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Posted 1/22/2011 2:50 AM (GMT 0)

hey guys!!

so i have been on healingwell for quite some time now, but I am ALWAYS in the anxiety forum, and a few times visited the IBS forum.  But, now I find myself needed to come here.

I am in a bit of a pickle. Now I am fairly certain that I am having problems with my blood sugar. Diabetes runs in my family on my moms side.  I am 19 years old, and over the past two years I have gained about 40 lbs!!! I am now at 165lbs. I work in a pharmacy, and about two months back they had alot of M&M's there for us to snack on.  I got a 13gm(smallest size bottle) vial and filled it with M&Ms and ate it all.  about 1 hour later I got shaky really bad, and my heart was racing. I thought it was weird because I didn't feel anxious just very jittery.  Ever since then I have had occasional spells (especially in the morning) of being very dizzy and feeling like I was going to pass out. A few of those times I ate a spoonful of peanut butter and felt better.

Over the past week, I have been having these symptoms but more frequently, and lasting longer periods of times. I have been getting terrible sudden headaches, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, unquenchable thirst(especially before bed after dinner), stiff neck and back, increased appetite, and tingly extremeties.

Now, I know no one can diagnose on here, and I do have a doctors appointment to have a blood test on Wednesday at 10am.  My anxiety is very high right now because I am nervous about the 5 days I am having to wait to go to the doctor.  I don't want to end up in the ER or it getting out of control before my appointment. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep these symptoms under control until Wednesday?

Thanks so much :)

Posted 1/22/2011 3:51 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Paige, I'm glad you're going to see your doctor.  Maybe we can help you here too.  It's good that you are concerned about diabetes since it runs in the family but I think you're stressing yourself out way too much.  And stressing out is an altogether different problem.  Back to your concern.  It sounds like after you ate a huge amount of M&Ms that your blood sugar spiked and then fell low which is what can cause you to feel jittery and even faint.  It might have been an episode of hypoglycemia.  This doesn't necessarily mean you are diabetic but it may turn out that you have problems metabolizing carbohydrates.  All the sugar in the M&Ms could do that.  I don't know if the odd feelings you've had on other days are related to this.  Stress also has the body react in strange ways and that might be a cause.  In any case, I think the best thing for you to do until you see the doctor is eat a reasonable diet of nutritious and balanced food and not go overboard, especially not on sugary, high carb foods.  Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I would not suggest pancakes with syrup and orange juice since that breakfast is full of carbs and it might make you feel jittery later on.  For breakfast eat eggs and maybe some turkey bacon with a piece of toast and maybe some cheese.  Or, you could eat a piece of leftover chicken from dinner along with some veggies (not potatoes!).  The protein in a meal like that would help keep the carbs in the toast more in control.  I don't know how to tell you not to stress out!  I do know that stress can cause high blood sugar in many people, so it might also be happening in you?! 
Posted 1/23/2011 3:56 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much for your response Lanie. I really hope that if I do end up with a blood sugar issue the doctor catches it quick enough for me to reverse it. With my anxiety I have tried not to do too much research on the subject and freak myself out. I don't want to make myself THINK I am having symptoms that I am not having, so I haven't even looked at a symptom list. However, I have read where people have said you are supposed to fast before getting a glucose reading with your doctor? I called and spoke with the nurse at his office for quite some time and she never mentioned it. So I am not going to, if he thinks there is a problem, then he will probably tell me to make another appointment I'm assuming.

I also saw one person say something about blurred vision, which I have been experiencing. These days waiting on the doctors appointment seem like they are taking forever lol! But I will definitely update on here what happens at my appointment. I love healingwell, and I don't think I could have gotten so much better with my anxiety without this forum, and I'm know if I ever have any other problems I have a family on this site that is here to help!
Posted 1/23/2011 1:18 PM (GMT 0)
A fasting blood sugar reading would be important and at one point he may ask you to go to the lab fasting.  Most doctors today are looking for something under 100 if you're fasting.   Or, a blood test at any time of the day could be an A1c test and that measures an average of your blood sugar for about 90 days.  Now there are wildly different goals for that one.  It's a percentage.  Good luck with the appointment.  Keep us updated.
Posted 1/23/2011 2:04 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, by the way, they were supposed to change the units of the HbA1c test globally from percentage to mmol/mol. How global was this change, or did only a few labs make the change nationally? I only know of Finland and UK actually complying with the change..
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