Reactive hypoglycemia??? any one know anything???

Question

I have been recently diognosed with Reactive hypoglycemia, i am 18 , 5,2 and 115lbs and have been having a hard time sticking to a diet. I dont know what i really should be eating and not eating... my insurance is going to be gone once i turn 19 and that is in 2 weeks and i cant see a nutrionist becuase all the ones i have called are all booked and i have no moeny for it after my insurance cancels... what should i really be eating?? how can i stick to that diet..??? any pointers

i have also heard that this is a very rare thing and not many people have it.

for those of you who do not know what Reactive hypoglycemia is check out the links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_hypoglycemia
http://www.opinions3.com/reactive_hypoglycemia.htm

also when i talked to one nutritionist on the phone they told me i will be following a diabites diet but no exactly like one...

i dont eat a lot of fruits and veges i try them but dont like them... i eat apples, grapes and watermellon and oranges
i eat lettuce, potatoes and cucumbers.. but i love chips cookies , ice cream, i alot of pasta is this good or no???

Answer 1

You can eat whatever, just make sure you're always eating small meals so that you don't have an attack.

Answer 2

You may have been diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia but this is an old and out-dated term. Prior to 1980 certain individuals were noted to have the same symptoms as diabetics with true hypoglycemia (which is a potentially dangerous condition). Thus - these non-diabetics - were given the diagnosis 'hypoglycemia' or 'reactive hypoglycemia'. The notion was that the pancreas released the insulin in a delayed fashion and 'dumped' 'all' of the insulin into the system at one time. As a result the person's glucose was said to drop 2 hours or so after eating. By 1980 myself and others were able to demonstrate that there was no correlation between the glucose levels of these non-diabetics and their symptoms, although these symptoms did mimic true hypoglycemia quite well. The first thought was that the problem was with the timing and amount of insulin release but this was found not to be true as well. Then we got to thinking. The symptoms of low blood glucose are signaled to the body by the autonomic nervous system so we turned our attention to this area. Indeed - this is where the problem lies - and the correct diagnosis is dysautonomia. This means that the autonomic nervous system sends out a signal as if the blood glucose were low when in fact it is quite normal. Once the nervous system signal is out there - however - it does not matter that the blood glucose is normal. Your body will experience all of the symptoms of hypoglycemia and set in motion a series of events to try to raise blood glucose. OK. Back to your question. What you should be eating are small frequent meals. What you should be avoiding is refined carbohydrates (sweets) such as chocolates and candies. Ah but the good news is that in most cases dysautonomia can be treated. A beta blocker is a drug which to some extent blocks the excitability of certain areas of the autonomic nervous system. In my 25 years of experience of using the following medications to treat this my results have been that taking atenolol 50 mg daily or metoprolol tartrate 50 mg daily (the latter is on WalMart's $4 drug list) resolves the symptoms of dysautonomia in 85% of patients. I wish you the best of health and may God bless.