posted
No matter what time I go to bed my eyes open about 6am. I am overcome with weakness, anxiety, shakiness, dizziness. I also have a horrible hollow feeling in my stomach/chest.
I have been obsessively taking my blood sugar for months and I can't find any correlation. When I have this feeling my BS is usually in the 80s.
My LLMD thinks this is a diet, gut flora, adrenal issue. I wake up with anxiety, my body releases more cortisol which basically causes a psychosis type situation.
He recommended making sure that I eat something before bed and waking around 3am or so and eating a snack again. This has not seemed to help much, if at all.
I get that horrible hollow stomach/chest feeling many times throughout the day and feel like I have to eat constantly, as food seems to be the only thing that calms that feeling for a bit. I can't figure out if this is truly a food/diet/gut issue or anxiety.
I have been treating Lyme/co-infections for 3 months with herbals and abx.
Does anyone else get this feeling?
Posts: 24 | From Nashville, TN | Registered: Aug 2015
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posted
I've coincidentally noticed an increase in appetite over the last few months while feeling my adrenal issues have been worsening. I've been suffering from the 3 pm coma for a while. It's good to rule out blood sugar issues, my glucose meter has been getting a workout too.
I've been doing much better with morning energy and afternoon fatigue since I added some support supplements and began Buhner herbs.
I'd been using sleep sups which may help with serotonin, namely melatonin and l-tryptophan but also an herbal supp too.
The supps I added were pregnenolone and a tiny dose of DHEA. Also vitamin C first thing in the am with some salt and B-complex. Bio-identical progesterone cream before bed.
A number of the Buhner herbs support adrenals including eleuthero, ashwaghanda, and rhodiola, probably some others. I'm also taking chinese skullcap (good for the nerves, greater celandine also recommended) and more, but these are the ones I feel are helping my adrenal issues the most.
Food, diet, gut, and neurotransmitters are all connected. So it makes sense that food can calm the anxiety. Diet is a very good place to start, food sensitivities can cause a myriad of symptoms as well.
GERD can also cause these types of hunger symptoms which get relieved by eating. Also most folks with lyme have some degree of adrenal insufficiency, proper TBD treatment can often address them.
Posts: 474 | From US | Registered: May 2014
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posted
I've been diagnosed with chronic Lyme confirmed by multiple IgG Western Blots, C6 and ALS culture.
I had asthma and hypersensitivity to many tings that caused full hives and angio-edema ( swelling lips). When treated with about a year of 2 antibiotics, both my asthma and sensitivity stopped.
I also had morning symptoms that were very similar to what you describe. I tried many diet changes and also monitored my blood sugar by buying my own as people with Diabetes use. But my fasting glucose was 80-95 which is normal.
I also checked and found I had mild adrenal insufficiency diagnosed through a full Adrenal stimulation test over 1 hour. After 30 minutes and 60 minutes, my cortisol was abnormal. This is the gold standard test. But I took hydrocortisone in 5, then 10 and then 15mg per day which did nothing for the symptoms.
I had a very thorough diagnostic effort besides the Lyme which showed very little to explain these weird morning symptoms.
I then had my metabolism checked using the latest Mass Spectrometry that tested my blood for proper metabolites. You can see the complexity of the human metabolism here.
I did this because there is a new emerging hypothesis for why so many chronic syndromes are appearing including Autism, CFS/ME, Fibromialga, Gulf War Syndrome etc...
The exposure of our metabolic system to the thousands of toxins and many infections can lead to an imbalanced metabolic system that can be triggered by an infection such as Lyme, EBV etc.. into a full blown metabolic shutdown.
This shutdown is loosely like a bear or animal going into hibernation in the winter since the cold and lack of food would kill them. Its a defense mechanism that even bacteria in the form of persisters use to protect themselves.
The real problem happens when the metabolic system is stressed and then is hit by an infection or toxin which pushes it into a permanent hibernation at the cellular level. The mitochondria energy engine and other cellular metabolic functions go into a safety persister state.
Recent studies using metabolomics on Autism and CFS/ME suggest these are metabolic disorders not caused by inherited DNA but due to this toxin/infection driven shutdown.
The metabolomics shows which metabolites are abnormal which in turn indicates which metabolic pathways such as the mithochondria or microbiome are responsible.
So it may be that Lyme is a main trigger which adds a metabolic disorder on top of an infection that triggered it.
