What can I do to feel better?
As must be abundantly clear so far, hypoglycemia is a very complex syndrome that most doctors don’t understand, don’t treat and which many believe to be the product of a troubled mind.
This is the bad news.
The good news is that treatment is easy and you can manage it yourself if you are unable to find medical help. Best of all, the treatment is without risk, whether or not you actually have hypoglycemia because the treatment is a change in diet.
The diet of the western world is a nasty combination of sugar, refined flour (mostly wheat) and more sugar. One study suggests that Americans eat on the order of ¼ pound of sugar every day while another source quotes the amount as 100-120 pounds each year! The Canadian diet is very similar, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find similar numbers for all of North America.
Hypoglycemia can be the precursor to Type II diabetes and other insulin resistance related ailments, but in less than a year you can turn around the course of your hypoglycemia, and perhaps avert many of the other serious conditions that may be lying in wait. The best news of all is that this diet can improve the health of everyone in your family, and possibly help you live longer.
Don’t be fooled. This is not a weight loss diet – you won’t be counting calories or weighing your food. You will, however, increase the variety of what you eat, and learn some new recipes! And, as a side benefit, if you are overweight, you will probably lose weight because your metabolism will begin to work much more efficiently.
Is there a cure for hypoglycemia?
Hypoglycemia is a combination of symptoms, and may itself be a symptom. If this were the case, a "cure" would have to remove the underlying condition causing the hypoglycemia. With drug-induced hypoglycemia, this is easy, assuming that you are willing and able to stop using the medication causing the problem. If tumours of the pancreas are causing your hypoglycemia, removal of the tumours will effect a cure, since the amount of insulin produced would no longer overshoot your food intake and you would no longer have incidents of low blood sugar.
Alcohol induced hypoglycemia can be a short term problem, caused by drinking a mixed drink while eating straight carbohydrate, like a cookie, perhaps, and this episode of low blood sugar will end after the alcohol is out of your system. If, on the other hand, your drinking is chronic, the hypoglycemia is often chronic as well, and following the hypoglycemia diet while reducing your alcohol intake could control, and eventually "cure" your hypoglycemia. Studies suggest that following the hypoglycemia diet may actually reduce the craving for alcohol, so controlling your diet will be helpful and can improve your chances of success in a stop-drinking program.