Well, at least now I know...
Dec. 15th, 2003 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkLong post, so I'll lj cut it
For the last year or so, I've had a growing tendancy to feel dizzy and light-headed, have mood swings, and have difficulty concentrating. Today though it kind of came to a head. I'd slept in a bit, as I didn't have work for various reasons. When I got up I decided to brave the holiday crowds and go to the mall to finish a bit of Christmas shopping. I didn't bother with breakfast as I'm never hungry first thing after waking up.
I shopped a bit, got a couple of things, mailed the last insidious package (watch your mailbox Bob!) and then decided to DDR some. I got food first, as I do know better than to DDR on an empty stomach. I used to be able to do that kind of thing, but with the way I've been getting dizzy easily lately I knew I'd probably faint.
Well, I about fainted anyhow, only it took about fifteen minutes after I was done for it to kick in. I was trying on a couple of nifty collars at Hot Topic (the one, if it had fit me, I'd have bought. It was nifty, but too big, curse my small self!) and I just about fell over. I found a bench and sat down, and after another fifteen minutes or so I started feeling better. It took another hour almost to completely recover, but I managed to drive home and collapse.
I was worried though. This kind of thing has happened more and more often, and a few people in my extended family have diabetes, so I decided to look it up and see what the risk factors and symptoms were. Well, I have none of the risk factors or symtoms of diabtes, according to the National Diabetes Institue website, so I decided to check on hypoglycemia instead, as it has to do with blood sugar levels as well.
On a quick quiz, where a score of 20 is high risk, I got 54.
So guess what? I'm hypoglycemic.
Well, I don't have a doctor's opinion on that, but apparently doctors don't always recognise or treat the condition anyhow.
It's actually good, because I was afraid I was diabetic, and while hypoglycemia is annoying, it doesn't have all the associated risks that diabetes does. Thankfully.
Hypoglycemia is basically a fancy name for low blood sugar. It means that your body has troubles dealing with sugar when you eat it, and then over-compensates and sends you into a dizzy low-blood sugar state when you don't eat. The biggest dietary offenders? Refined sugar, (read candy,) refined flour products, (like white bread and most pastas,) fruit, and for some reason caffine, tobacco and alcohol.
I don't have to worry about those last three, thankfully, and fruit they say is ok in the ammounts I tend to eat. But other than that... my diet consists of almost nothing but pasta most of the time. Grah. And having to cut sugar to almost nothing.... ack! Not fun. Banoffee is probably not a good idea. *sigh*
It does say, however, that the big thing for most hypoglycemics isn't really what so much as how much and when. And here's an eye-opener: it's better to have lots of small meals rather than a few big ones. *grin* No wonder I prefer to graze and have tiny meals. See Bob? There's a reason I eat like a bird.
Anyhow... the whole thing is annoying, but at least now I know why I've been feeling weak and dizzy so often, and I can deal with it.
So I'm going to have to cope with this, probably for the rest of my life. Joy.
For the last year or so, I've had a growing tendancy to feel dizzy and light-headed, have mood swings, and have difficulty concentrating. Today though it kind of came to a head. I'd slept in a bit, as I didn't have work for various reasons. When I got up I decided to brave the holiday crowds and go to the mall to finish a bit of Christmas shopping. I didn't bother with breakfast as I'm never hungry first thing after waking up.
I shopped a bit, got a couple of things, mailed the last insidious package (watch your mailbox Bob!) and then decided to DDR some. I got food first, as I do know better than to DDR on an empty stomach. I used to be able to do that kind of thing, but with the way I've been getting dizzy easily lately I knew I'd probably faint.
Well, I about fainted anyhow, only it took about fifteen minutes after I was done for it to kick in. I was trying on a couple of nifty collars at Hot Topic (the one, if it had fit me, I'd have bought. It was nifty, but too big, curse my small self!) and I just about fell over. I found a bench and sat down, and after another fifteen minutes or so I started feeling better. It took another hour almost to completely recover, but I managed to drive home and collapse.
I was worried though. This kind of thing has happened more and more often, and a few people in my extended family have diabetes, so I decided to look it up and see what the risk factors and symptoms were. Well, I have none of the risk factors or symtoms of diabtes, according to the National Diabetes Institue website, so I decided to check on hypoglycemia instead, as it has to do with blood sugar levels as well.
On a quick quiz, where a score of 20 is high risk, I got 54.
So guess what? I'm hypoglycemic.
Well, I don't have a doctor's opinion on that, but apparently doctors don't always recognise or treat the condition anyhow.
It's actually good, because I was afraid I was diabetic, and while hypoglycemia is annoying, it doesn't have all the associated risks that diabetes does. Thankfully.
Hypoglycemia is basically a fancy name for low blood sugar. It means that your body has troubles dealing with sugar when you eat it, and then over-compensates and sends you into a dizzy low-blood sugar state when you don't eat. The biggest dietary offenders? Refined sugar, (read candy,) refined flour products, (like white bread and most pastas,) fruit, and for some reason caffine, tobacco and alcohol.
I don't have to worry about those last three, thankfully, and fruit they say is ok in the ammounts I tend to eat. But other than that... my diet consists of almost nothing but pasta most of the time. Grah. And having to cut sugar to almost nothing.... ack! Not fun. Banoffee is probably not a good idea. *sigh*
It does say, however, that the big thing for most hypoglycemics isn't really what so much as how much and when. And here's an eye-opener: it's better to have lots of small meals rather than a few big ones. *grin* No wonder I prefer to graze and have tiny meals. See Bob? There's a reason I eat like a bird.
Anyhow... the whole thing is annoying, but at least now I know why I've been feeling weak and dizzy so often, and I can deal with it.
So I'm going to have to cope with this, probably for the rest of my life. Joy.
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Date: 2003-12-18 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2003-12-18 07:32 pm (UTC)