1.5ish years of PM eating & now I'm seemingly pre-diabetic...

[I'm.No.One]

Female, 36, 5'4, 132 lbs, very active farm life, 2500-3000 calories daily, carb heavy.

Came to PM eating from a pretty low/learned calorie intake, was about 98lbs when I began PM eating.

Never restricted carbs, fat, meat, just didn't eat enough consistent meals except dinner.

I'd say I'm only, from visual appearance of my body, 5-8 lbs overweight, but after a lifetime of basically being a walking bag of bones I figure it will take my body time to feel safe enough to let go of that.

I have however plateaued & do not continue to gain weight.

Sups:

325mg Aspirin
Thorne Vit k
Vit E
Cypro 1-3 x a week as needed.
Bee pollen
Pine pollen (I have low T)
Ideal labs androgens 1-2 drops cycled with my cycle.
Occasionally MB

The last week or so I had been having kinda out of the blue overwhelming waves of emotion & just feeling suddenly off so I went & bought a glucose meter.

The first time I tested I was in the 20 range, dangerous as hell.

I thought it might have been from taking double aspirin that morning coupled with a somewhat smaller than normal breakfast.

I stopped taking aspirin.

Thinking I was hypoglycemic from it + maybe not enough protein alongside the fruit I had for breakfast the next day I had more starch/protein.

Before I even got hungry in the afternoon my blood sugar dangerously plummeted again.

So I started tracking morning levels/after meals/whenever I feel off for the last week.

This morning my fasting blood sugar is 120, yesterday it was 140... This indicates pre-diabetic or outright diabetes.

I will add that I go hypo rapidly & often no matter how much I'm eating then it skyrockets back up & my ears start ringing.

My diet typically looks like:

Fruits
Meats
Cheese
OJ
Potatoes
More cheese
Ample raw goats milk
Maple syrup
Honey
Rice
Eggs
Animal fats for cooking
Sourdough bread when I make it
Pasta when I make it

I'm pretty mindful about pairing these all in the PM fashion carbs/protein.

This feels pretty devastating to be honest.

I had JUST got my body back from severe burnout, finally had good cortisol levels, was really staring to feel good with genuine energy returning.

Then BAM this hits me, and it really did just hit me. I'd never had these symptoms before.

Ideas? Experience?

 

[thisoldtown1978]

Sorry to hear about that, that's really frustrating. What is your daily caloric intake?

If I were in your shoes, experiencing unusual symptoms, I'd stop the additional supplements for now (if you can, obviously). I can't describe the mechanism for some of your supps but I do know that anything that stimulates the metabolism can tank your blood sugar if for whatever reason you're not getting adequate nutrition, like not eating enough calories or digestive issues stopping you from absorbing certain things properly.

One thing that stands out to me - your added androgens might be suppressing cortisol, which would normally come up to keep your blood sugar stable if this wasn't possible for other reasons.

Please look into this yourself, and hopefully other more knowledgable members of the forum can chime in to correct any mistakes I've made here!

 

[Makrosky]

Could it be the cypro? I remember people complaining about fasting glucose going bad because of it.

 

[I'm.No.One]

Sorry to hear about that, that's really frustrating. What is your daily caloric intake?

If I were in your shoes, experiencing unusual symptoms, I'd stop the additional supplements for now (if you can, obviously). I can't describe the mechanism for some of your supps but I do know that anything that stimulates the metabolism can tank your blood sugar if for whatever reason you're not getting adequate nutrition, like not eating enough calories or digestive issues stopping you from absorbing certain things properly.

One thing that stands out to me - your added androgens might be suppressing cortisol, which would normally come up to keep your blood sugar stable if this wasn't possible for other reasons.

Please look into this yourself, and hopefully other more knowledgable members of the forum can chime in to correct any mistakes I've made here!

Yeah I stopped everything one at a time to see if it may have been tanking my blood sugar.

