BG Kinda low?

[Sue777]

Sorry for all the questions - I promise it will slow down once I get a handle on what my body is doing. Here's what I've done so far today..... and I'm wondering why I feel like this:

I woke up at 6:30 and put on the coffee. I had a mouthful or two of whipped cream cheese while I waited because I was STARVING.

When I get to work, I take care of the pressing matters, and then head to the cafeteria somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00. Today I had my usual - two scrambled with cheese and a sausage patty.

It's two hours since I ate that, and I'm pretty hungry and feeling some of that "dizzy" feeling I get when my BG is climbing or spiking. MY BG is 79. Is that too low for 2 hours-post eating? Why am I hungry already, and why do I feel hypo?
Thanks in advance.
Sue

[Lisa N]

Sue, 79 is not too low for 2 hours after eating. Keep in mind that you are coming from eating a fairly high carb diet to one that is much lower and it will take some time for your body to adjust and your blood sugars to even out.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, when your body has been used to much higher blood sugars, even normal blood sugars may make you feel somewhat hypo even when you aren't. As much as it sucks, you'll have to be patient while your body adjusts and things start to even out again.
I do have a few suggestions, though.
If you are drinking coffee with caffeine in it, consider cutting back or going to decaf. Caffeine can do strange things to your blood sugars. If you decide to keep the caffeine, make sure that you eat more than a few spoonfuls of cream cheese when you have breakfast; what you basically did was drink coffee and didn't have much of anything else to eat until more than 3 hours after you got up. This can cause a glycogen dump from your liver because there is no food coming in and blood sugar is dropping, so the liver kicks in and starts making glucose from protein. Blood sugar goes up, insulin kicks in and then blood sugar crashes. :p
I guess what I'm trying to say is this; don't wait until 3 hours after you get up to eat a decent breakfast. If you have reactive hypoglycemia, it's important to eat every few hours to keep blood sugar levels stable. :idea:

[Sue777]

Wow - you are amazing! Not only do you read all the posts and reply to them all, but you are a goldmine of great information! Are you in the medical field by profession, or is this all knowlege you gathered from living with diabetes? In either case, we're lucky to have you!

I can definitely be patient and wait for my body to adjust to this new way of eating, but I just panic thinking that perhaps I did something WRONG and of course I want to fix it (and learn) if I'm doing something that isn't conducive to a healthy body.

Thank you.
Sue

[Lisa N]

You're welcome. I'm not in the medical field by profession (unless you count medical insurance ;) ) but I have had the training. I've also done a tremendous amount of research myself over the past 4 years since I decided to 'buck the system' and stop the ADA diet in favor of low carbing. If you're going to debate with your doctor about why you don't want to continue with what you've been doing for the past 10 years, it's a good idea to know what you're talking about and that means educating yourself. The best medical advocate you've got is....YOU. :)

[Squid]

If you can, cut out the caffeine for a month or so until your blood sugars are under control. If you can't, at least cut back to one cup a day for caffeine (including soda and chocolate). Caffeine is particulary bad for us reactive hypoglycemics because it causes an insulin spike followed by a blood sugar low.

I agree with Lisa and said pretty much the same thing in another post before I read what she wrote - your body needs time to adjust. Give it a good week sticking to low carb and you should be feeling a lot better.

Squid

[Lisa N]

Another option that may help you avoid caffeine withdrawal headaches on top of unstable blood sugars may be to try switching to 'half caff' for your morning coffee. Several brands offer a reduced caffeine version of their coffees. I'm a busy mom who works full time so I'm often short on sleep and because of that have never been able to cut out the coffee completely, but I do try to limit it to one or two cups a day. :)
One of my favorite cartoons is one that a co-worker has posted in her cube (yes, I work in a cube farm). It's a person with a giant coffee cup taking up half the space on her desk saying to her co-worker, "My doctor told me to cut back to one cup of coffee a day". :lol:

[Sue777]

(sigh) I'm being very stubborn about giving up coffee. I'm feeling sorry for myself and saying "I gave up cigarettes three years ago and still really miss them. I've cut WAY back on chocolate and candy, and that is really depressing me. I really looked forward to those "rewards" after working hard and now I don't have them. All I have left that I still consider an enjoyable treat is a good cup of coffee, and now they want to take THAT away from me, too!"

OK, I could maybe live with a new and different type of treat - I suppose I could learn to really look forward to fruit and consider that a treat, but THAT is no good for me, either! Shall I make myself cream cheese desserts? No - then I'll gain weight and really be depressed!

Coffee has never seemed to bother me. It doesn't keep me up at night, and it doesn't even bother my colitis. And at home all I DO make is half and half, but at work I always go straight for the "hi octane" stuff. I'll start doing half and half there, too, but I really don't want to cut it out totally. I've tested my BG before and after coffee, even after fasting, and it doesn't seem to phase it in the least.

How long do the affects of a meal with carbs last? I'm starting to wonder if these certain headaches I get from time to time are carb-related, and I have a mild one today.... wondering if that's the carbs from about 40 hours ago. Is that possible?
Thanks again for being patient with a newbie.
Sue