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@jakedduck1 @hoochinmama
(This is a short summary - I'm not a doctor, and a lot more detail was left out below so don't stop your meds and playing a doctor like me) I had my first seizure due to low blood sugar(I'm a diabetic). I injected insulin for a dinner and forgot to turn on the oven. Delaying my dinner and I just waited too long waiting for dinner to be ready and I had a seizure. Then over a couple years I had another seizure. I went to a neurologist and he said I had short circuits in my brain that caused seizures and we don't know what causes it, and he put me on lamatrogine(sp?) which stoped the seizures. I took this for years but it also caused mental fogginess at work. I needed to find out what was the cause. I stopped the lamatrogine, and watched myself closely. I was able to trace it back to artificial sweeteners. I then read how they can cause seizures, so I believed it was some chemical reaction, and I stopped drinking diet coke which I drank a lot! I started drinking water mixes with a different artificial sweetener, thinking it would stop seizures, and when I was drinking that in large amounts I had another seizure. Then I tried another artificial sweetener and had the same results. I learned it was not the chemical reaction, but maybe confusion of my body wondering why I had insulin in me but still huge amounts of sugar. (Artificial sweeteners will look like large amounts of sweetener in you, but doesn't build up carbs which needs insulin to convert). I gave up all artificial sweetener drinks and only drink water and occasionally add small drinks that uses real sugar, and I must use insulin to control the real level. I was seizure free for last few years, but recently had another seizure, and my blood sugar level was normal (not an extremely low sugar level). Right now I'm thinking it was lack of sleep, but I also am looking at my switching to the a different insulin manufacturer (yes, BCBS dropped coverage of 1 manufacturer making all their insulin users use the same fast insulin) I believe this may be the reason for the latest. I need to start seeing a neurologist in KC again, to discuss this with, but I would like to find a research one that thinks insulin and blood sugars does cause seizures and this is how we prevent them. So if you are in KC and now a great neurologist, please share🙂
@hoochinmama I would pick up a cheap blood glucose meter at Walmart and look at your daughters blood sugar level around her periods and when she seizures. This would be great information for your doctor's
Replies to "@jakedduck1 @hoochinmama (This is a short summary - I'm not a doctor, and a lot more..."
Its funny you say dont be a doc like you! LOL Becasue since this started , I have been the one that said that I think its got something to do with her Hormones and then THEY do a test and it comes back that her hormones are out of whack, the one doc said Ive never even heard of Catamenial Seizures , so I definatley think there is something to a parents intution. But also how does someone all of a sudden just start having seizures shes never had one in her life and they dont happen all the time
Mu study of insulin and low blood sugar and my experience with low blood sugar makes me think you are a bit confused about what insulin does to your body. What insulin does is lower your high blood sugar from a diet that is too high in carbs and sugar.
If you take the insulin shot on an empty stomach, you are quickly lowering your blood sugar and if it is low from not eating or too much exercise, it will drop too low and you may pass out, putting you in a coma. If you would test your blood sugar at the time of such an event, and it is at a number like
25, you would be near death and the remedy would be to use sugar quickly. I don't know if some doctors call that a seizure, but it acts like it to some people. You must understand that the blood sugar goes up and down like a roller coaster in 24 hours, so insulin reacts differently depending on the cycle and your eating habits. n this case you would test your blood sugar to see how low it is before you decide on the amount of insulin to take. Using meds to drop blood sugar counts can be a dangerous thing if you don't know its total function. Your seizure may actually be a coma, or seizures may cause dangerously low blood sugar levels. I really don't know but you need to eat often, and avoid carbs in either case. It is not the meds, it is the level of your blood sugar which is rolling up and down that you need to test to know how to eat and how to use insulin. I am not experienced with type 1 diabetes or using insulin at all. Too low blood sugar can do damage or kill you.
I just know the importance of not having too low a blood sugar as well as too high. You need more up to date education in your particular situation and control. I have studied diabetes in college and know we are not well educated about good management for a long life and better health at times. Study with a nutritionist for excellent help. Dorisena
I see a possibility that you don't really know your blood sugar level at the time of an event like "seizures because they fluctuate up and down depending on what you eat, your exercise level, and the time of the day. When you are about to have some kind of event, you need a quick blood test to see what is going on, not a guess of some kind of diagnosis. Also, you need to know what a glucose meter tells you, and that is the blood sugar level at that moment, not for a very long period of tims as the level is going up and down depending on your eating and your insulin use. I am not fond of the new meters unless you are educated on what the test indicates. The doctor may know more about treating you with those numbers.
With a big dose of insulin and no food, you could be in serious trouble and need emergency aid. The brain needs a constant level of sugar to function well so that is why we eat often and control our stress levels for good results. I had the old blood sugar tests they used to give by drinking a bottle of sugar water, waiting a certain length of time, and testing. Then they repeated the test to see the next set of numbers. After a number of hours, they gave the doctor the results and my doctor didn't know what to do about them except eat t pftem and carry cheese. Again, I have never used insulin. Dorisena
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Thank you so much for your help!! God bless