Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Cluster Headache Specific >> Blood Sugar Triggers?
        
(Message started by: Katherinecm on Jun 20^th, 2006, 9:39pm)

Title: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by Katherinecm on Jun 20^th, 2006, 9:39pm

A friend of mine who knew I had severe hypoglycemia as a teenager but haven't had any symptoms since I got CH suggested I start testing my blood sugar again every time I have an attack. So today I went and bought another monitor (having long since lost the first one). The last two 2 of today's 5 attacks I tested within the first few minutes. The first one was shortly after I ate, and it was a little higher than what it should have been (not in the diabetic range, but high compared to my previous normals). The last test a few minutes ago was well below normal (low enough that I should have been having hypoglycemic symptoms). Except for a headache and an urge to consume sugar I had none. Typically I get shaky, almost feel like I am going to pass out (sometimes I do), and short-tempered when my blood sugar is low.

I am going to continue to monitor my blood sugar frequently over the next week or so to see if abnormal levels are a trigger for me. I'm wondering if anyone else has tracked their blood sugar at all?

Katy

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by jon019 on Jun 20^th, 2006, 11:13pm

Hi Katy,

Not diabetic but have noticed (many years now) that when in cycle I MUST keep my blood sugar level up. Took to carrying candy around. If blood sugar got low, BAM! guaranteed hit. Eating all that dang candy did not stop the cycle, but it sure reduced the hits.

Regards

Jon

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by spidey426 on Jun 21^st, 2006, 12:54am

That's very interesting, if you continue to track your hits and blood sugar levels you should post your results, thanks!

pfw
spidey

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by MJ on Jun 21^st, 2006, 1:36am

I have had my sugars tested in the past.

It is important to maintain a balance in life while dealing with CH this includes your intake of food.

I definately notice a change or possible trigger when not eating correctly. Hunger creates low sugars. Eating well and being healthy are 2 of the best tools for the battle we face. Skipping or delaying meals ruins the balance.

I think your looking too hard for things by testing sugars, though I understand a previous issue exists. Interesting concept though.

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by BarbaraD on Jun 21^st, 2006, 6:21am

This is interesting. I get hit in the morning (most mornings) when my blood sugar is low..

Just ate a brownie (my rear end didn't need it, but for research purposes....) and darned if the CH didn't decrease down to about a Kip 2.

wonder if cheese (or some protein) will do the same. I can't handle sugar too much -- makes me really a bitch.

Think I'll go back on a high protein diet and see if that helps.

Keep us up on your progress with the monitor (don't have a clue where mine is or I'd test also).

Hugs BD

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by b0x on Jun 21^st, 2006, 10:21am

If I don't eat lunch I almost always hit.

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by kcopelin on Jun 21^st, 2006, 11:05am

Seems so simple that it should have been dealt with before...but maybe not. I too get hit if I skip meals-and on bad headache days I tend to skip alot of meals. Could be a connection. Keep us posted on your results, okay?
And thanks for your inquisitive mind.
PFDAN,
Kathy

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by Katherinecm on Jun 22^nd, 2006, 10:18pm

Okay so after a few days of testing during every headache in all but one I had abnormal blood sugar, and in that one exception I tested it at the end of the attack too and it had fallen dramatically during the attack.

So the next question is, given my history, is my blood sugar almost always off, so this is a coincidence, or does rapidly changing levels and abnormal readings act as a trigger for me?

Next step: monitor every half hour or so when awake & note meals and attacks. I'll post the results in a few days.

One more thing- I'd forgotten the vast difference in the cost of testing strips. If you're planning on trying this you may want to ask your pharmacist what the cheapest brand of strips in your area are. The meter I bought was advertised to cause the least pain, but unfortunately the strips cost twice as much as the cheapest brand, at a little more than a dollar a strip this is an expensive experiment. Also, testing in less painful places like the forearms doesn't help when you want to test for change- as the most accurate places to test are in the fingertips or base of the thumb. IMHO, go for the cheap one with the cheap strips and test your fingers.

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by floridian on Jun 23^rd, 2006, 11:32pm

There was also some research that found that lipolysis (the break-down of larger fats into available forms) was abnormally slow in CH. Their conclusion was that this was something that was controlled by the hypothalamus or some other 'central' (ie brain) glitch. But lipolysis is linked to sugar metabolism - insulin inhibits lipolysis, and 24 hour insulin is generally high in people with functional hypoglycemia.

