RE: Problems with low sugar/hypoglycemia

[Guest guest]

Hi Rowanfae, and others,

OKay, here are my tricks to manage hypoglyemia (and food intolerance and die-off). :-)

A. Focus:

1. Take thyroid first think in the morning:

I use 30 mg. of natural slow release porcine thyroid each morning. It comes from a compounding pharmacy.

2. Make sure the first meal of the day contains protein, fat, and veggies:

I usually re-heat soup for breakfast--veggies with bison or turkey plus at least a tsp. of ghee in the bowl.

3. Eat often:

I eat every 2 to 2.5 hours throughout the day; i.e. six or seven small meals a day

4. Eat good fat at each meal:

--my favs are: ghee, avocado, almond oil

--sometimes: chicken fat, olives, olive oil

--once a day: almond butter

--I also take fish oil at least once a day

5. Eat "Meat" Broths with veggies:

I eat broths with veggies and fish, turkey, bison, or lamb at least three times a day. Sometimes I'll have a quick snack of avocado,

nut yogurt and shrimp.

6. Take Probiotics very slowly

I can eat about 2 tbsps of nut milk yogurt a day. I sometimes eat 1 tbsp of sauerkraut--often in a bowl of soup or part of a

"salad". I take about 1/8 capsule of Kirkman's non-dairy lactobacillus--not every day--I'm still experimenting with amounts and

times.

7. Get adequate sleep:

I sleep 8 hours each night, if I possibly can. There are times I need to eat a little in the night, but I prefer not to.

8. Do stress reduction and exercise each day:

I do some of the belly breath focus talked about in Full Catastrophe Living. I also walk each day. And part of my program includes

20 min. of light therapy in the morning and 10 min. of infra red therapy in the evening (my own set up--two small chicken hatcher

lamps with infra-red bulbs). :-) Oh, and I'm always doing creative projects.

9. Take a detox remedy when necessary:

I used to take epsom salt baths, but I don't have a bath now. Sometimes I take a little magnesium and potassium citrate in water to

recover from a food or chemical reaction or to help with detox. Once in a blue moon, I take activated charcoal--only if I get diarrhea

or have severe reactions to a chemical

B. Limitations and Elimination:

1. Avoid foods I don't tolerate well:

I can get hypoglycemic symptoms by eating foods my body is not ready for. I don't eat many of the SCD allowable foods--dairy

yogurt, dairy acidophilus, DCCC, green vegetables, beef, etc. I either have a food sensitivity to them or my gut is not ready and

I'm not tolerating them. I limit eggs a lot--recently started eating them about twice a week. I also avoid eating foods that aren't

organic, but I can't eat 100% organic, because some of my "meats" aren't completely pure. Also, I have not been able to get grass-

fed, so I'm still eating grain-fed. All of my produce is organic.

2. Don't eat honey:

I'm still not eating honey and I don't know if I ever will. Maybe I'll try it in a year or so.

3. Limit my fruit intake:

I can eat fruit about three or four times a week, but only later in the day. I tried pear first thing in the morning yesterday--what a

disaster! I basically can't eat any dried fruits, but every once in awhile I'll have one date or three dried apricots. I don't drink juices

but I may try again with about one tsp. of juice in a glass of water--perhaps pear or peach. I do better with fruit and even some

diluted juices in the summer.

4. Limit squash:

I eat squash once a day about five times a week--that's also when I usually eat my nut butter. I like the two together--later in the

day.

5. Limit and manage detoxification and die-off:

If possible, I don't do anything fast, but focus on taking small steps with the SCD/GAPS program. If I start detoxing too fast, I get a

lot of symptoms similar to hypoglycemia. Actually I feel as if I'm detoxing all the time since I started the program, but if I manage

the foods and probiotics carefully, then life is much more enjoyable and I'm gaining some stability and energy. :-)

6. Avoid chemical and mold exposures:

I get many symptoms just from modern day products, including fragrances, personal products, cleaning products, laundry products,

new carpets, paint, carpet cleaning, new buildings, new clothes, etc.

Hope this is a bit helpful and that things go better for you. Hypoglycemia symptoms aren't fun. I'm glad to say that I think my adrenals are healing since being on the diet. And I just had some routine blood work done which turned out great, except for high uric acid which is likely because I ate too much chicken for awhile and I've had inflammation throughout my body and especially had trouble with one foot, which may have gout in it.

But I'm almost 64, and I've never had good health ever in my life, so I'm somewhat different from younger folks or those who have only been ill for a short time. But hopefully it's never too late to heal. I just have to go slowly, especially since I'm house hunting (actually for 27 years) and often exposed to heavy toxicity in my condo building. I have an urgent need for healthy housing.

All the best!

Louise

MCS, ME/CFS, FM--severely ill since 1973

food sensitivities and candida

scd--Feb. 25/08

Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

I have a little question about low sugar problems. I have hypoglycemia, and after months of dieting on the SCdiet, I realised that I have more problems with it. I had many small crisis in the past months.

Do you have tricks?

[Guest guest]

Rowanfae

I do many of the things that Louise mentions to keep my episodes of hypoglycemia from occurring too frequently. Eating small meals frequently (something every 2 to 3 hours) has been the biggest help, but I've also had to work at figuring out what foods to combine and what works better in the morning or is better in the afternoon. Another thing that has helped me the most is eating more protein (meats) and making sure I have some with every small meal.

It has gotten easier to keep hypoglycemia from setting in the longer I've been on SCD, since now I can tolerate a piece of two of dried apricot a few times a week, so keep some in my purse for emergency sugar boosts. I prefer not to use the dried fruit, though, as the sugar surge is usually too high and the resulting crash can be difficult unless I eat more carbs (veggies or meat) within 20 to 30 minutes. But it will help me short-term, long enough to get to the fridge or retrieve my cooler from my car.

I wonder if Elmiron may be affecting your blood glucose levels in some way? It's a blood thinner, so may be having an impact on the amount of glucose available to your body. Are you taking it for Interstitial Cystitis? And if so, is it helping? I have IC as well, but haven't required medication for it as I have it under control.

Kim M.

SCD 5 years