First no sugar, now no carbs?!?!

Hello all! I am hoping that someone out there can shed some light on my newfound problem. I am now 14 months post op. Lately I have been having light headedness after eating. I finally went back to my surgeon and dietician, and apparently my body is overreacting to any carbs that I eat. I have always had this reaction with sugar, which I could totally live with, but now it is happening with any carbs - even protein bars with carbs as low as 10g and with milk. I guess I am releasing too much insulin when I eat carbs, so my blood sugar spikes then plummets causing the reaction. Anyhow, the dilemma is that the recommendation from doc is, do not eat carbs. At all. Now I have never tolerated bread well anyway, but I am having a hard time thinking that the rest of my life will be spent eating meat, cheese, and veggies only. I just can't see how this can be healthy. And to make matters worse, doc says that if this doesn't get better, I may need to go on pills - So then I got really mad - This means that WLS actually MADE me DIABETIC?!?! I am at a loss about what to do now. The weight loss has been great, but at what expense? Doc says this may get better, or it may not. Lovely. Anybody have some words of wisdom for me? I am very discouraged. Thank you all, Bekki 327/150/148

Wow Bekki - no words of wisdom here, just sympathy. I'm sorry that you are having problems and that you are faced with a life of protein and dairy. Hopefully it will get better for you and you can eat them in small amounts.

It sounds like you have developed reactive hypoglycemia. It is a side-affect of WLS for some people, but not common. I'd suggest you do some research on this type of hypoglycemia and learn the best way for you to eat. I recently learned that I have it now. So far I only have a problem when I exercise hard -- like 30 minutes on the eliptical machine followed by 30-45 minutes of weight training. So I have to eat before I exercise and drink a protein shake during exercise. So far it works just fine. I just ordered some bars called "Extend Bar" that is supposed to keep your blood sugar level for up to 9 hours. I can't tell you yet how well they work. Believe me -- it's a small price to pay. I'll take this little problem over being 200 pounds heavier anyday! (And all that crappy high carb food isn't good for you anyway! ) Good luck! Deb

I'm diabetic, having been "cured" by the surgery so far. I'm wondering if you would have the same reaction to eating grainy things (multigrain bread) as opposed to just plain wheat bread. Maybe you would be able to tolerate 7+ grain products. Just a suggestion. I know I passed out when I took stairs late one night and went to the hospital to have it checked out. They thought it was my heart skipping a few beats, but never did come to a conclusion. All my tests were clear, thank God. I wasn't dizzy or anything, just got to the top of the stairs and felt myself go down. Don't remember a whole lot after that, except I got up, turned off my computer and went to bed!!! The next morning it occurred to me that I may have passed out. Duh!! Good luck! Marilyn

Bekki, I have a similar response to carbs. When I eat something high in carbs, especially if that is all I eat with it, about 2 hours later I get the shakes and totally crash. The solution for me is to not eat carbs, or eat them with something very high in protein. You sound very disappointed that you have this reaction to carbs. Why? I am glad, I'm a total carboholic, and keeping my reation in mind helps me to decide not to have them (usually ). Michelle

this would actually be the opposite of diabeitc, Reactive hypogycemia. What happens if you eat dense high fiber carbs without sugar? Real whole wheat bread, steel cut oats, brown rice, etc. Look at the glycemic index and find ones that are low on the index. Simple carbs break down to sugar very rapidly to sugar in everybodies system , in ours it just absorbs so rapidly. those things would include white bread, breads that look brown (from carmel coloring ggenerally) but are not truely whole wheat - they are often labeled to confuse. Read ingrediant labels if it says enriched wheat flour it is white flour. It has to say whole wheat flour and no other flours added. White rice, white pasta white potatoes, most ceraels are all high simple carbs. Real brown rice - not minute brown rice, I have a recipe for steel cut oat for the crockpot I can share,, shredded wheat cereal. I find eating high protein first, then the carb and the protein slows the absorption. here is a link to an article that tells about what you are experincing. If I can help in any way email me! http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/32/10/2104