Late Dumping and Reactive Hypoglycemia - What to do?

Starting yet another thread...

So here I am, about five and a half years out and finally starting to understand what was causing the last two years of lethargy, irritability, inflammation, eczema, and weight fluctuations. My PCP diagnosed me with late dumping and I'm starting to realize my symptoms match those of so-called "Reactive Hypoglycemia."

I let lots of simple carbs and old habits in about two years ago. Started dating someone new who's a strict vegetarian, so it was suddenly rice noodles and artisanal breads instead of bunless burgers and Big Daddy' Manly Mike's House of Hickory Horsemeat. It wasn't long after that that I noticed the strange symptoms.

I'm trying to pull back and be like "Oooookay, back to low-carb, I can do this, no sweat." Only now my body is rebelling. Getting my Atkins on is making me feel weak, tired, tingly and inflamed. Normally I would eschew carbs and eat even more protein/fat but as an experiment when I was out I ate a cookie and felt better almost immediately. Obviously I am not going to maintain my weight eating Oreos so I need to figure out what I should be eating. Before my surgery I was low carb, afterwards, still strictly low carb. Now I'm reading I may need more carbs with my meals?

Could I have developed insulin-resistance and is it reversible? Glucose intolerance?

To note, I HAVE had a couple episodes of severe late dumping--shakes, sweats, weakness, extreme hunger--but only a handful of times over the last few years. The symptoms of late seem more insidious and subtle, but definitely have negatively impacted my life. Any more advice would be deeply appreciated, fellow sleevers.

Protein and fats. Detoxing off carbs isn't easy, but it will pass.

Any time you eat simple carbs by themselves, you will hit that RH wall. Proten, fats, and a very little of complex csrbs will keep your blood sugar stable. RH is completely avoidable, but it takes diligence.

I get reactive hypoglycemia but only if i eat too many carbs without any protein or too much sugar. .. also if I eat anything sugary in the am - like a corn muffin - forget it - I am in trouble. Make sure you eat protein with your carbs- and i've found a greek yogurt immediately offsets any symptoms if i get shaky.

Agreed. If I do any kind of carb without protein or fat, it's a mess. I keep any carb to something "healthy" like sweet potato or butternut squash as opposed to bread. Also, I need to avoid sugar. I can have a bite or two of something but that's it.

It will take a couple of weeks to completely detox and if you eat something carby, restart the clock.

Have you looked into gluten intolerance. I believe many of those symptoms match

I have thought about that, but I'm having a hard time determining whether it's just too much carbs or wheat gluten. I can definitely say that in meals with too much rice or peanuts I get the same symptoms.

One thing that may help track down symptoms is tracking blood sugar levels, food, and exercise very precisely for two weeks. You can see trends then. I test far more frequently when I do this, but it allows me to see how the different foods affect me, and at the end of the two weeks I was able to track down some of the problem areas. I set up a spreadsheet and tracked blood sugar when I woke up (before eating), just prior to eating, 30 then 60 then 90 then 120 minutes after eating, logged exactly what I ate including protein/carbs, and logged exercise. When exercising I would test prior and after to see the impact.

Given the oreo makes you feel better that is an indicator of low blood sugar. If you have not tested before, it is not all that expensive to get a blood sugar monitor- Walmart has the Relion brand for under $10 right now. You will also need some test strips and lancets, and check that they fit the model that you purchase should you decide to give this a try.

One thing that surprised me is that drinking just a protein shake first thing in the morning dropped my blood sugar level. Good luck in tracking down the issue, and I hope you can find a resolution.

This is all great you guys. I guess one thing I am still unclear on is whether I should just keep going low carb, even though I can feel my blood sugar sometimes swing super low (lethargic, tingling lips, itchy skin, brain fog, sleepy and hungry) or should I pop a couple of glucose tabs or have some candy? Like, yes, I have reactive hypoglycemia, but what do I DO about it? I've had nothing but low-carb fare today and I feel like garbage. Yesterday I overate, but tried to limit my carbs, but worry I might have added too many during lunch. So do I correct hypoglycemic crashes with carbs or do I just tough it out and keep eating low carb hoping it will go away?

Hi All! I am 12 years out had R n Y in 2005...and about 2 months ago my husband decided he wanted Chinese...we are new to a small town and there IS no Chinese..so he decided to make top ramen..hmmm..well he made it...it was extremely salty and I had some...about 3 hours later I was in bed laying down bu****ching tv..I got super sweaty...then I got a disoriented feeling like I knew where I was??but everything was kinda slow motion?? I felt SO weird!!! then I started to come out of it feeling very weak and tired then started shivering and was cold for the rest of the night. It happened again about a week and a half ago..same exact thing..only difference was that I had a few pieces of over ripe watermelon so super sugary and a little over ripe banana (trying to hurry and clean out fridge etc before in laws arrived..same time frame a few hours after..Sweaty, disoriented, shaking, no color, then freezing for several hours. My family said whats wrong?? you dont look good at all!!! and my kids even said that I sounded tired on the phone later that night too..kicked my butt! My Naturopath that I see doesn't have any bariatric experience but said sounded like a food intolerance issue or hypoglycemic episode so I started searching...I have NEVER had that kind of thing happen before...well at least not the disoriented part...back in the beginning I would have the dumping issue but it was usually stomach, sweaty, shaky....so from everything I'm reading this looks like RH!!!!!! Looking for Bariatric office to confirm this...anyone else have these symptoms??? what do you do? thinking about getting a glucometer.

It sure sounds like reactive hypoglycemia. You can get a glucometer to confirm it, or just avoid eating too many simple carbs like that. I know, easier said than done. I've done it myself, and paid the same price.