More thoughts:
http://www.med-owl.com/clusterheadaches/tiki-index.php?page=Lipolysis

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by Jasmyn on Jun 24^th, 2006, 4:19am

Contrary I have noted that when in cycle, if I eat I surely get hit. For me it works best to keep my blood sugar levels down. [smiley=huh.gif]

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by Katherinecm on Jun 25^th, 2006, 11:20pm

So far it's holding true whenever my blood sugar is too high, too low, or rapidly changing I get hit. Twice I didn't test and I did get hit- while out exercising in the heat and sun, which also seems to be a trigger. Of course the exercise may have caused a rapid change in blood sugar but there is no way to tell that without having a meter along. When I got back home both times my sugar was at a good level and the attack was over.

How many other people here have ever been diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia? That is, if you eat your blood sugar goes high for a tiny bit, then your body releases too much insulin and it goes very low? You then get shaky, weak, cranky, sweaty and may occasionally pass out? I know one woman who drank a few sips of wine and had a hypoglycemic reaction within seconds where she passed out and had to be hospitalized for several days because they couldn't keep her blood sugar high enough. Sometimes your blood sugar can be fairly stable (due to stored glycogen) for several days of fasting, but you eat and can crash pretty quickly. Fast too long and blood sugar falls too low also.

Since I have started this I have been researching the best diets to control blood sugar. There are a lot of controversial theories out now on how to deal with blood sugar- in the past a low or controlled carb diet seemed to be best as it seems to keep numbers low (but not hypoglycemic).

Another current theory is that, like Floridian mentioned, those with blood sugar problems also have problems with fats. Because this can lead to heart problems it may be better to follow a diet that best avoids heart disease: A very low fat vegan diet consisting of 5+ servings of unprocessed whole grains, 2+ of beans or legumes, 3+ Fruit, and 4+ Vegetables. With no added processed oils or supplements this will be approximately 75% carbs, 15% protein, 10% fat, with more than 60 grams of fiber, less than 2000 calories. When I plugged some samples into fitday.com I got a shortage of B-12 consistently, but my multivitamin would handle that.

The theory behind that is that even though your blood sugar does go somewhat higher with the very-low-fat vegan approach than on a low-carb diet, the lack of fat makes you more sensitive to insulin (possibly effectively treating reactive hypoglycemia and preventing diabetes). Also, the carbs would increase seratonin and possibly dopamine, helping the person's mood. The 60+ grams of fiber would both slow the absorption of carbs to prevent highs then crashing lows, it would also help rid the body of bad cholesterol while the whole grains increase good cholesterol.

There are some other approaches too, but those seem to be the most common. All seem to limit calories (either indirectly by restricting the types of food you can have, or directly), ban simple sugars and processed carbs, and up the number of low-glycemic produce, such as leafy green vegetables.

As mostly it seems to be that different people respond differently to different types of diets, I am going to spend some time experimenting on myself. I'll try each for a period of 1-3 weeks, depending on how long I can stand and how much I have attacks. First I think I will try the PCRM (Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine) low-fat vegan diet. Next I'll get a book on the glycemic index and stick with it but focus on low-glycemic vegan foods. I don't know what that would look like except lots of barley probably, and avoiding grapes, bananas, and potatoes, but we'll see. Third I'll try a traditional body-building type diet (I've done the New York Body Plan before, the diet and while I felt great it didn't seem to change my attacks- I wasn't tracking my blood sugar at that time though). Fourth I'll try some sort of traditional low-carb diet- I'll need to do some reaseach to see what the theories are on Atkins (the idea of all that fat makes me a little ill, but I'll try anything), south beach diet, the "meditteranean" diet I keep seeing in fitness magazines, etc. Oh, and when I was first diagnosed with hypoglycemia I tried this "HAI diet" from some hypoglycemia website that seem to help my blood sugar the most. I can try that too.

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by Katherinecm on Jun 27^th, 2006, 8:47pm

Last night I took 20 RC seeds (as I have several times before- usually things get worse for the first 3 days after taking them, then slowly better by the 5th day). This morning I checked my blood sugar, it was a bit high so I skipped breakfast. I did take my vitamin regimen (a multivitamin, taurine, magnesium, and HCA). At lunch blood glucose was normal so I ate some brown rice, beans, veggies, and soy sauce then went on a 4 hour bike ride. It's only 7:45 pm, but this is the longest time I have gone without a hit in OVER A YEAR!!! I have a migraine but NO CH! It was over 95 outside today, it even rained on me a little and still no attack. I know this may not be much to be excited about to most of you but I AM THRILLED, even if this is all a coincidence.

