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I got many suggestions about my carbohydrate intolerance -- the "warrior
diet" which involves fasting or almost fasting except for one
big meal / day, more or less; and others.

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I do think that the brackets and statements that hypoglycemia is not main
stream can have the same reaction amongst people who really have this
problem,as the same claim about "gluten intolerance" would have amongst
celiacs.

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Me:  Hypoglycemia has indeed been a big alternative medicine diagnosis, and
falsely diagnosed by many doctors with glucose tolerance tests or by
symptoms alone.  The Quackwatch
guy has an entry for "glucose tolerance tests for hypoglycemia", though he has
nothing written on it, yet.  That's why I put quotes on it.  The great majority
of people diagnosed with hypoglycemia (I don't know how often doctors do this),
don't really have it.

I never said the problem doesn't exist, only that it's rare!

According to what I have read, to get a valid hypoglycemia diagnosis you should
have your blood sugar measured, accurately, by a doctor, when you are having the
symptoms, to verify that it's actually low.  Home blood glucose meters aren't
very accurate in the low part of their range, from what i've read, although
maybe they are better now.

i do understand how this might be triggering!  I don't mean to suggest, and I
didn't -- that people who don't have "true hypoglycemia" have a less real
illness, or that it's less serious than "true hypoglycemia".  Some of them are
surely translating their feelings into
biological happenings, somatizing.  Some aren't.  They apparently have a real
metabolic problem, hyperinsulinism or insulin resistance perhaps.  One problem
with mislabeling it "hypoglycemia" is that people might miss a real treatment.

I have gotten a "go away" response from doctors *too often*, and it's an
abuse trigger, a feeling I'm just doomed to suffer from something that's isn't
real enough for someone else to care about -- but the suffering is real,
and real enough for abusers to need it.  I had zonked states that would last for
a week for many years, I went to an allergist once and he literally just told me
to go away, without doing any allergy testing, my zonked states weren't worth
his notice!  Years later i recovered from this dismissal and i saw other
allergists and i found i was very allergic and it (looks) like allergies had
caused the zonked sicknesses.  But I'm not telling anyone to "go away", for
chrissakes I have the metabolic problems that are often called hypoglycemia,
myself.

I also know you can have severe food intolerances to foods other than gluten!
I have a virulent corn intolerance.  About the protein you would find in a
couple of grains of corn made me sick for days a few months ago.
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As to the carb cravings etc. they are a very different kettle of
fish,and that is a problem I have and have treated for over 3 years with
the carb addicts low carb diet.The Drs. who researched this wrote quite
a few books on the subject,they called it hyperinsulinemia,and it does
need a trigger,ie illness etc. so I suppose stress?They have a website
which I can try and find,I think it was www.carbohydrateaddicts.com .

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>Did being gluten-free seem to help with your blood sugar/hormone problems?

Absolutely. Further, it's something they discuss on the list
group every so often. When I DO get gluten
I have major blood sugar problems the next day
(even with the WD). I expect it has to do with
cortisol ... cortisol is what actually gives you
the "low blood sugar" symptoms, and cortisol also
goes way up when you eat something your body doesn't like.

I don't know if you read it, but some time ago
I got a blood sugar meter, and discovered that when
I was feeling hypoglycemic, my blood sugar was
actually HIGHER than normal. I asked someone
who knows a lot, who steered me to an
article about studies on hypoglycemia ... for
most people the blood sugar only dips for a
couple of minutes (they had to use a meter inside
a blood vessel to catch it). Then a bunch of cortisol
is produced, which raises the blood sugar. BUT,
in people who are "hypoglycemic", they produce way
TOO MUCH cortisol, somewhat like T2 diabetics
produce too much insulin.

The "extra" cortisol causes unpleasant symptoms,
such as the shakes, dizziness, anger, that people
associate with "skipping a meal type low blood sugar".

Eating sugar at that point causes one to secrete
insulin, which then counteracts the cortisol and
makes you feel more normal. However, the action
of the sugar isn't to raise the blood sugar ... it's
to counteract the cortisol.

This is a different reaction that the typical
"hypoglycemia" that happens with diabetics,
where the blood sugar really IS low (from
too much insulin).

If the "hypoglycemia" is from high cortisol,
the drinking coffee or exercising can help
too (instead of sugar). Exercise causes
you to secrete adrenaline, which also counteracts
cortisol. I tried that, and it works, though it's
awfully hard to exercise when you are feeling
"hypoglycemic".

I've found a piece of jerky helps
too, which convinced me the problem is NOT
low blood sugar. Jerky takes hours to digest ...
it can't raise your blood sugar. But it does cause
your body to secrete hormones, that turn off
the "I'm hungry" hormones.

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