Hi cateyanne, You sound so much like me! Like I said, I began wondering if it was REALLY hypoglycemia, or something else that just felt like hypoglycemia. Forgive me if I'm repeating myself..........but I developed fibromyalgia right around the time I started through perimenopause. Everything I thought I knew and understood about my body's workings was thrown out the window! I just never knew what was going to happen when. One of my biggest problems (which I started having very young), was suddenly feeling like I was going to pass out. It got sooooooooo bad during perimenopause. I never passed out.....but I soon began to fear having the feeling. It was awful. Anyhow.....this hypoglycemia feeling is the same. You just never know when its going to happen, and it can be so scary. Here's an idea, and I hope you're not offended. I can't stand it when people make my problems into psychological problems, because I think its totally untrue most of the time. But.....is it possible that you are having panic attacks?? I've talked to so many women who developed them during perimenopause. Mine just got horrible during that time. But panic is such an imposter! It can feel like so many other things. Maybe my feeling like I was going to pass out was a panic attack? My husband thought he was having a heart attack, and it was a panic attack. Panic attacks "pretend" to be all sorts of other things. Is this a possibility for you? And people always think "panic attack" means that you are emotionally unstable and can't handle something, and that's why you're having a panic attack. But I've learned that they can come from a physiological imbalance of some kind. They can be from hyperventilation......which can come from a pH imbalance in your body and not always from just "freaking out" over something. Perimenopause is a time of incredible, intense changes. We start to experience feelings that we've never had before. Our bodies have lived 30-45 years with our hormones being a certain level and having certain functions. Now they are disappearing or are gone, and it truly can send out bodies into a crazy time. Another suggestion I have........which I've learned from experiencing myself.......is that I can totally freak out at feeling hypoglycemic. I feel like I'm probably going to drop dead. That the sweating and shaking and feeling weak will just lead to death for me. Well......I haven't died from it yet. So I've (sometimes) learned to think "okay......my blood sugar might be getting a little low. But my body has gotten lazy about converting fat into glucose, so I'm going to just wait it out.........'cause I know it will eventually kick in. I might feel like poop.......but I'm not going to die". This has helped me. What happens if you don't respond to those feelings? What happens if you don't start eating something? Have you ever waited it out to see what happens? You mentioned being overweight? I'm overweight too, and have been sort of a compulsive eater for many years. Now that I'm older, my body just can't tolerate the over-eating (fortunately!). Anyhow......when we eat often, I think we train our bodies to NOT start breaking down fat into glucose. Our bodies just think "Oh.....I'm not going to go to all that trouble. I know that she'll eat something really sweet soon, so let's just wait it out." And before long, we feel hypoglycemic all the time, unless we're putting stuff in our mouths. I hope you don't mind listening to my "theories"! hahaha Woodnymph is right in that you should try to get away from almost ALL sugar, and see if that helps. Also......do you think you might take a more "This isn't going to kill me" approach when you feel it start to happen? I have an over-active sympathethic system, and I think when my blood sugar gets a little low, the adrenaline starts pouring out and I get too many symptoms.....which might be what happens to you. Our GI tracts are our "second brain". They make lots of neurochemicals and really have so much more importance in our lives than we give them credit for. I had nausea and dizziness for 2 months and had all sorts of tests. I was having more hypoglycemic episodes too. After a million tests that were normal, I realized that I'm just overtaxing my GI tract. It could tolerate the abuse for many years, but now that I'm 57, it just can't. So I've been "behaving" and I can't believe how much more stable things have been for me. So maybe your hypoglycemic feelings will clear up, if you pay more attention to your GI tract. Also....do you take probiotics and eat yogurt? I think they can have a good, balancing effect too. And woodnymph is also right about the exercising. You'd think it would make you use up more sugar and you'd feel worse, but it has a balancing effect too. And try to remember that as you go through perimenopause and get closer to menopause, these problems should settle down. Have you stopped any medications recently? I only ask that because I was on a beta blocker for 5 years for BP and migraines, and when I came off it, I got tons of hypoglycemic feelings. I learned that the beta blockers cover up those feelings. It was actually really nice to not have them! Sorry to go on so much!

