Tracy wrote:
> Hi, all.
> I just joined and look forward to browsing and/or supplying recipes.
> However, I have a question.
>
> My teenage daughter has for months (since last summer) been
> experiencing recurrent bouts of nausea, dizziness, fatigue, weakness,
> and paleness. Her doctor just kept saying "She's dehydrated."
> or "She's hypoglycemic. (Even though her blood sugars have never been
> documented low.)" He advised us to up her fluids and to follow a
> high protein, low carb diet. So, we started following Atkins and
> things got better - for a while - but then returned.

Hi,
I HOPE your daughter's doctors have looked into the blindingly obvious
and checked her iron levels for anaemia as well as giving her a thorough
physical examination to check for anything else going wrong.
Hypoglycaemia is a tricky thing to catch - a glucose tolerance test
might show it, but a lot of people have no visible signs apart from the
obvious physical effects. It's also one of those things that's different
for everyone. Low-carb diets are very good for hypoglycemia because
carbs break down into sugar much faster than protein does (having
protein at the same time as carbs slows down the process...), so it
keeps your blood sugar levels more even and hopefully eliminates the
highs and lows that cause problems.
I'm hypoglycemic, and eating protein at every meal and avoiding more
than small amounts of sugar is enough to control it in me.

But it doesn't sound to me like hypoglycemia is your daughter's primary
problem - not if you've been following a sensible diet for months on
end... there's got to be something else going on, and it sounds like
your doc suspects food allergies. Cutting out gluten can't hurt her, and
all you can really do is try it and see if it helps. Remember that wheat
and gluten are hidden in many places where nobody would ever think of
looking for them. eg. Soy sauce has wheat in it, and so does baking
powder and many spice mixes, because wheat flour helps them run more
smoothly through the processing machinery. There are many websites for
celiacs that have useful information.

I'd think that gluten-free would be easier to combine with low-carb than
some things - wheat is a major source of carbohydrates in most people's
diets...

--
~Karen AKA Kajikit
Lover of shiny things...

Made as of 29 April 2004 - 61 cards, 41 SB pages (plus 3 small
giftbooks), 52 decos & more!

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