Continuous Glucose Monitoring

I had my glucose monitor removed today. No word yet on the heavy carb meal with exercise and without (for those of you following, I chose spaghetti with meat sauce . . . on the advice of my surgeon . . . as my meal of choice). It turns out I have Hypoglycemia. The data shows that I spend at least 26% of the time with a blood glucose level of 60 or lower. The part that's concerning to them is I'm having low blood sugar "episodes" when I sleep which can be dangerous. I'm waiting to speak to the endocrinologist who is running the study, but in the interim, I was told by the Nurse Practitioner to eat sugar if I feel symptomatic. Recommending sugar to someone with Dumping Syndrome seems crazy. A point on which my surgeon agrees. So, I'll try and just deal with it until I hear from her. It might be something that the dietitian in the endo office and the dietitian in my surgeon's office will have to work together on a solution, since they seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Anyway, I knew some people wanted an update, so there it is. I'll definitely post more regarding the study once I speak to the endocrinologist.

hugs... it sucks.. I know.

For a while I had uncontrolled hypoglycemia. RH and hypoglycemia.

now - as long as I follow my own protocol - I don't have that. when i get stupid 0- I get RH...once i get severe RH (30-40) - I could "chase" for 8-24 hours before my body stabilizes... It can lasts that long even when I do everything right after the episode..

I used to have it all the time in a middle of the night... now - only when I do "stupid things"...

I often can catch it now when my BS drops below 60... but if i ignore the early signs it may drop to low 30's...before i get the shakes and sweat.. and...

Hope you find a way to control it...

Thanks for the sentiment and thanks for sharing. It's nice to have someone who totally "gets it!" I'm really looking forward to what the endocrinologist has to say, since she's going to have to deal with the hypoglycemia AND the dumping. My monitor was blind, so I didn't know what my BG was at any given point. It'll be interesting to see if there was a correlation between the number and any particular foods. I'm relatively low carb, but was higher last week per her instructions.

It took me 6 months to roughly understand my body. What food triggers what. Lot's of research and experiments... lots of stubbing my fingers.. daily , sometimes every 15 min.... for 2-3 -4 hours... I was running out of fingers to stub.

They gave me guidance.. but I had to test that on my body..

My experiment continues. I still get RH... and sometimes even when i think I am doing everything correctly... In the past- I woudl cry in frustration, or swear, or get sad... now - I shrug... and unless it is a "big" one ...I try to understand what happened and why. Did i played "Russian roulette" and lost? or is there new things I need to consider...like- "Same food but when I am tired will affect me differently than when I eat it as an mid afternoon snack?

They probably would give you general guidelines.. you would have to be the one that does all the work..and learn every day what works and what does not....

i.e. I found a egg white protein powder,just proteins,with some flavors and no sugar. But I would get severe RH every-time I made a shake and drank tha****er based, coconut milk,etc... It was not sugar- because I dump and I would know if there is sugar. no SA - I get horrible gas and..dump.. That protein powder had enzymes added to help digestion and absorption. The very rapid egg white protein absorption in my BS probably caused insulin release by my pancreas and with no carbs present - my BS would drop like a rock.

to this day - I can't have just eggs (soft boiled or sunny side up). Unless I plan to eat more food app 30 min later...so now I have eggs with veggies and lots of fat... followed by some fruits app 30-45 min later.. or chocolate... or nuts...

You are strong, you are smart. you will figure it out.

Unless it kills you before that. (I have days I am scared of driving. )

Hi Stacy,

I know this is frustrating and it really sucks! I hope it gets better for you! Thank you for the update.

I have been dealing the same issue. When I get dizzy, light headed and or have a headache I know I have to check my level. Both my surgeon's PA and endocrinologist want me to eat more carbs. I agreed to do it only when my level is very low. Since I'm 5 months out from surgery I still want to make the most and lose the most weight possible and eating 99% protein in a day. Of course they both yelled at me but I have to do what I have to do! Man, what a change from when I had to take 5 shots of insulin a day before surgery!

Sorry you're dealing with it too. I was not diabetic before WLS and this came on as a side effect of my RNY revision. Even with this issue, I'd still have my WLS . . . once a year if need be. I just wish they'd figure out an eating plan for me to follow that aren't mutually exclusive. I'm not willing to increase my carbs to a point where I start to gain weight, and I also have Dumping Syndrome, so if I eat too many carbs at one time, I definitely pay for it. There has to be a happy medium, right?

Once i figured it out - not only I stopped gaining - lost 20 lbs. it can be done.

I hope there's a happy medium but I haven't found it yet. I eat very similar food everyday and some days my BS is fine and other days it takes a dive.

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted on what's next.

Hala is a good resource for all of this. She's dealt with more than anyone else I know.