Hi I am new to this section of the boards.
I am a 40 year old female.
After having a GTT test 2 weeks ago, I found out that I have hyperglycemia.
I am a bit confused now on what to eat and not to eat.
Being Italian I have been bought up on pasta. My whole family loves it too.
Can I still eat pasta or should I try to avoid it.
I have bought some wholemeal pasta but I am not sure if that is OK.
Last night I had wholemeal pasta for dinner and then when I went to bed I started getting the shakes and I am pretty sure I was experiencing some sort of panic attack. Could the pasta have caused this ???
I have also heard that if your sugar level drops too low that you could go into a coma. That has got me really worried. How do you know if your sugar level has dropped while you are asleep. (I have been having trouble sleeping because I am worried about this coma thing)
I have an appointment with a nutritionist on Friday so hopefully she can point me in the right direction.
I would love to hear from anyone who has had hyperG for a while and how you are controlling it.

I have a copy of my blood test in front of me but I can't work out the readings compared to what everyone else is talking about. My were 4.8 at 9 am
then every half hour they were 7.3, 7.6, 6.1, 5.4, 3.4, 2.0, 2.8, 3.5 I actually had a blood test every half hour during 4 hours. Does this make sense to anyone.

Thanks
Carmen

Hi Oscarooni, I think I can provide you with some insight, but it is going to take some dedication and dicipline for you to heal your body. I am pretty sure that you mean to say that you have HypOglycemia, not HypERglycemia - certainly your GTT results indicate that. Hypoglycemia is referred to by medical doctors as "low blood sugar" and typically describes a drug-induced condition experienced by diabetics which is brought on by insulin injections or oral medications that stimulate natural insulin production.

Reactive Hypoglycemia, however, is COMPLETELY different. Often not recognized or addressed properly by the medical community, this condition is not drug induced, but rather caused by a completely imbalanced metabolism. In simple terms, your body overproduces insulin in response to elevated blood glucose levels, and when your blood glucose bottoms out, your body overproduces cortisol in an effort to raise the blood glucose levels back up. The excess insulin causes shakiness, lightheadedness, dizziness, etc... and the excess cortisol causes anxiety/panic symptoms.

There is no medication that will cure it, but you can completely recover if you start to take care of yourself. Don't expect anything overnight, but your lifestyle changes and willingness to prioritize getting well WILL determine how quickly you begin to feel better.

The primary goal in a treatment plan is to rebalance the metabolism. Your primary mission will be to keep your blood glucose levels steady and even throughout the day (and night). There are good ways to do this and bad ways to do this, so I will be interested to know what your nutritionist tells you.

Here are a few links to previous threads here that I suggest you read thoroughly:
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=181999&page=1&pp=5
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=178277&page=1&pp=5

My initial suggestions to you are what I recommend in the above threads (please read them because there is a lot of info in there)... You must eliminate foods from the diet that cause your blood sugar to spike because this is what causes the overproduction of insulin and leads to your symptoms. You must also increase how often you eat. Early on, you need to be prepared to eat a small snack every 2 hours that contains carbs and protein, and eat it regardless of your hunger. The goal here is twofold: avoid spikes in blood glucose (by choosing foods carefully) AND prevent your natural insulin from lowering the blood glucose levels too far. You will need to retrain your metabolism and give it chance to heal.

To answer your question... YES pasta will cause a reaction. In fact early on, most carbohydrates will cause the blood glucose to spike even if it is a whole grain. Initially you will need to be quite strict with your diet, but after your symptoms begin to subside, you will be able to add more variety back in.

Whatever you do, do not use glucose tablets or drink orange juice - these may provide immediate relief but will cause your symptoms to resurface later.

Please let us know how it goes with the nutritionist!

Thanks jdimassimo,
I will have a read and let you know how I went at the nutritionist on Friday.

Carmen

jdimassimo,

I thought I would update you on what happened at the Nutritionist.
She basically outlined an eating plan for me which (as you mentioned) involves me eating 6 times a day.
She would like me to have a protein and carbohydrate combination for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
She would also like me have something for morning and afternoon tea like a piece of fruit i.e. apple, pear any type that has low GI.
I can only eat grain bread which has a lower GI.
Basically what you already told me. If I follow her eating plan I will also lose weight. She worked out what my weight should be using the BMI caluculation and said that I needed to lose about 8 kg. So this has been my first week and I haven't had the shakes so far.

