypoglycaemia. I've had symptoms everyday since Saturday. Multiple times a day before every meal. I start to feel very hungry and out of it a bit. I don't think it is all anxiety. If I wait too long when I'm hungry I get a bit dizzy and lightheaded. This used to happen every once in a while, but ever since Tuesday I had a full blown anxiety attack with it, it has been constant since.

I'm only 23 years old. I don't have the best weight but I've lost 24 pounds since last year. However, these symptoms are stopping my weight loss because I feel that if I don't eat every few hours I'll faint.

My main symptoms are:
Especially in the morning...
At first I feel gaggy for about 5 minutes and then I swear I can feel my blood sugars drop.
Once they "drop" I feel anxious
Anxiety kicks in and I'm all over the place
I start to feel dizzy and spacey, worried I'm going to faint

It's driving me crazy :( I really want to go to the doctors but I'm afraid to...

[countrygirl]

I live with a diabetic and I have had low blood sugar problems myself so here goes.
The cause of any hypo symptoms are not so much the actual blood sugar reading but caused by how fast your levels are dropping so for example my husband who is insulin dependant can have a low blood sugar and feel fine but if its suddenly dropping fast because he has exercised then he will feel terrible but with a normal reading at that time but he knows its dropping fast and will eat.
I used to find that about 3 hrs after meals I would get terribly shaky.sweaty etc and feel genuine hunger pains and had to eat. This caused me weight problems for many many years because I could not reduce my calorie intake.
18 months ago I changed my diet completely and stopped eating any cakes/biscuits basically any fast carbs and also removed bread even wholemeal bread from my diet and replaced it with high fibre crispbreads and the odd slice of gluten free bread and within a week my hypo symptoms had gone. I can now go 5 hours between meals with no symptoms or hunger and this is because my blood sugar is not spiking then falling like it was.

So unless you are eating no fast carbs already cut out all fast carbs ( cakes/biscuits/bread/sweets/milk chocolate/sugar and any processed foor) you could find this has a dramatic effect on your blood sugar swings.

[anxious_thoughts]

Hello Countrygirl,

Thank you so much for the response. Honestly I haven't been feeling myself since Saturday and it feels like nobody I personally know understands my symptoms.

So you can have low blood sugar symptoms without being diabetic? I am worried about that because my grandma is diabetic. Just like you stated, I need to change my diet. I actually finished the school semester so last week I went on my low carb diet again and that's when it seemed like it started happening. I don't know if it's all in my head or just anxiety because if I focus on it, it gets worse but I can't stop myself from thinking about it.

Did you have alike symptoms as well? I'm thinking I should go to the doctors and get some blood tests done.

[countrygirl]

Low carb diets are not necessarily a good idea as your blood sugar can stay constantly low. I just cut out high glycaemic foods or high carb foods but I still eat plenty of carbs.
Diabetes untreated causes your blood sugar to be permanetly high so you would not get any symptoms of hypo. Also at your age diabetes would be type 1 which would give severe symptoms that you do not have.
Can you just cut out the rubbish food like cake/biscuits/fast food-takewaay food/ sweets and chocolate and fizzy sweet drinks but eat other carbs like wholemeal bread/crackers, potatoes and fruit and veggies with some meat/fish depending on your diet. I eat small amounts of peanut butter and reduced fat hummus for protein and they keep me full for the longest.

Your anxiety syptoms can also feel very much like hypo symptoms as well so without an actual blood sugar reading it can be hard to tell as once you eat something you mentally think you will feel better so you do.

[anxious_thoughts]

This week I started eating carbs again but nothing seems to help. I'm constantly getting these hypo symptoms especially in the morning, but it does happen at least twice a day since Saturday.

Thanks for letting me know about diabetes. I actually didn't know that if left untreated my blood sugar would be permanently high and I would not have symptoms of hypo. Could low iron create these symptoms or cause hypoglycaemia as well? Last time I had a blood tests my doctor told me I had low iron. I don't take tablets for it because they give me headaches. I'm wondering if it's really low or something and causing me to feel this way. I'm more hungry than usual, especially during breakfast. I can have one slice of weight watchers wholewheat toast, with turkey and an apple but be hungry less than an hour later.

I'm going to try to make an appointment with my doctor. I can't live with the fear of passing out or fainting :(

[rsanchez]

Some numbers might help you with your fear. A blood sugar monitor is not particularly expensive so you can get one and measure what your actual blood sugar is. For people who are not diabetic, I've heard they can start feeling really hungry but their blood sugar will still be normal or high-normal. It might have to do with how fast your blood sugar was dropping at the time like countrygirl said so cutting the added sugar will help your blood sugar stay more stable through the day. This would be cutting the obvious stuff like sweets and soft drinks, but there are a lot of foods nowadays that have added sugars so you would need to check the label for added sugars. It's not about cutting carbs, just the added sugar.