Doctor or not? Normal or not?

[dittomega]

First of all I eat low carb.

Fri Oct 23 I decided to splurge and have a southern chicken sandwich with fries and sugar free iced vanilla coffee from McDonalds

1:08 BC was 96 Had not eaten yet.
1:30 ate food
2:25 BC was 154
3:24 BC was 193
4:28 BC was 117
Thought all was ok.
After 5 I started getting shaky and wasn't feeling right. I felt really stressed.
5:27 BC was 55

Why would it all of a sudden crash like that? I don't take any meds.

This is why I eat low carb. This happens if I eat more than 20 carbs per day. I'm not diabetic because I still seem to be producing insulin right.

I could give other examples with an even lower carb meal. Even if I eat 3 cups of popcorn with sandwich of 6 carbs per sliceof bread it will go up to 180 so it's not just McDonalds.

I eat 20 carbs or less to keep my BC under or at 100.

I'm fine eating low carb and the only reason I'm now taking the BC count is at the urging of hubby.

[fgummett]

Hi dittomega and Welcome to DF!

Diabetes might be described as "impaired Glucose tolerance"... our bodies rely on a finely tuned (bio-feedback) system to maintain our Blood Glucose (BG) levels within a normal range -- not too high, not too low -- several here have reported similar experiences in the earlier stages of when the BG management system starts "going out of whack"... it may be that when you eat foods that lead to a high BG the body tries to compensate but overdoes it with too much insulin over too long a time, so you end up going too low (hypoglycemic)... which makes you ravenously hungry... so you eat foods which quickly raise the BG again... and so it goes...

But, as you have already found for yourself... if you avoid foods which spike your BG, the body is better able to cope and has no need to overcompensate with what is sometimes called "reactive hypoglycemia".

I'd say "yes" to a Doctor visit and request tests for Diabetes including an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT).

[foxl]

Ya got my vote on an OGTT too!

[Sneezer]

When I was in my 20's I had the same issue. It was diagnosed as functional hypoglycemia. Basically it is when your pancreas puts out more insulin than you need in response to a high carb meal causing you to go low a few hours later. I would drop to BG in the 40's after eating one candy bar or other high carb meal. I was put on a high protein low carb diet. Now 40 years later I am on insulin. My Endocrinologist has said that having those symtoms years ago is common in Type 2 patients. If I had known that back then I would have been better at decisions on meal content and maybe avoided my resulting diabetes diagnosis, or may be not.

[fgummett]

Didn't mean to scare you off :o As Sneezer mentioned, if you're heading towards D, my feeling is that it is much better to catch it early... much easier and more cost effective to shore up a a dam and let some of the water pressure off, rather than wait till it bursts :)

[genie86333]

I'm not diabetic because I still seem to be producing insulin right.


Actually, many type 2 diabetics still produce plenty of insulin. Too much, in fact, in many cases. The problem is when your body loses the ability to *use* that insulin right. It's only after your body has produced SOOOOOOO much insulin that it has worn itself out & stops or decreases production of insulin - but you've been diabetic for a while before that happens.

Sounds like you've got reactive hypoglycemia going on - but your blood sugar is rising to *at least* pre-diabetic levels before your pancreas over-reacts, so you need to get to a doctor. Your low-carb diet is probably the best thing you can do, however...less carbs in, less over-reaction by your pancreas, so less lows.

[jps]

As others have stated, you would be best served by seeing a physician and getting follow up testing. At best, things are a bit out of whack.

If you don't have the insurance or have the money (sad we have to say that nowadays) and you need to put off the doctors visit for a bit, I'd think it would be wise to low carb until you figure it out. Why risk the hypos at this point?

[savvysearch]

People on very low carb diets are known to have bizzare reactions when they eat something really high in carbs.


In fact, some people get a falsely high GTT when low carbing. So remember to eat "normal" amounts of carbs 3 days before the test