Hypoglycemia and Changes

We discovered a couple of weeks ago that I am hypoglycemic. I have to admit that I am happy that there was something wrong with me other than Alzheimer's. I had decided that I must have some sort of super early onset or something. 

I kept getting lost when I was driving places. Or driving somewhere and having no idea why I had gone there, then trying to drive home and finding myself at another store. With no recollection of the drive, or the reason I was there. 

I keep forgetting what I was talking about. Holding onto a thought process was/is impossible. If I get even slightly interrupted I can't regain what I was saying or thinking. I'd tell Tyler to "Take out the trash, please." Only what I had actually said was, "I'm going to the bathroom." Then I'd be frustrated because Tyler didn't do what I'd asked.

Then I started the super lightheaded thing. I'd almost pass out, and I'd sometimes feel sick to my stomach. Then the almost passing out got worse and worse. On Easter Sunday I had to leave the communion rail in the middle of communion because if I didn't I was going to have to lay down right there. I barely made it out of the church in time. Everything went black as I sat down, but it didn't last long. I was shaking like crazy and my heart was pounding.

It was almost like a panic attack....but I've had those before and this wasn't it. I felt AWFUL. Crazy awful. Scott had to go to work right after church, and I had to pull over three times on the way home because I didn't think I was going to make it. I almost put Tyler behind the wheel to get us home. And if we'd had back roads to our house I would have.

Monday was worse. I could barely get out of bed. And if I stood up everything went fuzzy or just straight black. I managed to milk, but that was it. It felt like I was moving in water and hadn't slept for days. My head buzzed, my hands shook, my heart pounded, I could feel my blood moving thickly through my veins, and I was getting really really scared.

Cripes! What is happening to me?! Am I going to croak here at 33? Is this some kind of heart issue? What is going on!? 

I decided that I'd feel better the next day, but I didn't. I couldn't even get out of bed that day. If I lifted my head my heart pounded so hard and everything would go black. I managed to milk. Sitting down 7 times in the 30 yards it takes to get to the barn. I decided that I was going to bite the bullet and go to the doctor. Yuck.

I told them what was going on and was asked if I had panic attacks or was under stress. I told them of course I was under stress, but nothing unusual and they couldn't be panic attacks because I'd had those before and this wasn't it. I was really  not feeling well, and the doctor told me that they were going to check me for anemia because that is usually what makes women feel tired. I told him I doubted that was it because I eat a decent amount of iron rich foods and cook in cast iron, but he wanted to do it just in case. I was about to walk out of the office and he saw me shaking and walked back in and shut the door.

"Do you drink?" he asked.    I laughed. "About twice a year, almost half a beer.", I said.

He sent me on my way to the lab.:o)

The test results came back and my levels were above average. I was starting to feel a little light headed and he said he wanted to try something else before he sent me to get the expensive labs done. So his nurse came in and took my blood sugar. It was 36 and I'd eaten about an hour earlier.

So. Problem solved! It's a blood sugar issue! Yay! Now I know what to do.

Only......I really didn't want to. I had managed to kick the vast amounts of Mountain Dew I drank every day about 8 months ago when I couldn't sleep. That was hard, but I just switched to sweet tea and it wasn't a huge deal. I had tried to cut back my caffeine intake back then, but that was harder than I could deal with at the time. So I drank decaf after 7pm and left it at that. 

But now I needed to kick the sugar habit entirely if I wanted to give my liver a chance to cure me. So I made the move to stevia sweetened tea and avoided fruits and fruit juice. 

Within a day I was ready to kill for a box of whoppers. (maybe not...but I really really really wanted them) Within two days, I decided I was starving. It didn't matter what I ate, or how much of it, I couldn't get full. I ate vast amounts of chicken. I ate several frozen meals a day.....not realizing how much sugar those contained until later. I ate so much salad that I should have turned green. Pounds of nuts. My body was STARVING!! And it was getting hard to care about this whole hypoglycemic thing.....I still felt awful. I slept 9 hours on Scott's day off and still went to bed at 9 and slept the night through. I was exhausted and weak....and hungry.

Then I started to feel better. I'm not sure how many days it took to adjust, but I did. This is when I started to notice how many things have a ton of sugar that I didn't know about. Because I felt awful Scott had picked up a lot of premade food at the grocery store. Anything to keep me eating and the kids from making things difficult for me. (He's such a sweetie.)

I quickly learned that I couldn't eat most of it. I would take a bite and get a huge sugar rush within moments and then feel awful for hours. I tried a drink of fruit juice and did the same thing.  Regular fruit doesn't seem to affect me that much, other than tasting a thousand times better than fruit has ever tasted.

Once I got free of the sugar, I started working on the caffeine. I'm in day three of that and I still feel pretty bad although I'm hoping that I don't have a headache today. But if I do, I know it won't last more than a week.

I've always worried about my children's diet. I've always worked hard to keep their sugar way down and their food as fresh and natural as possible. But I never worried about me...until things went wrong I just ate what I wished. I enjoy good food and tons of veggies so I didn't think that I could get caught by something like this. 

The "at least 2 cups" of white sugar everyday proved me wrong. Which is a good thing, I think. I'm on my way to a healthier me. I'm on my way to a much better example. I'm on my way to a lower weight......(I hope, I mean....I've cut out at least 700 calories a day so that should do something, right?)

I'm working on easing the load on my liver to see what I can do to reverse this. The lemonade I'm drinking will help. The vast amounts of water I can drink now will help. (Who knew that water tasted sweet?!) I'm excited about the coming farmer's market season, I know that those super fresh veggies will help. 

 I'm grateful that I've been given this chance to enjoy food as it was meant to be enjoyed, even if it did come about in a more dramatic way than I would have liked.:o)