sleepie

Hi guys. Hey I was wondering for those of you that drank for many years as I did... are sugar lows a thing that happens- after abstinence? I feel bad at times, usually when I go 12 hours without carbs. I was trying not to eat carbs because I have prediabetes. But if I go too long I get sweaty, panicky and light headed and just weird feeling.

I mean I hoped to turn this prediabetes thing around but I am worse now after quitting drinking for over 10 months. Last year early in my sobriety I wasn't prediabetic. But a year before that I was. I mean this back and forth is really draining.

So I don't know if "hypos" are a thing that is common in previous drinkers... I already know about eating low GI foods, slow releasing carbs and small portions and grazing (mooo LOL) instead of meals... and exercise so I don't too much need dietary info just want to know if this happens to anyone else...


Sigh drinking sure does mess ya up.

Doug39

I recently quit drinking after 27+ years of daily drinking. I quit for 4 months back in 2013 but other then that I rarely had a day without alcohol since 1989.

I also started taking antidepressants a few days after I quit drinking this time.

If I don't eat I also feel awful - and do get sweaty, panicky and light headed and just weird feeling. The medication I am on also has similar side effects but I think it is from not drinking anymore.

I missed lunch yesterday and by 5pm I was a mess. I went out at 6pm to get some food and I could hardly drive I was so weak and spaced out. Once I ate I was fine.

Good luck. The body needs time to adjust to change.

zjw

I swear i read somewhere along the line about how alcoholics generally have low sugar issues to begin with and how that can fuel the addiciton all the more.

I never had sugar issues till i quit drinking. since then when i low carbed oh man forget it sugar would tank i'd panic get anxious dizzy etc..

Now I high carb you would think it would be better? it sorta is but if i'm not careful about making sure i eat and such forget it I have issues again.

and like i said none of this was evern an issue till i quit drinking that i noticed anyhow go figure.

it stinks too because it can lead to anxiety and panic and such. so its like one more thing that can trigger that etc..

OddOneIn

Last time I checked I did have high blood sugar. I have not been retested since I quit though.

I am more aware of my mood swings now when I haven't eaten. I had them before but I would drink them away.

Now when I feel suicidal I know it's time to have something to eat.

SnazzyDresser

I've never had blood sugar issues, but I have lost quite a bit of weight since late February, when my previous sober streak started. Has greatly improved my health in many ways. I was going low carb for awhile, under 50 carbs a day, but my body didn't seem to like it. Couldn't sleep, feeling rundown all the time etc. I seem to do a lot better keeping carbs between 100-120 a day, still relatively low compared to the normal American diet. My Fitness Pal has helped me out a lot on all that food and nutrition stuff, tracking calories, macros and whatnot. I'm 60 pounds down total, got my blood pressure normal, feel a lot better.

PhoenixJ

-Perhaps a blood sugar test?

2muchpain

I think everybody's different when it comes to how many carbs is right. Like you, if I lower my carbs too much, I get that rundown feeling. I also do a lot of cardio at the gym, so maintaining a decent level of carbs is important. I guess it comes down to lifestyle. Probably not a good idea to load up on carbs if your not very active. Sounds like your doing pretty good though. John

sleepie

Phoneix I have had many tests and that i show I know I have prediabetes like I said in the 1st post,.

I am really trying not to be anxious about this but all this back and forth with my a1c and then going from being non prediabetic while drinking, and after a short time of abstinence still being fine... and then only to get worse and become prediabetic after not a single drop of alcohol for 10 months... it scares me, worries me and also makes me feel like s*** that I can't be in the "Everything got better after I quit" club. It makes me feel horrible about myself and like my sobriety means nothing. I guess also since I have always been alone without family or a partner or spouse until pretty recently and have zero IRL support and nobody IRL who cares, it exacerbates that feeling of meaningless. I feel as if I am free falling into a void with no safety net, I always have and it's terrifying. I have never had anyone "there" for me, ever, in a way that was emotionally supportive, IRL.

PhoenixJ

Sleepie- you have us.

sleepie

That's true Phoneix but I need the real life stuff so bad. I truly think it contributes to my anxieties.

PhoenixJ

I am reading this post of yours @ 1510 in my real time. The stories here are real. True, not face-f. So how can you achieve the real tactile life stuff?

sleepie

Hi Phoneix.

Others here who know me are familiar with this dilemma of mine. I have no family, as I had to disengage from them long, long ago. My BF, while supportive in more pragmatic ways, does not do emotional support. It all puts me in a very high state of anxiety.

It's just a thing I have to live with. I don't believe there is a substitute for real life, emotional support and acknowledgement. It is just a thing I have never had the privilege of having. It saddens me when I see the support others get, or even throw away or ignore from their families or spouses or significant others, who would be overjoyed to see their loved one make efforts to quit drinking.

soberlicious

Correlation does not imply causation. You have no way of knowing if the prediabetes would have occurred had you continued drinking. I don't think that quitting alcohol can cause prediabetes though, but I'm not a doctor.

