Weird spells, any idea?

For a long while now, I occasionally get these weird spells. I always thought it was my blood sugar dropping, but maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone else get these type of things and know what they are?

I can tell I'm starting to get one b/c my face gets hot and feels like it's starting to sweat, and I'm slightly shaky inside, and I just feel "weird" but it's hard to describe. Then it builds up to where my whole body is shaking, and even if I'm actually freezing, I'll be burning up, and I'm shaking like crazy...but...I NEED to eat the whole house. Mostly sugary stuff. I'll go on these eating binges where I'll eat a TON, and crazy like fast, but if I don't eat I'll end up passing out.

Like last night I had one of these spells and I ate a whole thing of canned pears, two oranges, and a small bowl of Sugar Smacks cereal. Usually I eat much more than that, but this was late at night and I was tired. I usually eat until the symptoms go away, and when they do I'm super exhausted.

Does anyone have any clue what these could be? Has anyone else had one before or anything similar to it? I'm going to the dr this morning so I'll ask when I'm there, but I just thought I'd see if any of you had any clue. Thanks!!

I'll be interested to find out what tests the doctor wants you to do. While it could be low blood sugar, your symptoms are more dramatic than the subtle symptoms of the diabetics (type 1 & 2) I've been around and my DH who has hypoglycemia.

But, you're also on medications that could interfere with you being able to notice the subtle early symptoms..

If it looks unlikely for you to be diabetic and the doctor suggest reactive hypoglycemia, don't let them do an extended glucose tolerance test on you. It's not the proper test and it's torture for those who have reactive hypoglycemia.


I used to get weird episodes of facial flushing, hot feeling, shaky, and generally feeling odd when my pulse pressure would narrow down to shock levels. I probably should have been in the ER for those, but I'm too stubborn.
I do suggest you keep an eye on your blood pressure and heart rate throughout the day and especially during these events. Unless medication is interfering, your heart rate will raise when your blood sugar drops - usually subtly at first.

I'd take strange_wings' advice, it sounds like hypoglycemia to me, too. The only other thing that comes to mind with those symptoms is poisoning, have you been exposed to any (more than we're usually exposed to) toxins?

Hope you get to the doctor soon, and find out what's going on. Scary, let us know how your are.

p.s. Your title caught my eye but I thought your thread would be about something else.

Originally Posted by SwampWitch

p.s. Your title caught my eye but I thought your thread would be about something else.

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lol. My brain went that path first, as well. And I thought "Well that doesn't make much sense for her".

One thing you really really need to do, when your body goes into overdrive craving sweets is to not give in. Eat something more balanced that will stay with you for a few hours. I hope you didn't hurt yourself by indulging.

Also, docs diagnosed you with seizures, right? Did they ever find the trigger? Low and high blood sugar is a known cause..

It definitely sounds like something you need tests to diagnose the problem. The symptoms could be a lot of different things, or maybe a combination of two or more things that you wouldn't normally think about.

Keep us updated on what the doctor says.

definitely sounds like hypoglycemia to me. Hubby gets those attacks with some regularity. We keep sugar tabs in the car, on our motorcycle, in the cupboard. When he feels an attack coming on, we immediately get the sugar tabs (sold over the counter in pharmacies), then follow them up with something like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If the attacks are really bad, sometimes I'll give him OJ with a couple of tablespoons of sugar stirred in, along witih the sugar tabs.

Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens

definitely sounds like hypoglycemia to me. Hubby gets those attacks with some regularity. We keep sugar tabs in the car, on our motorcycle, in the cupboard. When he feels an attack coming on, we immediately get the sugar tabs (sold over the counter in pharmacies), then follow them up with something like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If the attacks are really bad, sometimes I'll give him OJ with a couple of tablespoons of sugar stirred in, along witih the sugar tabs.

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I do get them fairly regularly, not a WHOLE lot, but probably at least once every week or two. I've been suffering from them for years, since before I was diagnosed with Addison's Disease, and that was almost 6 years ago. I don't know of any precipitating factors other than hunger or going too long between meals. I try to keep a granola bar or something in my purse in case I'm out for long periods and have one of these spells. Having one while out of the house is scary, but the bars do help. Eating our dinner late in the evening (7-9pm, with snacks earlier) helps, but yesterday we went out to eat with my family and they always insist on eating at 4pm, and I didn't really have much to eat after that.

I do tend to suffer from really low blood pressure. Last week when I was at the doctor, though, my bp was really high...168/98. I've never had bp that high before. The doctor didn't seem concerned, though. It wasn't my regular doctor. *shrug*

strange_wings - Yes, I was diagnosed with seizures. They found that the trigger for my grand mal ones is hard alcohol, but they don't know the trigger for my other ones are. As for the test you were talking about, how is that done? My first Endocrinologist wanted me to fast until it caused one of these spells and wait until the very brink of passing out and then prick my finger and take some blood, but I refused. It sounded terrible.

When I have these spells, though, regular food doesn't make them go away. I have to eat sweet stuff, or fruit, something along those lines, b/c that is the only thing that gets rid of it. I don't know why. The oranges helped last night...I really just cut them into wedges and suck the juice out, so I guess I'm just really drinking orange juice. lol

A GTT is where they fast you then give you straight glucose. This is stronger than table sugar (sucrose) and fructose (fruit sugar), it's the simple form - the end form that our bodies normally break the other sugars down into. They give it to you and wait for you to react. Sometimes it can be a spell like you describe, or it can be a worse crash. If they force you into it, make sure you ask them to do a "insulin draw" during it so as to truly measure how you are responding.

