Hi Kyfaithly,
I too have struggled with the effects of hypoglycemia. And as I get older the symptoms get more serious. So I am trying to keep my blood sugars level too. Dr. Bernstein's book is the best help I've found. But one still has to explore how each food reacts on yourself individually.

I'm realizing that even a tablespoon of mayo reacts too strongly on me. And cream is something I must severely limit too.

Fishinmom....

Just thought you should know that my dad is a doctor (a very old one at that at 89) and we had a very interesting discussion yesterday about how low carb used to be the diet of choice to treat diabetics when he first started practicing medicine over 60 years ago (of course, at that time they also recommended low fat as part of the program as well, but at least they had the low carb part of it right) and he can't quite grasp how my cardiac profile has actually improved eating all the fat that I do. He never did understand why they changed the recommendation to high carb when the low carb worked so well. He's been watching my progress with this WOE with great interest and has been very encouraging. Just goes to show you..."improvements" and "medical advances" aren't always for the best. My doctor wasn't totally thrilled about my trying this WOE at first, either, but after 10 months and being able to get off all my medications even he has had to admit that this seems to work pretty well for me. Old ideas die hard but when faced with a healthier patient with less need (or no need) for medications, it would be a poor doctor who would recommend that you go back to what you were doing before and one that I wouldn't continue to employ as my physician.

You take too much Metformin. The current recommendations are: Metformin 500-1000mg twice a day or 850 mg once a day. It is not recommended to take Metformin 3 times a day anymore. If you take Metformin XR (Glucophage XR), you would need only 500-2000mg once a day with supper.

Hi FISHINMOM, I have had a similar problem, both with sugar lows and physicians ( who are just 'practicing' ),HAH! Do you know if you had hypoglycemia prior to being diagnosed with diabetes? I am not diabetic yet, however, have severe reactive hypoglycemia, mine is a precursor to diabetes, as evidenced on a long glucose tolerance test. Prior to Low-Carbing my insulin levels would skyrocket, especially with consumption of white sugar or processed flour, then plummet out of control, to the dangerous gray areas in the 20's after about 2-4 hours of eating. Low carbing was recommended as well as the drug, Metformin ( glucophage). For the first 3 weeks of my diet, I continued to have "spells" of low blood sugarsimilar to what you describe. You might want to try a 'fructose' chaser (couple sips of orange juice) when you take your morning dose of Glucophage, unless you have irritable bowel syndrome. I have been involved with a clinical research study for Polycystic Ovarian Disease and its complications. The "team" is not quite sure why the chaser helps, but it has worked for me. As for doctors...there are kind, caring people out there who listen and still find a challenge in seeking a diagnosis and initiating an improvement of symptoms...but...there are far more who are overworked, burnt out, don't listen and experience a joy out of shuffling you though the system to a mental health provider(probably an ex-roomate) who will then pretend to tolerate your complaints, but truly be thrilled with the idea of a "patient for life". As for my advice when seeking medical council. Tell the truth, tell it all...even the disgusting and embarrassing symptoms, continue to ask questions, accept uncertainty only with the commitment that a pursuit of diagnosis will continue, don't let anyone convice you that you are in a deep depression or fraught with chronic anxiety (unless you are), deal with insurance companies in the same manner. Most people who "CHOOSE" the low-carb lifestyle didn't have a choice. It is a cure for so much "evil". It is so sad to me though how many people could be happier, wiser and healthier if only treated by the"right physicians". Keep us updated on what you do! Packrattery

I am hoping that some of you that have delt with similar problems to what my daughter is experiencing can give me some experienced advice. She will turn 18 in a few days and has suffered these symptoms since she was about 14 or so.

She started out with very normal periods at 12 years old. For about 2 years she was very regular...the only problem being very bad cramps. Then, the periods just stopped all at once. I took her to the doctor and they did a sonogram and said everything looked good. I insisted they do a thyroid test and they said it was normal. The doctor put her on Provera for about 3 days to induce a period...which it did.... and then put her on BC pills. She stayed on the pill for about three months and then went off to see if she would have a period on her own. She didn't. She had no periods for about 6 months and then went back on the pill and started regular periods again and stayed on the pill for about a year. Then she went off the pill and never had another period.

