Diet and seizures. Exploring reactive hypoglycemia as a trigger to seizures i.e. when blood sugar drops too low. Anyone know much about managing it?

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jane54

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Exploring reactive hypoglycemia as a trigger to seizures i.e. when blood sugar drops too low. Anyone know much about managing it? Who to go and see for advice re diet. Are there any papers or resources on it.
 
The best thing to do is to see a licensed Dietician. They can help you with your diet and the blood sugar.
I spoke with one when I was on the ketogenic diet a few yrs. ago and she was a great help and made sure
my blood sugar didn't get to high or to low.
I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You,

Sue
 
Thank you Sue. I think that is going to need to be my next route as too much guess work doing it on my own. I am going to see if I can find some books too.

Jane
 
The best way is to manage your blood sugar and not to allow it to fall too low. Not consuming high amounts of sugar, but if you start falling you will have to. The best thing to do is probably see an endocrinologist that could help.
 
Thank you XxBlaqkxX. Am in process of seeing an endocrinoligist as they think reactive hypoglycemia is triggering some of my seizures i.e. when the blood glucose drops low. I am still trying to learn how to manage my blood sugars. I have cut out as much sugar as I am aware of; am eating slow release foods and eating regularly. Food had always been a trigger to my seizures and my neurologist used to tell me to carry biscuits with me when out. I don't fully understand the different types of food yet, so still learning this. I think I had a sugar crash recently injuring myself in a seizure, having eaten a piece of cake at a birthday party, after a month with little sugars; a couple of hours later feeling need to buy food and having a seizure in food store. Trying to research the topic to learn more about it and how to manage it.
Thank you for your help
Jane
 
jane54 said:
Thank you XxBlaqkxX. Am in process of seeing an endocrinoligist as they think reactive hypoglycemia is triggering some of my seizures i.e. when the blood glucose drops low. I am still trying to learn how to manage my blood sugars. I have cut out as much sugar as I am aware of; am eating slow release foods and eating regularly. Food had always been a trigger to my seizures and my neurologist used to tell me to carry biscuits with me when out. I don't fully understand the different types of food yet, so still learning this. I think I had a sugar crash recently injuring myself in a seizure, having eaten a piece of cake at a birthday party, after a month with little sugars; a couple of hours later feeling need to buy food and having a seizure in food store. Trying to research the topic to learn more about it and how to manage it.
Thank you for your help
Jane
Click to expand...

It can be a learning process. It's also good to pay attention what works for you, too, as we're not all the same.

I think seizures themselves can plummet blood sugar because during them and a while after, you're not going to be eating or drinking anything too soon after.

I do know that the more sugar that is in something, the worse the crash. Having super sugary things will send you for a large spike, but then they end up pulling you down. I know for some people, it's helpful to add in a protein with the sugar to help the body use it more effectively. Some people might do good with peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something of that sort.

I have met a girl that had a lot of hormone issues and it affected her blood sugar. She usually needed something with a bit more sweet each meal. For example, in the morning she could have toast with butter and cinnamon sugar. For lunch or dinner, something nutrition filled and balanced with generally a dessert of some kind.

Another friend of mine has Type 1 and she would always keep a juice pack and fruit gummies in her purse if she was crashing badly. One time, I remember hanging out with her. We were just sitting on the couch and talking and she said she needed to go soon, but felt funny, so she checked her blood sugar and she was in the 50s and then started laughing while saying, "Yeah, I'm not driving anywhere right now." So she had to refuel and wait a bit before leaving. Crashes happen when blood sugar is off.

My husband has major spikes and crashes when he has fructose, but we have learned that he is also sensitive to it. He doesn't feel good after fruit sugar at all so fructose is a nightmare for him. A lot of diabetics don't handle it well.

If you eat a food and it crashes you really hard, take note of it. Sometimes allergic reactions can cause your blood sugar to plummet, too, and the body is exhausting it's resources to fight off the offending food.

Although, it seems complex carbs are often times more beneficial in the long run for meals since they have carbs, but also more nutrition (such as sweet potatoes, turnips, radish, pumpkin, carrot, tomato, etc).
 
Certain seizure medications can cause blood sugar problems as well. Zonisamide, which can act as an appetite suppressant, was problematic for me for those reasons.
 
Hello Nakamovo That is not a seizure medication I am on, but thank you for sharing information. I do think it is food related as went a month seizure free when changing diet, until I had the cake My epilepsy is drug resistant, but there are known triggeres e.g. tiredness, stress, heat, and food has always been a trigger, but not to this degree before. Not changed drugs, but am past menopause now so could always ask neurologist if I might be processing drugs differently
Jane
 
jane54 said:
Exploring reactive hypoglycemia as a trigger to seizures i.e. when blood sugar drops too low. Anyone know much about managing it? Who to go and see for advice re diet. Are there any papers or resources on it.
Click to expand...
I was on LGIT(Researched through the epilepsy foundation and approved by my neurologist) for a really long time and my seizures started to calm down. Then I had a packet of crisps before an EEG to try and trigger a seizure for them to analyse and it didn't work so I'd say overall I was very annoyed because I cut so many foods out of my diet to prevent hypoglycemia but I don't regret it because it did help me identify some foods that do contribute.E.g Potato starch and granules but not actual potatoes. No clue why
 
I am still in process of finding a dietician and getting to see my neurologist. That is helpful what you are sharing "unknown_user14. What is LGIT? I think first step now needs to be private appointment with neurologist to discuss this further as well as speak to a dietician. Help from g.p. is more linked to diabetes, don't know if this will be helpful to hypoglycemia, but will give me more education on diet that I have now hopefully. Is it trial and error re finding out foods that are helpful, foods that are more harmful. Am following low GI eating at moment. Still learning about how much carb to eat like wholegrain bread. how much vegetables; how much fruit, how much dairy, how much chicken, tinned fish - seems that different quantities of these foods are encouraged. Are you more in control of your hypoglycemia now "unknown_user14"
 
Hello "unknown_user14. Did you have support of a dietician as well as your neurologist. If so did dietician have specific training in working with people with epilepsy Jane
 
Hi @jane54 no I didn't because we wanted to get it sorted out as soon as possible my neurologist gave me a big list of neurologist-approved resources such as recipe book recommendations and websites. Waiting times are so bad here at the moment it would have been a nightmare to get an appointment with a dietician. My experience of the diet generally taught me to eat more wholegrains but to also encourage myself to eat more protein with my meal. It's not normally my meals that trigger me now but I might get the recipe books out again in the future if my tonic-clonics prove to be more regular.
 
Would you mind sharing some of resources your neurologist recommended. I am wanting to get to a place where I am eating correctly enough that I feel safe enough to go out for a walk. At the moment, diet advice has been sparse from health service, so thank you to everyone on this site who has given advice. Have been referred to diabetic nurse in a few weeks. Neurologist approved resources would be great to look at. Still trying to get appointment with my neurologist. Meals are not my only trigger either, but food does seem to be a trigger to drop seizures and that is when I hurt myself. Other seizures e.g. triggered by tiredness, stress, heat, have learned how to manage. Hope to get to place where I can say the same with food trigger. Jane
 
Thank you so much for those links unknown_user14. I will take a look at them now. Jane
 
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