bertiedog
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,738
- Location
- South East England, UK
I have had really severe problems with controlling my blood sugar since before I crashed with ME/CFS/Lymes in 2000. I used to eat a very high carb diet, I am sure I was addicted to carbs and sugar and ended up putting on 2 stone in weight around 2000. I had severe reactive hypoglycaemia which I worked out for myself not medically diagnosed.
The next year I learned all about how fat was good and carbs weren't so great for many of us and managed to loose a stone and did feel better but especially in the mornings I always felt very bad until my blood sugar rose a bit. My fasting bs would have been around 4.6. In 2002 I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and mild adrenal insufficiency and had to take Prednisolone for this plus desiccated thyroid. I have never been able to come off the meds, in fact I did for a few months in 2006 but ended up with 2 adrenal crisis, one was milder than the other which was sufficiently bad that I knew it wasn't an option for me to ever stop the steroid (passed out and couldn't get off the floor after uncontrollable vomiting and diahorrea.)
As the years have gone on and I have stayed on a medium carb diet 50-60 g carbs daily and no sugar and very little fruit, just a few berries from our garden with the evening meal. However my bs has been rising steadily except the fasting one though that has gone up to 5.3 on some days. It now takes 4 hours in the evening to get my bs to drop back to 5.5 without me eating anything and only having a small meal of meat or fish plus non starchy veg.
Having read and listened to the Fat Summit and doctors like David Perlmutter who say our brains actually prefer to function on fats I know that in my case this just isn't so. In the mornings I have to have some carbs to raise my bs otherwise I cannot do anything and will have severe dizziness (like falling off a chair type dizziness) plus usually a migraine will develop no matter how much fat I might eat plus my legs are completely empty and sciatica will be triggered.
When I read the sort of breakfast people on a low carb diet eat (Omelette with veg plus coconut oil) I absolutely cannot function on that which got me wondering whether it's to do with the condition of ME/CFS. Can somebody explain to me in simple terms why our brains/body cannot seem to operate on fat rather than a small amount of carbs plus fat whereas "normal" people can do fine on a tiny amount of carbs?
(As the day goes on provided I have some nuts and a cup of tea as a snack between meals I do improve, its the early mornings that are a nightmare.
Pam
The next year I learned all about how fat was good and carbs weren't so great for many of us and managed to loose a stone and did feel better but especially in the mornings I always felt very bad until my blood sugar rose a bit. My fasting bs would have been around 4.6. In 2002 I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and mild adrenal insufficiency and had to take Prednisolone for this plus desiccated thyroid. I have never been able to come off the meds, in fact I did for a few months in 2006 but ended up with 2 adrenal crisis, one was milder than the other which was sufficiently bad that I knew it wasn't an option for me to ever stop the steroid (passed out and couldn't get off the floor after uncontrollable vomiting and diahorrea.)
As the years have gone on and I have stayed on a medium carb diet 50-60 g carbs daily and no sugar and very little fruit, just a few berries from our garden with the evening meal. However my bs has been rising steadily except the fasting one though that has gone up to 5.3 on some days. It now takes 4 hours in the evening to get my bs to drop back to 5.5 without me eating anything and only having a small meal of meat or fish plus non starchy veg.
Having read and listened to the Fat Summit and doctors like David Perlmutter who say our brains actually prefer to function on fats I know that in my case this just isn't so. In the mornings I have to have some carbs to raise my bs otherwise I cannot do anything and will have severe dizziness (like falling off a chair type dizziness) plus usually a migraine will develop no matter how much fat I might eat plus my legs are completely empty and sciatica will be triggered.
When I read the sort of breakfast people on a low carb diet eat (Omelette with veg plus coconut oil) I absolutely cannot function on that which got me wondering whether it's to do with the condition of ME/CFS. Can somebody explain to me in simple terms why our brains/body cannot seem to operate on fat rather than a small amount of carbs plus fat whereas "normal" people can do fine on a tiny amount of carbs?
(As the day goes on provided I have some nuts and a cup of tea as a snack between meals I do improve, its the early mornings that are a nightmare.
Pam
