Hypoglycemia and IBS ??'s
#100080 - 08/21/04 05:07 PM
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RachelT
Reged: 07/01/04
Posts: 2350
Loc: Minnesota
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I've been hypoglycemic all my life and have never been able to keep it under control. It's not the diabetic kind though, it's just from my blood sugar dropping between meals. I've also never actually tried to control it with diet, instead I would just try to eat more often. Well, now that I'm really paying attention to what I'm eating, I'm coming up with some concerns about this. With this diet I tend to eat A LOT of white bread, white potatoes and white rice (mostly the potatoes). All these foods are in the "high glycemic" catagorie. According to most hypoglycemia diets, you should avoid anything with high glycemic value. My IBS symptoms are definitely going in the right direction, which I'm very pleased about. But what about my blood sugar??? I'm feeling ok, meaning I haven't had the shakes or dizziness or anything else regarding hypoglycemia, however I'm experiencing something a little odd. This is gonna sound weird, but I'm having a hard time keeping my teeth clean. (I've always paid attention to my teeth, but considering the fact that I'm also a dental assistant, I almost obscess about it now.) It almost seems as though I'm secreting more acid in my saliva or something. Am I just being paranoid, or do you think this might have something to do with my blood sugar???
-------------------- ~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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Hey Becky,
Yeah, I get hypoglycemic, too. If I wait too long before I eat I get shaky & even nauseous. Usually, I carry some tootsie roll midgies in my purse for emergency "shakiness". My worst time seems to be after breakfast and before lunch. I eat a good breakfast....oatmeal & toast so I don't know why I can hardly make it from breakfast to lunch. Usually have to have something in between. I'm usually OK from lunch to dinner, though.
I've never heard that hypoglycemia causes teeth not to be clean. Do you mean stained? If so, do you drink tea? That really stains my teeth. I use the Sonicare toothbrush and that helps.
Barbie
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Yeah, I can barely make it from breakfast to lunch too. I also eat oatmeal every morning. Actually, what I mean when I say unclean is that they feel gross. I can tell when I'm producing more plaque, and lately my front teeth, both top and botton feel like they have a lot of plaque on them, regardless of the endless toothbrushing. YUCK!!!
-------------------- ~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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Oatmeal makes my teeth feel filmy. But about blood sugar, I am not sure but I thought soluble fiber was good for that and that is why diabetics benefit from a soluble fiber diet. I thought it made them stay stable longer and evened out their blood sugar. I would do a little internet search on it. Tell us what you find because I told a diabetic friend about how soluble fiber would help him so I hope I wasn't wrong. Nevertheless I eat all the time just for my stomach and I don't think being on this diet would ever let my blood sugar drop. But I'm no expert.
-------------------- IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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I am absolutely hypoglycaemic...I KNOW it is connected to the IBS in my heart...something neurological..maybe they will prove it soon!! But I know its there. I don't go ANYWHERE without crackers, and God help anyone who is around me when I am hungry..I cannot function. And you are right about the white flour, it turns into sugar in your blood a lot faster then wholewheat bread or brown pasta or rice etc...listen..its a wish for all of us to be able to eat all the low glycaemic index foods..but the most important thing is to keep our bowels happy to maximise nutritional absorption which does not occur when we have d...SO....try slowly introducing whole products (I know heather now eats wholewheat bread) once you are stable. The best thing we can do for eating the white stuff is to make sure it is high quality white stuff...ie NOT that terrible wonderbread, but freshly baked bread with pure ingredients!
-------------------- Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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I too am diagnosed hypoglycemic.. and when I talked ot my GI about doing this type of diet that was one of my concerns.. she told me to try it.. if I was having blood sugar issues she'd move up my appt with the dietician, otherwise, I get to go in Nov, by then I will hopefully have worked out more of what I cna and cannot eat and she'll help me work out the best maintenance diet options... that makes me wonder.. but ok...
meanwhile- as long as I have protein (even rice milk counts) with each meal, and I stagger meals I seem ok... even taking my fiber supplement helps, so I don't take it immediately before meals, more like 30 minutes before if I am worried about my blood sugar... so far.. so good.. I was a bit low blood sugar wise last night, but I think I ate too much chocolate cake during the day and not enough protein with dinner...
One big thing- if your hypoglycemic- make sure to have protein with every meal, even peanut butter on your crackers helps... protein is the biggest solution I found... and it does help.
Another thing- eating less more frequently even of the higher glycemic foods is helping maintain the blood sugar at the higher level because you are constantly topping them off...
as to the teeth thing, I've noticed I need to brush more then other people for years but unfortunately can't always do so... I swear when I am home and around a toothbrush I can brush 6-8 times a day, nto that I always do... don't know what thats associated with...
but seeing so many of us with IBS and hypoglycemia makes me wonder if they are related somehow... wonder if anyone has done any studies of that? I was diagnosed hypoglycemic around one of my major tummy problem bouts a few years back, but they kept blowing me off or telling me it was something other thne IBS for so many years....
Amie
-------------------- Dietetics Student (anticipating RD exam in Aug 2010)
IBS - A
Dairy Allergic
Fructose and MSG intollerant
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You all have been quite helpful with this. I still don't know why my teeth are weird, but knowing that incorporating protein in my meals will help really means alot. I already do that to an extent, but now I will definitely make sure it's with all meals. Thanks again!
-------------------- ~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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I have also had hypoglycemic tendencies most of my life. My husband is diabetic and counts carbs so that he can maintain his blood sugar. He eats 5 small meals a day and aims for a specific number of carbs throughout the day. The same concept can apply to being hypoglycemic, I think. I went over the info we had on diabetes and started counting carbs to see if I could get enough of the soluble fiber foods I need for my IBS. It's no problem. I also eat 3 regular meals and two snacks a day, which helps a lot. I don't think the IBS diet should be a problem with hypoglycemia.
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Rachel, I have the same problem and manage it by making sure I eat something every two hours. I have three meals of about 300 calories and four snacks of about 100 calories each, just to give you an idea.
And remember, the "breaking the cycle" list of "white foods" is NOT meant to followed for more than 3-4 days to calm your tummy after a severe attack. After that you MUST start adding back sources of insoluble fiber, whole grains, fruits and veggies, etc. And the diet is NOT supposed to be fat free. We HAVE to consume some fat to digest certain vitamins.
So I also try to get a little fat or protein or insoluble fiber in each meal or snack. I also was having low blood sugar attacks late morning so I increased my breakfast calories by adding more protein and a smidge more fat. The attacks have stopped so it worked!
Good luck, Rachel honey! Let me know how it goes, okay???
-------------------- Laura
Keep it simple!
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Oh thank you Laura!!! I will keep you updated on this!!
Now, I've tried the small frequent meals thing before, and it seems like I get nowhere. It seems like I'm starving all the time. Am I doing something wrong?? Maybe it's what I'm eating??? Who knows??
-------------------- ~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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