Hypoglycemia - and Dietary Guidelines for Hypoglycemics

The word hypoglycemia simply means low blood sugar. It’s often used to suggest a disease, but it is actually only one symptom of a syndrome with many complaints.

This complex would be better defined by the term carbohydrate intolerance. It is expressed by the body’s inability to use certain carbohydrate loads effectively without adverse consequences.

When consumed, sugar and complex carbohydrates evoke a rise in blood sugar that triggers insulin release from the pancreas. This hormone facilitates immediate carbohydrate utilization or storage in various parts of the body. The liver converts excesses to fatty acids that are packaged into triglycerides and transported into fat cells for storage. In hypoglycemics, insulin release is either excessive, or the cutoff is inadequate, or insufficiently terminated by counter regulatory hormones.

A system-wide disturbance is created that results in one of the endocrine fatigue syndromes we call hypoglycemia.

The standard for diagnosis has been the five-hour glucose tolerance test (GTT).

This was designed to document the rise and gradual fall of blood sugar after carbohydrate consumption. A sugar solution is administered and blood samples are drawn at various intervals.

The GTT has not been very efficient in detecting the sudden fall of blood sugar levels that characterize hypoglycemia. Timing is crucial, and with a predetermined schedule for blood draws, the lowest level may be missed.

Another problem was seen in a study done in 1994 by Genter and Ipp on a group of young, healthy people who had no symptoms of hypoglycemia.¹ Blood samples were drawn every ten minutes to measure the amount and time-release of various hormones that counteract insulin to prevent an excessive drop in blood sugar. One-half of the subjects developed acute symptoms of hypoglycemia near the peak adrenaline release coinciding with their lowest glucose levels. However, the symptoms occurred at glucose levels that are considered “normal.”

Obviously each person has a personal alarm system, an individual blood sugar level at which the brain perceives danger and releases adrenaline (epinephrine). For these reasons, listening to a patient’s symptoms has been more accurate in making the diagnosis than blood testing.

The symptoms of hypoglycemia (a term we continue to use) are many.

First are the chronic symptoms that are experienced even when the blood sugar is normal.

The acute symptoms are frightening and occur at highly variable glucose levels, but usually three or four hours after eating. The release of adrenaline, more than sufficient for correcting the fallen blood or brain sugar, induces these distressing twenty- to thirty-minute events.

Only a perfect diet will control hypoglycemia.

It is not the food one adds, but what one removes that assures recovery.

All carbohydrates are not created equal, as can be seen by our list. You must follow the diet as written with no substitutions: for example puffed rice is allowed but not rice. Caffeine is not allowed since it prolongs the action of insulin.

Improvement begins in about seven to ten days of beginning a perfect diet.

Considerable relief is afforded within one month. Symptoms totally clear within two months but only if the diet has been carefully followed. During the first ten days of treatment, headaches from caffeine withdrawal and the fatigue induced by changing the body's basic sources of fuel are common and in some patients can be fairly intense.

Consider the entire dietary process as if one were building a checking account.

First, deposits must be made to obtain sufficient funds. Only at this point should one begin writing checks, but with the understanding that balances are lowered with each one written. Similarly, the hypoglycemia diet builds energy reserves to the highest amount attainable for a given individual. Only then can carbohydrate experimentation begin. Each "cheat" draws on the credit line.

Since no physician or dietician can predict the final baseline diet, this hunt and peck system is necessary for each patient. The first warning of an excess may be spotted with the reoccurrence of any of the above hypoglycemia symptoms. A stricter diet may again be required to rebuild credit, or to meet demands for added energy at times of emotional or physical stress such as during the week premenstrually.

Some hypoglycemics also suffer from Fibromyalgia

Symptoms overlap greatly but not the acute ones listed above. Fibromyalgia is a generalized metabolic disturbance that includes contracted, working muscles, ligaments and tendons, which constantly burn fuel. This is the subject of another paper we have written. Predisposed individuals with Fibromyalgia may attempt to create energy by yielding to their carbohydrate cravings. The resulting repetitive insulin bursts can tip them into hypoglycemia. Patients with both conditions [which Dr. St. Amand has estimated at 30% of women and 15% of men with FM] are among our sickest.

Dietary Restrictions the Hypoglycemic Must Follow

HAVE NONE OF THESE

No compromise is allowed with the diet for the carbohydrate intolerance syndrome.

One must eat correctly or symptoms continue. The reward of well-being is exhilarating when contrasted with the disabling symptoms of hypoglycemia. It is yours to control. n

The compact, printable diet charts that Dr. St. Amand has created list foods from which to choose in nine food categories, subject to individual differences in food tolerance. There is:

___
* This material is excerpted with generous permission of the authors from their book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia (Hachette Books, 2006) ^CR. Paul St. Amand, MD, and Claudia Craig Marek, MA.

Reference:
1. ”Plasma glucose thresholds for counterregulation after an oral glucose load,” Metabolism. 1994 Jan;43(1):98-103. PMID: 8289681, by Genter P, Ipp E. Department of Medicine, Harbor UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA.

Note: This information has not been evaluated by the FDA. It is not meant to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any illness or disease. It is very important that you make no change in your healthcare plan or health support regimen without researching and discussing it in collaboration with your professional healthcare team.