A girl that is diabetic at my daughters school checked my daughters blood sugar one day right after lunch. It was in the high 30's. My daughters father had hypoglycemia. We went on the LC diet to try to control her blood sugar levels and see if that would correct her periods. After about 2 weeks of the LC diet she had a scanty period. That was about 2 months ago and she hasn't had a period since then. On this WOE she has lost 11 pounds and has much more energy. My daughter is 5' tall and when we started the diet she weighed 159...now she weighs 148. Sorry for the long case history, but I felt like it was important for you all to know her history.

I would like to correct her problems with diet and herbs if possible. Although she has never been diagnosed with PCOS, I am thinking that that may be her problem. I don't know exactly what I am asking except for some experienced opinions on her condition. No doctor around this area seems to even care about checking blood sugar levels or anything else when she had a problem with her periods. I just feel like, at this point, that you all have problably learned more about this disorder than they know. I would appreciate any information or personal experiences that you can relate. Thanks for any help that you can offer. I don't have health insurance any more as I lost my job....so, you can see my problem. I just can't afford the specialists etc that I feel she would need to see if we were to get any answers from them.

Hi Spring!

Your daughter sounds very much like me at her age. The only way to tell for sure if she has PCOS is to do another ultrasound and to check her hormone levels. An infertility specialist would probably be the best doctor to do these exams as they are more likely to be well informed on PCOS than a general gynecologist. The doctor may also want to do an endometrial biopsy. If she does have PCOS, birth control pills are about the worst thing that she could take because they will make her ovaries shut down completely. Docs put me on BC pills when I was 18 so that I could have a "regular" cycle with the end result being that I was infertile and had completely non-functioning ovaries. I'm really wondering if that blood sugar reading of 30 was an accurate one as most people would be unconscious with a blood sugar that low and would certainly be feeling severe hypoglycemic symptoms at that low a blood sugar. I had a blood sugar reading of 60 once and was near passing out even at that point. If it were my daughter, I would for sure take her to a specialist to get her evaluated properly. Good luck!

Thanks Lisa for the advice. Taking her to a specialist is exactly what I did the first time. He was supposed to really be an expert. He just said she would straighten out on her own after she took the pill for awhile...yeah, right! I am not sure if the BS reading was correct or not. It was done by a girl at school that was diabetic. I plan to get a monitor and check it myself. My mother was diabetic and I had to check her a couple of times a day, so I am familiar with how to do it. I am tired of getting the "run around" with our local doctors. If I decide to go the "expert" route again, I am going to take her to Nashville where they might have someone that at least has an idea of what they are doing. I have No Confidence in any doctors around here.

I understand your concern, Spring. I was fortunate to have a very good infertility expert in the town that I live in and the first thing that they told me was that taking the pill was the worst possible thing that I could have done for my condition. Unfortunately, nothing they tried helped my infertility but I did eventually become pregnant on my own a few years after stopping treatment and just giving up. Don't just take her to a gynecologist expert, take her to an infertility specialist. I realize that she isn't trying to get pregnant, but they are usually very well educated as to PCOS because it is a high cause of infertility. Check out the PCOS forum on this board too for more information on the disease and it's treatments. FYI...low carb is one of the treatments now used for that particular syndrome. Also a good idea on the glucometer. It's best to do several readings throughout the day, especially before meals and an hour or two after eating if you suspect hypoglycemia. If they consistently run low, take her to see the doctor with the blood sugar readings recorded for them to see (many monitors now store the readings in memory so that doctors can see your readings as they were on the monitor along with the date and the time of day the reading was taken). Let us know how she's doing!

Thanks Lisa. My daughter talked to one of her teachers at school today. Her daughter has PCOS. Her daughters symptoms are much more severe than my daughters. This girl has been to several specialists in Nashville...endocrinologists, infertility specialists...the whole 9 yards. What did they do for the girl? They put her on Met...probably a good idea....and gave her BC pills...obviously not so good. The girl is still gaining weight...her facial hair is getting worse and she has developed IBS to boot. There goes alot of my hope for Nashville specialists

Anyway, I did buy the glucose monitor and checked my daughters blood sugar before supper. It was 76. At least that is better than 38! I should have checked it after supper, but my daughter-in-law fell and hurt her ankle and we spent most of the night in the emergency room.....just a sprain, thank God. So, I will do a fasting sugar in the morning and see how her levels are then. Thank you for your help.

Justs a sidenote...my sugar level before supper was 86. Not too bad for a 48 year old. I am sure hoping to avoid my Mother's diabetes so I am keeping a check on mine also.