WLS and hypoglycemia

 ok....I just had the strangest event happen today.  all of a sudden within the course of 2 minutes, I could not control my body.  my whole body shook so bad I couldn't type and I started sweating profusely.  

Tia asked me what I had to eat today.....of course I didn't have anything yet because it was not yet my scheduled breakfast time.  She told me to go eat something so I had my lunch.  I started feeling better.....tired but better and I'm not as shaky anymore but still a little quivery.  As you might have guessed, my sugar bottomed out.

My question to the board is I'm wondering how common is it really for WLS patients to become hypoglycemic.  Especially those who cannot have sugar.  Luckily, I had cheese and a bag of popcorn for extra carbs and the milk for natural sugar.  This is the first time this has ever happened to me and frankly, it scared me to death.  As Tia put it, "I felt outside of myself"  i could see what's happening but couldn't control it.

I should've asked you this in my email - why do you have a "scheduled" breakfast time and how long after you awaken is it?

since WLS, I've had the same reaction even after having sugar. If I have a meal too high in carbs and not enough protein, my body dumps the food out quick. But the digestive juices that were released don't realize the sugar's been dumped. so, the body reacts as if it's in hypoglycemic shock.

Some of the fun things to endure after WLS. I wouldn't change a thing, mind you, but we just ahve to be more careful of what we eat.

In your case, you just didn't eat. Tsk Tsk.

Scheduled breakfast?  What the heck?   Ifyou are planning to have a late beakfast then make sure you have a high protein snack before going to bed!!!  

It is something that many of us go through.

I hope you are aleady feeling better.

Hugs,

 yes I still schedule my meals.  I have breakfast around 11 or 12, lunch between 2 and 3 and then dinner around 7 or 8.......it's always been that way but what I had for dinner last night I could only have about 5 bites of really DENSE protein  (bacon, egg and cheese omelet with hashbrowns) and I was completely full.  so yeah it was a long period between meals.

If you are up early then you need to have some protein early in the morning.  You know having protein early in the morning is gooooooooood right? LOL

That has happened to me once because I didn't eat enough.  Luckily it hasn't happened again but I'm very careful to make sure I get a meal... even if I'm not hungry.

Aaron....it happens to me too even thought I eat well balanced meals and snacks at regualr intervals.  I have days where my blood sugar drops to 40-50 just 2 hours after eating.  Fortunately I can tell by the way I feel when my blood sugar is dangerously low.  I've been to my PCP, my WLS surgeon, and dietician about it and was basically told to keep an eye on my blood sugar (got a glucometer), especially on days when I feel bad from low blood sugars.

They explained that my pancreas still thinks I weigh 300+ lbs and is secreting insulin for that large body.  My pancreas hasn't caught up to my rapid weight loss and I'm getting way too much insulin...which is making my blood sugars go crazy.

If the problem persists for a long period of time my doctors want to start running tests because apparently there are autoimmune disorders that can affect the pancreas and insulin secretion.  I did a search on the internet about hypoglycemia after WLS and learned all about reactive hypoglycemia (which i'm not thinking WE have....since it isn't happening after a high carb/high sugar meal).  There was an aritcle I found where post-WLS folks have had to get portions of their pancreas removed in order to stop it from releasing so much insulin.  Lets hope we're not headed in that direction.

I'm so glad to see that I'm not alone with the hypoglycemia!  It really makes me feel like crap when it happens.  I had a really bad day on Tuesday with it.  People automatically think i'm eating wrong.....and I take offense to that because I'm extremely anal about planning well balanced meals and snacks.

Good luck Aaron!