Low blood sugar after surgery

Hi! Anyone having problems withy hypoglycemia after surgery?  Does it just mean I'm being "BAD" with my diet???  

I've heard about lots of people getting "reactive hypoglycemia" after WLS, and they're certainly not bad with their diets. I have some of that trouble myself. I have to eat more often (which I love) and be more careful than most to stay away from sugar and bad carbs.

For me personally, I feel that the 'reactive hypoglycemia' is now my 'dumping' mechanism only worse!  And YES when I am bad and overeat sugars and fats, within two hours it hits me and it will even wake me up in my sleep and I have to get something quick!  I feel so horrible when this happens that it is THE single factor in my keeping my weight off these last six years!  When I eat right, I feel normal and I don't have very many bad days.  When I eat the wrong things, not only do I feel wrong, but it affects the way I look in the mornings!  I look ten years older after eating wrong the previous day.  I've tested this more than once and found that life is MUCH better when I CHOOSE to eat healthy and follow the rules! 

I personally think the 'reactive hypoglycemia' is the KEY factor in our keeping our weight off IF we will let it!  Otherwise, we'll gain our weight back and be totally miserable and look bad while we are gaining....so, for ME, it's a 'no brainer'!

No it doesn't mean that you're BAD at all. It just means that you need to eat smaller meals  more often through out the day to keep your sugar levels even. I had to switch to eatting every two hours. But "eatting" for me was a piece of string cheese, or a banana or something.... not meals every two hours. 

I had to deal with this a little bit, but found that eating every few hours/high protein has helped me alot. I have read here that there are alot of people that deal with this~some to a pretty dangerous degree.

I've had problems the last two months and my eating is the same as it's been the past two years.  I still have not reintroduced sugar and simple carbs back into my diet and I eat often enough - I don't understand it.  But I have noticed it happens more when I'm tired or stressed so not sure if that plays into it at all but it's causing me to keep a careful eye on how and what I eat, and keep a protein snack always handy.

Sandra, I have had a couple instances of this.  One was drinking an iced coffee that I THOUGHT had no sugar in it (it hit me like I'm sure drugs would a heroin addict).  The other was eating a full sugar mint about two hours after a very light lunch.  In both instances I was extremely dizzy to the point of nearly blacking out and needed to get home, lie down and take a 20 minute nap after eating a high protein item (string cheese in both cases). This reaction seems to hit if I am "exposed" to a high sugar item without it being part of a protein/carb/fat meal.   My "normal" dumping involves that immediate feeling of knowing it's not staying put, throwing up, sometimes accompanied by shivers/coldness, and feeling just fine in 5-10 minutes. An interesting aside is that I was not diabetic or pre-diabetic before surgery and my blood sugar levels are absolutely normal when tested now. I've discussed this with a friend who is diabetic (Type 2) and she has a similar reaction, although much less intense, when she eats too much sugar.  Hers is more of a longer terms, feeling "blah" response. I find this hypoglycemic reaction "interesting" and wish someone would do a study on it, if only though interviews with post-ops, to see if there is a pattern.  It might really help us then do a little planning.  I don't think you're being bad but there are so many hidden sugars in things, we sometimes get exposed without being aware!!!!

Are ya'll saying that you think eating sugar causes this?  I was diabetic pre-surgery and am almost two years out and having trouble with levels getting too low between meals.  And, I feel like I'm hungry all the time.  I get shaky and just feel hungry.  I'm going to start testing more often to see what's going on.  It can be really miserable.  The thing I'm having the most trouble with is feeling so hungry all the time.  I don't want to gain weight.  I find that I have to eat every couple of hours too.  I don't know what's going on.   I hope we get some answers to this.  I'm going to start writing down everything I eat again and when I eat so I can try to see what's happening.   Linda

Linda - I personally think there's two different kinds of reactions going on in this post. One is from sugar. For me too much sugar will makes me feel horrible, my head just sworms around and I have to lay down for a while. Thats a normal dump from sugar.  The second one is more a hypoglycemic issue. I had that after wls too. My body just couldnt handle the rise and fall of sugar levels. I started eatting "something" every two hours (like a piece of string cheese) and it went away. I stayed on the two hour eatting schedule for over a year. Now I don't have to do that and can go five or six hours without eatting.  It's "normal" to get this after wls. You just have to adjust your eatting habits so that it maintains a more steady in put of food into the body.

I agree with you about there be two things going on.  I will try to eat protein more often.  Do you drink protein shakes at all?  I do and love them, but I wonder if I need to be eating more and drinking less.  My tummy seems to prefer the shakes, however.  Thanks again.