26 months post op and suffering severe hypoglycemia----

Hey Everyone.... I have a question.... I was diagnosed about 8 months ago with sever hypoglycemia. I am lucky to have my blood sugar hit 75-80 on a good day. I am having to learn to eat all over again to keep this stuff under control. My GP whom I adore contacted my bypass surgeons and they said they had never seen or heard of this. I was just wondering if anyone else had been experiencing the same type of thing. The really scary thing is that it is my understanding the symptoms for hypoglycemia are the same as dumping. I have never dumped at all on anything ever. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I guess I am trying to figure out if my hypoglycemia has anything to do with my surgery. Thank you all in advance for your input, Maggie

Hi Maggie, I also battle daily hypoglycemic edpisodes...though, not to the extreme that you have been. Have you spoken to an endocrinologist? S/He may be the best person to help you through this. ~~Sherry

It's called Reactive Hypoglycemia and I have it really bad also. My bypass surgeon said it is a fairly common side effect and sent me to an endocrinologist. i stopped going to him when he wanted to do an MRi and see if I had a pituatry tumor that might be causing it because even if I do, it ain't comin out. he also said sometimes removing part of that gland is the only cure for this in severe cases. I think that is the right gland. he also talked about my adrenal gland. My glucose dropped to 30 on the three hour GTT and about the same on the six hour one. I knew it was dropping. I got very confused, my speech slurred, I couldn't see very well and all that. I am watching how I eat now and usually only have about one episode a day. I was having them sometimes all day long. Very dangerous. He also told me that their is a medication they can give you to help regulate your glucose. BTW, I have never been a diabetic or even close to one.

Read this article and print a copy for your physician... http://www.joslin.org/1083_3059.asp Kathy

Hi Kathy, I would love to read that article as I am also battling hypoglycemia. But I can't get the link to work. Is there another way to read it? Michele

Michele, Cut and paste the link into the browser rather than clicking on it. OH seems to add extra stuff to the end of the URL when you put a URL in. Kathy

I can't imagine that your surgeon's office hasn't heard of this. It's not uncommon. Most suggest a high-protein low-carb diet with 6-8 small feedings throughout the day. Good luck to you, Connie -147#

You guys are awesome.... My GP can not believe that my surgeons office has never heard of either since there is a code in the system for it. :::shrugging ::: who knows. There is a medication it is call pro-glycime I have a bottle of it at 75 bucks a month. It tastes frickin beyond nasty I am telling you. However it does seem to work so far I have only been taking it about a week and I seem to be doing fairly well with it. I knew I had come to the right place to find out that I am not a freak of nature and that I am not the only one who is going through this. thank you everyone for you insight on this. Hugs, Maggie

Hi Maggie, I am also having issues with hypoglycemia, but I haven't told my Drs about it. I don't think I suffer as badly as you, or others have described. What happens to me is if I forget to eat every 3-4 hours, my sugar drops VERY low. I start to sweat, and shake, get confused, irritable, irrational, and scared. Since I had diabetes 2, before surgery I have home testing supplies. And my test results have been very scary during these times. The lowest I've seen was 29! So I've been very diligent about keeping to my six meals a day, and being on the lookout for symptoms. I screwed up the other day and had a sugarfree ice cream bar as one of my meals. Big mistake. Two hours later my blood sugar dropped to 40. The key seems to be eating sustaining foods. Michele

I too suffer from this, and at times I become really faint like I could pass out. Ironically, I never had any sugar problems before surgery. My surgeon says eat PROTEIN, PROTEIN, PROTEIN, and stay away from carbs and refined sugars. If you do eat them, eat them with protein -- not alone. My blood sugars were coming back in the mid 40s after breakfast! If I eat protein first, and keep to the straight and narrow, my sugars are more normal. This weekend, I was out with the girls at a really hot ballgame and I ate off schedule and was less than perfect. I almost passed out when shopping and stopped at a Trader Joes for a canned protein drink (35 grams). I felt A LOT better. I was also reminded by someone on this board that getting really cranky is another symptom of low blood sugar -- which was happening to me also. I was overreacting to my family and yelling, which is really not my nature at all. My family thought I was going beserk and maybe I was. When I eat perfect, my blood sugar is normal. This is what happens to me now instead of dumping. It should be a LOUD AND CLEAR reminder to me to stay on the straight and narrow, eat enough protein and eat on schedule. I've seen a lot of people on this board talk about hypoglycemic symptoms so I would say it's not uncommon at all for longer term post-ops. Joni