Parkinson's and hypoglycemia

[Nahas]

I diagnosed with Parkinson a year ago and IAM 42 years old and 3 month ago I had sever hypoglycemia is there is any relation between Parkinson and hypoglycemia

[Jjrr]

i have had mild hypoglycemia my entire life. i have always thought they might be related since my primary symptom is tremor - and i feel shaky when hypoglycemia kicked in.

[MagnoliaP in reply to Jjrr]

My husband had hypoglaecemia, which was initially diagnosed as a psychological problem and he was given very strong psychoactive drugs so he hardly new where he was. Fortunately a local herb doctor told him to cut out all refined sugar and, initially, all dairy.. (and the drugs went too, when the doctor told him they affected the brain chemistry "in some way" but didn't seem interested in what was it was) )Slowly he got better. It is not easy and it does limit puddings and cakes but you can get round this by using dates and concentrated apple juice -small amounts of unrefined sugar in moderation are normally OK It took several months before he felt like himself again, but has never looked back. 40 years on he can tolerate a little chocolate and some dairy -its been a long haul but we both feel better for cutting out much of the "sinfulness"!

I don't know wheyther this has any connection with Parkinsons but thought it worth passing on just in case it hels anybody else.

[bookish]

Even quite minor blood sugar imbalances can affect brain function and hence all body functions. I recommend Datis Kharrazian's book 'Why Isn't My Brain Working?' Best wishes

[Kia17]

How do you know that you had hypoglycaemia? Did you check your blood sugar?

[Nahas in reply to Kia17]

I checked my blood sugar regulary and there's a lot of symptoms

[Rhyothemis]

My father had multiple system atrophy and he had an attack of rhabdomyolysis during his illness which was otherwise unexplained (no statin use). I think it may have been related to being a carrier for medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, a fatty acid oxidation disorder. I'm an MCAD gene carrier and mildly symptomatic - I have hypoglycemia attacks and bouts of lethargy (the latter only if I consume a lot of MCT). I don't know for certain that my father was an MCAD carrier and he did not have hypoglycemia attacks that I know of, however, his sister did - so I think the gene must have been passed to me by my father.

I cut out sat fat years ago and felt better; then my mother-in-law said that coconut oil is a good fat and try it - so I did, and my hypoglycemia came back. So of course I stopped eating it. A few years after that I did 23andme SNP testing and they reported I am an MCAD carrier.

The standard test for fatty acid oxidation disorders is an acylcarnitine profile but I don't think it will necessarily pick up cases where it just affecting nervous system function - that is, there may be populations of cells that are more sensitive to metabolic issues than others. Blood levels of acylcarnitines may show up in normal range but there may still be problems. In my case, trial and error with diet modification was enough for me to figure out how to deal with the problem, for the most part (seems to be getting worse as I age, though).

[Nahas in reply to Rhyothemis]

I'm going to have insulin autoimmune antibodies test the insulin antibodies increase the half life of insulin from 5_10 minutes to 5 hours leading to hypoglycemia if there's no antibodies will have ultrasound endoscopy

[gginto]

I've had periods of low blood sugar for years..when it hits i can't process thoughts, shaky, out of it feelings, racing heart etc... It helps to have several small meals through the day.. always keep a granola/protein bar with a juice on you wherever u go- Helps if I drink juice/ eat half sandwich when I start feeling light headed..

[MissRita]

I’m so glad someone posted about this!! I have always thought that hypoglycemia plays a part in the role of PD. I know for me when my hypoglycemia is reactive I can always tell that the next thing to come are my tremors and other symptoms of PD. I think there is a definite connection to both. The only issue is trying to find enough research and other evidence-based articles that support it.

Here’s the kicker for me - I take my C/L in the morning and after 4 hours my hypoglycemia kicks in and then I take C/L again but the tremors continue...until I have a snickers and a Sprite and after 20 minutes NO TREMORS FOR HOURS!!! I mean I can go another 6-8 hours...CRAZY!!

[Nahas]

We need to know if the parkinson affecting on pancreas functions or the drug we take ( dopamine or dopamine agonist ) trigger the hypoglycemia and what is the mechanism of that

[Rhyothemis in reply to Nahas]

I'd like to see studies of the effects on/of liver function, also - and mast cells, fatty acid metabolism, PPAR alpha and nitric oxide.

Seems important to get the hypoglycemia under control:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/297...

( though I guess the increased BBB permeability could be used to get drugs into the brain )