I have impaired glucose intolerance with reactive hypoglycemia. My
fasting on any typical day will be normal and then at 1 hour after
breakfast I'll go to between 8-9 mmol/L and start dropping steadily back
by the two hour mark to the 4-5 range. If it is an unlucky day at
around the three hour mark I may/may not have a hypo attack. I am 58
years old and have been this way with the hypo since age 20 and the
impaired kicked in at age 37. A virus with additional stress is what
precipated the start of the IGT, and the birth control pill contributed to
the start of the hypoglycemia. I have more going on than this but it is
impossible to get a doctor to put it all together. What I would like to
know is what is this stage 1 and 2 insulin response I hear about
occassionally? Would it be the lack of the stage 1 that causes my BG to
spike? The highest readings I have had are in the 12 mmol/L range.
Thanks.

margo

I have type 2 diabetes and my numbers have never been
as high as yours. For what it is worth, I still have
"reactive hypoglycemia" but am definitely diabetic.

<cecelia@ecn.ab.ca> wrote in message
news:EoKAb.17185$f7.818803@localhost...

cecelia@ecn.ab.ca wrote in message ...
The current medical thinking on Reactive Hypoglycemia is that your Phase
1 insulin response is a big factor. However, it is only part of the
picture.

Normal folks store pre-manufactured insulin (Phase 1 insulin) somewhere in
their pancreas. When they eat carb, the beginnings of a rise in blood
sugar causes the pancreas to release some of the Phase 1 insulin, and thus
squelch any sudden rise in blood sugar.

We diabetics lose that Phase 1 response early, perhaps it's the first
insulin capacity we lose. That means our sugars rise too high when we eat
carb. We don't have any Phase 1 insulin left so we have to wait while our
pancreas makes Phase 2 insulin to deal with the rise in bloood sugars.

Folks with Reactive Hypoglycemia seem to have another fault in their
pancreas, it doesn't seem to shut down the Phase 2 response after making
enough insulin to handle the rise. Thus, you get an oversupply of insulin
and you go too low after dealing with the rise.

In the U.S., two readings at separate times, above 11.1 mmol/L are
considered strong, perhaps definitive proof of Diabetes. By our
standards, Impaired Glucose Tolerance is something you "used to have". Now
you fit our definition of "Diabetic".

Regards
Old Al

Ozgirl (news_onlyxx@hotmail.com) wrote:
: I have type 2 diabetes and my numbers have never been
: as high as yours. For what it is worth, I still have
: "reactive hypoglycemia" but am definitely diabetic.

Then I don't know what it is I really have then. I always thought that
when one became diabetic one loses the RH factor, isn't that why they have
always said that RH leads to diabetes? I only get readings of 10-12
mmol/L when under stress such as viruses and like 2 months ago doing
really heavy duty physical job for a week around the house caused Bg's of
10-12 mmol/L after every meal and snack, but soon as the job was finished
I dropped back down to 8-9 mmol/L.

: <cecelia@ecn.ab.ca> wrote in message
: news:EoKAb.17185$f7.818803@localhost...
: > I have impaired glucose intolerance with reactive
: hypoglycemia. My
: > fasting on any typical day will be normal and then at
: 1 hour after
: > breakfast I'll go to between 8-9 mmol/L and start
: dropping steadily back
: > by the two hour mark to the 4-5 range. If it is an
: unlucky day at
: > around the three hour mark I may/may not have a hypo
: attack. I am 58
: > years old and have been this way with the hypo since
: age 20 and the
: > impaired kicked in at age 37. A virus with
: additional stress is what
: > precipated the start of the IGT, and the birth
: control pill contributed to
: > the start of the hypoglycemia. I have more going on
: than this but it is
: > impossible to get a doctor to put it all together.
: What I would like to
: > know is what is this stage 1 and 2 insulin response
: I hear about
: > occassionally? Would it be the lack of the stage 1
: that causes my BG to
: > spike? The highest readings I have had are in the 12
: mmol/L range.
: > Thanks.
: >
: > margo
: >



--
email:
cecelia@freenet.edmonton.ab.c
a

Thanks Al for all your information. I am not considered a diabetic here
in Canada because my fasting BG is in normal range and I only get readings
over 11.1 if I am under stress of some kind i.e. viruses, physical stress.
See my reply to Ozgirl concerning that. Two months ago I had readings
after meals and snacks in the 10-12 range for a week while doing some
heavy duty renovation that I usually never do, and I never thought of
going and having my Bg levels done at a lab, I guess I missed a window of
opportunity there. If I had brought this up to my doctor, he would have
said your still not a diabetic because your levels only go that high under
stress and that a diabetic does not make. Such is the thinking here with
doctors. My fasting level goes up when My after meals BG goes that high
also, but just short of the diabetic cutoff. Then when the stress is over
falls to 8-9 mmol/L after meals. I have dealth with the hypoglycemia for
38 years now and the impaired glucose for 21 years and have some of the
problems diabetics have such as dry mouth and skin, neuropathic-like pains
in limbs, frozen shoulder, periodic drowsiness after meals, urinary
frequency spells, skin infections although mild etc. Unless an endo. is
willing to see that my case is not the usual kind and warrents
investigations beyond a Gtt/fasting and 2 hour levels, then I probably
will die without ever knowing the truth about the particular kind of
Glucose problem that I have.

margo

<cecelia@ecn.ab.ca> wrote in message
news:S48Bb.17423$f7.826981@localhost...

isn't that why they have
Well it is an indicator but when you are in early
stages of diabetes, you still have insulin response.
The same facotrs that lead you to have a RH epsisode
can happen within diabetes, i.e. eating enough carbs
to cause an insulin response, a response that keeps
working after it is needed leading to a low.

I only get readings of 10-12
I rarely see an 8, I am around 5.5 before and after
meals. 8-9 are diabetic numbers.