It's like a joke, you see? What happens next?
I was thinking today about the constant blood sugar roller coaster I have been riding since 2005, and the fact that it isn't going away. This simply cannot be good for me. I dropped yesterday after chicken. CHICKEN. While I don't drop as disastrously as I could, this is only because I EAT ALL DAMN DAY. But, this is unacceptable after protein.
Beth has a seizure disorder.
The seizures started at the same time as the hypoglycemia did.
But they are not connected, or maybe are, but we don't know.
But, here I am in 2009, with no answers, and still having issues with both. The endocrine doctor shooed me off until the seizures were diagnosed -- and the neurologist says there's no diagnosis -- and no reason to seize -- just take medicine.
My theory is, since I am Dr. Google trained -- if I keep glucose in my brain -- it might work better? It's a thought. To avoid damaging myself, I should:
A) Eat properly, attempting to avoid lows
B) Treat low blood sugars quickly when I am aware of them, not allowing myself to get coma-level low.
Even with those steps covered, I still drop unexpectedly at times, and sometimes I don't know it has happened. Dr. Google suggests giving me a pyloric valve back. My roux en y pouch is open at the bottom, there isn't anything to stop the food from dropping fast, and it does.
Short of corking myself, what can be done? Endoscopic procedures to staple your pouch bits back together, but this is costly and not permanent, or adding a gastric band, or a ring to the pouch to slow the flow. Revisions to DS are also an option, but I don't know enough to say that it would FIX me.
It just leaves me wondering -- if adjusting my guts might help my brain -- it's worth it.
- 1:Obes Surg. 2008 Aug;18(8):981-8. Epub 2008 Apr 26.
Severe recurrent hypoglycemia after gastric bypass surgery.
Z'graggen K, Guweidhi A, Steffen R, Potoczna N, Biral R, Walther F, Komminoth P, Horber F.
Berner Viszeralchirurgie and Schweizerisches Pankreaszentrum Klinik Beau-Site Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery is, at present, the most effective method to achieve major, long-term weight loss in severely obese patients. Recently, severe recurrent symptomatic hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia was described as a consequence of gastric bypass surgery (GBS) in a small series of patients with severe obesity. Pancreatic nesidioblastosis, a hyperplasia of islet cells, was postulated to be the cause, and subtotal or total pancreatectomy was the suggested treatment. METHODS: We observed that severe, disabling hypoglycemia after GBS occurred only in patients with loss of restriction. Whether restoration of gastric restriction might treat severe, recurrent hypoglycemia after GBS is unknown.RESULTS: Therefore, gastric restriction was restored by surgical placement of a silastic ring (n = 8, first two patients with additional distal pancreatectomy) or an adjustable gastric band (n = 4) around the pouch in 12 consecutive patients presenting with severe hypoglycemia (blood glucose below 2.2 mM). At follow-up after restoration of gastric restriction (median follow-up 7 months, range 5 to 19 months), 11 patients demonstrated no hypoglycemic episodes, while one had recurrence of hypoglycemia and underwent distal pancreatectomy. Procedural mortality was 0% and morbidity 8.3%.
CONCLUSION: Patients suffering from severe recurrent hypoglycemia after GBS can be treated, in most cases, just by restoration of gastric restriction. Distal pancreatectomy should be considered a second-line treatment.
PMID: 18438618 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
