Hope

Hey SA

Dr Rach in da cyberhouse...booze does that to me too if i drink at night with not a lot of food or food too late.. It raises my blood sugar but not enough but not enough to sustain through the night and then it crashes back down....usually I end up with fluttery anxiety or if its really bad ..night terrors ....

Anyhooo....just thought id mention that as reassurance really...if I go too long without food it happens too.

R and D ....glad to see your still around :xxx

Day 195 continues.

Thanks Rach... I think you might be on to something there. I just need to record my symptoms, cos I think at some point I will be back to the docs am sure

An hours fast run down the gym nearly 12 km, feeling fine and then an hour later about 2pm am feeling completely spaced out, double vision and zig zag lines in sight, slight head ache. It got better for a while after i'd had a choc bar and a drink, enough for me to cycle home but then an hour or so later it got worse again. Ive been spaced out ever since. I feel like am drunk and yet I haven't drunk any alcohol.

Am thinking hypoclycaemia. Am thinking too much refined sugar. The reasons for disturbed sleep make sense. Blood sugars crash and body wakes me up.

Unsurprisingly no gambling problems...and in any case i'd probably see six 7's in a row when there were only 2!

Its a bit worrying really. It's the same symptoms I had before when I had a heart scan and an MRI and but I came back as fit and healthy for a man of my age. Mmmm seriously need to look at my diet. It feels all very confusing. I am confused. I need someone to tell whats wrong and what to do about it and I will do it. Trouble is if I go back to the docs chances are I will feel fine and it will be hard to explain exactly whats happening. I guess this is why I write it all here.

Thanks for listening... S.A 🙂

Hey SA

Sorry to hear you've been feeling out of sorts. I've been following an eating plan for 2 weeks (Harcombe diet) and some of the symptoms you describe sound familiar. I feel so much better since starting to cut out all the rubbish and eat more sensibly- maybe worth a wee look.

On the positive, you are doing brilliantly with the no gambling.

Take care

Irene

x

Top tip

For breakfast eat like a king

Lunch like a bank manager

Tea like a pauper

Dont forget if you are stressed your body will have high cortisol aka fat round the middle ...it stores to give you the energy to fight or flight..

My panic attacks in my 20s were hypoglycemia ...all dietry ..not really emotional as I thought ...fact was I chose simple carbs as comfort food ..bread mainly but turned into sugar...high sugar triggered high anxiety...Its a forerunner to type 2 diabtetes....not saying that to scare you but saying that as you can change that with diet.

Alcohol is the fastest way to get blood sugars up which is why in chronic cases alcoholics stop eating ...once in detox they pile it on as you need more food to give the same alcohol hit to get blood sugars up...the DT ' S and night sweats are what this is about as there is less alcohol in the system and these are the come down side effects......have a bit of protein before bed ...it will level you off overnight.

I could time my exes mood swings to the hour as I could track when his alcohol from the previous night was wearing off...sundays we always argued as he became nasty so in typical codep controlling style I used to keep him topped up sundays and levelled off so I could get some peace and let his work mates take the come down moodiness on mondays xxx...I know your not this way but I just threw that example in

His pattern was h***y on a morning due to still being P***** ..fast drop off with no breakfast,..a moody tw, at until sunday dinner then levelled off on potato carbs then I kept him levelled off on carling until bed xx....

This is just how powerful kangarooing blood sugars can be and its my belief alcoholism is sugar and carbohydrate addiction,...type 2 diabetes is something I could be at risk of due to blood sugar issues , panic and phobias .

Xxx

day 196

Bless you both... thank you. I do need to get to the bottom of this. Its actually quite hard to look at the screen its too bright. As for going outside in the sunshine that's a definite no no. At the moment am thinking migraine brought on by yo yoing blood sugars (hypoclycaemia) like you say Rach.

But its so easy just to read random stuff on the internet and think... yeah, that must be it, when it might be something completely different... or nothing atall, is it all in my head!! Pull ya self together ya big wuss. Its like last time when I thought i'd had a stroke and then I had all those tests and the consultant wrote an a slightly angry letter to my G.P saying that he's wasted his time (the consultants) by sending a perfectly fit and healthy man to his clinic.

having said that I shouldn't be getting double vision, zig zag lines in sight and feel spaced out and drunk after a workout and I still feel that way now 18 hours later!

Anyway off to eat porridge. Slow release carb. No gambling problems. Thanks for listening... S.A

Always best to get checked out SA ...and push for a second opinion as your health is important ...

Its true we can make things "fit " when reading the internet ...I once convinced myself I had some illness that it turns out only afro carribean can be prone to ....

Normally for an acurate hypog diagnosis they do a glucose test with urine over a period of time with no food ....

All I know is that my panic attacks were due to this and I have to eat at regular Intervals or I get all wierd symptoms like inner trembling , speech slurring , headache and brain fog and numbness ...I know they say going for a walk is the best thing to release stored glucose or something...

Wondering if your using up your energy with excercise but not having enough fuel in the tank so to speak...

