What are some medications and their side effects for hypoglycemia?
I have been hypoglycemic for years but only recently started watching my diet and everything else entailed in taking good care of myself. The problem is I LOVE food-this is good considering I rely on it to keep from passing out but there is so many foods I can’t eat without having to worry about it being the wrong thing. It actually is preventing me from eating healthy foods even. I can’t always drink a glass of milk because of the type of sugar, no fruit-I love strawberries and bananas, the list goes on…
I’m not expecting to be able to eat sweets again (i can’t remember why I used to like them so much and only crave a piece of strawberry cheesecake a few times a year or if I’m not eating properly…side note, my understanding is if I’m craving sweets it means I’m eating something I shouldn’t or I’m NOT getting a nutrient I need).
Because I could really go on about this I’m going to try simplifying this…My diet consists of meat, veggies and water. It’s boring and depressing. If I attempt to eat anything else I get dizzy, emotional, can’t focus (2+2=um, 6?) or I’m shaking, yada yada yada…
I’ve heard about medications that I can take to help regulate my blood sugar to the point where I’m not so reliant on keeping protein constantly flowing in my digestive system and can add a little more variety to my diet. Do these exist? Can they do what they claim to do?
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3 Answers
I really advise you to talk this over with your physician. It is possible that webmd.com would help prepare you for this discussion; also the Mayo Clinic web site is really good as well.
I just googled it and found quite a few sites. But i would talk to my doctor about this, something is causing it
Our once-resident (recently on hiatus here) MD shilolo has this to say about hypoglycemia in an earlier thread:
“Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but it is nearly impossible for a normal person to become hypoglycemic. When glucose levels fall in the blood, insulin levels go down, and glucagon and epinephrine go up. The net effect is to stimulate the liver to break down glycogen (the long term storage form of glucose and also to synthesize new glucose from fat. The brain cannot survive without glucose, and so it releases neurotransmitters and hormones to tightly regulate circulating glucose.
Patients with diabetes can (and frequently do) become hypoglycemic, usually owing to not eating while taking long acting insulin (which drives sugar levels down) or long acting oral medications that also lower circulating glucose.
What you describe, “the shakes”, is most likely the effect of circulating epinephrine, which, while stimulating glycogenolysis (breakdown of glycogen) and gluconeogenesis (synthesis of new glucose from “scratch”), also cause things like palpitations and “shakes”. I should add that your reaction likely has no long term consequences. That said, you might want to have your sugar checked, just to be on the safe side.”
So, my question to you is has your hypoglycemia been diagnosed or are you just labeling it yourself? If not, that is something that you should do. Once you have a confirmed diagnosis of something, a session with a dietitician, which your physician can arrange, is probably in order.
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