Low blood sugar?

[autumnchill]

Staying positive is hard. Am I working hard enough towards health or hardly working at all?

I have to ask myself these questions since I do not feel well.

At the 1st phase of my treatment the doctor placed me on DHEA- hormone. It does not seem to work as since starting to take it, I have gone worse. I took 1/4 of a 25mg tablet, then 1/2 and went back to a quarter again. Dhea seemed to restore my joint aches, sweating hard ect. but in addition it affected my sleep. I wake up every night at 2-3 a.m. (I go to bed around 00 hours, so I do not get to sleep long...) and stay awake around 3 hours, then fall asleep and wake up around 8-9 a.m. OR WORSE I am forced to wake up because teenagers go to school around 8 a.m. (yes I hate school, too!).

So, to me dhea does not seem to be a solution. But milk-free diet has worked well enough and I am not so worn out any longer (I mean fatigued). It is good, since I can be more alert about my other health problems now, even if I am deprived of good sleep (because of dhea??). Well, I will stop taking dhea and see what happens.

What I really meant to ask you, my dear readers, is all about low blood sugar, sugar crash, neuropathic feet (dry, scaled, aching feet)...

I was the one with diabetes during my last pregnancy and since then I have had these ailments. They have checked my blood sugars regularly and there is nothing wrong. I still have these bouts of low blood sugar and fatigue and a nasty feeling of fullness after eating (and I eat really small amounts of food). My feet ache and they look awful, even though I try to take care of them. I still have pains on my left side and I have foot pain on the left aching at rest and aching when I walk. This grew worse a week ago.

I am about to have a consultation time with my doctor (via cell phone) if possible on next Monday (I have not reserved the consultation time yet).

Should I ask her to check my blood sugar? What else should I ask?

I know she is willing to treat me further and now I desperately need the phase II -treatment options. Maybe she will put me on Thyroxin just to test (that is OK with me; thyroxin is a cheap drug to try). I will try anything she suggests.

Well, what do you suggest? Has anyone had similar problems with feet? Million thanks in advance!

[greygoose]

Ask to have your B12 tested. Low B12 is a common cause of neuropathy. It needs to be well above 500, not just in range. And, if it is very low, you should be tested for Pernicious Anemia.

[Justiina]

There are a lot of people who do not well on DHEA, some need hydrocortisone with dhea. Tho there is an alternative for it, not sure if sold in finland. Go phoneixrising forum and search postings of dhea.

[Katelou]

Try Cherry Active from health food shops.

With our condition we sometimes have high Uric acid which affects the feet gout etc.

[rustysmum]

I do not have foot problems but do have low sugar issues which my GP ignored for the past two years. If you are convinced you have problems I suggest you do what I did. I bought myself a glucose meter on the Internet (they are very cheap) and test yourself when you feel symptoms and before and after each meal. The very first test I did gave a warning for hypoglycaemia. I had been tested at the doctors too but that was always when I was NOT having symptoms. At last my GP believed me, referred me to an endocrinologist and am undergoing further testing. I definitely have a problem with reactive hypoglycaemia though as they had to halt the glucose tolerance testing early as My blood sugar dropped so low. Unfortunately you do have to be your own doctor in a lot of this and if you feel you are being ignored but are convinced you are correct you need to take matters into your own hands to get somewhere. Good luck!

[SilverAvocado in reply to rustysmum]

Hi Rustysmum, I am also worried about my blood sugar levels, and get a lot of weird symptoms around eating like the OP describes - feeling too full, nausea if I eat the 'wrong' thing, or too early or late though can't see a pattern, etc, etc.

But Im reluctant to get a glucose meter, as I'm scared of the lancing myself, particularly doing it day after day. How have you found doing it?

[rustysmum in reply to SilverAvocado]

It is not a problem at all. Totally painless. I was very nervous too at first but when I did it just wondered what I had been worried about. My daughter who is needle phobic watched me and said 'but Mum, you don't even flinch!' That is because you hardly feel it. You can adjust the lancer to various depths so I have just set it to the lowest setting that is effective for me.

[SilverAvocado in reply to rustysmum]

Thank you Rustysmum, that's very reassuring. The BlueHorizon ones seem very deep, and I've spurted blood across the table in the past, which has really put me off. But it's obvious the glucose meter ones must be much shallower.

[rustysmum in reply to SilverAvocado]

It is a tiny little pin prick of your fingertip. I haven't used blue horizon, but have done the Birmingham hospital bit D test. I guess they have to allow for tougher skin with the one setting, whereas as I say on mine you can fully adjust the depth and it was the cheapest one out there. If you want me to PM you the details I can.

[autumnchill]

Hi, thank you all for the answers and new paradigms...!

I do have a glucose meter myself; last time I used it I was not having these symptoms. I am going to use it again. I hate pricking meself...

But how did they plan to treat your low sugar, rustysmum? Did you have any results whatsoever ( u said you are undergoing more tests)?

I think we are all curious to know if you are willing to share...!

-They are indeed look-a-likes, hypoglycemia and low thyroid, so it is hard to tell which is which. Or there maybe even the both conditions at the same time and once one is being treated it may be that the other one is discovered. Could this be correct?

Knowledge takes off but wisdom lingers (in my head; hopefully ;))

[rustysmum in reply to autumnchill]

Hi, yes I was going to update the post I originally put up tomorrow as that is when I see the consultant to get all my test results. He had said if it was just reactive hypoglycaemia you can control it with diet (low carb, frequent meals, and that does seem to be helping me avoid the big dips). Yes, I had other tests too which sounded like he was covering all possibilities. It was just the doctor running the glucose test that said it proven reactive hypoglycaemia but why that is happening is the key thing. It could be linked to my untreated hashimoto's, menopause, or tumours. Hopefully will understand more tomorrow! Am happy to share anything that might help someone else so any questions are welcome!

[autumnchill]

Hi Justiina, thanks but I did not find phoineixrising forum...maybe I am not-so-clever today so I´ll try another time.

[Silver_Fairy in reply to autumnchill]

Phoenix rising 🙂