Reactive Hypoglycemia Caused by…Yeast!

It’s been a rough few months. I thought I had my reactive hypoglycemia under control, and then things suddenly went downhill. The list of foods I was able to eat with experiencing a hypoglycemic episode dwindled to apples and walnuts by July. I was so ill I was unable to walk up a flight of stairs and all of the regular doctors said there was nothing they could do for me.

I don’t quite remember when I went to see a Naturopathic physician. I’m pretty sure it was an act of desperation. After all, I was down to eating apples and walnuts. I was lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant, and…well, food intolerant. If I ate anything at all, an hour or two later my blood sugar would crash horribly to around 20-30 mg/dL. I was spending more and more days in bed, not wanting to eat, depressed and unable to face the world. To make matters worse, even though I didn’t want to eat, I had to eat: every hour and a half. Otherwise, I slipped into a semi-coma.

The first thing my naturopath did was to test me for food allergies. The test came back, surprisingly, negative (except for a mild allergy to eggs). This was a bit of a puzzle, as it seemed I reacted to everything! He then suggested I get an Adrenal Stress Index done. When this test came back, it indicated my cortisol was four times higher than normal. A normal 8 a.m. reading was 6 to 23 mcg/dL: mine was 103 mcg/dL.

What causes such a high cortisol level? There are many possible causes including depression, stress, and Cushing’s disease. But mine was undoubtedly caused by nocturnal hypoglycemia. Essentially, my blood sugar would drop in the middle of the night and my body would go into a stress induced panic attack, causing nightmares, restless sleep, and those high cortisol levels.

The final piece of the puzzle was a questionnaire from my doctor and a few educated guesses of what the cause might be. His diagnosis? A systemic yeast infection caused by some uber-strong antibiotics I took a couple of years ago (I’ve been terribly ill, off and on, since then). The antibiotics killed all of the bacteria in my gut, causing the yeast to become rampant, enter my bloodstream and infect my organs. In a healthy person, a yeast infection could be a major problem. In someone with reactive hyoglycemia, the problem could have been deadly. My gut was unable to absorb enough nutrients to raise my blood sugar so just a tiny drop was critical for me.

Thankfully, I am on the road to recovery. I’ve been told it takes 3-4 months to recover from a systemic yeast infection. It’s been 6 weeks and I can tolerate most foods again except for gluten and the usual sugary items. Im on huge doses of probiotics and B12 and I’m also taking Seriphos (to lower Cortisol levels) and Hawthorn berry (to help with the cortisol-induced heart palpitations).

If you are reactive hypoglycemic and you are taking antibiotics, take a trip to a natural foods store and purchase a quality probiotic. And as a side note: If you have reactive hypoglycemia and you wake up in the morning feeling anxious, go to a naturpoath for an adrenal stress index. It’s one more piece of the puzzle that could lead you to a cure.

Related posts:

1. Reactive Hypoglycemia Caused my Son’s Nightmares

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