Does any1 else start to feel lightheaded and shaky when they dont eat? I dont mean not eating all day either i meaan after a few hours inbetween meals? Is there anything I can do to stop this? X
Yes, that happens to me sometimes. My coworker thought that maybe I have low blood sugar. I haven't made it to the doctor yet, but I'd suggest going there...
I get angry when im hungry. But Low blood sugar could cause the shakiness and light headedness you experience. Try snacking, and if you still have the same feelings, test your blood sugar and compare it to normal ranges for you (i'm sure this info is available on WebMd)
I also associate those symptoms with low blood sugar. My skinny sister is hypoglycemic, and when her blood sugar drops, she gets dizzy, light-headed, nauseous and if she doesn't eat soon will pass out.
Since I've been on metformin (a blood sugar reducing medication), I am more prone to blood sugar drops also.
For me, smaller more frequent meals prevents the problem. Especially if I spread out my carbohydrates throughout the day (I'm on a relatively low-carb diet). Hubby is diabetic and on meds that make him even more prone to low blood sugar issues, so we always keep a dish of hard candy, dried fruit, granola/cereal bars, or small packages of nuts in the house and in the car.
If we just need to make it for a few minutes until a regularly scheduled meal - a hard candy (about 15 calories) does the trick. We use a granola bar or bag of nuts more as a replacement for a meal or snack.
For me, if I'm experiencing more than one or two blood sugar spells, it's because I'm not paying attention to my schedule. If I'm following my food plan (eating every 3 to 4 hours), it doesn't happen (except sometimes after swimming - because it's the one place I can really get in a real workout).
It's important to find out if you actually get low blood sugar. Studies have shown poor correlation between symptoms and blood sugar levels. Symptoms might still be related to glucose related hormones, but I hate to see people talking about their low blood sugar symptoms without even checking their blood sugars.
Oh yeah, that is the stage for me that appears a few minutes before shaky, light-headed. Hubby will notice long before I do.
It's like that old joke about the woman who was asked what happens when she doesn't take her antidepressant (there's another version in which a woman is asked what happens to her during PMS -(and it could just as easily be applied to what happens to me when I get hungry)
and she says:
"to me, nothing - but my husband becomes a real jerk."
It sort of depends on how much you eat and how often. I agree about being tested for low blood sugar, but you also should take a look at whether you're not eating enough at meals and then going too long between meals.
Also, if you haven't eaten in a couple of hours and then do a workout, you could easily find yourself feeling shaky.
Making sure you eat protein with every meal and snack can help you get less hungy in between. It doesn't have to be a steak it could be some yogurt, lowfat cottage cheese or string cheese, some tuna, a boiled egg, etc.
I'm not knocking blood sugar testing - it can be important to know if your blood sugar ever gets into a dangerous range. Blood sugar testing is easy, and relatively painless (at worst, still better than a papercut). Walgreen's has a disposable model - in the lid of the test strips (it's the most economical option I've found).
It certainly doesn't hurt to document your blood sugar (during symptomatic events, and just through the day).
However, regarding the symptoms we're discussing - while there may be a poor correlation between those symptoms and actual blood sugar level - there is a strong correlation between feeling better after eating in response to those feelings. So the advice applies, even if the blood sugar level does not.
I don't check my blood sugar as often as hubby, but I do periodically - and did quite a bit when he first got his meter (it was a new toy, for both of us - but it was a learning experience).
I found that there were two types of blood sugar drops, that I experienced.
1. True low blood sugar (any time my blood sugar drops significantly below 80 - I'll start to feel symptoms, but some people may experience no symptoms until blood sugar drops under 70). I've never had a blood sugar drop below 65 that I'm aware of.
This type of drop tends to come on gradually - and is preceded to in stages (the anger shows up).
2. Low-normal blood sugar a few hours after eating a too-sweet or starchy food (usually when I've tested, my blood sugar has been around 80 to 85). When my blood sugar was in the normal range, but I felt blood sugar issues anyway - it was usually a few hours after a high carb food. The classic example for me is any overly sweet or starchy food (especially if the meal or snack is low protein - for example a piece of cake or a brownie). I cannot (haven't since I was 10 years old) been able to eat a donut or other sugary food for breakfast without getting quite ill within a couple of hours. Later in the day, the reaction doesn't seem as severe, but even so sweets on an empty stomach makes me ill, every time.
A sweet breakfast is worse than no breakfast at all for me.
I'm assuming it's from a rather sudden drop - it's the sudden difference - the "distance and speed" of the drop not the actual level to which it's dropped that I'm feeling.
This type of drop tends to come on suddenly (and the anger is usually bypassed - or comes on at the same time as the nausea and light-headedness).
I do as well. I've been known to faint as well. There is this great professional family portrait of me where I'm white as a sheet because I fainted during the session.
I make sure that I'm eating enough during the day and always carry a snack with me. A fiber1 bar is easy enough to keep on hand or a handful of almonds. I'll go over points/calories if I feel light-headed because its better than passing out, imo.
Yeah, eating is definitely preferable to fainting (especially in church).
My two sisters and I have all fainted over hypoglycemia issues - and all of us, at least once in a church. One sister fainted in the pew (lucky girl), the other fainted in the aisle going up to communion - and I beat them all for embarassment - I fainted in the confessional (I only went back to confession a couple times after that, and each time was terrified I'd do it again. I'm now Lutheran, so I don't have to worry about that anymore).
It was a pretty boring confession too, so it wasn't like anxiety or anything. I was crash dieting (in graduate school) and it was a sweltering hot day. The confessional wasn't the "booth" style, either it was a small room with a screen. So when I fainted I basically fell sideways onto the floor (no wall or door to hold me up, and the priest got a full view of my fall as I hit the carpet.) In actuality, a booth could have been worse, because those are often within the sanctuary, and if the booth had no door or a door that couldn't suppport my weight, I would have fallen into the church aisle - with the potential for more witnesses.
I was so embarassed when I came to, looking up at the priest leaning over me. I practically ran out of there (only having to go find the priest - and my luck a different priest who I then had to explain the incident to) because my glasses had flown off (and into a corner, behind the door of the office), and I needed the priest to unlock the confessional office so I could find my glasses.
I won't say that the incident caused my conversion to a different faith, but one of the perks of converting to my husband's denomination was the discretionary rather than mandatory aspect of private confession.
Oh yes, it's not genuine low blood sugar, I've been tested a couple of times for that, it seems to be more of a high sugar drop off but again that's not medically significant 'high sugar'. Oddly enough it never happens when I'm dieting, only when I'm eating normally because my 'normal' is not much during the day and pretty much constant chewing at night.
I can't recommend eating every three hours highly enough, like kaplods says, it really does stop other people behaving like jerks as well as getting rid of that shaky feeling.
Any1 else feel shaky when you dont eat? :(
it could be some yogurt, lowfat cottage cheese or string cheese, some tuna, a boiled egg, etc.