I'm finding it hard to believe about the diabetes. I've heard the much older beta blockers might affect CHF.......but the only thing about the newer ones that have anything to do with blood sugar, are that they can mask the symptoms of hypoglycemia........which was a wonderful side-effect for me. Now that I'm coming down on it, I'm back to feeling hypoglycemic. It's hard to believe that coming down just a few milligrams is affecting me so much. I feel like crap......shakey, nervous, my IBS is worse, etc., etc. My husband says "just go back on it." But I've tried to explain its like "withdrawal" from something like heroine. Just because a person has symptoms when coming off a drug, it doesn't mean they should go back on it. Sometimes our bodies have become so used to something, even if it's full of bad side-effects, it takes awhile for it to adjust to life without it. I have always been supersensitive to medications. I have fibromyalgia, and I think alot of us have that problem. That's why I am always very hesitant to start any new med.......because I know that it will be hell coming off of it. And on top of feeling like crap coming down on this med, I feel "abnormal" in some way, because it's affecting me so much. In my next life, I hope to be normal! My husband thinks that what I'm feeling now means that I really need the medicine. But I truly believe that the medicine has made me need it.....and I need to bite the bullet for awhile. Of course, if my symptoms never subside, and my BP creeps back up, I would consider going back on it. Most importantly, I need to lose some weight. But I think this beta blocker has made me gain weight. I'm sort of stuck between a rock and another rock.

I have to agree about the misguided info on raw diets, however the other stuff seems accurate. I think you have to look at what's species-appropriate and a most likely scenario in the wild - that's where dairy sounds questionable, but if it works for your pet, more power to you. You don't see many dogs and cats milking cows or goats. It 'works' for us (and many argue we shouldn't really have dairy either) because of a much longer history of genetic tolerance, I guess in dairy-heavy cultures, if you got IBS or other sorts of reactions from dairy, you weren't so likely to breed... I firmly believe one of the reasons vets are so opposed to raw diets is the level of funding the pet food industry puts into vet training and resources etc. It would appear to be something of a conflict of interest, and it's documented in the below link. I should also point out that outside of North America, eg Australia, the BARF diet for dogs (raw food) is looked upon very favourably by many vets. I think if you feed your pet garbage, then yes, it may make them sick. The commercial raw food I feed our dog, I would be (not gonna try it though) confident would be fit for humans (if you like ground up bone and organ meat with your chicken) because it's prepared hygienically. Remember also dogs have a much shorted gi tract than us and can eat stuff that really would make us sick, it passes through dogs much more quickly. I hate to admit we started our dog on kibble and didn't change til she developed some big gastric problems, I knew it wasn't the best thing for her, but it was cheap. I don't know if the Kirkland food was implicated in the melamine scandal, but I'm glad we changed - I don't think she would have survived on kibble anyway. If non-cooked food really wigs you out, then your own home-cooked pet food is almost certainly better than commercial dry or wet food, especially the larger scale stuff. Some of those ingredients are just not species appropriate, and some are blaming the increase in carbohydrates in dogs' diets for the higher incidence of diabetes.. Avocados, though, I didn't know about. We did give ours some the other day. A dog in the wild would definitely eat fallen fruit, which was my reasoning. I don't see any prohibition on bananas, which seem to be one of her favourite things.... http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/rawdogfood/index.html

yes..when I'm dressed lol. I keep a pretty steady weight (which is about 110 pounds..plus minus 2 is ok..when I'm very stressed I don't eat and start loosing more, and it doesn't look pretty..if I, say, am very happy..which happens less often..the clothes start fitting differently, and I'm not into buying new clothes) but I can't exercize, i loose my muscle bulk, I've no control over it, and it frustrates me tremendously. I exercized until I could. It's been 4 years since then. Maybe more. And I did really basic stuff.. so at this point, I just dream of feeling better, being able to do this very basic stuff again. I'm thinking of light procedures like Exilis but I somehow have that feeling that it'll just burn my skin. And I'll spend couple grands for nothing. And heavy procedures-they'll laugh in my face, and they'll be right. I can't eat lots of stuff (gluten, lots of milk products, some vegetables, some oils..almost all chocolates..fruits, unfortunately..I could and loved them but now I can't)..but I still eat lots of yummy stuff:) Again, when I'm not stressed. In short my struggle is more with how I can't function per my age. And of course the change comes more drastically than if I could exercize and all you know. I always looked very young, and I'm kinda used to that, and it would be easier if the ageing would come at a normal pace. I still look young enough I suppose-but it's not real. It doesn't correspond. And to be frank it's humiliating and I feel very ashamed. I understand it's not my fault, yet I still am. Thank you for this thread, I'm kinda not telling it to people, usually...