The reason I ask is because it is in my family and I have had trouble the last couple days, out of the blue.

Had really bad hypoglycemic symptoms before this woe and LCing seemed to take care of it completely. But, all of the sudden, I've been foggy the last few days. And, a bit depressed. All day long it is sort of up and down. And, I've been sticking to hard boiled eggs, string cheese, plain hotdog for lunch, stew for dinner. Tons of water today. I don't know, I am really kind of worried.

I'm dropping my two cups of coffee in the morning and going to see if I can't mimic what I did in the beginning of LCing and try to start over to get my blood sugar leveled out. I won't run to the doctor because we aren't covered with medical insurance. So any advice would be greatly appreciated

From what you say the hot dog sounds suspect, with both the sugars that may be in the sausage and the flour in the bun.
However what I and several friends have done is to get a glucometer and test our blood sugar levels one and two hours after meals to determine what foods cause the sugar dump. I have a one touch ultra which works well for me, and although the strips are expensive, you do not need to carry out tests on an ongoing basis, just enough to know which foods are the culprit.
Two culprits that we have found are apples and crackers, both of which have been recorded as causing sugar highs and then dumps, in the case of one apple after an egg/salad breakfast my friend got a reading of 50ish just one hour after eating it....no more apples.....

I found out I was diabetic by chance, really, although in retrospect I should have suspected it for at least a year before I was officially diagnosed. I went to the doctor for an unrelated problem and they did blood tests which included a non-fasting blood sugar. The next day the doctor called me and asked what I had eaten for breakfast that day (a bowl of Cheerios) because my non-fasting blood sugar was 250! They followed up with a glucose tolerance test which confirmed that I was diabetic.
Symptoms of diabetes include: Fatigue (not a good thing to diagnose by just by itself as it's common to a lot of other problems too), extreme thirst, unusual persistant hunger, frequent urination and sometimes blurred vision. If you have access to a blood glucose meeter, you could check your blood sugar several times and record the readings, but your doctor would need to do tests to confirm that you are diabetic. Hypoglycemia can eventually become diabetes if left untreated.
Old Salty is right....those of us who are diabetics that want good control "eat to our meeters". That is, we eat certain foods, then test our blood sugars one hours, two hours and sometimes even longer after we have eaten to see what effect that food has. If it causes a big spike or crash, it's a food to be avoided. If not, the food is okay. You can't always go by how a food affects someone else because something that would cause me to spike/crash may not have that effect on someone else.
Are you eating any veggies? I didn't notice any in what you listed above. Your problem could be too few carbs, not too many. Are you eating low carb bars or candy? Some people react to them as if they had real sugar in them. How about diet pop or other things with artificial sweeteners? Aspartame causes a spike/crash reaction for me, so I avoid it. Hope this helps and let us know how you're doing. If the problem continues, a trip to the doctor might be in order, even if the insurance doesn't cover it.

I think Lisa might have your answer. How many grams of carbohydrates are you getting per day?

Because of a family history of diabetes I started monitoring my blood sugars about 2 weeks after starting Atkins. My pre-Atkins fasting blood sugar was 95. At induction levels of carbohydrates, (15 to 20 average) my sugars were generally reading in the low to mid 60s with occasional jumps into the low 70s. Post exercise levels were as low as 52. I never had any real symptoms of hypoglycemia, even at 52, but my tail was really dragging.

I started slowly raising my carb levels to an average of about 30 but wasn't seeing any difference in BG readings. Readings never varied more than arround 5 points before or after meals. I started monitoring my temperature after reading about it in several posts on this site. I wish I had readings from before Atkins, but I don't. With carbs around 30 and FBS at 62 my morning temperature was 96.6 for 2 days in a row. I experimented yesterday and upped my carbs (low glycemic) to a total of 60 to see what would happen. My sugars last night maxed out at 71. This morning's FBS was 69 and my body temperature was up to 97.6. This may just be a coincidence, but I'll keep tracking these parameters to see if there is a correlation.

Get a meter and find out what is really going on.

Every time I think I'm getting close to the answer the question changes.

Good luck,

Larry

Thankyou for all the replies! I have been strictly staying away from breads, sugars and all the bars and stuff. Just eating when I'm hungry and eating the part of the meal that I fix for my family that is LC.

I have had the blurred vision and headaches and sweats and I suspect that for some reason the calories that I have been taking in, my body isn't processing right. Last night I woke in a sweat and had a panic attack. My electrolites get low easy when I'm sick or panicking and I lose circulation in my hands and start to hyperventilate. I tried to eat some cream cheese, but felt nausiated. I just haven't been able to figure out why I'm having these symptoms all of a sudden after 4 months of feeling great LCing (Confused).

But maybe this is a calories issue, and I'm not getting enough. I do make sure that I get in green veggies through salad or brocoli for the most part. And, I am drinking more water the last couple of days.


One quick question, do the glucometers come with a list of what is high and low and does it require finger pricking? I'm starting a food journal today to see what is going on with carbs and calories and fats and proteins. Thankyou again,

You know, Colleen....

You're within 15 pounds of goal. I think it might be time to start adding more veggies and some low glycemic fruits (mostly berries and some melon) back in. Try to avoid processed meats with sugars and fillers in them. Perhaps after several months of very low carb, your body is telling you that it's had enough and it's time to move into the ongoing weight loss phase where you slowly raise your carbs (refer to the chapter in DANDR on ongoing weight loss for specifics). Yes, it will slow your weight loss down but quick weight loss isn't the name of the game here. Good health is.
I'm not sure if most glucometers come with a list of what's considered normal (mine didn't), but normal ranges for fasting blood sugars are considered to be between 80 and 110. Some people can be a bit lower than that and feel fine. For me, if I start dropping into the 70's, I get symptoms of being hypo. Normal readings two hours after a meal would be below 140 (closer to 120 is better) and yes, it involves poking your finger, but it doesn't hurt for long. I'll give you a tip...don't use the alcohol wipes; it makes it sting more and will give you callouses on your fingers quicker. Just make sure you wash your hands with soap and rinse well before testing. Please keep in mind that I'm not a doctor (or even a nurse for that matter), but your symptoms sound more like hypoglycemia than diabetes. Your blood sugars would have to be VERY high to produce sweating and confusion, but not terribly low before you get the same symptoms. HTH

I just wanted to report that I am feeling 90 % better today
I suspect that the caffine was raising cain with my blood sugar.
I'll keep in touch for the next few days, Thankyou again!

I found out for sure I was diabetic last Wednesday. I had some of the usual symptoms such as having to get up and go to the bathroom 3 times each night and often not being able to get enough to drink. The lady I work with is diabetic and checked my blood sugar (320) and convinced me to make a doctor's appointment. She loaned me her glucometer until I saw the doc and got my own prescription for one. I immediately began the Atkins WOE

I was told by the doctor that I was in fact diabetic. When I told him I was following Atkins eating plan, he nodded and said "good". That was all the affirmation I needed to continue with the WOE.

Mardell