# Hi there - advice needed on hypoglycemia symptoms if poss pls



## Sarah (Jan 7, 2010)

Hello, I'm new so not sure if posting all this info in right place or not.

I have a partner who has symptoms/episodes which appear to be hypoglycemic reactions.  His symptoms can come on after exertion or from seemingly nowhere.  He can be highly irritable, moody, depressed, lethargic, quick to temper, emotionally oversensitive, irrational & even feels suicidal at times and he has also experienced episodes of complete exhaustion, shaking, sweating, nausea, weakness, dizzyness, headaches and his facial expression becoming kind of glazed over - this has occurred after eating when there has been a prolonged period between meals and also before he has had chance to eat.  He describes the hunger pangs as severe and feels overwhelmed by distressing emotions.  When he is in this state there is no way of talking any sense into him, he will babble on not making any sense whilst getting more and more wound up - all this is also distressing for our teenage son to witness and hear and I bear most of the verbal brunt of all this and i'm at a loss on what to say or do at the time as whatever I do or say never seems to be the right thing and i am usually then accused of being unsupportive & uncaring if i say anything or say nothing. 

During a fairly recent episode (I thought he had passed out with his eyes open) I spoke to an on call GP who arranged for him to be tested for diabetes via his usual GP yet the blood test itself was negative (his grandma was diabetic so thought he may be enroute to diabetes himself or have hypoglycemia).

The issue is further complicated as all this led to confusion and in the end he paid York Test Labs almost ?300 for food intolerance tests believing that to be the reason - the York Test did reveal him to be intolerant to wheat, cow dairy, yeast & borderline intolerant to chicken & garlic - after making adjustments to diet to cut out these foodstuffs (not easy!)and all sugary stuff he is still having days when feels really unwell and others were he is fine on an even keel and other days with loads of energy - all very confusing. 

This is affecting his work and recently nearly lost his job as when feeling ill he cannot concentrate then rushes to meet targets and has caused mistakes, he cannot bite his tongue and be careful about what he is saying and who saying it to when he is questioned about his actions.  Its almost as if a self destruct button is being triggered within his body & mind combined.  His boss has been v good about the situation but after approx 3 months off to sort himself out he has been back in work for just 1.5days, he has got home from work had a snack (fruit & plain crisps) then gone for a walk over the snowy country park with our son and whilst out had an episode of shakes etc so bad that he had to sit down in the snow and wait for it to pass and has then been behaving irrationally & argumentatively (mainly about food & my supposed lack of support for his condition) this evening before storming out in a bad mood.

Too be honest he has worn me down, I have some health issues myself and i'm in the midst of training to do some voluntary work for the local health authority so I really don't think I can cope with the stress of his behaviour/illness any longer (we reckon he has been getting steadily worse over the last 10yrs and also looking back he thinks his problem may have been underlying during childhood) and we don't feel we are getting any help whatsoever from his GP/NHS.  Also there does not appear to be any support organisations in the UK (unlike USA or OZ) for those with hypoglycemic symptoms but not diabetic.  Can anyone offer any advice or pointers in the right direction - feeling desperate and can't afford private health care for an alternative approach either  Sorry to waffle on.


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## Northerner (Jan 7, 2010)

Hi Sarah, welcome to the forum A lot of the symptoms you describe are similat to hypo symptoms - the confusion, irritability, shaking and sweating are all classic hypo indicators. Do you have a blood glucose monitor that you could use to test his blood when he is feeling like this? They are quite cheap (or even free - I believe Bayer are giving away their Contour meter at the moment), but the test strips are quite expensive - about 50p per test. This would give you an idea of whether it is low blood sugar that is causing his symptoms. It is possible for non-diabetics to get low blood sugars, but usually after extreme exertion. I'm not a doctor, so don;t know if there are any other medical conditions that might fit, what has his doctor said?

Hope you get to the bottom of it soon.


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## Steff (Jan 7, 2010)

Hi Sarah and a warm welcome to the site I cant really help on the hypo question as I have never suffered one, I do hope something can be pinpointed for your partners symptoms , good luck x


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## Northerner (Jan 7, 2010)

I did a little looking around and found this page about Reactive Hypoglycaemia. The account that the person gives does sound similar to what you describe, so it may be something to ask your doctor about.

http://ehealthforum.com/health/reactive-hypoglycemia-t165562.html


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## Sarah (Jan 7, 2010)

*Thanks*

Thanks for the welcome and info - I really think hes going to have to be more insistant with his GP for further help as it does sound like reactive hypoglycemia but seems like the NHS doesnt want to acknowledge it exists as a stand alone condition as well as within diabetes


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## Copepod (Jan 8, 2010)

Definitely agree that your husband needs further help and investigation by specialist(s), so hope he can push his GP for the appropriate referral(s) - it might take more than one specialist to get to the bottom of his problems. Worth keeping records of all meetings with medics and work managers, in view of the threat to his job that you have mentioned.


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## sofaraway (Jan 8, 2010)

Could be worth getting a monitor and recording what the blood sugars are doing at the times that he is expereincing these symptoms. There are tests that can be done, which would usually be arranged by an endocrinology team if it is thought to be hypoglyceamia.


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## Alba37 (Jan 9, 2010)

Hi Sarah

The symptoms you describe are certainly symptoms of diabetes (although they could be symptoms of other conditions too I guess)  My son experiences the majority of the symptoms you described.  I agree with the others, try and get hold of a blood glucose monitor and check his levels.  

I was talking to a girl at a conference recently who has Reactive Hypoglycaemia.  Get your boyfriend to keep annoying the GP.  He really needs to get to the bottom of this asap as it's obviously having a great negative impact in his life.  Let us know how it goes.


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