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Anxiety Episodes: Low Blood Sugar? Help

diet anxiety blood sugar insulin stress fight or flight carbs protein

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#1 birthdaysuit

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Posted 08 February 2016 - 07:50 PM


Could it be low blood sugar?

Initially, when one’s blood sugar drops too low, the brain is not getting the energy it needs, and the result is a feeling of serious fatigue, along with irritability and emotional swings due to the release of adrenal hormones.

Those suffering from hypoglycemia experience a roller coaster effect as their blood sugar bounces from low to high to low again, with multiple episodes throughout the day. Personally, I feel energized and lively in the waking hours of the morning but at around 10am I start to crash and by 3pm I feel beyond fatigued. My joints ache, my muscles hurt, I’m irritable and I can not even walk up stairs, let alone pick up a box. It’s just this overall fatigue, it’s debilitating. It causes brain fog, makes me extremely spacey and seems to increase cortisol secretion. Because of this I'm always in a state of fight or flight, even with people I usually feel comfortable with. It's like everything is overstimulating and triggers my brain to panic. All I want to do is space out and fall asleep because the burden of thought to accomplish a task is too tiresome and stressful.

I’m dying here and it’s having a detrimental impact on my daily tasks. Short-term emergency remedy that increases blood sugar is not an option, unless its natural. Most people tell me to drink a mountain dew or pepsi. No way.

Diet wise, I started a high fat, low carb diet a couple of weeks ago and my anxiety has significantly increased. In December, I ate a high carb, high fat diet with lots of pasta and I felt great, the problem is wheat flares my psoriasis, which is one of the reasons why I cut out wheat. Honestly, I felt better eating Taco Bell every other day than I do know.

I've learned that cortisol is necessary for gluconeogenesis, gluconeogenesis is required for survival on low-carb, chronic cortisol is known to be damaging, and cortisol is known to screw with sleep. My sleep as of recent has been absolutely horrid. I wake up multiple times a night, toss and turn and feel lethargic and spacey upon waking. This could also explain cortisol spikes throughout the day. This never happened when I was eating grains.

Lastly, when I drink a fruit/veggie drink during the afternoon hours my mood increases significantly and my anxiety lessens to a noticeable degree. Should I go back to a high carb diet? I can't stand living in a state of fight or flight, only carbs rid of this burden.

#2 Sleepdealer

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Posted 11 February 2016 - 04:20 PM

Have you tried supplementing with creatine monohydrate? Normally, people who eat meat don't need to supplement with creatine to reach normal levels unless maybe they are athletes. Vegetarians however might need to, or, I suspect, if you have some metabolic syndrome or mitochondrial disease. I have some similar shenanigan going on with my blood sugar levels, where after I eat a meal I get hungry before everyone else in like 2-3 hours with cravings and stuff, then I get fatigued and irritable and all. Now I swallow 3 g of creatine with a glass of water each morning and from time to time another 3 g in the evening along with a ll regular meals I have per day, and I find that it helps me manage slightly better during the day, and I have a little more capability to learn.

 

Also, if you don't fare off well with gluten, you could still eat rice and potatoes, bulgur and quinoa to get your carbs. You don't have to cut everything out if low carb makes your problem worse.


Edited by Sleepdealer, 11 February 2016 - 04:33 PM.


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#3 birthdaysuit

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Posted 11 February 2016 - 06:29 PM

Funny you mention creatine, I was dosing 5g everyday back in December so maybe that's why I felt normal. The only reason I took a break was because it seemed to be making my heart palpitations worse. I even felt pain in the left side of my chest. Upon cessation the pain and worsening palpitations subsided. So I'm weary on taking it again. That being said there definetly was a noticeable anxiety reduction and anti-fatigue effect while on it. What is the mechanism of action?

The reason why I asked about histamine intolerance is because every time I have red wine, beer or high histamine foods like spinach or tomatoes I break out in a prickly rash and my psoriasis worsens. I have tested this many times, so I'm obviously intolerant of certain foods.

Thanks for the input!

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#4 Sleepdealer

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Posted 11 February 2016 - 10:13 PM

Aha, very funny yes. :)

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/11356982

 

 

When supplemented with exogenous creatine, intramuscular and cerebral stores of creatine and its phosphorylated form, phosphocreatine, become elevated. The increase of these stores can offer therapeutic benefits by preventing ATP depletion, stimulating protein synthesis or reducing protein degradation, and stabilizing biological membranes. [...] These benefits have been applied to disease models of Huntington's, Parkinson's, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and applied clinically in patients with gyrate atrophy, various neuromuscular disorders, McArdle's disease, and congestive heart failure.

 

I can't account for the specific mechanism of action, but basically what seems to be going on is insufficient influx or utilization of cellular energy in your (and my) case. Extra supplemented creatine might have the effect of providing more ATP in the cells which is what I have been suspecting myself. I have never gotten heart palpitations however, and I've taken as much as 6 grams at a time a couple of times. The question however is what is causing all this to begin with. Have you ever been to a doctor about this energy-fatigue thing specifically?







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: diet, anxiety, blood sugar, insulin, stress, fight or flight, carbs, protein

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