Carmen

JD - Oscarooni is posting blood sugars on the metric system; she definitely has hyper-, not hypo- glycemia.

Oscarooni,
Are you taking medication or insulin? If not, you don't need to worry about going too low at night.

It is possible that the shakiness you felt was from your blood sugar coming down. When your sugar's are running very high, your body will react to a decrease in the same way it reacts to low blood sugar, even though your blood sugar isn't actually all that low. When this happens, however, you don't need to worry about going into a coma. You should also keep in mind that when blood sugar goes low, the liver responds by pumping out a substance called glycogen, which raises your blood sugar. You'd have to go pretty darned low (probably somewhere below 1 on the metric scale), to be concerned about coma.

Two things I would suggest. One is testing frequently (am fasting, 2 hours after each meal, and before bedtime), and asking your doctor to help you set target blood glucose goals for those periods. You probably won't achieve the target goals right away (it takes a bit of time to achieve good control), but at least you'll know what you're looking for.

The nutritionist will also be helpful in assisting you with diet modifications.

Ruth

JD - Oscarooni is posting blood sugars on the metric system; she definitely has hyper-, not hypo- glycemia.
I knew these numbers were metric. My understanding is the multiplier is 18. If this is true, then these are the conversions:
4.9 = 86.4
7.3 = 131.4
7.6 = 136.8
6.1 = 109.8
5.4 = 97.2
3.4 = 61.2
2.0 = 36
2.8 = 50.4
3.5 = 63

This definately looks like hypo, not hyper. In fact the 2.0/36 at the 3 hour mark is so low there is probably an adrenal response (excess cortisol production) that is likely causing anxiety symptoms in addition to the traditional low blood sugar symptoms.

I don't think I am wrong, but if I am missing something, please let me know! :)

jdimassimo,

I thought I would update you on what happened at the Nutritionist.
She basically outlined an eating plan for me which (as you mentioned) involves me eating 6 times a day.
She would like me to have a protein and carbohydrate combination for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
She would also like me have something for morning and afternoon tea like a piece of fruit i.e. apple, pear any type that has low GI.
I can only eat grain bread which has a lower GI.
Basically what you already told me. If I follow her eating plan I will also lose weight. She worked out what my weight should be using the BMI caluculation and said that I needed to lose about 8 kg. So this has been my first week and I haven't had the shakes so far.
Carmen

Its going on 2 weeks and I am wondering how you are doing? Have the shakes and anxiety/panic attacks subsided? Have you noticed and specific foods that bother you? i am also curious if your nutritionist recommended any supplements.

Keep me posted on how you are doing... I am so glad you have been feeling better!

Hi I am new to this section of the boards.
I am a 40 year old female.
After having a GTT test 2 weeks ago, I found out that I have hyperglycemia.
I am a bit confused now on what to eat and not to eat.
Being Italian I have been bought up on pasta. My whole family loves it too.
Can I still eat pasta or should I try to avoid it.
I have bought some wholemeal pasta but I am not sure if that is OK.
Last night I had wholemeal pasta for dinner and then when I went to bed I started getting the shakes and I am pretty sure I was experiencing some sort of panic attack. Could the pasta have caused this ???
I have also heard that if your sugar level drops too low that you could go into a coma. That has got me really worried. How do you know if your sugar level has dropped while you are asleep. (I have been having trouble sleeping because I am worried about this coma thing)
I have an appointment with a nutritionist on Friday so hopefully she can point me in the right direction.
I would love to hear from anyone who has had hyperG for a while and how you are controlling it.

I have a copy of my blood test in front of me but I can't work out the readings compared to what everyone else is talking about. My were 4.8 at 9 am
then every half hour they were 7.3, 7.6, 6.1, 5.4, 3.4, 2.0, 2.8, 3.5 I actually had a blood test every half hour during 4 hours. Does this make sense to anyone.

Thanks
Carmen

You have LOW..HYPO..glycemia. That 2.0 is 36 mg/dl that's VERY LOW! Your max was only 137.

JD...you are absolutely right, and I stand corrected. Guess I should have checked the metric equivalency chart before I posted!

Ruth

JD...you are absolutely right, and I stand corrected. Guess I should have checked the metric equivalency chart before I posted!

Ruth

:wave: Its okay :)
I just want to make sure Oscarooni is okay! Its really scary when hypoglycemia cannot be controlled - especially when you can't get help from doctors.