I have been reading "The Schwarzbein Principle II: The Transition" and I think she says that low estradiol levels (which perimenopausal women can get) also cause these symptoms. Light-headedness and "almost dizziness" could certainly be low blood sugar.

Dr S would argue that low blood sugar is a very bad thing as it ratchets up your adrenaline output so that your liver makes more sugar. High adrenaline levels are a huge stress for the body, so she is dead against them.

That said, she does advocate a fairly low-carb diet, but says that carbs should be eaten at every meal, just not that many. She recommends never eating a protein alone.

I am tweaking my LC WOE (formerly Groves, doing about 70g carbs/day, sometimes as low as 50g, never lower) to accommodate the SPII ideas and, so far, so good.

I used to have bacon and eggs, and often nothing else, for my "2nd breakfast", but sometimes I'd end up feeling a little spacey a while later. I now either have some hash browns, or tomato and mushrooms, or have some fruit as a kind of post-breakfast "dessert". I am so far finding that this suits me better than just protein and fat.

I have also noticed that very low-carb lunches would not keep me going for long, and today had a small portion of brown rice with my meat and veggies. And, it did indeed work better for me.

As for low blood sugar, I have since discovered that I was probably low in zinc and/or magnesium. Both of these are apparently involved in blood sugar regulation.

Drinking any caffeinated beverages or alcohol makes you pee these out and I had been drinking too much of both. Plus I had been taking alpha-lipoic acid, which may have depleted my zinc stores. When I went off the ALA, started taking 15mg of zinc per day, the dizziness went away. However, I still get faint light-headedness which is why I'm trying out this SPII programme. If that doesn't seem to help, I shall maybe get my estradiol levels checked and see about bio-identical hormones.

I really don't like this spacey feeling, but I am wondering whether it is better to learn to live with it than take hormone therapy??? This is an issue I haven't looked into yet...

Just thought I'd pass on my experiences to you. Maybe your zinc is low? Or magnesium? Do you take either of these as supplements?

amanda