Can anxiety cause symptoms similar to hypoglycemia?

[lindsay0891]

I started another thread in the hypochondria forum discussing this symptom but it was very long and I would like to ask about this symptom specifically.
I feel exactly like I have reactive hypoglycemia. I've been on other forums talking about it with other sufferers and our symptoms are exactly the same. I have to eat CONSTANTLY and sometimes I feel like my sugar gets low if I go up to two hours without eating, and I start to feel horrible. I get weak, shaky, very lightheaded, nauseous, jittery, etc. Sometimes eating a large meal makes me lightheaded too, but in more of a sluggish/fatigued way. Yesterday I ate dinner and then went to the store, and my arms and legs started feeling weak while I was in there, and on the drive home my arm felt like jelly gripping the steering wheel. It really freaked me out, but I think the panic of it was making it worse.
Does anybody else get symptoms like these? It seriously controls my life. My blood sugar is normal, so I don't understand what's causing it!

[sba83]

Last time I went to the ER with a panic attack the MD said my blood sugar was high.  Which made me think along the same lines as you, Im a prediabetic or is this just a symptom of the anxiety?.  I've had other blood sugar tests done and they came back normal, so i have to chalk it up to the anxiety.  I get lightheaded, nauseous, weak just like you.  Its a good opportunity to improve your diet and see if it is indeed the problem and not the anxiety.  Hope you feel better.

[LindaRK]

I went through a period like this right before Christmas ..... I woke up shaky - it seemed like I had to eat al the time or I would feel shaky.  I was so wound up about it that I got a blood glucose testing kit.  Couldn't even believe I stooped to that - me, having anxiety for decades.  Ugh.  But, I did it .... I tested my blood several times a day - before meals, after, after fasting .... on and on and on.  It was ALWAYS within a normal range.

Now, the important thing to note here is also during that period of time I was going through some massive stress .....

Exit to AFTER Christmas - January.  Symptoms are completely gone.  Now something else has stepped up to the plate. LOL  Gotta love anxiety.

[lindsay0891]

Thanks for sharing your experience! For me it's been going on nearly a year. I am so confused as to whether or not I should accept the doctors telling me all my physical symptoms are anxiety. I HAVE been going through stress since having the symptoms but I wouldn't think a mental disorder could affect me constantly for so long in so many different physical ways, especially when I've had anxiety all my life and it never affected me like this. I'm wondering if some of the symptoms are from my adrenaline pumping all the time.

[lindsay0891]

I just saw the doctor, she didn't have any idea what it was. She said she's seen two other patients who thought their blood sugar was dropping after eating, one really did have postprandial hypoglycemia and for the other person it was psychiatric causes. But my advice was to just try to find things that I can eat to minimize the symptoms, and exercise. I hope it helps and goes away on its own but somehow I don't think it will.

[cafeterrace]

I have this too. I had awful anxiety over the Christmas holiday and I was always convinced I was hypoglycemic. I couldn't go 2 hours without eating something and usually I was eating almost full meals every 2 hours. I'd wake up in the morning really nauseous and I'd vomit then I would immediately run to the fridge to down some soda just to ensure I wasn't going to pass out from lack of sugar. I went to the doctor and she said it wasn't necessary for me to eat the way I was and that my fasting glucose levels were normal (had to retake the test twice times because I freaked out and couldn't get to the medical center without food in the morning the first time). Even now sometimes I'm at work and I just ate an hour ago yet I'm feeling whacky and I go into the bathroom to eat a handful of nuts or a half a sandwich. It's kind of ridiculous.

One thing I noticed was that after my anxiety started subsiding I wasn't focused on how much I ate or even how long it had been since I ate. I do, still, make sure to even out my carbs with fat/protein. I attempt to eat healthy proteins and not as much carbs. One thing that helped me to not overeat (because I gained 7 lbs due to overeating) was to log my calories. It helped me realize how much I was actually consuming and that normally I shouldn't need to eat much more than around 1300 a day or so. Once I logged it and I actually did go a few hours without eating and was fine, I started getting on a more normal eating pattern.

Another thing that happened to me was I had a bad migraine or possibly stomach flu. I couldn't keep any food in my stomach for around 24 hrs. I kept freaking out about fainting and blood sugar, but I was fine. I was weak but I never passed out and I was just fine. This really helped prove to me that I can go longer than 2 or so hours without eating. I still have problems with this and I find myself grabbing for food whenever I start getting anxiety. I think I've had hypoglycemic episodes (which isn't abnormal, most people feel bad once they go long enough without eating) in the past so now my brain always associates lack of food and those anxiety feelings.

[CallmeShane]

There symptoms are so similar they could be brothers, I have both. Not a very nice combo. But with the right diet, you can tell which one the culprit is. Hang in there.


Shane,