So both the Lyme and metabolic disorder must be treated. In my case, dozens of low metabolites suggested replacement which miraculously stopped the morning symptoms within a week. I'm now very suspicious that many chronic Lyme patients also have triggered metabolic disorders which cannot be corrected by antibiotics alone. The problem pathways need to be identified and supported.
Try Googling
"metabolomics CFS/ME" and you can read about very recent findings that may apply to some Lyme patients.
Posts: 51 | From California | Registered: Aug 2013
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I got some labs back from my LLMD and vitamin D, zinc, carnitine are all still low. B12 is doing much better though.
I think what concerns me most is that I can't seem to control my blood sugar. I have to eat constantly or else I will get feelings of low blood sugar which will send me into a panic attack. This can happen multiple times a day if I don't stay on top of it.
I don't understand what's causing these blood sugar episodes.
I am taking a low dose of an SSRI to try and help with the panic, which I am hoping, in turn, will help with my adrenals.
It's hard to know what to address first: lyme? panic? adrenals?
My husband made a good analogy: it's as if my body's gas tank is running on empty and eating all the time is like putting $3 in the tank.
Posts: 24 | From Nashville, TN | Registered: Aug 2015
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posted
If your blood sugar is bouncing up and down like that you may want to look at diet. Simple carbs, too many carbs, and lack of protein and fats can cause those kinds of rises and drops in blood glucose.
This is why "grazing" is encouraged if eating small "balanced" meals, it helps blood sugar remain stable by maintaining a steady level of glucose supply and insulin release (because eating carbs raises blood glucose ---> stimulates insulin release ---> drops glucose ---> hypoglycemic and hunger signals ---> repeat over and over).
For many people the constant glucose/insulin rollercoaster is a huge source of bodily stress, allowing metabolic disorders, hormone imbalances, and immune system dysfunction to take place. Excess insulin is not good for us.
Undertaken with care, removing carbs from the diet until steady blood glucose levels are attained can be a great way to ascertain exactly how certain foods and combinations affect our blood glucose. Get back to base level, then add things back in slowly and observe.
I know there are those that would disagree with a low carb way of eating, but if there are blood sugar issues the pancreas can heal much more quickly if we aren't asking it to pump out insulin on a constant basis. We are able to decrease insulin resistance if we give our body's cells a break from constantly being bathed in insulin.
There are also many gut bugs and infectious organisms that need us to consume dietary glucose to survive. The human body can easily change to using fat as a fuel source, the bugs can't. What little essential glucose we need the body can easily manufacture from non-carbohydrate substances through gluconeogenesis.
The vitamin D3 is also incredibly important for proper hormone production as is proper insulin levels. The co-factor of Vitamin K2 should be taken with D3, it tells calcium and D where to go so it doesn't end up in blood vessel walls, organs, or soft tissues. Magnesium is also another essential co-factor of vitamin D.
Posts: 474 | From US | Registered: May 2014
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I am taking 600mg of mag / day and 8000iu of D. My D level last week was 41, improved from 20 in June.
I have experimented with low carbs. I don't eat wheat (expect for the occasional sprouted wheat slice of bread) and when I do eat carbs, they are mostly complex carbs (gluten free oatmeal, sweet potatoes, ect). The only sugar I consume is in fruit, raw honey, or agave.
What about low cortisol or adrenal fatigue? Can this cause symptoms like this?
Like I mentioned above, my blood sugar hasn't dropped below 70 when I have these symptoms. And when I was healthy, I wasn't taking my blood sugar, so I have no idea what is normal for me. I know that I was able to eat normally, 3 meals a day with some snacks maybe, and I never got symptoms like this.
I was starting to think that this was due to low serotonin or other neurotransmitters, since my carnitine levels came back low.
Posts: 24 | From Nashville, TN | Registered: Aug 2015
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Yogurt contains strains of probiotics that can make this worse and cause more anxiety. If you take probiotics, make sure you are taking the best strains for you.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I would think that these sx could be caused by adrenal imbalances, but more likely within an unbalanced HPA axis. I also know that insulin levels affect neurotransmitter levels, which are also directly affected by vitamin D levels, all of this is intertwined with HPA axis.
Some people have problems with fructose. Agave is mostly fructose, more so than HFCS! Honey tends to cause a more sustained elevation in blood glucose rather than a spike (which in turn causes a sustained release of insulin, not a good thing).
Blood sugar readings just indicate the amount of glucose in the blood. They can't tell us that we are insulin resistant, that our pancreas is working too hard, or that excess insulin is interfering with neurotransmitter production.