For someone with reactive hypoglycemia a GTT is bad news and there's something called a "breakfast test" that uses actual food that is better.


The reason your sugar binge is bad is because you suddenly swing your body from low to high. Now your pancreas has to fix in and pump out a lot of insulin. Repeatedly doing this all the time can seriously mess you up and even possibly trigger a seizure if blood sugar is a component in that. So yes, you do need to get your blood sugar up but not to the extreme.
As already mentioned, some orange juice with a little sugar followed with protein (protein and fat is very important) is better. I strongly suggest you start looking up how to feed yourself if you have blood sugar issues. If that is not what it going on, it won't hurt you, in fact that sort of diet is probably best for everyone (more frequent small balanced meals/snacks instead of three large meals). My MIL keeps little things like peanut butter crackers in her purse in case she's stuck somewhere and can't eat. Little packages of nuts are a good snack, too.

I don't know if you know this. But diabetics have to really watch alcohol consumption. Some can have a little, others none at all. The reason for this is that it converts to sugar pretty quickly. Starches also break down fast, and need to be watched. Fat and protein slows digestion, which is why they're important in a meal. (in case anyone wonders. I've been feeding my DH for years and know how to keep him from crashing)

The fasting test suggested to you may not fully catch anything (unless insulin is measured, too). But if that's all they want to do, you can go get yourself a meter and stripes right now and start keeping track of blood sugar yourself.

I never knew that. I've been trying to lose weight and get healthy so I've gotten into the habit of eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. When I have another one of those spells I'll try eating something other than straight sugar pretty much. What about a pb&j as mrsgreenjeens suggested? The bars that I keep in my purse are Kashi Fruit and Grain bars, the dark chocolate and coconut ones. http://www.kashi.com/products/tlc_fr...colate_coconut

I knew alcohol was bad for diabetics. They mistakenly diagnosed my dad with diabetes a few years back and he was an alcoholic at the time and they made him stop drinking cold turkey and it made his body shut down. Something like that. I don't drink very often. Maybe once a month I'll have a couple beers (seriously, like maybe 2 or 3...getting upwards of 5 makes me blasted drunk, I'm a super light weight) while playing Wii Bowling with my husband, and I really never drink hard alcohol. The only reason we found that hard alcohol was my trigger was b/c my cousin got me to do some shots with him at my sisters wedding at the end of August and that night I had my first grand mal.

PB&J is fine, though watch the sugar in the jelly/preserves so you're not getting one too loaded with it. You also need to be careful of the bread, multigrain is better than white for example. But there are some great tasting multigrain breads so I don't think you'll have too much problem with that.

The Kashi bars depends. I didn't see nutrition info on there? But basically, don't rely on them to sustain you. They'd probably be best with a little something else as a snack or if you can go a head and eat soon.

I don't know what those doctors were thinking. You can't take an alcoholic off of alcohol suddenly like that. It's just like any other hard drug, if it's suddenly taken away the body goes into withdrawals and that can kill a person. Its possible that there could have been a case for a lawsuit there..

And I didn't mean to imply you drank a lot. Just that alcohol is a problem for diabetics, which could tie into your problem with drinking that night. I'm really surprised that they didn't fully investigate a blood sugar issue when you were diagnosed with seizures... For a lot of things health issues that's one of the first things they test.

I hope you can get to feeling better.

My neurologist is about 100 years old. Other than an MRI and an EEG, he didn't run any other tests. I'm just seeing my regular doctor this afternoon, but I think I'll make an appt with my Endocrinologist soon, b/c she'll probably be better able to know what's going on. I have a feeling it's my seizures and my Addison's Disease combined that might be the problem.

Originally Posted by kara_leigh

My neurologist is about 100 years old.

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I suppose you'll just have to wait and see what they can find. Good luck!

I'm finding it hard to believe that your doc just shrugged off a BP of 168/98, especially if yours is normally low!! That has me flabbergasted. Did they take it more than once to make sure it wasn't an error?

Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens

I'm finding it hard to believe that your doc just shrugged off a BP of 168/98, especially if yours is normally low!! That has me flabbergasted. Did they take it more than once to make sure it wasn't an error?

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The nurse took it three times b/c she didn't believe it, then the doctor took it, and it was about the same each time. The doctor (well, nurse practitioner) shrugged it off, saying that sometimes they go through spells where everyone's bps will be high. I figured since this was the first time with me, was the reason they ignored it. Maybe if it's high again they'll take notice. I don't know. I was concerned but my hubby said that if the doctor wasn't then I shouldn't be either. *sigh* I have a BP cuff, but I can't take my own bp (I know how, but you aren't supposed to take your own bp) and DH doesn't know how, otherwise I'd be taking it frequently to check it.

I hate that we're in the midst of a doctor switch, so no one really knows me and my history. Our last doctor that we had for 9 years and knew everything about me became medical director and we got a letter in the mail a couple months ago saying we have to switch doctors. I had to have my brand new doctor do my h&p for my surgery back in October.