Bad Incident

Hey all,      Well, I had something happen yesterday that's going to put my diet/exercise on hold for a bit (at least until Friday when the doctor can see me for blood work).      My morning started out with my usual protein bar at 6:00 am, but then at 8:30 am and 11:00 am I had a sweet potato (which were quite yummy) instead of my usual second protein bar and then South Beach wraps.  I'm not sure if this helped to contribute to what happened or not (since I'm not used to eating that many carbs in a row), but it's a possibility.      I went to get on the treadmill probably just before 1:00 pm.  I was perhaps a bit hungry but not unusually so (and maybe feeling a hair weak from all the exercise the day before).  The first 90% of my treadmill session went as usual (although it was horribly humid which was making it a bit more difficult); then I abruptly started feeling extremely hungry and weak.  The sensations were strong enough that I decided as soon as I was finished, I was going to eat immediately.      But then over the course of about 3 minutes things got much worse.  My pulse shot up about 20 from what it usually runs; I started feeling like I couldn't get enough air, and I began to become dizzy.  I started sweating so fast it was like someone had sprayed me with a hose and was shaking so hard, I almost couldn't hold onto my dumbbells.  Never in my entire life have I passed out, but I started feeling so dizzy, weak, and disoriented that I felt like I was going to fall off the treadmill.  The final straw was when my vision started to go dark.  Enough was enough, and I paused the treadmill to get something from the pantry immediately.  (In 5 years, I have never failed to finish a treadmill routine no matter what was hurting or how tired I was.)  I literally almost couldn't make it the 2 1/2 rooms to get to the pantry...managed to run into one wall and several pieces of furniture on the way...all the time with my vision and dizziness getting worse.  If I'd been thinking more clearly, I'd have grabbed the honey bottle (pure glucose), but I grabbed a protein bar out of force of habit.  I managed to wolf it down as I made my way to a chair.  Within a few minutes of eating it, my vision started to normalize and I felt maybe 25% better.  I was able to walk normally this time to get some more...ended up eating about 4 protein bars (800 calories) to feel 90% better.  But for the rest of the day, I stayed shaky, fatigued, and weak.        As a medical professional, I'm guessing that I somehow managed to myself a severe reactive hypoglycemia (I'm not diabetic and certainly don't take insulin), but with even a chance of it being something else, I'm scheduled for a physical and some labwork on Friday after my medical conference.  So as of yesterday afternoon, I'm officially "on vacation" from dieting/exercising till I get checked out.  If it does turn out that it was likely reactive hypoglycemia, then I'm going to have to become careful with large amounts of carbs before cardio exercise.  That wasn't something that I really care to repeat.  :-(      I'll try to check back in Friday evening or Saturday morning with an update.

YUCK! You do amaze me with how little you eat and still workout pretty hard. I am very curious as to what that was!  Love and prayers to you!

I'm not a professional like yourself but what you've described sounds a lot like what I've experienced in the past after not eating for long periods of time and then doing something strenuous. I'm pretty sure you have the right diagnosis but keep us updated. I am curious as well. My wife calls those symptoms a panic attack.  I have noticed that she gets the attacks most often when she hasn't eaten much if anything at all. Make sense!

I have had panic issues several years ago - my symptoms were a lot like like that, too.  Mine would pass lots more quickly and food would not touch it.

Wow that's scary.  Good luck with your lab work and I hope the doctors can tell you something soon as to what happened to you.