Hypoglycemia

Have you ever watched Steel Magnolias?  If you have, do you remember the scene where Shelby has too much insulin in her system and her body essentially goes into fight or flight mode- an insulin reaction, as it's called?  If not, let me describe the scene:

Shelby and her mom are at the hair dresser's, and they are having a conversation about Shelby's wedding, which is what she is getting her hair done for.  Suddenly, Shelby can't really connect to the conversation around her.  She starts to feel edgy and zones out a bit.  She then starts to hit Truvy (the hair dresser and her friend) and then scrubs her fingers through her hair in a rage,  messing up everything Truvy had just done to it.  She gets defensive and wants everyone to leave her alone.  When her mom tries to get her to eat something to counteract her reaction, she tells her no and to leave her alone.  Her mom has to force-feed her to save her from the reaction.


Hypoglycemics have the same thing happen, but it's for different reasons (Shelby is diabetic).  I realize you may know this already if you've been going through this for a while, but for some, the idea may be new.  For hypoglycemics, the pancreas still works, but it doesn't work well.  When food enters the bloodstream, the pancreas shoots out insulin but sometimes too much, and if there isn't good food for it to work on, there ends up being an excess of insulin in the system, causing an insulin reaction.  It isn't as dire as for a diabetic, but it feels just as bad.  And you certainly don't want to give a hypoglycemic juice or candy, like you would for a diabetic.  For the diabetic, that excess insulin was put into the body via a syringe, so it needs to be used up.  For the hypoglycemic, the pancreas will shoot out more insulin, and if all it has is a simple sugar to work on, it can be a never-ending cycle.  So, simple sugars like candy, breads, etc., will only make the hypoglycemic feel better for a few minutes, and then s/he will feel terrible all over again.

There is a link on the home page to learn more about hypoglycemia.  I know a lot of people try to  ignore this issue.  The problem with that is 1. There's a higher chance of it turning into diabetes.  2.  One can feel perpetually drunk, fatigued, achy, nauseous, edgy, spacey, annoyed, foggy, etc.  Until the hypoglycemic does something to remedy the symptoms, s/he may not even know that "normal" isn't normal at all.  Way before I found out I had fibro, I found out about the hypoglycemia.  At first I was really good about eating, and I felt a lot better.  Then, I would "fudge" with my diet, eating sweets after a good meal, so at least there was some protein for the insulin to work on first.  I spent several years going back and forth between being diligent about my diet and not being.  I guess that's fairly normal.  It took my fibro pain for me to get really serious again about my eating habits (and I still "fudge" at times but not every day).

There is a secondary issue, called "fasting hypoglycemia", the previously mentioned issue is "reactive hypoglycemia"- I have both, of course because I'm lucky that way), but some people only have one or the other.   For some people, waiting too long to eat can cause the same issue as eating the wrong things.  That's one reason a good breakfast is imperative.   I have to have protein for breakfast- the end.  But, I also can't go for more than 4 hours tops between meals, or I get sick.  If I'm stressed, it can be a shorter period of time, like 2 hours- stress seems to bring on an episode, and when I am stressed, I'm not paying attention to my body; I'm paying attention to my stress (stress also increases fibro pain- sheesh). The result of  fasting too long will usually manifest itself in me getting really cranky and/or overwhelmed.  At that point, it is really hard for me to know what to do next, which needs to be to eat something. Instead, I go into "survival mode," even if it is a really ineffective one, like Shelby did.   Even if I can figure out I need to eat something, I have a really hard time deciding on something to eat.  For one thing, it's too overwhelming.  For another, at that point, my stomach gets upset, and the last thing I want to do is eat.  That's why I try to keep Zone bars in the house.  I can usually force myself to eat that, at least.  Usually I try to eat a little more protein in addition to that, as I find the Zone bar not to be perfect for me, but it does solve the problem temporarily.  Cheese does the same thing.  Zone bars are easy to carry around with me, too, so I never get in an emergency.   (I feel like a commercial!)  It's also really easy to eat something bad for me, like fries, when I'm starving and can't think straight enough to talk myself out of it.