21 Signs That You May Be One of the Millions Who Are Hypoglycemic
February 2, 2007 by admin
Filed under Addiction, Diets and Dieting
21 Signs That You May Be One of the Millions With Hypoglycemia
Greetings again, HealthBolt readers. In my previous post, I rattled off a number of symptoms that could be indicative of reactive hypoglycemia. What you may find absolutely mind-boggling is that if you have this condition, you could have many more ailments than the 12 I mentioned previously. Some experts cite as many as 125 symptoms!
What’s fascinating is that hypoglycemia has been called the “Great Imitator” because its strange, startling symptoms can mimic a frightening array of diseases and conditions…
For instance, people with reactive hypoglycemia have been misdiagnosed as having bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, neurosis, migraines, Parkinson’s syndrome, chronic bronchial asthma, paroxysmal tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), rheumatoid arthritis, cerebral arteriosclerosis (hardening of the brain’s arteries), menopause, mental retardation, alcoholism, hyperactive disorder, and senility.
Pretty wild to contemplate that you have reactive hypoglycemia, but your doctor(s) think you have one of these other diseases or conditions instead! (By the way, I share some wild stores about people getting misdiagnosed in my book SUGAR SHOCK!)
Here are 21 more symptoms, which could signify that you have low blood sugar:
- Nervousness
- Faintness
- Cold sweats
- Drowsiness
- Digestive disturbances
- Forgetfulness
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Constant worrying
- Obesity
- Internal trembling
- Crying spells
- Lack of sex drive (females)
- Impotence (males)
- Allergies
- Blurred vision
- Night terrors and nightmares
- Mental confusion
- Muscle pains
- Allergies
- Itching and crawling sensations on the skin
I’m not a doctor, but if you have several of the health woes cited above, I’d recommend that you see a physician to learn if you have some kind of blood sugar condition, be it hypoglycemia, pre-diabetes or diabetes.
Bear in mind, though, that in many cases, if you kick sugar (or at least drastically cut back on your consumption of sweets and refined carbs), you may be able to wipe out (or curtail) these ailments. (No promises, but isn’t it worth a try to find out?)
Incidentally, that’s exactly what happened to me: I quit my sugar and quickie-carbs habit, and amazingly, all 44 of my symptoms completely vanished! Pretty remarkable, eh? Now you’re getting a sense as to why I felt compelled to research and write my book SUGAR SHOCK! — It’s really important for people (you, in particular) to learn the sour scoop about sweets, and it’s my mission to educate you. But I also want to go one step further — in addiiton, I seek to help you and inspire you to break free. (That’s what I’m doing with my book, my blogging, my seminars, etc.)
At this point, I recommend that you start keeping a food and symptoms journal:
* Do you have any of the symptoms cited above? Which ones?
* Do you have any of the ailments I pointed out in my previous post?
* What are some of your other mysterious health woes? Write them all down.
* Think about any and all problems you have such as headaches, mood swings, getting too tired or wired, difficulty focusing, etc.
(By the way, if you’d like to see an even longer list of symptoms of hypoglycemia, you’ll find them in my book SUGAR SHOCK!)
I’m eager to hear from you and maybe help steer you in the right direction. Don’t be bashful. Tell us about your strange symptoms.
Author, SUGAR SHOCK! (Berkley Books)
I really liked this post which I though help take a more medical problem and put it into user friendly lanuage. My feeling is that hypoglycemia effects so many people that don’t even know about it.
I’m so glad that websites like this are getting the message across about hypoglycaemia.
I could never work out why my mood would change, my self-confidence go through the floor and feel like the world was against me until I realised it was what I was consuming. Even though I’m a strict vegetarian and eat properly, caffeine, alcohol and refined carbohydrates just seem to make me feel terrible. I just wish I’d known this when I was growing up. Doctors should take notice of this and realise that the depressed patients they keep seeing may have this perfectly treatable condition.
So far I’ve been lucky in that I got diagnosed with moderately severe reactive hypoglycemia during my university years. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard for me in high school. I suffered from headaches and fainting spells and it wasn’t unusual for me to be accused of being anorexic since I don’t fit the size/weight criteria. I’ve had this problem for almost fifteen years and I still can’t always keep my sugar levels under control. I hate it when people tell me to “just eat chocolate” or don’t believe me because I’m not diabetic (yet). The other thing that burns me is the fact that hypoglycemia has been linked to mental health issues and that is not true.. How would anyone feel when they wake up every morning wondering if every bite they put in their mouth is going to make them feel awful or faint? Who would be happy with constant headaches and always feeling cold and getting looks like you’re either crazy or a hypochondriac? Not fair…
I didn’t know I had this until recently. They first ran a bunch of heart tests on me before they went on to a glucose tolerance test, which illuminated the real problem. A little over a year ago I got a DUI when I got into an argument at a bar with an exboyfriend who showed up while I was having a beer before I ate dinner. The anxiety, panic and confusion created by the situation itself, not eating, and drinking caused me to leave my designated driver behind. I now know there is a relationship between adrenalin and hypoglycemics. I sweat all the time and jump at the drop of a pin. Imagine how an exboyfriend would make me feel, especially when there was extra cause for low blood sugar. If I had known I had to eat every three hours and couldn’t consume carbs like those in beer… I wouldn’t even have been there. I would have been somewhere else eating dinner. I am so so angry that this happened because it is not something I would ever do if I wasn’t, as I realized now, experiencing very low blood sugar. I don’t eat sugar, refined carbs, caffeine, or alcohol now. The toll this has had on my life has been devastating. I had to leave college when diagnosed with a mental disorder and prescribed medication that made me sick. I have none of the symptoms of that disorder now and suspect I never had it to begin with. The medication made me feel like I was about to fall asleep all the time and I missed too much class to pass the semester. Dumping poison on top of a disease that is treated with diet is obviously only going to do more harm.
The worst part is I went to a doctor 10 years ago for near fainting spells and was told I just have a low blood pressure. I finally went again when the last couple years I had been feeling worse. Probably because during that time I worked in restaurants and ate a lot of foods like pizza. If I had only known…
Thanks for spreading word about this devastating yet easily treatable ailment. I hope there aren’t too many others like me out there who have been affected like this, but I fear there are some.
Why is it that some websites, even those from credible sources like the Mayo Clinic, say if you experience the symptoms, you should eat some sugar? I agree that you should eliminate all sugars and refined carbohydrates, as well as have small, frequent meals. That should lead to no symptoms in the first place, right? Am I missing something? I guess if you are about to slip into a coma, that would be a different story.