Diagnosed With Hypoglycemia Unawareness?

[DoozlyGirl]

Wondering if anyone has been diagnosed with Hypoglycemia Unawareness? I have recently been diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia, do not have diabetes and don't have typical hypoglycemia symptoms. I do have cardiovascular and sudomotor autonomic neuropathy, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistence. My episodes/crashes are prompted by eating, and first sign is sudden blurry vision with dramatic brain fog--> sleeping for hours, then awakening to nightsweats and tachy.

Would love to hear of any similar experiences or thoughts. Thanks, Lyn

[Chaos]

Haven't ever heard of Hypoglycemia Unawareness, but have been diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia (which I've had for at least 20+ years) but only had the test be positive last year. Don't have diabetes either. I think a lot of us on here have been diagnosed with reactive hypo or have symptoms of it.

I also have autonomic neuropathy. Not sure about hyperinsulinemia as they didn't test that when they did the glucose test, for some odd reason.

It's interesting to me that you report sudden blurry vision as a symptom. I have noticed the same thing, as well as the brain fog. Also, it frequently feels just like my "batteries" have suddenly drained down to nothing, very rapidly, after eating something sweet- like a small piece of chocolate. I also have found more and more frequently that I have tachy and palpitations when I eat anything sweet without something else to balance it, like a protein source.

I've seen an endocrinologist who claims to be familiar with POTS etc, but he really had nothing to offer in the arena of trying to connect the two things. Seems like there are so many people on this site with both things that it has to be connected somehow.

[DoozlyGirl]

Hi Chaos,

OMG! I can so relate to your battery analogy. I often describe my episodes as getting "unplugged". I have read the previous posts on hypoglycemia and found it really interesting to see what others have experienced. Just like others have suggested, "If our bodies can't regulate our BP's, HR's, temperatures, etc, why would we think it can regulate our sugars?" I keep thinking that following the concept of 'path of least resistence', if I can give my body what it needs, it may be able to figure out how to fix some of my many metabolic disruptions.

What test confirmed your diagnosis of reactive hypoglycemia? What were your values? In addition to protein, have you found ways to limit your reactive hypoglycemia symptoms?

I see my Neuro NP later today, so hope to pick her brain on the likely link between autonomic neuropathy and reactive hypoglycemia. I have found several documents that mention hypoglycemia unawareness, common in diabetic autonomic neuropathy and documented in other forms of autonomic neuropathy. I believe that by the time I realize my sugars have dropped, some other compensatory mechanisms kick in bringing up my sugars, so by the time I come out of my fog and test my sugars, my levels are back up there, and sometimes a bit elevated. I do get adrenaline surges/nightsweats but much later in my spell than others report. I have classic neuroglyopenic symptoms (low glucose to brain) and delayed andrenergic response, which seems to fit within my cardiovascular and sudomotor autonomic neuropathy (issues with andrenergic and colinergic responses)and orthostatic hypotension (issues with noradrenaline).

Thanks for your reply.

[Godsgal]

Hi ladies...wish I had something helpful to add but I wanted to know how you get tested for this. I really feel like my blood sugar is all off. I have to eat religiously like every 2 hours, I can't get enough to drink. If I don't eat, I get sooooo sick. Shaky, restless, adrenaline type surges.

[sue1234]

Doozlygirl,

I'd be interested in knowing how they tested you and what your values were. I am always interested in information from others that have low blood sugar.

[HopeSprings]

I've had low blood sugar picked up on blood tests many times over the years. I often get dizzy while or after eating (could be pooling, but could be blood sugar - not sure) and always crave sugar immediately after a meal. I also wake up really foggy and with a pounding heart. Let us know if you learn new info from your Dr.

[Chaos]

Doozlygirl- I had a three hour glucose tolerance test. I had a blood glucose of 36 at the 3 hour mark. The interesting part of that was how much my symptoms (when I was so hypoglycemic) mimicked my symptoms when I'd had TTTs 2 weeks before the GTT. I was wiped out for days after the test, had horrible GI stuff triggered for the next 10 days or so, etc etc. Usually when I'm hypo, if I just eat something quickly, I'm ok. Something about that test and the circumstances around it really set off all my autonomic symptoms. Maybe it was just that I'd had so much testing done so recently that my body was overly sensitized and thus reacted so incredibly strongly when it got triggered again.

When I mentioned the GTT results to one of my doctors, she was shocked and said as much. She went into a long description of why it's almost impossible for females to be hypoglycemic because of some compensatory thing that estrogen does for us so that we aren't hypogylcemic. I'll see her again in a couple of weeks and ask her to explain it again....and try to remember the details better this time. LOL ....assuming my brain fog isn't too bad that day.

As far as symptom management, I try to eat small frequent meals with not too much of a carb load of any type. I also have to eat a bit before I do any type of exercise. Seems like I go thru periods when I'm more prone to episodes of hypoglycemia and once I've had one episode of hypo triggered, I'm much more sensitized and have to be SUPER careful how I eat because it gets triggered so much easier for the next month or so.

Naomi- interesting that you also crave sugar immediately after a meal. Me too. I wake up a lot of times feeling fine, then roll over and break out in terrible sweats, tachy, palpitations, migraine etc. SO frustrating when I wake up and think "oh good, feeling ok" then roll over and suddenly have all these symptoms. Drives me crazy because it makes NO SENSE for my body to react this way! At least if it made some sort of logical sense to me, I might be more willing to accept it!

[issie]

I've had hypoglycemia since I was around 11 years old (I'm 51 now). My glucose test showed 33 and I nearly passed out, got nausea and generally felt awful. Since I feel that I've had POTS since I was around 8 years old (from some sort of illness, undetermined) - it's hard to know which came first. Now, my sugars will be a little on the high side sometimes. My doctor has me use GTF Chromium and it helps me to stay pretty level and not have the wild swings with the blood sugars.

I don't know if the tachy, sweats, nausea and migraines go along with the sugar issues. I get this with turning over in bed too. Some of it, I think may be hormone related (menopausal issues). I always know when I'm going to have a hot flash - I get a headache first. But, thinking part of it is mast cell related. Have read articles connecting this type of thing to mast cell release. Hormonal changes, can trigger a mast cell release. I also get these symptoms if I eat something that I react to and it gives the same symptoms. I've found that wheat, dairy and sugar all cause these reactions.

[sue1234]

I'm another one that can roll over in bed and start a non-menopausal hot flash. I have small tumors growing on my adrenals, so I'm curious if that is what is causing mine.