Always in need of carbohydrates/sugar - issue with metabolising nutrition?

[Replenished]

Could I have some sort of issue with metabolising carbohydrates/nutrition?

My symptoms of fatigue, severe thirst and dehydration are reduced temporarily somewhat by eating heavy meals / drinking smoothies. It's as though my body needs a constant stream of calories or it cannot function. If I do not eat regularly I become unbearably Dehydrated and weak. Water doesn't help. Water with electrolytes doesn't help. Only large calorie dense / carbohydrate rich meals help.

For example, my symptoms are worse through the night and in the morning. By the morning I'm so depleted and thirsty I feel like I'm dying. This only reduces when I eat. It's still there all the time but eating is the only thing that helps it a little.

What could be going on? It's not a blood sugar issue. My blood sugar is always normal. My HbA1c is good/normal. I've had all of the usual causes of dehydration excluded. So to me it feels like there's so issue with my body keeping hold of nutrition or calories or carbohydrates and hence it needs carbs constantly. I'm of normal weight btw.

I tried the keto diet for a month. I felt worse. Maybe my overall energy level was the same or slightly bitter if doing very little activity. But anything that required any muscle power or movement felt like I could barely lift my arms. Like there was zero glycogen in my muscles. The Dehydration was also a lot worse while on Keto.

It may be relevant that my illness started shortly after a 5 day water fast. (no food, just water).

Any ideas?

 

[BrightCandle]

Hyperglycemia but not caused by Diabetes. I had a similar thing for years and I think mostly what broke it was probiotics and generally feeding gut health, kefir etc. I still need little bits of carbohydrates here and there and I use jelly babies as a small sharp sugar intake but hyperglycimia with unknown cause is definitely a part of my problem and I don't have diabetes. Not having diabetes hasn't stopped every doctor testing me for it so I have now been passed successfully 11 diabetes tests.

 

[wabi-sabi]

If you've found a way of eating that makes you feel better- stick with it.

People find all sorts of different eating styles to help. Lots of carbs and sugar makes me feel better too. Other people here feel better with low carb eating. One of my worst crashes was worsened by trying to eat keto/paleo/low carb. I've no idea why this is. I've just come to accept that my body needs lots of sugar/carbs. My A1C is also fine. No diabetes, no hypoglycemia, no sugar issues.

 

[Replenished]

If you've found a way of eating that makes you feel better- stick with it.

People find all sorts of different eating styles to help. Lots of carbs and sugar makes me feel better too. Other people here feel better with low carb eating. One of my worst crashes was worsened by trying to eat keto/paleo/low carb. I've no idea why this is. I've just come to accept that my body needs lots of sugar/carbs. My A1C is also fine. No diabetes, no hypoglycemia, no sugar issues.

I mean, I hear you, but it's not like it makes me feel better in any significant way per say. It's like I feel like I'm dying of some form of depletion and thirst so have to drink/eat and high sugar/carbs give the relief more than other foods. But it's just a minor relief for a few minutes, then back to desperately feeling depleted again, so it's not really a solution. That's why I wonder if I have some obscure enzyme issue or issue metabolising what I eat.

 

[wabi-sabi]

That's why I wonder if I have some obscure enzyme issue or issue metabolising what I eat.

I am lookin forward to finding this out too.

 

[Sophiedw]

High sugar/carbs lower adrenaline?

 

[Murph]

I've found I go through periods where I need to eat constantly. I have had diabetes tests and I pass. Those tests check whether your body can handle a sugar input. My problem is the opposite. If I exercise after carbs my sugar goes low: hypoglycaemia. And I need to eat again. Eating helps smooth off that sugar low.

nevertheless I've been able to transition to keto several times. The times it has failed is when I've started keto without also resting aggressively. I will crash if I deny my body carbs and try to do things before I get into ketosis. If I rest my way into keto, I then feel more PEM-resistent. It also helps shed a few kg, and that, for me, brings my PEM threshold up, because a walk that would count as exertion at weight x is less exerting at x-5kg.

So my question for OP is whether you've tested your blood sugar when you feel bad, and is it low?