I'm having a heart attack!  What should I do?


Nah, I'm just kidding.

I have a question about Diabetes.  I'm a healthy male, in my mid 20's, 5'9" and about 165lbs.  I have always been at a healthy body weight and have always been active.  But for years, I have been plagued with this.......This isn't a regular occurrence and it doesn't happen every day.  It might happen once every other week or once every other month.  I will have had an earlier meal, and it will be getting close to the next meal time.  Not yet ready to start cooking or to head to pick something up, I'll be perfectly content and not yet hungry.  Then, the next minute, I'll become nauseous, start getting the shakes, and be extremely hungry out of no where.  I'll then go to the cupboard and start stuffing my face with the first thing I see, just to keep myself from feeling sick; which usually results in ruining my appetite for my next meal.  Just a moment ago, I was sitting down and all of a sudden became extremely nauseous and my hands began to tremble.  I started to shove down a granola bar, but it then started making me have that pre-vomit salivation in the back of my mouth.  I put it down, spit the rest out in the garbage, and quickly went for the toilet.  I knelt there for a moment, but ended up going without throwing up.  Now, whenever this happens, I don't usually get this sick to my stomach.  I usually feel like I could throw up, but have no need to head to the bathroom.

I have gone through this for years.  Within the last 12 months, I've had my blood sugar checked and it was normal.  My Mother's Father was a Diabetic.  He was also of healthy weight.  When I asked my doc about whether this is a precursor to maybe having diabetes when I get older, he said I'm fine.

So.......Is this just a normal symptom of low blood sugar prior to meals (again, remember this isn't a regular occurrence -- sometimes once every 2 weeks or sometimes once every 2 months), or should I keep an eye out as I get older?  Is there anything to help prevent this?  Like I said, it's typically prior to my next meal, but before I begin to get hungry.  Then, it will come out of nowhere, and I will feel as if I had been hungry for hours.


I appreciate the help from you Doc's in the house.

Glucometers are cheap (damn near free, they stick you with the test strips)

See what Walgreens, CVS or Rite-Aid has on sale, read the instructions, and test your blood sugar next time you have an episode.

Hmmm.....I'll have to look into that.

Check the sale ads, always something under $20, sometimes < $10.

Be sure it includes sample test strips. 10 should do you fine, since you are just going to use it as a quick check during an episode, rather than checking it every day. Follow up with a real doc. There can always be other things going on...

Well, for one, don't google "insulinoma".....

Well, for another, there's other ways that you could have said, "Hey, maybe you have a tumor on your pancreas" without being a smart ass.

I appreciate the information resource.  I do not appreciate the delivery.

You can often get a starter kit free from you doc, What you describe is how I feel with low blood sugar. Get some glocose tablets at the drug store and keep a pack at home, in the car and  at work. They're fast acting and cheap.

Unfortunately, I think I'll be stuck getting it myself.  I'm seen on base by mil docs.  When you NEED something, you get good stuff.  But they don't always hand out everything you want.  Since I've already talked to him about it and he thinks it's normal, I'll probably be on my own to get one.

You are young and not really overweight...is it possible that you just don't have much "reserve"?
I am the same way with food sometimes. My sugars are normal.

What do you typically eat and drink in a day? How much water? Caffeine? Nicotine? Alcohol intake? Refined sugar?

Give me a sample day.

Hypo or hyper glycemic.

Try staying away from all sugars and high glycemic foods for a while. I had the same thing but not quite as severe as you.

You might see a doc. He can point you towards the proper diet.

I drink one of 2 things during the day.  Either Aquafina, or Ginger Ale.  Ginger Ale is never more than 1-2 cans in a day, and not every day.  Bottles of water are anywhere from 2-5 a day.

I rarely drink alcohol anymore....MAYBE once a month (but this has been going on since back when I was younger and partying regularly).

Nicotine.....Yes, I dip (but again, have experienced this since before I ever started using tobacco products).

My food intake has not been healthy as of late.  My whole life I was real big on eating lean and working out heavily.  I got my personal trainer cert, was the PT leader for my squadron, and was in the gym 5-6 days a week.  Since I was retired from active duty in 2010 and got married, I haven't been eating very healthy and stopped working out.  A lot of microwave type foods, simple pop in the oven stuff, and take out.

The odd thing is, I experienced this more often when I was heavily working out and eating lean.

I'm not a doctor but I did stay in a Holiday Inn once, does that count

I was having that problem before removing breads and sugars from my diet.



My blood glucose was always in the normal range, but I was having problems with hard crashes like that.

Chill on the sugars.  Nicotine is a powerful appetite suppressant, as you well know.  It is metabolized rapidly.  You probably are just crashing from carbs and nicotine intermittently.

Just write me a prescription for some Percocet, that will take care of it.


How often do you get that in a day?



But seriously, write it.

Hypoglycemia.

Percocet... Yeah that'd cure one ill, and give you another.

I'm 32.  I quit 15 years of smoking cigarettes in september due to palpitations and chest pains and have lowered my nicotine intake to about 6mg a day via e-cig.  I feel SO much better. I plan on eliminating that completely soon. Dip has so much more nicotine. Try cutting back, you may be surprised.

So how often do you get people coming in and asking for crap like that, totally unnecessary for their ailments?



This I know.  As a young lad (still am) I started with smoking, moved to dip, back to smoking when I PCS'd to Japan, then back to Dip when I came back to the states and have been dipping ever since.  The difference in nicotine levels is very apparent.