I know that these health issues are very worrisome and I'm sorry you are going through this. I don't think that your sobriety means nothing. Changing your life takes courage, and you have done it by quitting. Not everything gets better right away for many. Is there even just one or two things in your life that you can say have improved, even slightly, since quitting?

advbike

To answer your original question, I think those of us who are hypoglecemic have a problem moderating alcohol because of the need to keep the sugar going.. so in my case it didn't happen *after* drinking for many years.. it was part of the cause. Later on I discovered that after 4-5 drinks, having a dessert allowed me to stop drinking.. as it substituted for another drink. Sugar and alcoholic drinks were virtually interchangeable.. Oh, I find cheese on a tortilla or similar really helps the low blood sugar thing, as the fat slows it all down.

shortstop81

sleepie - did a doctor advise you to cut out carbs?

sleepie

Hi guys. They don't give much advice you know, not here in the USA anyway- until it's too late. I am not overweight. I mean I know all the dietary things to do. It was just a question of, "Does anyone else get this?"

Not a big sweets eater, not a big bread and pastries person. Not overweight. Diabetes not in family as far as I know.

zerothehero

Yes, I "get this."

I was raised on bread and potatoes by an alcoholic mother, and then I added alcohol to my carb addiction for about 40 years. About five years ago my triglycerides were 300, but my last check up they were 120 (which is good).

I'm almost three years sober and I still struggle with carb and simple sugar cravings. I go through periods of higher than is likely healthy caffeine consumption to compensate for that low energy I sometimes feel when I'm trying to stay off carbs. I'm trying to learn a better balance. Of course, low testosterone could be a factor in my case, but I'm not likely to go the hormone or supplement route any time soon.

In my case I think epigenetics is part of the problem. I'm realizing that my Irish ancestry - folks who fled the famines and came to the U.S. - have a long history of living primarily on carbs and alcohol, and the result is problems with inflammation, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, lupus, depression, psychosis, and cancer. I also believe I suffer from generational trauma not only from famine but from poverty and violence in generations closer to my own (not to mention the chaos and uncertainty in my childhood).

I think more than anything I need to exercise more. Get out and walk more.

I also often feel alone in the world despite being married. Most of the affection I receive is from afar either online or via text. It's not the same as tactile love; I get that. Lately, I compete with facebook for attention from my wife. My dogs help when I just want to cuddle up with a warm, living being, but sometimes I feel like one of those monkeys with a heating pad who survives but doesn't really thrive. It's hard. Sometimes I just need to pamper myself with a hot bath.

My meditation practice doesn't feel like it is healing me as much as it is teaching me to accept and therefore suffer less with the pains and anxieties I experience. Without alcohol or other drugs to take a vacation from my mind, there simply is no escape. Thus, I have to accept the thoughts and emotions that flow through me, recognize their impermanence, breathe, and sometimes cry.

I think there is something to be said for taking a vacation from one's mind, and for "normal" people who can do that without excessive harm to self and others, well, who am I to judge? But the need for a vacation from the self is itself a warning sign for addictive tendencies. The mind - can't live with it; can't live without it.

Still, I feel best when I take the focus off myself and try to serve others. I feel a bit like I'm living an inconsequential life - inconsequential to everyone but me, that is. And when I'm gone I will be forgotten soon enough. So, while I'm here I ought to do what I can to reduce suffering - others and myself.

zjw

I sorta get the IRL support thing. I felt pretty alone. I still have kids and wife however. but i have no local IRL friends. prior to this site I had only 1 other IRL friend. so coming here helped i know a few friends i talk to regularly from all over but again no one local. its usually not a big issue but just today i thought I wanna go a movie (a rare thing for me) and was like but i got no one to go with my wife wont wanna see this movie so wtf do i do figured pff i'll just go alone who cares i guess. Once in a blue moon a situation like that arises.

I guess a big part of my problem with not meeting people in IRL is i'm bad about being social. I dont like to waste my time iwth a bunch of aquaintences etc.. and I'm not tolerant of very much out of other people so its pretty common for me to be done with someone and unable to let a friendship progress either because they are that bad or i'm just that intolerant i dunno. Either way it is what it is.

I wish I had a solution for the IRL problem it does sound ideal to have IRL support from people who genuinely "get it" and are "there".

I chalk it up to in a perfect world .... kinda thing anymore myself.

advbike

Zero, exercise works wonders for me. Better than a meeting or other face to face support. I just biked up my mountain here in the Philippines. It's an hour climb, about 2000' elevation gain in 5 miles. It's kinda miserable when I'm doing it, lol, but I always feel awesome when I get back. I do that 3 times a week without fail.

I also don't get the emotional support I need from my relationship. I get a ton of sex but there's not much empathy. We have cultural differences and an age gap, too, which makes it worse. Of course I've always been a loner which is how I got into this situation to begin with, lol.

beachedMermaid

That is a very interesting theory, zjw! I hadn't thought of that before. I'm the kind of person who gets "hangry", and now that I've stopped mainlining cocktails I've noticed I feel a little anxious when I get too hungry. Back when I first quit, in December 2015, I noticed that eating a bowl of ice cream at night completely eradicated any withdrawal cravings. Maybe it would help some of us to monitor our sugar intake? I typically don't like sweets, except for ice cream, so on Calorie Count my carbs intake is always too low. After I quit I got a full blood panel and my pancreas and blood sugar were fine--the blood sugar was on the low end of the spectrum, though.

Heh, currently a tall caramel frappuccino gets me higher than any cocktail.