Anyhooo....take care SA...youre worth it xx

Sorry to hear you are poorly at the moment. I am the last person to advise as I always put off going to the doctor til I absolutely have to and then get told off for not going sooner.

It is worth getting a second opinion as I was misdiagnosed for two years before I received the proper treatment for my muscular dystrophy but also, as Rach says, diet has a huge impact. I was a yo yo dieter for years and used to take slimmimg tabs when they were legal and go on fasts for days on end whilst doing weight training, which my body is suffering for nowadays.

Don't worry about what that idiot said in his letter and if you are concerned go back to a different doctor as it's important you are fit and well to pursue your cycling and running as they are such a part of your life in keeping the demons at bay.

Take care

xxx

Day 196 continues

Yes its all a bit weird. My vision has improved a bit but am still spaced out. I probably just over did it and all the glucose, dehydration and probably over heating problems that went with it. Trouble is when am actually doing a hard work out I feel fine. Its after.

Ive been up the shops and I was so "spaced out" that I was just standing in the aisle not knowing what I wanted to get or what to do, people asking me to move aside. Then when walking home I had to take extra time crossing the roads, cos the cars and traffic and things in general just didn't seem real as if I was living in a parallel universe observing earth life from afar.

Ive been drinking plenty of fluids (not coffee) and have eaten a banana, a chicken sandwich with lettuce leaves and am gonna have a nap now.

My diary seems less and less about gambling nowadays and so much more about everything else... which I spose it would be after 5 years of having been here. Its doing its job keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Time to rest my eyes. Thanks for listening.. S.A

Hi SA,

Just echoing what Rach and Rainbows have already said. Ignore the idiot, get it checked out. We know our bodies better than anyone else and if something aint right then something aint right. Hope you get it all figured out and are back to your old self soon. -joanxxx

Day 196 ends.

Its been a rotten day. Feeling very low. But hey ho 196 days is 28 weeks or 6.5 months without a bet of any kind. Now that's got to be a good thing. Thanks for listening... S.A

Hey SA ...

keep posting you can....if this is still going on tomorrow just give the quacks a ring just for peace of mind,...failing that even a chemist and have a word with the pharmacist and perhaps pick up some of those hydration salts sachets or glucose powder just to have in the cupboard,,...

You may be really dehydrated and lacking in salts ...have youtill got that electrolyte liquid ?...and maybe eat some bananas per day for potassium,...

Stabs in the dark there but maybe a good idea just to have them in the house ..I live on my own too and keep basics in just in case I fall ill as you can dehydrated really quickly if your sweating out your salts especially if you are doing all this excercise xx

Ok ...nag over.....

R and D xx

Ps ...head above the parrapit here but do you think you might be overtraining? ...said with the best intent hun xxx

Ps ..that weird " here but not here " feeling I used to get when I had panic attacks ....its called depersonalisation and used to happen when my adreniline was way too high...its like your brain puts your body on automatic but removes you...it comes and goes xxx

Saying this to reassure you by the way xx

Day 197

Thanks Rach your support is second to none. Ive got a lot to reflect upon with my health and general well being. Am still not right but I am better than I was yesterday. My mind and body has sent me warning signals that I need to take heed of. I will ponder this more in the coming days and weeks.

As it turns out today has been quite good. Day off it was, which was lucky really cos driving might have been a bit dodgy today, given that my slight blurry/double vision and slight feelings of drunkenness (without the drink) have continued on and off. Am doing my best to keep well hydrated and eat little and often.

I had a lovely cycle along the canal to my mates and then I helped him decorate his elderly neighbours flat. I quite enjoyed it, even had a stab at wall papering. I got fed lunch and dinner so almost no money spent today as well, so that's good. I just cycled back now which was even better in the cool evening breeze.

Am back to work tomorrow. Am feeling slightly stressed about it. I hope to get some quality sleep. Thanks for listening folks..and no gambling problems... S.A 🙂

sa

fella sorry to read your struggling with your health at the minute something today i share, I'm prostrate on the living room floor, dosed up to ease the pain of a herniated disc.

my friend i hope you take Rachels sound advice and seek a medical opinion. you work so hard at life fella maybe a service should be your reward.

keep making that choice to feed your soul, without the angst of our gambling to muddy the waters.

duncs stepping forward never back.

Hiya SA

Id say that quitting whatever makes us ill is the first priority followed then by self care ...a lesson I also am learning regards my health...

In fact , chicken and egg, if we had self cared first then maybe we wouldnt have made poor choices and that goes for both of us...

I gamble with my health thinking im invincible ." a mere fleshwound" when my arms dropping off " a scratch " if its my head sliced open..lol

I think as a nation we are bad at self care with all this stiff upper lip malarky...i wouldnt mind I do self care for a living !,, I just forget to apply it to myself..

If I wrote a book it would be called " Running on empty"...lol...watch out waterstones xx

Maybe in our different ways we are burning off more than we put in the tank xx ; -)