Advice needed: Low blood sugar after surgery

Hi everyone,

I don't come to the boards often but I wanted to reach out to see if anyone has experienced issues with low blood sugar episodes. 

I've had some issues on and off over the years where I would get super sweaty, feel faint with my heart racing but I would eat something and feel better.  Lately, this has been happening more often.  My RNY was March 2008. 

I'm debating on getting a home glucose monitor to get some basic numbers for my doc (and for myself).  Has anyone done this?

I'm not asking for medical advice, just wondering what others may have done in the past.

Since I know that it's my blood sugar dropping and I know that it gets better once I eat something, do I really need to go to the doctor?  What could they possibly tell me that I don't already know? 

Any advice/thoughts are appreciated! 

Thanks,

Jen

Yes, Reactive Hypoglycemia.  It is quite common after RNY (although I am not sure they knew this back when you had your surgery.... I know that my surgeon, who was really good about giving us information, she didn't mention it to me in 2007.)

I bought a monitor, but really don't use it.  I mean, I can feel when my blood sugar drops, so it really isn't important to me how low it is.  

The key is to eat small meals frequently, and to be sure to eat a combination of protein and carbs (and -- for many of us -- also a little bit of fat) at every meal. The worst thing you can do is eat something with sugar/carbs and no protein.  

I find that cheese is a good "go to" food because it has all three (protein, good carbs from the milk, and some fat) so I usually have cheese and a whole grain cracker or two if I delay eating too long and my sugar drops.

Lora

I also developed reactive hypoglycemia... in my case it was about 2 years after surgery.  I am pretty militant about carbs, but I am extra careful when treating myself to a cookie or something to combine it with a protein or a fat... the lowest my sugar has ever gotten is in the 40's and that was not a nice feeling.

Audrey