Greetings folks,

I am not following a specific "diet" - just eliminating foods which I
appear to be highly sensitive to.

I've had low blood sugar issues all my life. I remember having hypo
attacks as early as 6 years old. It had been happening more and more
over the years, and it was bad enough to keep me out of school many
days before it was finally diagnosed. I never had energy, tended not
to take part in PE, and was "spaced out" in class a lot.

When I had the awful morning hypo attacks, we thought it was just the
"stomach flu", basically, although chicken soup *always* cleared it up
within about an hour, and I would be well the same day. I had cold
sweats, nausea/vomiting, shakes, heart palpitations. I was not tested
until my grandfather (a diabetic) told my mom to get me checked for
diabetes.

I was given the Glucose Tolerance Test and diagnosed as hypoglycemic.

In my late teens through twenties, I stopped suffering as many
horrible hypo attacks. There was kind of a "honeymoon" from the
hypoglycemia; I could even skip breakfast.

Over the years, however, I've found myself more and more sensitive to
different foods. In the beginning, it just meant that I couldn't eat
sugar without eating a meal first, or eat it too early in the day.

Now I'm sensitive to practically every kind of "white food". I get a
splitting headache, depression, feeling of lethargy and apathy etc.
The headaches last all day long, typically about 6 hours or more. I
can feel it beginning the moment I put a piece of candy in my mouth.

I also have reactive attacks now that sometimes happen FAST - I had a
reactive happen after three sushi rolls!!

I have had some really severe blood sugar falloffs in recent years
also, which felt like sixty to zero in five seconds... one moment I'd
be chatting with someone and the next I'd be sitting on the floor in a
cold sweat.

I quit being a vegetarian and have gone more or less low-carb though
not strict Atkins (I only eat a *little* bit of refined carb, here and
there; I've become aware of what my limits are).

I find that I don't have the headaches when I eat this way.

However - I am finding I'm having horrific hypoglycemic attacks that
take me back to my childhood. As a new low-carber I'm having these a
LOT. I wake up with my heart pounding. This morning I was sitting on
the floor in the kitchen, frantically stuffing a packet of Smarties
into my mouth and trying to get the remainder of last night's chicken
down my throat, then trying to *keep* it all down. I ended up being
ok, but even hours later I feel drained and weak.

These attacks make me feel very sick. After they're over I feel
drained the rest of the day.

I feel like I'm on a knife's edge. On one side are the headaches and
apathy. I go back to carb, I feel sick/depressed/useless all the time.
I literally feel like something inside is sucking the life out of me,
on the "normal" diet. On the other side are these really frightening
hypo attacks that come on really fast and drop me like a stone.

I have a few vague other symptoms suggestive that I need to get
checked for diabetes (which will happen after I get on my fiance's
insurance), but I am wondering if the hypo on low-carb, "gets worse
before it gets better".

I'm not going back to the normal diet - I hate the headaches.

But the hypos aren't fun either.