Honestly I had been feeling great on the androgens/pine pollen as I'm super low in T.

I then recently added MB although not a new to me supplement, I will say the timing correlates with that. I have stopped taking that too.

So it's been about 4 days with no supps & while I guess it could take longer to subside if they were the cause it hasn't changed anything yet.

Edit to add:

I'm eating between 2500-3000 calories a day & hit all of my daily nutrient/macro marcs on Cronometer.

 

[I'm.No.One]

Could it be the cypro? I remember people complaining about fasting glucose going bad because of it.

I don't think so, I take it so little these days & didn't have this problem for the 3 months straight that I took it in micro doses.

 

[Makrosky]

@Blossom might be able to give you good advice.

 

[Makrosky]

I don't think so, I take it so little these days & didn't have this problem for the 3 months straight that I took it in micro doses.

How much was a microdose? 3 months is quite some time.

 

[I'm.No.One]

How much was a microdose? 3 months is quite some time.

I was in severe burnout, like one stressful day away from an adrenal crisis with almost no cortisol in my body during the day.

I was taking 0.5 mg topically & we know that topical it doesn't all absorb so probably between 0.3-0.4 mg a day.

My cortisol is now in perfect range, it's a crazy turn around.

 

[BRBsavinWorld]

You do outdoor labor… heat wave? This could be an acute reaction?

Google science says heat/humidity can lead to increased insulin absorption?

Ray says insulin is only supposed to make up 8% of insulinic activivity, and minerals like potassium perform the bulk… maybe just replacing the emptiest sugar sources (like maple?) with lots of OJ?
Maybe to keep your OJ calories up, you also lower fat consumption a little?

Sounds pretty ancestrally consistent/seasonal eating

 

[BRBsavinWorld]

I have terrible metabolic history, and even tho I’m a seemingly fit male, I’ve really gotta take it easy as a redhead in Texas.

I will get a serotonin spike if I do too much in a day (like diarrhea for a day after). I’ll basically need to milk some OJ/icecream, carrot salad, and nap, to rebound faster.

I’ve clearly not fully repaired myself to afford higher starch consumption.

You may consider that, even if you’ve got a seemingly strong gut to handle starches, that combos of stress could still be playing toward a little endotoxemia? Just a guess.

 

[Makrosky]

I was in severe burnout, like one stressful day away from an adrenal crisis with almost no cortisol in my body during the day.

I was taking 0.5 mg topically & we know that topical it doesn't all absorb so probably between 0.3-0.4 mg a day.

My cortisol is now in perfect range, it's a crazy turn around.

I see. Not a big dose but certainly not a microdose either. Some people react super strongly to 0.5mg doses. When you have a chance look for cyrpro+diabetes on the forum. I don't remember all details I just remember some people complaining about this. Maybe you find useful info there.

 

[I'm.No.One]

You do outdoor labor… heat wave? This could be an acute reaction?

Google science says heat/humidity can lead to increased insulin absorption?

Ray says insulin is only supposed to make up 8% of insulinic activivity, and minerals like potassium perform the bulk… maybe just replacing the emptiest sugar sources (like maple?) with lots of OJ?
Maybe to keep your OJ calories up, you also lower fat consumption a little?

Sounds pretty ancestrally consistent/seasonal eating

I drink tons of OJ especially in comparison to maple syrup which for sure isn't an empty sugar source but I hear ya.

I do a lot of outside work but I'm also from a hot climate so pretty adapted to it. This also started happening during spring storm season so it's not much over 70°F yet.

 

[I'm.No.One]

I see. Not a big dose but certainly not a microdose either. Some people react super strongly to 0.5mg doses. When you have a chance look for cyrpro+diabetes on the forum. I don't remember all details I just remember some people complaining about this. Maybe you find useful info there.

I'd say it's a microdose with topical use but I'll look into it.

I'd be kinda shocked if that was the reason seeing as I'm barely using it now & this started without it really being in use.

