Answer to my hypoglycemia

I finally have an answer to my hypoglycemia.  I have increased beta cell mass in the tail of my pancreas.  That part of my pancreas secretes 5x the amount of insulin it should.  No wonder I'm having problems.   So in 3 weeks, I'm having part of my pancreas removed at Mayo Clinic.  The good news is that the rest of the pancreas seems to be behaving itself.  The bad news is that because it's the tail, the spleen must go also.  They use the same artery.  Plus the way my surgeon did my RNY is the least favorable route for the roux limb so it makes the surgery harder.  The surgeon at Mayo who is doing this has also had gastric bypass.  He said they are now following 50 patients with this and that may just be the tip of the iceberg.  He says most run of the mill WLS docs don't yet recognize this as a gastric bypass complication and almost none of the PCPs will.  So, be proactive and if you are having prolbems with hypoglycemia, be sure to have it researched.  It can lead to seizures.   I just want my life back and be able to eat "normally", whatever that is for a WLS patient.  I'm to the point where I can't eat any carbs without my sugar dropping drastically.  Yesterday I dropped to 40.  Not good.  If I eat only protein, I get foggy from lack of carbs.  If I eat some carbs, I get foggy because my sugar is whacko.  Can't win.  And I don't like this danged foggy feeling.  Not good when trying to research accounting problems.   Lyn 262/162/142  Never made it to goal but hoping to once this is resolved!

Lyn, I am so glad that you found out what is going on there. How do they check for this? Is it a blood test? Please let me know as I would like to have my dr. check on that as well. I have episodes off and on with my sugars getting low. What were your symptoms? I hope that you have a sucessful surgery and that everything goes well. I will keep you in my prayers. Please post after surgery and let us know how you are doing. If there is anything you need please let me know.  Take care, Stephanie

It's quite a procedure for being diagnosed.  You need to see an endocrinologist and just getting in here in DM is a challenge. 

The first thing I had to do was prompt an attack and have labs drawn.  My insulin, proinsulin, and c-peptide were all elevated.  My sugar was 38.  Next I had to do an 18 hour fast to prove that it is after eating and not fasting.  If it's low with fasting, it's probably an insulinoma not increased beta cell mass. 

Then they shipped me off to Mayo and I had an ultrasound, CT, and more labs, including an insulin antibody test and a test to see if I was doing it to myself.  Yeah, like I like feeling like crap.  The next step is the calcium stimulation test.  They use the femerol artery and vein in your groin.  They draw base line insulin values from each of the 3 areas of the pancreas then stimulate insulin production in each area and check the insuline levels again.  From that they can tell if its the whole pancreas or just part. 

Mayo is doing research on this and they are the ones who developed the cal stim test.  They only do about 1 a month and so far are following 50 patients who have had part of their pancreas removed.  But they think it's the tip of the iceberg. 

If you  want more info, I can email you a Mayo research paper.  Email me at [email protected].

 

Thanks for your support!  I'm going to try to take my laptop with me if they have free internet.

 

 

 

 

 

Great news Lyn    Of course the surgery part isn't so great.......but so glad they finally figured it out and now you can get some resolve!    I bet your looking forward to that day.  And just in time for summer.  Hopefully you will heal up super fast and get to feeling better right away.  Will this surgery be lap??  Wishing you the best.  Let us know how it goes.  I am not around much, but I do check in on occasion.  Take Care (((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))) ~jesi