Reoccurring Hypoglycemia

I was having hypoglycemia symptoms all too often after menopause, though not chronic in the sense of 24/7. My vitamin book said, and I quote, “Hypoglycemics could use more calcium” but no more details. So I took calcium (citrate) and the symptoms disappeared pretty fast. I added potassium citrate pills, as I read elsewhere that hypoglycemics may need more of that as well. I am post menopausal by a few years.

When I was in my early to mid 20s, I had pretty bad low blood sugar for a few years. I was eating tons of sugar and red meat and other meats as well as junk food, fried food, alcohol and overeating. I stopped all of that cold turkey. In about 2 years’ time, I could go with very little food for many hours yet experienced no low blood sugar symptoms. I have never felt so healthy in my life. I think I was cured and stayed that way for about 35 years.

So, I guess old age is making supplementation necessary for me now. I don’t know how Chinese medicine handles this condition, as low blood sugar symptoms can be part of various syndromes (I suppose). There is probably no clear parallel between the western and eastern views on this. I hereby defer to the Dr’s knowledge. I like going to a Dr of Chinese Medicine as necessary but the prices have gone up so much and it’s not an option for me any more. It would be nice to not be dependent on mineral pills.

I hope that you can get healthy again. I’ve read that hypoglycemia is worse than Type 2 diabetes. It is no laughing matter.

First, what are your actual numbers and how often are you checking your blood sugar? Is there any consistency to when you will see the lowest numbers?

Generally speaking from a Chinese Medicine perspective (even from a western perspective) there are many possible underlying causes. So proper treatment in Chinese Medicine terms requires proper diagnosis and for that only a practitioner who can discuss your entire medical history, inspect your tongue and pulse and other signs, can really arrive at. Certainly what you have is fairly commonly treated, but it is a hard symptom to generalize treatment options for. Besides diabetes you have a range of lifestyle factors (heavy alcohol usage particularly), hormonal imbalances (adrenals), liver disease, among others as possible factors. Generally speaking your Chinese Medicine practitioner would want to see full blood panels done from a western doctor as well at least spaced out over 6 months to look for averages instead of drawing conclusions from a single test.