 

[Makrosky]

I'd say it's a microdose with topical use but I'll look into it.

I'd be kinda shocked if that was the reason seeing as I'm barely using it now & this started without it really being in use.

It is not a microdose.

I am not saying it is the cause of your problem. I don't have any idea why that happened to you. I am just giving you some hints in hope it might help.

 

[BRBsavinWorld]

I drink tons of OJ especially in comparison to maple syrup which for sure isn't an empty sugar source but I hear ya.

I do a lot of outside work but I'm also from a hot climate so pretty adapted to it. This also started happening during spring storm season so it's not much over 70°F yet.

Oh dang, according to google, maple syrup has more potassium.

100g maple syrup: 212mg potassium
100g OJ: 200mg potassium

 

[I'm.No.One]

It is not a microdose.

I am not saying it is the cause of your problem. I don't have any idea why that happened to you. I am just giving you some hints in hope it might help.

Agree to disagree, I'm not sure how you'd even take less than .3-.4 mg though...

Anyhow, I did look into it, it seems that it for sure can cause hypoglycemic especially if people take it while already undereating.

It looks like it primarily causes that issue while being on it & it looks like it typically happens from larger doses.

It is kinda interesting that this didn't happen to me while consistently taking it but began months after no longer using it consistently.

I'll continue reading about it.

 

[I'm.No.One]

So I'm going to add in the fact that my blood sugar seems to plummet after I eat.

I'm at 105, was at 121 before breakfast.

Been 30 mins since breakfast.

Breakfast was pork steak/egg with small serving of rice & milk. (Usually it's fruit but trying to see what different carb sources do).

Feel like sh!t.

Reactive hypoglycemia?

 

[InChristAlone]

I never experienced such wild numbers, but I have the symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia. Too much protein can lower blood sugar especially in the morning. What are your macros like? Diet could have carbs but they could be coming in at like 30% of your calories which would be too low if protein is at 30% of calories as well. I mostly healed the reactive hypoglycemia like events by eating more carbs and fats together. The high number in the morning is very high cortisol, then when you do eat carbs cortisol plummets and so does blood sugar. I would drop the hormones. I have some info on low androgens and too high protein and RP also states that too much protein lowers thyroid.

 

[I'm.No.One]

I never experienced such wild numbers, but I have the symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia. Too much protein can lower blood sugar especially in the morning. What are your macros like? Diet could have carbs but they could be coming in at like 30% of your calories which would be too low if protein is at 30% of calories as well.

I'm for sure carb dominant in my eating usually going quiet a bit over the standard Cronometer carb setting & always hit that level mid-day.

Hit my protein amounts by end of day but never really go over that.

I mostly healed the reactive hypoglycemia like events by eating more carbs and fats together. The high number in the morning is very high cortisol, then when you do eat carbs cortisol plummets and so does blood sugar.

I'd be pretty shocked if suddenly I have high morning cortisol, less than a few week ago my morning/noon/night cortisol levels are perfect.

It's an area that I've really been hyper focusing on for almost 2 years now since I was in severe burnout. I sleep perfectly & wake up rested ready to go about my day.

Also, I don't have the tinnitus that always accompanied my high cortisol levels in the past.

But I'll for sure keep that in mind.

I would drop the hormones. I have some info on low androgens and too high protein and RP also states that too much protein lowers thyroid.

I'm not eating high protein though. Adding in the pine pollen & the tiny amount of Andro actually really helped me feel energetic (not stimulated though) & less overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things I have to get done in a day.

My T levels are really low & as a woman that's hard to get help for/read much about.

I have stopped them though just for the sake of seeing if that is the culprit as others have said it might actually be dropping my cortisol too low.

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[I'm.No.One]

Oh dang, according to google, maple syrup has more potassium.

100g maple syrup: 212mg potassium
100g OJ: 200mg potassium

Yeah maple syrup is loaded down with potassium, b vits, even decent magnesium amounts.