glucomannan for hypoglycemia?

[outdamnspot]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone here has experience using Glucomannan for hypoglycemia?

I've been having really debilitating symptoms for about 5 months now. Even worse is that most of my staple supplements (Magnesium Threonate, Vitamin D, B12, caffeine, Melatonin, most herbs etc.) trigger a reaction, so I've been taking some and trying to eat around the discomfort with mixed success. Basically, it's a choice between being non-functional vs. semi-functional and sick throughout the day.

I tried most of the recommended stuff -- Biotin, Cinnamon, ALA, Chromium etc. -- they all seemed to make the symptoms worse, aside from Chromium, though it either seems to make me sleepy or put me in an unpleasant headspace .. admittedly, I didn't give it a decent trial, but have ordered the GTF chromium because it's supposedly less sedating.

I have seen an Endo. She's ordered two sets of tests -- one testing glucose, insulin, c-peptide. For that test, she's asked me to try and induce the symptoms and make myself feel as bad as possible. The second is a fasting test measuring Cortisol, ACTH, TSH, ft4, ft3, glucose, insulin, c-peptide, VEC (?), LFT. Unfortunately, I keep putting off the tests because I end up feeling so miserable at night that I will take something sedating (Bacopa, antihistamine etc.) to knock myself out and I worry it will skew the results the next day. But I am determined to try get them done next week, even if it means not sleeping.

Anyway, I was so desperate and was googling tonight when I came across several people mentioning Glucommanan for hypoglycemia. I googled further and there seem to be several reports where people have said it cured them when nothing else would help. Has anyone tried it before? It sounds too good to be true, but I rushed to place an order. I also added Inulin FOS and Corosolic Acid, which someone mentioned they took with the Glucommanan.

I may post this in the Resistant Starch thread, but I also wanted to ask about Hi-Maize Corn Starch. Before these episodes, I was taking Potato Starch with tremendous results for my mood and anxiety, but had to stop because it does generally drop my blood sugar. There's a study where regular corn starch was given to children with hypoglycemia and it seemed to diminish nighttime episodes/allow them to sleep throughout the night. I was wondering if the Hi-Maize starch would a) confer similar benefits to the Potato Starch, possibly without dropping blood sugar, and b) whether it might also improve hypoglycemia, or does the fact that it's resistant starch mean it isn't digested in the same way as regular corn starch?

 

[Little Bluestem]

anyone?

 

[outdamnspot]

Well, I did try the Cornstarch before bed last night (about 70g). My stomach was still very empty, but my blood sugar felt stable for about 8 hours -- and hence no hypervigilance, fast heartbeat etc. disrupting sleep -- which was quite miraculous.

 

[Little Bluestem]

Was it regular corn starch or the Hi-Maize starch? When you say disrupting sleep do you mean waking up or unrestful sleep?

 

[outdamnspot]

Was it regular corn starch or the Hi-Maize starch? When you say disrupting sleep do you mean waking up or unrestful sleep?

It was the regular corn starch. Supposedly Resistant Starch isn't digested, so I don't know if it would have the same effect on blood sugar as the regular corn starch?

It's primarily waking up after 4 hours or so and then needing to eat to fall asleep again.

 

[South]

Corn starch - the ordinary grocery store kind, does have a reputation for slowly supporting blood sugar if you eat it UNCOOKED (sorry to yell, this is just for readers who otherwise might go cook it without knowing that heat changes it).

Hi-maize, on the other hand, is some other kind of corn starch that supposedly maintains its resistant starch quality even after heat/baking/cooking.

@outdamnspot High-dose Cinnamon and ALA each cause blood sugar crashes for me (I suspect, based on how I feel an hour or two later, I don't have a blood sugar monotor). Both of them have more of a repuation for lowering blood sugar than for stabilizing it, although some people argue with that. Now I only use cinnamon in tiny bits as a flavoring in food, no more strong doses of it, and I don't use ALA at all anymore. The R-ALA version of ALA gave me less of a problem with crashes, but didn't seem to do anything positive for me either. All of these I had tried with my usual meals.

I have not tried glucomannan, but I do use ordinary psyllium mixed into some meals, which is another source of soluble fiber (like glucomannan is), and it does seem to make my energy / blood sugar from that meal more steady over many hours.

 

[outdamnspot]

Corn starch - the ordinary grocery store kind, does have a reputation for slowly supporting blood sugar if you eat it UNCOOKED (sorry to yell, this is just for readers who otherwise might go cook it without knowing that heat changes it).

