Reactive Hypoglycemia After RNY - what was your worst?

I was reading the article on the home page and it brought back a couple of bad/scary memories. When it first happened to me I didn't understand what I was feeling and why? After I got a handle on it I know what triggers me and what to do when I get shaky.

My worst experience -

I was at the grocery store and had a list, walking up and down the isles. I remember feeling shaky and hot, started to sweat and feeling confused. The next thing I remember was sitting on the floor in the baking isle eating chocolate chips from the bag. Freaked me out. WTH? How did I get there, what happened? I also remember feeling like I was freezing. Never will I ever forget that. The other bad time was my kids were over and we were having a conversation and then the next thing I know my son was shoveling peanut butter in my mouth and he said I was speaking in tongue. Freaked him and my DIL out.

What was your worst experience with RH?

This wasn't my first episode, but it was definitely my worst:

One morning back in the Spring, I decided to make myself low carb almond flour pancakes. I can't have sorbitol, so any commercially made sugar free syrup is a no-go for me. I made myself a maple syrupish concoction out a sweetener called Fiber Yum and maple flavoring. I poured a tablespoon onto my pancakes. My blood sugar crashed about a half hour later, and it crashed HARD. I couldn't remember what to do to bring up my blood sugar. I couldn't form thoughts properly, and I couldn't convey the few thoughts I could muster into words. I was sweating, and panicky. I finally grabbed a cheese stick, and ate it. I felt like I was coming back to myself. Then I had a piece of bacon, and my blood sugar started to drop again, which sent me into a tailspin of panic. I don't know how long I struggled, but after more cheese and then some chicken lunch meat, I finally started feeling better. I was lucid enough at the beginning of the ordeal to take a blood sugar reading-it was 43. Go me. I'm sure it was the "syrup" and not the pancakes. I've had the same pancake recipe since and just smear butter and sweetened cream cheese on them.

RH sucks.

OMG Audrey I am so sorry.... Yes RH SUCKS!!!!

I haven't experienced RH and hope that doesn't happen to me. But hearing about your experiences prepares me if it does, so thank you.

Questions for those of you that have RH, did you have diabetes or pre-diabetes prior to WLS? I wonder why some people get it and others don't; is it random, or due to previous size, surgical technique, or just related to diet?

My RH started at right about two years out. I wasn't diabetic or even pre-diabetic pre-op, and only experienced hypoglycemia once or twice in the years before surgery, like if I waited too long to eat for example. The first time I had an RH episode, I had an inkling that low blood sugar was causing what I was feeling because it felt vaguely familiar, but not exactly like the hypoglycemia I'd felt before. ( If that makes sense )

I think it's random; I think if you dump, you're more likely to also get RH-but I could be completely wrong about that. ( That's been my own experience. ) I think staying away from simple carbs helps avoid it. I think there are one or two people on the boards who experience RH no matter what, but the posts I've read over the years, coupled with my own experiences, point to the proper diet of high peotein, low carb with avoidance of sugary and carby ( starchy ) foods as being key to not having an episode, as is eating by the clock in some cases, especially if you don't feel hunger.

When I do feel RH coming on, the best way for me to stop it is a to ingest a source of sugar that will raise my blood sugar, (but not make it skyrocket and then crash again) combined with protein and some fat for keeping my BS regulated. I find a glass of whole or 2% milk works best to quickly raise my BS. Once I'm feeling more myself-I'll have a cheese stick or some lunch meat to keep my blood sugar stable.

Before surgery I was border line and after I lost my weight mine has stayed no higher than 90. The lowest reading I remember seeing (my husband had the test kit) was 42.

Check out the great article on the home page.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/reactive-hypoglycemia-af ter-rny-causes-signs-and-treatments

I do not have RH but was an insulin dependent diabetic for 20+ years. My worse low was shortly after I had my daughter who is almost 12. I woke in the middle of the night shaking and sweating and couldn't really speak. Luckily, my husband woke up and immediately knew what was wrong. He found me a bag of what we call 'Burger King Mints' (those peppermints that dissolve on your tongue?). I have no idea how many I ate but when I tested in the middle of shoving them in my mouth my BS was 21. I have lost two online friends in the last couple years to lows they didn't recover from.

I have otherwise experienced countless other lows in the 30's-40's that caused me to 'eat the fridge'. I distinctly remember times where I ate a whole sleeve of Ritz Crackers that I was scooping in peanut butter or a whole tube of Girl Scout cookies. Many of those times I felt like I couldn't control myself or I worried that it wasn't going to come up enough. I had really great A1c's, but that meant dealing with lows on a daily basis (though normally they were treated with a couple of glucose tabs or a juice box).

One of the most fantastic things about my surgery has been coming off insulin and therefore living a life free from low blood sugars. Even when I work out. I hope, given I'm a VSGer and it's less common, it will stay that way.

I found those glucose tabs work great when I am out. I keep them in my purse. they are under $2 and has saved my butt many times when I am out and about.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/GoodSense-Glucose-Tablets-Orange- 10-Ct/53433019

The worst, where I actually knew what was going in was at work. I had eaten Honey Nut Cheerios before leaving for work. Normally, I'd try and balance the meal with a boiled egg or turkey sausage but I was lazy. I was walking around work feeling horribly sweaty and confused. I would have stuck my head in freezer to cool off. I decided to walk outside- someone stopped me and suggested they walk with me cause I didn't look well. I realized that I had a ring of sweat on my shirt. I'm glad she walked with me cause I was in the verge of passing out. I sat on benches outside and asked for a paramedic to come check on me. (Luckily I work at the fire Dept). They tested my sugar and it was 38. Gave me an orange juice, glucose ****tail, and my sugar dropped lower thanks to that. I ate my yogurt and berries and it started coming up after that.

Slept like a baby all afternoon after that

Yikes Peachpie!

You are right, if I have a bad episode it's like someone came and sucked the life out of you.... Take care of yourself my friend!