Strange mood swings

militarydreams

Ok so my basic diet was going fine but I wanted a way to manage my cravings for sweet stuff (don't ask) so for the last couple of weeks I've allowed myself a calorie spike day. I thought it was just a regular off day last time but today it has happened again, it's like I'm getting a bad-food hangover or something. I'm short on patience and generally in a poor mood but the only common denominator is the spike day.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Perhaps a grouchy feeling because of something else I might be missing?

Amommymoose

Well, it depends: what did you eat to create the calorie spike? If it was something that resolves to sugar in the body, I'd say that what you're experiencing is really normal for someone who has blood sugar/insulin imbalance.

You could try using L-glutamine to manage your cravings for sweets. You could also try balancing your blood sugar better by making sure that if/when you eat sweets, starches, grains, potatoes or things made of flour that they're in combination with fats and proteins to prevent a surge (or full-on spike) of insulin.

Last, you might want to consider getting an IRT (Insulin Response Test). Doctors chronically check your sugar--which will show when you get full-blown diabetic (or darned close). The IRT looks like a glucose tolerance test (but it's only 2 hours) and checks both sugar and insulin to see how (and if) your body's insulin response is where it should be.

Hope this helps!

HealthyLivingKathy

yep I feel that way when my blood sugar is high. as ^^^ suggested, have your doctor do a diabetes test. If you can, reverse it before it gets full blown. Not a fun disease and causes a multitude of other health issues - nasty ones. {{{HUGS}}}

Amommymoose

yep I feel that way when my blood sugar is high. as ^^^ suggested, have your doctor do a diabetes test. If you can, reverse it before it gets full blown. Not a fun disease and causes a multitude of other health issues - nasty ones. {{{HUGS}}}

Be careful: a diabetes test checks blood sugar but not insulin. Sad, but true. You could currently be overproducing insulin (frequently misdiagnosed as any number of things, but includes "hypoglycemia") which will lead you to full-on diabetes when your pancreas burn out of overproducing.

The IRT takes sugar AND insulin at fasting, then gives you a sugar drink and takes both again at 1-hour and 2-hour marks. It LOOKS just like a Glucose Tolerance Test (which shows diabetes, but won't show pre-diabetic conditions).

Some doctors run just a one-time fasting insulin--which will only show a problem that's already pretty far gone. For example: my fasting levels are spot-on perfect. My IRT shows that years of uncontrolled hyperinsulinism now have my body not producing enough insulin in response to sugar. So I'm MAKING insulin, but not enough. It's about a hair away from diabetes.

I've been managing this with diet, etc. and it's fine. I watch. But it's good to know because symptoms change as the condition changes and you need to know how to read your symptoms so you know when there's trouble... kwim? As for me, the condition of my kidneys given how long I went undiagnosed/untreated astounds doctors regularly. It can be done.

militarydreams

Help appreciated but wont I just get laughed out of the sugery if I show up without any of the risk factors of pre-diabetes other than being overweight? I feel like given the state of the UK they'd be over-run with people wanting to be tested if that was the only thing on the list. I've read that pre-diabetes actually has no symptoms so are you sure that my mood swings can be accounted for? I just get the feeling that the NHS isn't going to cover this.

Risk factors:

being aged 45 or older
being overweight or obese
being physically inactive
having a parent or sibling with diabetes
having a family background that is African American, Alaska Native, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander
giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds or being diagnosed with gestational diabetes-diabetes first found during pregnancy
having high blood pressure-140/90 or above-or being treated for high blood pressure
having an HDL, or "good," cholesterol level below 35 mg/dL or a triglyceride level above 250 mg/dL
having polycystic ovary syndrome, also called PCOS
having other conditions associated with insulin resistance, such as severe obesity or acanthosis nigricans
having a history of cardiovascular disease

impyimpyaj

Honestly, if you felt ok before you started doing the calorie spikes, maybe just don't do them. If you want to manage sugar cravings, the best way to do that is to just stop eating sugar for a week or two. Once it gets out of your system, you won't want it anymore. I've had to quit sugar several times (I keep going back to it because I'm dumb) and when I get those initial cravings for the first few days, it helps to drink a glass of water and eat some protein, like some tuna or some grilled chicken breast. It will pass eventually. If you notice health problems after decreasing your sugar though, such as dizziness, weakness, headaches, or anything like that, you should definitely see your doc.

militarydreams

Honestly, if you felt ok before you started doing the calorie spikes, maybe just don't do them. If you want to manage sugar cravings, the best way to do that is to just stop eating sugar for a week or two. Once it gets out of your system, you won't want it anymore. I've had to quit sugar several times (I keep going back to it because I'm dumb) and when I get those initial cravings for the first few days, it helps to drink a glass of water and eat some protein, like some tuna or some grilled chicken breast. It will pass eventually. If you notice health problems after decreasing your sugar though, such as dizziness, weakness, headaches, or anything like that, you should definitely see your doc.

Fair point, I guess it's just like any other addiction... I'm going to miss it though :laugh: I'll give it 100%, thanks for the advice.