Reactive Hypoglycemia...hmmm..

So there has been a lot of talk about hypoglycemia and rny lately and that leads me to wonder what some of the main symptoms are..just looked it up online and it seems pretty similar to dumping or what I think of as dumping...sometimes when I eat too many carbs or should I say anytime I eat too many carbs (more than 17 grams/serving) I get what I thought was dumping...dizzy, need to lay down, just feel down right awful for about 20 minutes..so now im wondering reactive hypoglycemia or dumping!? I really don't know much about it...surgeon/dietician never talked to us about that before...

It looks like RH may be a consequence of dumping, but not the same thing... it's discussed a little on the wiki entry on gastric dumping. Are there people who get RH without dumping?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_syndrome

RH usually happens a bit after you eat, say 45 minutes. I think that is one way to distinguish. Vitalady suggests carrying peanut butter crackers around with you and eat one of those if you feel an episode coming on. Something about the combo of protein and carb seems to help.

--gina

Can happen from 45 mins to as much as 3 hours afterward.

Peanut butter crackers are good for LONG term bringing it up but if you are very low, glucose tablets (found in any pharmacy) is a much better way. It really all depends on how low...above 50, yeah the crackers, below 50 grab the tabs.

Liz

Only way to be sure it is RH is to test with a glucose meter. You can test yourself for it and see if you have it...it's NOT totally accurate but it does work...

What you do is eat something that you know has made you feel that way, then test at these intervals: 30 mins, 1 hour, 2 hours, and three hours.

Your 1 or 2 hour mark should be the highest point...then you should see it bottom out.

The other problem is that for RNY patients, the surgeons have also been calling RH "late dumping" so if you google that or look at the articles I have on the subject in my blog on here at OH, you will see what it is all about. Or you can read about it on my WLS blog found here.

Like Gina mentioned, peanut butter and crackers for when you begin to feel low but if you are way down, make sure you use glucose tabs first.

Liz

Good article Liz...I definately know more about it now...kind of irritating that this wasn't really addressed at all prior to surgery..although for me it wouldn't have changed anything because it was either rny or lapband but still would have been nice to know.

Some of us are of the opinion that if it was an admitted side effect, the RNY would not be as popular or as profitable.

Glad you found the articles interesting. I'm not trying to scare people away from the RNY, but I do feel everyone needs to be fully informed about all the surgeries and their possible side effects.

Liz

Hello,

I too have Reactive Hypoglyceamia and the only way this was confirmed was by having a glucometer (Diabetes pi ***** thingy) and when i ate either high sugar or high carb meal I would get bluured vision, cold sweats, dizzy and so I was tested at the point and blood sugar was sky high and then I was so extreme I would pass out cold on the floor and then I was tested again at that point and blood sugar had bottomed out causing me to faint.  This I had with my VSG surgery and now I'm an RNY Bypass I imagine it will be the same if not worse reaction for me.

Karin, mine was confirmed years ago by a gtt test...they were testing me for diabetes and due to what the medical community was doing with diabetes and the way to diagnose it back then, I was simply told I was "sugar reactive hypoglycemic". At that point in time, all they considered was the fasting. The 2 hour meant nothing excpt as an "interesting curve".

My numbers looked like this: Fasting 78, 2 hour 265, 3 hour 50. Based on what we know today, I would have been diagnosed a diabetic right off the bat (the 2 hour marker) but in 1990 all they considered was the fasting number and mine was fine. But that ride down from 265 to 50 in one hour had me miserable.

In the year after I went on insulin, I actually ended up in the ER due to low blood sugar...I had eaten paghetti and had bolused (given myself extra insulin) for the extra carbs. Before eating my number was above 120, I do remember that. When I woke up on the floor with the paramedics hovering over me, I was told it had bottomed at 23. By then I was back up to the 50's. They had me go to the ER to get checked.

Just be very aware of what your body is saying.

Liz

Hi Liz,

I too had to go through a Glucose tolerance test at the pathology lab and they discovered I wasn't crash hot when I fainted on the floor in Pathology.  Here is Australia for some reason our readings are different.  When I spiked on high sugar it was up over the 15 (270 US) mark when stable is between 4 - 8 (72 -144) and when I would faint it would be reading 1.2 - 2.3 (22 - 41)

It certainly isn't a nice feeling at all.