Hypo-gly-what???

According to dictionary.com...

hy·po·gly·ce·mi·a [hahy-poh-glahy-see-mee-uh]:  –noun Pathology ; an abnormally low level of glucose in the blood.

Ok, so this sort of explains everything, yet nothing...it's all pretty much all confusing at the moment.  At some point I knew that my poor eating habits combined with my love of mocha's, manufactured (chocolate) protein shakes, shot blocs, wine and not much else was going to catch up to me...aannnnddd, TAG, I'm it.   I've been caught.  Red handed with my hand in the M&M jar (yes, I do love me some Peanut M&M's) and the low blood sugar to prove it. 

After months of feeling just not myself...not really sick, just not really 100% either, and after the long training weekend in Omaha where I spent 3 days (more than 25 hours) doing intense weightlifting training and certification (probably without the appropriate nutrients to carry me through the sessions), I felt like hell.  No way around it, my body was a complete mess.  One of the benefits of being an endurance runner and triathlete is the ability to push our bodies to their absolute limits and push through the pain an suffering that might result...one of the curses of being an endurance runner and triathlete is the ability to push our bodies to their absolute limits and push through the pain and suffering.  It's a fine line to walk sometimes, but I think it also makes us very aware of our current physical condition most of the time.  It also means that we need to learn to read the warning signs associated with over training, fatigue, and nutrition or hydration issues. 

The week immediately following my intense Omaha training, my body was near a full on shutdown...yeah, I saw the warning signs, I just conveniently ignored them (and yeah, I didn't let it slow me down at all, I kept training and living like nothing was wrong)...bad idea!  I was nauseous, cold, sweating, thirsty, tired, my fingertips were asleep (think pins and needles feeling) all the time, I was hungry, shaky, and cranky...yeah, pretty much at first glance it would appear as if I was pregnant (WTF???...bahahahaha!!...absolutely impossible!!...not even an option unless I'm suddenly Catholic, which I am clearly not...LOL).  Enter the freak out mode and the multiple trips to the doctor...9 vials of blood and 2 fantastic bruises (from where they drew the blood repeatedly from my arms) later, it turns out that I suffer from chronic hypoglyecmia (aka - low blood sugar...ALL the time). 

Most people hear low blood sugar and think, well that's a good thing right?  Generally, I don't think it's necessarily terrible (I'm still researching what this all means), but as with everything, there is a "normal" range with extremes on both sides of the normal.  On the high side of normal, it's diabetes, on the low side of normal it's hypoglycemia.  So what does this mean...ok, here's how it works (as I understand it)...in my body, there is no insulin shut off switch, so once my body starts producing insulin to attempt to process the sugars that I have taken in (hello mocha's, protein shakes, and wine) it doesn't know when to stop so it just keeps producing insulin which drops the blood sugar even lower...which, produces the undesirable side effects mentioned above.  It would appear to be a never ending cycle...unless I change my eating habits, like NOW. 

OK, I get it...I need to start eating again, and not only just eat, I need to really embrace the idea of eating healthy balanced CLEAN meals on a regular basis.  The whole goal now is to level out my blood sugars, and to do that I've been told to embrace a diabetic eating lifestyle.  Lower the carbs, cut out the simple sugars, increase the protein (preferably not in the form of sugary protein shakes) and eat more regularly.  My nurse suggested I eat 6 meals a day, every day (bahahaha!!!!...obviously she didn't know who she was talking to).  At first the thought of going from 0-1 meals a day up to 6 meals a day (yikes!...that's a lot (A LOT!) of freaking food!!!) scared the hell out of me.  For one, there's a lot of planning and preparation involved in that...and second, at first glance, that's a lot of extra calories (and money) to be spent on food.  (My mind immediately went to thoughts of "how can I adjust my workouts to burn more of these calories"...hey, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a work in progress! :))  

I've been trying to eat better now for two weeks, and it's not so bad.  Yeah, it's an adjustment, and yeah at times I'm not a fan of this new lifestyle (I've gained a few pounds going from not eating to eating A LOT, and I am really not happy about this...grrr!), but overall I have to say I am starting to feel better.  I still get the cold sweats whenever I drink a mocha (prolly a sign that I should give those bad boys up, but...eh...again, work in progress here :)), but I'm learning and getting more creative with my eating, and it's really not terrible.  And, aside from the mocha induced cold sweats and occasional sleepy fingertips, all the symptoms have subsided.  I've also been very lucky in that my best buddy and fellow endurance athlete tri-geek Vardo Tri Chic is also chronically hypoglycemic, and my Mr. Incredible friend is Type 1 diabetic, so I've had an amazing support and reference system on both sides of things to help me get started on this slightly healthier path.  (VTC and Mr. Incredible, I really can't thank you two enough for being there for me through this process.  You've listened, offered me suggestions and advice...but mainly you just listened and encouraged me.  Thank you-thank you-thank you!!). 

I wish I could say that this is a temporary thing, but for me this will be a forever condition.  I'm on the right path I think with managing it, it's just going to take some time before I feel completely comfortable with it.  As with all things in my life...it's a work in progress, and I'll be updating my progress with this and how it affects my rather large training and racing goals on here I'm sure.  Stay tuned...   

Final thought: Here's one of the deals with hypoglycemia, it's somewhat genetic.  Both my parents and one of my brothers are also diabetic, so don't think for a minute that me being hypoglycemic wasn't genetic...it was and it is usually a warning sign that Type 2 may be lurking in my future if I don't get this shit under control now (like RIGHT NOW!).  It will be interesting to see how this will work with my training and my racing, but that's what I have VTC for.  If she can handle this with Ironman training, then there's no reason it should slow me down either.  (VTC, you really are an inspiration and a role model!!!  I love ya lady!!!)