Hi, I am a 28 year old male. About two years ago, I started getting dizzy spells, and what felt like low blood sugar episodes. These episodes would be fixed with food.
Fast forward to now and the episodes are much worse and about 3 hours apart unless I eat something right on time. I also wake up from any nap feeling bad and have to eat asap.
I am now 50 pounds heavier since this all started @ 225lbs and 5''8 and have also been on high blood pressure meds for a year now.
My fasting sugar as of last week is 108.
My A1C was 5.4 about a year go/30 pounds ago(not sure of my current A1C)
And my fasting insulin as of last week was 30 - which I understand is high?
The issue:
I still
get these low blood sugar "feeling" episodes - but when I check my sugars with a meter during these attacks - it''s never that low. I can get an attack at 100!. Even at 110 I''ve gotten an attack.
These attacks are every classic low BS symptom. Shaking, confusion,blurry vision. Eating fixes it, but the food wears off some times after only 2 hours.
I also notice if I don''t eat at least 400 calories per meal - I don''t feel good.
I met with an endo, and she was VERY quick with me. I had no time to ask much of anything.
She said I might be pre diabetic or insulin resistant?, but couldn''t explain why I have hypo episodes @ normal to high numbers.
She just told me to take 1,000mg of Metformin once a day, but I am afraid this will cause my low BS attacks to be worse.
If anyone has any insight on my symptoms, I would love another opinion.
Thanks a lot.
PS Here''s some other MISC medical info on me if it helps:
- I''ve always had very mild hypoglycemia since I was a kid - very mild. If I didn''t eat within 4 hours or so, I felt a little off, but NOTHING like the episodes now. I also had a few hands shaking type of attacks in my teens, but nothing this frequent
- I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnia as I haven''t slept for more than 5 hours at a time since this all started. I am just now starting CPAP therapy but still haven''t gotten more than 5 hours of sleep straight.
- My testosterone is also low, so the endo put me on Androgel
- My trigylcerites are "very" high
- I have a non alcoholic fatty liver
- I am woken up every morning with the urge to pee - this began when I got my first dizzy spells. It doesn''t matter if I don''t consume liquids before bed, I ALWAYS have to pee right when I wake up. It did not used to be like that.
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You''ve written a lot, but I''ll try to address what I can. Your A1c was on the high end of normal and your fasting blood sugar falls in pre-diabetic range. Your insulin levels are, I believe, quite high. That happens due to insulin resistance. Insulin takes glucose into the cells to be utilized as energy, but your cells are somewhat resistant. Your pancreas makes more insulin in response to force more glucose into the cells.
The high triglycerides, high blood pressure, weight gain, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are classic signs of someone who''s suffering from insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.
I should also point out that insulin resistance, although worsened by being overweight, probably caused some of your weight gain. In most people who have insulin resistance, muscle cells become resistant first and fat cells remain some of the least resistant. All that insulin you''re producing ushers glucose into your fat cells more than your muscle cells. And as you gain, your insulin resistance only becomes more severe.
As for why you''re having the feelings of low blood sugar even when your blood sugar isn''t low, there are probably many reasons. First, you''re a pre-diabetic, so I can basically guarantee you''re having high blood sugar spikes after meals. These blood sugar spikes are occurring because there''s delayed signaling from your gut to your pancreas to release insulin and because of your insulin resistance. Because you''re pre-diabetic, though, your insulin resistance and insulin signaling aren''t as impaired as they would be in a full-blown diabetic, so although you''re spiking, you''re also making a crapload of insulin eventually. This insulin is reactively dropping your blood sugar. While 100 mg/dL isn''t low, it''s a lot lower than 150 mg/dL or 200 mg/dL or wherever you''re spiking. The rapid drop itself can make you feel low even if the final number isn''t hypoglycemic.
You can also get used to higher blood sugar, so lower, more normal numbers suddenly feel low to you. That happened to me. I was diagnosed with blood sugar over 300 mg/dL, so when my levels dropped to 150 mg/dL or so within the first week, I thought I was dying. I had horrible hypoglycemic symptoms, but my blood sugar was still far too high.
The calories aren''t what''s making you feel better. You''re feeling better because you''re spiking your blood sugar. Carbohydrates, more specifically, are what''s doing that.
If you want to lower the triglycerides, improve your fatty liver, lower your insulin levels, and lower your blood sugar, then my advice is that you get on a low-carbohydrate high-fat diet yesterday. No calorie counting necessary. What does that diet look like? Cut out the grains, rice, beans, oats, corn, potatoes, and most fruits. Eat mainly meat, cheese, eggs, nuts, seeds, butter, olive oil, coconut oil, cream cheese, sour cream, and heavy whipping cream. Eat unlimited natural fats, moderate protein, and very low carb, like <20-30 grams per day.
To give you background on me: diagnosed Type 2 when I was 25. I was morbidly obese, had high blood pressure, A1c was 11%, had high triglycerides, was showing signs of very high insulin levels. I was extremely sick. I adopted the low-carbohydrate diet, had bacon and eggs for breakfast, full-fat cream in my coffee, steaks for dinner. I lost over 100 pounds, dropped my triglycerides to below 100, improved my cholesterol, dropped my blood pressure, and lowered my A1c to 4.8%. My BMI is now 21 and, although I am not "cured," I am a very well-managed diabetic. I also don''t get the symptoms of extreme hunger and low blood sugar because I am not spiking my blood sugar with high-carbohydrate foods and then rebounding with a flood of insulin. My BGs stay low and stable, so I feel good. Get off the carbohydrate roller coaster and fill your kitchen with low-carbohydrate delicious foods.
P.S. The Metformin won''t make the episodes worse. Metformin mainly works by improving your IR and suppressing some of your liver''s production of glucose, which lowers your insulin levels. This is what you want. In combination with a low-carbohydrate diet, I believe your symptoms will go away.
- hello...metformin is well branded medication. more then 70% of american diabetic patients are prescribed that. But offcourese you have to use it to see how well it''s helps you. start with the dose that you doctor gave you. But make sure you keep the track how you feel after wards. And yes for diabetic person it''s must that they eat every 3 hours or soo until unless if their sugar is high or something then they shuld not eat. Next time when you go to see any doctor prior going there make a list on paper write it down what questions you would like to ask her/him? Doctors are like that soo since you are paying them better get ready there. For sleep did you tried any sleeping meds yet?