Even if blood sugars are measuring in a normal range, when they fall to baseline they can still trigger physiological hypoglycemic responses. Keeping them in a very narrow range by not adding glucose (thus eliminating insulin response) lowers the body's overall insulin level and increases insulin sensitivity.
Good that your vitamin D levels is rising! It took me a good 5 months to get to 47. It went up more quickly once I hit that point. Be sure you are splitting your magnesium into 3 doses over the day. The body can only absorb a little at a time and the extra has to get processed through the kidneys.
And another vote for being mindful of histamine intolerance. A good balance of beneficial gut bugs is needed for the neurotransmitters produced in the intestines. Excess histamine and the inflammation it causes can interfere with the functioning of many things in the body.
Posts: 474 | From US | Registered: May 2014
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posted
"I would think that these sx could be caused by adrenal imbalances, but more likely within an unbalanced HPA axis. I also know that insulin levels affect neurotransmitter levels, which are also directly affected by vitamin D levels, all of this is intertwined with HPA axis."
Bingo. Here's your answer.
Posts: 478 | From Third Coast | Registered: Feb 2011
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posted
Sorry, I meant to add something else. I suggest you google "adaptogens" and consider the possibility of taking them.
I started on adaptocrine earlier this year and it has made a difference. I rarely get those blood sugar lows anymore.
Posts: 478 | From Third Coast | Registered: Feb 2011
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I get the same feeling. However I would have facial spasms and severe weakness along with what you said. This would happen throughout the day too.
The one thing that we discovered by blood sugar tests was that I have "reactive hypoglycemia".
I cannot speak on the basis of its rarity but it is not fun. It does help to eat lower carb, higher in healthy fats and avoid starches and refined sugars.
I thought that was all that was wrong with me until Lyme was confirmed. The two combined makes for a world of fun, pun intended.
Try eating small meals every 3-4 hours. That is honestly the best I can suggest and see if that helps. If I eat a higher fatty meal at night the symptoms actually stopped.
If I eat higher in carb it is bad when I wake up.
I try to eat the majority of carbs early in the day and lower as the day goes on up until evening time. Then it is a higher fat meal.
I am still adjusting my diet to see what works best but it is worth tinkering with and trying.
I really have no idea how much truth is in it but my blood type is A-Neg.... given my screen name and they say A-Negs do better with more plant based diet.
I have seen some truth in this with personal experience but I am semi-skeptical.
Keep us posted or at least me if you will so I can see if that smaller portions many times per day helps you.
I purchased blood glucose monitoring kit and all that fancy stuff. Did my own study at home for two days. My blood sugar would bottom out after eating about 35 minutes-1 hour after eating. Was worse with higher carb meals.
I would start shaking, have anxiety, facials spasms, ect.
There are some tests doctors can do to see if you have reactive hypoglycemia but honestly I am sure you have seen enough and do not want to see anymore for anymore problems.
RH can be corrected by diet only to my understanding. Not life threatening just aggravating, general hypoglycemia can be dangerous but not the reactive hypoglycemia such as what I have is not dangerous.
-------------------- Life is short, live it without regrets. Posts: 33 | From DFW | Registered: Sep 2015
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Aneg: I have been trying to eat small meals every 2 hours for over a month now. I even wake up in the middle of the night to eat. I have also worked to limit my carbs and sugars.
I'm confused about whether this is true hypoglycemia. My LLMD does not believe it is since my sugar has never dropped below 70. However, I definitely experience symptoms once my sugar falls into the 80s.
Do your sugars drop below 70 or is reactive hypo more about how quickly your sugar drops after eating?
This symptom is debilitating for me because it triggers severe panic attacks and I can't get good sleep. I am fearful of having another episode so I constantly eat, but I have no appetite. It's torture.
I am wondering if this could be an adrenal issue? It has only popped up since I have been diagnosed with Lyme.
I really appreciate your response. You have some good ideas, that I will try. Thank you for reminding me that it is not life threatening. In the moment it sure does feel like it.
Posts: 24 | From Nashville, TN | Registered: Aug 2015
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posted
Aneg: One last thing - you say that eating a higher fatty meal at night really helps. What do you consider to be a high fatty meal?
Posts: 24 | From Nashville, TN | Registered: Aug 2015
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What meds are you on? Neem made me feel like that ... I felt I was starving just an hour after eating.
Chinese skullcap may lower blood sugar levels.
-------------------- I appreciate all your replies. If it takes me a while to respond, it is either because I'm too sick or because I am unable to log in. From European servers, Lymenet is very frequently inaccessible for days at a time ... Posts: 235 | From Europe | Registered: Jul 2012
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