Hi-maize, on the other hand, is some other kind of corn starch that supposedly maintains its resistant starch quality even after heat/baking/cooking.

@outdamnspot High-dose Cinnamon and ALA each cause blood sugar crashes for me (I suspect, based on how I feel an hour or two later, I don't have a blood sugar monotor). Both of them have more of a repuation for lowering blood sugar than for stabilizing it, although some people argue with that. Now I only use cinnamon in tiny bits as a flavoring in food, no more strong doses of it, and I don't use ALA at all anymore. The R-ALA version of ALA gave me less of a problem with crashes, but didn't seem to do anything positive for me either. All of these I had tried with my usual meals.

I have not tried glucomannan, but I do use ordinary psyllium mixed into some meals, which is another source of soluble fiber (like glucomannan is), and it does seem to make my energy / blood sugar from that meal more steady over many hours.

Yeah, it's pretty annoying because, as I mentioned, pretty much every supplement of any use to me will crash my blood sugar.. even something as basic as magnesium; of course, I can't completely verify that because I don't own a glucose meter (I can't afford one), but the symptoms and related hunger are pretty unmistakable (not to mention the fact that eating provides total relief, for a couple of hours anyway). ALA actually does fantastic things for my mood, but is something I obviously have to stay away from.

I did manage to get one blood test out of the way today (fasting test for hormones + insulin, glucose etc.). I hope like hell the endo finds something, because this hypoglycemia is actually pushing me to breaking point -- I thought severe depression, anxiety and fatigue were bad enough, but hey it clearly can always get worse.

My glucomannan should be here in the next few days, so I'll try it and report back. I really hope it helps, and that I can pass that knowledge on, because hypoglycemia remedies are very hard to find.

 

[SB_1108]

@outdamnspot - Please do report back on the glucomannan because hypoglycemia is my worst symptom and if it works for you, I would love to give it a try.

I can't completely verify that because I don't own a glucose meter (I can't afford one)

My endo gave me one for free... maybe you could ask if they would give you one?

 

[MikeSimouns]

A simple way to combat reactive hypoglycemia lows is cornstarch, which has been proven as a safe an effective way to prevent low blood sugar levels. However, glucomannan is not recommended for treating reactive hypoglycemia.

 

[Gingergrrl]

I have not tried glucomannan, but I do use ordinary psyllium mixed into some meals, which is another source of soluble fiber (like glucomannan is), and it does seem to make my energy / blood sugar from that meal more steady over many hours.

@South do you mix the psyllium directly into food or mix it with water/liquid?

Also, has anyone used glucomannan as a mold binder?

 

[South]

Yes, @Gingergrrl I mix it into the food if what I'm eating is something wet/sloppy, like soup or mashed potatoes. If I'm eating something pretty dry, I mix the psyllium into a small amount water, not a lot of water because my digestion doesn't like big glasses of water with meals.

The amount of psyllium I use for this is only about 3/4 teaspoon, that little bit seems to help with keeping my blood sugar from the meal more even. And, this small amount doesn't seem to require large amounts of liquid, for me. It has not caused any problems.

 

[Gingergrrl]

@South Thanks and I appreciate the info.

 

[outdamnspot]

A simple way to combat reactive hypoglycemia lows is cornstarch, which has been proven as a safe an effective way to prevent low blood sugar levels. However, glucomannan is not recommended for treating reactive hypoglycemia.

I do think the glucomannan helps a little, though not significantly.

I feel like the cornstarch is giving me relief at night, but my doctor looked it up today and said it's a high-GI food and should theoretically make things worse? I've read it's very slowly digested though, so is that true in spite of the GI?

 

[South]

my doctor looked it up today and said it's a high-GI food and should theoretically make things worse? I've read it's very slowly digested though, so is that true in spite of the GI?

Your doctor is, ahem, clueless: UNCOOKED cornstarch is LOW-GI, not high. The cornstarch must be eaten without having been ever cooked or heated up, in order to be low-GI. So the doctor "looking it up" meant he looked up the GI of cooked cornstarch, and doesn't realize that uncooked cornstarch is completely different.

The uncooked cornstarch is not only low GI, it is broken down so slowly by the body that people with overnight low blood sugar problems try eating uncooked cornstarch (stirred into liquid is easiest way to eat it) before bed; in some people using it like that it keeps blood sugar stable over the night.

Have I done it? Nope, not yet, just read about it a lot last year.