Link between Hypoglycemia and Anxiety

[thedood]

Has anybody ever looked in to the links between Anxiety and Hypoglycemia?

I'm currently having tests for low blood sugar and looking online anxiety disorders are strongly associated with it.

Worth looking into...

[kazzie]

Hi

Im diabetic and if my blood sugar goes too low the symptoms are exactly like a panic attack.....this dosent mean it is a panic attack tho!!!

Kaz x

[Cathy V]

Yeah, ive often wondered about this myself. Over the years ive had attacks of weakness and trembling, relieved only after eating, and coming on if i havent eaten much for a while. I don't get them so bad now but when i was younger i'd get them almost every day...sorted of a spaced out feeling.
My oldest son gets them and my youngest daughter does too (thats 2 out of 4, so 2 don't get them).

Weve never suffered with diabetes fortunately , and kaz didn't realise you did just always had these strange hypos!

Best wishes
Cathy xxx

[thedood]

Yeah in all the different therapies I've had I've tried to tell the therapists that sometimes I feel completely normal and my anxiety levels are low yet other times my levels are high...often after food. This seems more like a chemical or reactive change rather than something cognitive.
I had cut various foods out of my diet believing perhaps that I have food allergie - For example I stopped eating dairy. Although I have felt much better I now realise that a lot of the sugary foods I was eating are foods I cut out because of the dairy content. Perhaps it is the sugar after all...

I read about a professor in the US - Prof. J.H. Levitt of the Pratt Institute who believes that all anxiety related problems are caused by a biochemical imbalance in the endocrine system. I know the negative thought processes that cause my panic attacks but I've always felt there was something a little more tangible as the source of my anxiety.

[Cathy V]

That makes real sense...post more info if you have dood ok its very interesting and enlightening. Maybe more of the ppl on nmp who are diabetics could vouch for this theory too?

Cathy xxx

[thedood]

I'm always searching for the truth so I'll be sure to post my findings along the way

[andie73]

Hi

I feel there is a link for me between being hungry and panic attacks. I'm not diabetic but have been told by the doc to eat little and often.....like every three hours or so. i used to get really bad panic attacks at work but if I eat a banana mid morning and then lunch I am fine. If I wait too long for my evening meal I get what feels like anx symptoms but once I've eaten these feelings go.
You need to be careful to eat the right things though and not just reach for chocolate which gives you an instant hit and then a low an hour or so later. You need to eat carbohydrate, and whole grain foods etc. I take soup and oat cakes to work. oat cakes are slow release foods and full of fibre etc. I found them awful at first but I'm used to them now. Bananas are my emergency food as they are slow release too and so your body feels the benefit over a longer period of time than with refined sugary stuff. Bananas also contain tryptophan which helps boost serotonin and therefore lowers stress levels.

Sorry for the waffle. The short answer is I think low sugar will make you feel shakey etc which feels so much like a panic attack that your fight or flight response kicks in and bingo....panic attack.

Andrea xx

[thedood]

good points Andrea...

I too eat between meals. Nairns herb oatcakes with peanut butter is my mid morning snack.
But perhaps my body throws extra insulin at me just as often as it throws extra adrenalin...

[Cathy V]

...and talking of insulin, interestingly they say Propranolol can icrease the insulin levels in your system...which can make you feel hungry all the time. This apparently only happens with the older beta blockers and that the newer ones don't do this. Anyone else heard this too

Cathy

[dawny]

andrea....im exactly the same as yourself....my mood changes and anx appears.....

dawny