| Butterfingers
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Hi,
I'm posting this question in two places just to make sure it gets seen by anyone who can help.
If anyone has advice for me I would love to hear what you think is happening. I just know that no doctor I could go to around here would know or even care so I am finding that I just have to experiment on myself.
I have been on Glucophage 500 mg 3 times a day since 2001. This year, in September, I started the South Beach Diet. As I was on the diet about 3 or 4 weeks I started having horrible low blood sugar symptoms: low mood, weak, and shaky. So I stopped taking the glucophage and the weak, shaky feelings went away but the mood is still low. Now that I'm trying to add in grains and fruits I'm not losing weight, either. I'm not sure whether or not to add the Glucophage back in, or how much to add. or what's going on with my body. My mood is still quite low as well as my anxiety level being quite high.
Has anyone been on the South Beach Diet or another lower carb diet while taking glucophage? What happened to you?
According to the doctors, my fasting glucose and insulin were normal (glucose 74 and insulin 5), but for years before I started taking glucophage I had reactive hypoglycemia symptoms, and after about eight months of the glucophage the symptoms mostly went away. (During a GTT my glucose went down to 58.) I've always had irregular cycles and acne.
Another problem lately on this diet is that I get low blood sugar when I exercise, or I feel too weak to exercise. |
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Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:37 pm |
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| Kimboroni
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I would think that your doctor would care about low mood. Give it a try-- you could just call him/her and see if you should come in.
For low blood sugar during exercise, the medical recommendation that I follow is eating a balanced snack that contains 20-30g of carbs (not including fiber-- just the active carbs) about 30 minutes before you exercise.
What does your menu look like now? |
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Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:50 pm |
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| Butterfingers
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I'll see if I can remember my past two days of menus:
Monday
B: 6-grain cooked cereal
1/2 C. milk
1 egg
S: 1/2 C. milk
15 raw almonds
L: Green salad with turkey and red beans
Olive oil and lemon juice dressing
S: 1 C. sf yogurt
D: The rest of my lunch salad
Fish
Broiled tomatoes with cheese
cauliflower
1/2 grapefruit
D: 1/2 C. ricotta creme
Tuesday
B: 6-grain cooked cereal
1/2 C. milk
1 egg
S: 1/2 C. milk
broiled tomatoes with cheese
15 almonds
S: (Had to have another snack because
my blood sugar "felt" low)
1/2 C. cottage cheese
L: Fish
Zucchini, tomatoes, red beans
S: 1 C. sf yogurt
D: 3 oz. chicken breast
cauliflower
broiled tomatoes with cheese (trying to use the tomatoes up from the
garden!)
1 peach
D: 1/2 C. ricotta creme
By the way, I am taking 20 mg. prozac and will definitely follow up with my doctor at my appointment in a few weeks. However, my opinion is that if my blood sugars were balanced it would help, and unfortunately my psychiatrist doesn't know much about that stuff. |
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Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:19 am |
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| Kimboroni
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Nothing jumps out at me-- it looks pretty good. I would double-check the 6-grain cereal and make sure that it's all whole grain, as well as being low sugar and not overprocessed (such as quick-cooking, instant, puffed, or small particles like in Cream of Wheat). Check portion size as well-- should be about an ounce total weight.
You might try more protein at breakfast, and maybe no grains at breakfast at all, with fruit instead, or a really low GI grain like old-fashioned or steel-cut oatmeal. Experimenting is really important at this stage.
The low mood might just be a coincidence, but I do agree that nutrition and mood have a relationship. It's much easier to regulate emotional/chemical issues when you are physically healthy without blood sugar spikes and crashes.
Is it regular skim/1% milk (about 12g of sugar per cup) and plain nonfat yogurt? I can't remember if we've gone over those. |
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Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:30 pm |
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| Butterfingers
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Yes, it is skim milk and the Dannon Light N' Fit sugar free yogurt, or sometimes plain yogurt with splenda and vanilla. The cereal is a slow-cooking kind with the whole, non-cracked grains as far as I can tell. I actually liked the steel-cut oatmeal better, though. Maybe I should just go back to it. Just thought variety might help the nutrition factor? Anyway, I have about one cup cooked of cereal. I don't know what that is in ounces.
Thanks for looking at my menu for me. |
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Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:56 pm |
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