Hypoglycemia

Anyone experience hypoglycemia after wls? I am 3 1/2 years out and I think I may be hypoglycemic. I did a search on the internet and my symptons are consistant w/hypoglycemia. I will be speaking to my doctor next week but wanted to get some feedback from yall. Its not a regular occurance but when I have an episode, I get terribly shakey, I feel out of control, rapid heartbeat, nervousness, feel like I need to eat or drink immediately. It will go away when I eat something but while it is happening, I feel desperate. Anybody else experience this? I am not usually one to self diagnose but it just sounded like how I feel. I am not a sweet eater, if I want something sweet, i usually go the SF stuff. I guess it would be the caffiene or carbs. Anyway, just putting this out there for some responses. Thanks.

Good Afternoon. Ny name is Bridget. I am not at at year yet this is my 10 month out ,, however i was just diagnosed with Hypoglycemia about a month ago where they said my sugar level was at 40. I then turned around a had an attack at work and yes it was very scary and i had all the same experience that you had. So today i have to eat peppermints on the hour every hour to keep my sugar level consistent. Be sure to inform your doctor and also i am on meds.

I do not mean to flame you, but your post goes against the whole idea of WLS and the never ending struggle most have with food addicitons. Maybe orange juice would be a better alternative... I'm sorry, but candy hourly is not a healthy or clinical way to regulate blood sugar even if you are on medicine. There are Good Carbs on the Low end of the Glycemix index that last longer. If you eat balanced meals with protein and Good Carbs every 2-3 hours, your blood sugar won't take a nose dive onces it's done burning off the last piece of candy. Calories, sugar, trigger foods, bad habits, convincing ourselves its okay its for a good reason....step back and make sure you are not headed down a dangerous path. I worry that other non-grads that browse this board will think this is normal and its not. For those with hypoglycemia symptons, and/or possible late dumping effects, please consult a physician and your nutritonist for healthy solutions. Good Luck. M

I go through this but its only if I delay eating ie I get up at 5:30 but don't eat till 9am that is usually when I will have an attack if I eat something with protein piece of cheese ,peanut butter it does go away I've had then bad enough that it took me a half an hour to recover . So yes go to your pcp get all the info you need . Yes, I was diabetic before surgery . I wish you well ! Kristy

Down below there is a post labeled "4 yrs out and". Anyway, Willow post a really good article on late dumping. We mainly think of dumping being an immediate reaction to sugar when really it can happen later with different symptoms because we ate sugar or too many simple carbs and not enough protein. Go and read that post and that article that Willow posted. You may be experiencing late dumping. I don't know that for sure because I don't know what your normal daily diet consists of. But I learned alot from that article. It was very interesting and helpful to me as I sometimes get the low blood sugar attacks. And sure enough when I thought back to what I had eaten on those days when I had the severe attacks that article was dead on. I had eaten more carbs than I should have and experienced the late dumping. Good luck, Melissa Lap Rny 1/15/04 277/134

I have had the same thing happen to me before. It happens if I eat carbs at breakfast and no protein. I eat protein within 2 hours of rising in AM to keep my blood sugar at a level place. If you forget and your blood sugar drops then drink 4 oz. of orange juice or other sweet juice. My doctor always tells me "protein first at every meal". I hope this helps.

Deborah, I to have experienced the sugar drop. As Melissa said read Willow's post on late dumping. I discussed the situation with my surgeon and he felt it was late dumping I was experiencing, they are doing more studies on late dumping/reactive hypoglycemia now. The first time it happened to me it happened on oatmeal w/protein powder which is somewhat odd. I've experienced it several times post-op, as recent as yesterday afternoon. My lunch consisted to too many carbs, which seems to be when I experience the symptoms. It's an aweful feeling, so I am careful most of the time. I was also diabetic pre-op and the shakes, sweats, lightheadedness I feel is very similiar to the pre-op symptoms. I do keep peanut butter crackers in my purse, at work and in my car for "just in case". Usually after 2 crackers eaten slowly, I start feeling better. Please do discuss it with your doctors and log your food intake for a while to see what you are eating and how it may be affecting you. Dana

Please don't take hypoglycemia lightly... see my post from about a two months ago: Almost 20 months post op and I'm down a net, 105. I'm headed in the right direction, but not without drama. This weekend I had a serious wake up call. I literally passed out on the floor and hit my head and scared my daughter to hyperventilating tears. It all started with a candy bar someone had offered me at my daughter's basketball game on Saturday. Mentally, I knew I couldn't and shouldn't have it. Like the sugar junky I am, I took it. It made me sleepy. No problem, I went to bed when I got home. After about two hours of slumber, I had no sense of time. The clock registered 6:30... I thought it was 6:30 am. I heard my daughter in the kitchen and went to see why she was up so early on what I thought was Sunday morning (it was still actually Saturday afternoon). I saw her standing in the kitchen in her jeans. I assumed she went to bed without putting on her pajamas. I asked her why she wasn't in bed and why doesn't she have her pajamas on. The girl looked at me as if I was crazy. She said mom, it's only 6:30. Okay, now that I know what time it really is, I'm still feeling tired, so I turn to go back to bed. I never make it. Somewhere between my bedroom and the hardwood floor in the hallway I collapsed. I awoke to the sound of my daughter screaming into the phone with emergency 911. I don't know how long I had been laying there with blood coming from my head. I was able to get up and calm my daughter down. The emergency folks came and determined that my blood sugar was low. It registered 59. The question is how can my blood sugar be low when I ate a candy bar just 2 hours before. I call my doctor's emergency line and they've informed me that my blood sugar was probably below 30, but by the time the 911 folks arrived it had adjusted itself upward. The candy bar took me on a sugar rollercoaster ride. It took me high and dropped me LOW! The moral of this long story is to follow instructions... even though I don't dump in the traditional manner, my body does have a negative reaction to sugar. I have been scared straight... and I am now on the full compliance train. It's sad I had to hit the floor to get there... However, I am a first class passenger.

This is such strange timing that you brought this up now. Last Monday, during my weekly blood test for my cancer treatment, my blood sugar was just 40. The nurse called late that afternoon really worried about my blood sugar levels. I had felt really tired and crummy the whole weekend before. I guess I was thinking it might be related to the chemo, but maybe it's related to the WLS. I have not been as good lately, so maybe a few more carbs or sugar sent me into this tailspin. I did not have diabetes or pre-diabetes before surgery. But I have found I really don't dump like I did before. Maybe I do dump, but it's this late dumping from sugars or carbs. I am going to be more careful about what I eat. Thanks for the timely reminder! Joni

Hi Joni! Just wanted to say hi and see how you are doing? I was just 'chatting' with someone a couple days ago about you. I get the late dumping thing too. Hope your chemo is going ok. Take care.