Hypoglycemia after gastric bypass

[joy59 81]

Anyone else having issues with hypoglycemia? Mine started about a year ago and having blood sugars that drop into the 30’s about 2 hours after eating especially carbs. Trying to really limit my simple carbs but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

[knormlaver 27]

I'm only 5 months post mini gastric bypass and have been experiencing this for the past couple of months. My sugars spike (10.7 mml/l) about 15min after eating and then drop at about the 2 hour mark (2.1-3.0 mmol/l). My fasting sugars are normal. I've tried really hard to modify my diet (ie. no simple sugars, only complex carbs, lots of Protein etc), but it isn't making a whole lot of difference. I called my surgeon's office for support, but they weren't helpful at all and directed me back to my GP who knows little about this phenomenon. I did get her to start me on a trial of acarbose to help prevent the spikes, but I'm only on a very low dose to titrate, so it's not doing much yet. I see an endochrinologist next week. From the research I've done, it seems this is a fairly common issue after gastric bypass; however, many individuals are asymptomatic with low blood sugar, so don't actually realize it's happening. I was very symptomatic in the beginning, but less so now. However, it's scary seeing my sugars go to 2.1 mmol/l. I read these scary articles about people needing to have partial pancreatectomies and ending up with G-tubes and it scares the hell out of me! I had my surgery to avoid Type 2 diabetes (I was prediabetic). Be careful what you wish for I guess!

[joy59 81]

I was 2 years out when I had my first episode I became confused luckily I was talking to a friend on the phone and i began talking jiberish then I was slurring my words I knew I was about to pass out and I sat down my friend called the ambulance when they arrived I was semi conscious with a blood sugar of 36. Went to my endocrinologist who told me about this complication following gastric bypass but they know little on how to treat it. I follow a pretty strict diet and sometimes it is fine other times I become very effected. Seems to happen about 3-5 times a week. Still very glad I had the surgery just wondering if others have found a better way of managing it.

[knormlaver 27]

joy59: Did you try acarbose? Are you finding this issue has affected your weight loss? Things have slowed down for me considerably since this became an issue. My biggest worry is that the hypoglycemia will continue to get worse as my surgery was relatively recent and most people don't start having this problem until at least 1 year post op.

Kerri