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by MJ on Jun 27^th, 2006, 11:38pm

on 06/27/06 at 20:47:34, Katherinecm wrote:

Last night I took 20 RC seeds
I ate some brown rice, beans, veggies, and soy sauce then went on a 4 hour bike ride.
It's only 7:45 pm, but this is the longest time I have gone without a hit in OVER A YEAR!!!
I know this may not be much to be excited about to most of you but I AM THRILLED, even if this is all a coincidence.

It is exciting

I remember some of the research saying that consuming fat free foods was important. If this dosing had a more positive effect on your CH that may be why.

Keep up the good works.

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by walkertexasranger on Jul 11^th, 2006, 8:04pm

I started a cycle just last Friday, and have realized that there is a correlation between sugar intake and my cycles the last two times.

I always seem to have a strong sugar craving for a week or two prior to the cycle. I am not sure whether the sugar then starts the cycle, or the cycle starting brings on the craving?????

At this point, all I know is there is some correlation there.

(I am not normally a sweet eater, so the craving is noticable for me.)

Sure is interesting how everything interacts, and how different it is for each of us...

Any thoughts on the cravings??

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by Weatherman on Jul 11^th, 2006, 8:24pm

Hmmm....very interesting. I do like sugar but my current cycle started after 4 weeks on a diet with absolutely no sugar allowed.
Before the cycle started I had blood work done and my glucose and cholesterol levels were MUCH lower than they were just a month before because of the diet.
Then the cycle started.
Interesting indeed.

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by JeffB on Jul 12^th, 2006, 3:09pm

To those who check their blood levels. I'm not seeing numbers just normal or high as a description. Mine was about 200 when I was diagnosed with type 2, I now range from 68-114 depending on my carb intake.
So whats your numbers?

Title: Re: Blood Sugar Triggers?
Post by Katherinecm on Jul 14^th, 2006, 12:40am

What I was told is that the numbers that are considerd "normal" have recently changed. If you are ever over 200 you are diabetic, no matter the time of day. For fasting blood sugar, immediately or within the first 15 minutes of awakening, a "normal" reading is btw 70-100. A reading between 100-126 is pre-diabetic. A reading of 127 or higher is diabetic.

1-2 hours after any meal, no matter how many carbs consumed, a normal person's blood glucose will be between 70-120. I know the levels expected for diabetic people are somewhat more lax, but I'm not diabetic so I don't know those levels. I can tell you that most of the levels given to diabetics have the lower side of the range listed as 60 instead of 70. The problem with that is that by the time your blood glucose gets to 64, if you are a healthy person with no glucose issues, you would probably be feeling noticable symptoms, depending on your mood and the situation you were in. The exact level also varies by person.

There is also a syndrome, I don't remember what it's called at the moment, where you have all of the symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia but your blood sugar isn't actually in a dangerously low range yet, it's just falling rapidly. Several times I have noticed that my blood sugar will be falling during an attack if I measure as it's coming on and directly afterward it may have dropped 40 points in 40 minutes, in a low level attack where I was coherent enough to sit, take my blood sugar, note it, watch tv, take it again when it seemed to be ending, etc... I know this doesn't work for everyone, but I think this may be why drinking a red bull helps (the sugar immediately ups, the caffeine and taurine do too, in more complex ways). Some people (me for example) have less intense hits while exercising. This is because exercise pumps glycogen into your blood stream, upping your sugar while simultaneously increasing seratonin.

When I was first diagnosed with hypoglycemia I remember reading about the link between addiction and severe headache with blood sugar and endocrine problems. Now I wonder about the genetic link. I don't have the capability to go back to school right now, but I promise you guys I'm going to start slowly studying for the Biology GRE, and when I can handle working full time again, instead I'm going to go back to school and I'm going to make it my mission in life to find the cure for CH. In my gut I think there is a link between all of these things, and I think I can sell my theory to someone and get some major research funding.

(Edited for spelling and to add: I wrote those numbers off the top of my head and not from any notes. I am on several heavy-duty drugs and have had hit after hit and very little sleep lately... hence my long absence... It's VERY possible my numbers are off, so PLEASE check with someone reliable and NOT on 8 different drugs before taking their opinion regarding blood sugar levels seriously. And I apologize in advance if I made a mistake.)