EP.349/ Symptoms of dysregulated blood sugar and why it matters for endometriosis
If you follow my work or have coached with me, you’ll know that blood sugar balance is an absolute staple to my approach for managing endo.
Whilst this isn’t an episode into how blood sugar affects endo, to give you a short explanation - blood sugar imbalances can have a significant negative impact on hormones, gut inflammation and the microbiome, and raise both oxidative stress levels and prostaglandin levels, both are key to endo growth and pain. I’ll link to some episodes and articles I’ve done on the topic, but maybe in the future I’ll do an updated episode covering these areas.
But something I’ve noticed when clients and students come to is that many, I would say the majority, have an ‘aha’ moment when we discuss the symptoms of blood sugar imbalance. Most don’t know what these signs are, and actually mistake the symptoms for something else entirely.
So, today, I am going to share with you some of the most common signs of blood sugar imbalances:
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon energy crashes
Sleepiness and crashes, especially after meals
Low energy and sleepiness or energy highs and lows
Craving starch, sugar or caffeine mid-morning or mid-afternoon
Waking up shaky or starving
Feeling hungry shortly after a meal (especially a big meal)
Feeling really thirsty shortly after food
Anxiety, irritability, hanger, low moods
Fatigue and brain fog
Dizziness
Blurry vision
Headaches
Racing heart or palpitations
Shakiness when hungry
Feeling faint
Now something else I want to point out is that typical low blood sugar symptoms I tend to see are feeling hangry, low in energy, shaky, faint or dizzy, but you can also experience sweating, heart palpitations, and even confusion when blood sugar is very low. Now high blood sugar is harder to detect, until levels get very high, at which point you tend to experience blurry vision and extreme sleepiness.
If you start to experience a dry mouth, feeling very thirsty, needing to urinate more than usual and any other unusual symptoms, like weight loss, on a regular basis, you should see your GP as these could be signs of early type 2 diabetes or prediabetes (both are reversible by the way).
Lastly, very high blood sugar levels can also cause increase thrush and candida infections, and this is something I often see in clients who come to me and are pre-diabetic. So again, if you’re experiencing blood sugar imbalance symptoms and recurrent thrush, it’s worth having your glucose and insulin levels tested with your doctor.
Now if any of you recognise these symptoms, please don’t panic. Most of my clients do, and unfortunately, having endo does predispose us to blood sugar imbalances and in some endo patients, a moderately higher risk of diabetes and a high risk of metabolic syndrome, so we do need to be a bit more mindful. The good news is, all my clients experience a huge improvement in their blood sugar levels with often some very simple changes to their diet and lifestyle, and I’ve linked in the show notes to one of my articles on how to get started with managing blood sugar.
Now lastly, having these symptoms doesn’t mean 100% you have blood sugar issues, many symptoms overlap with other issues of course, so it’s worth monitoring your blood sugar levels if you can, or making some healthy changes and seeing if symptoms improve. Of course, ideally, discuss with your doctor or a practitioner.
Okay, that’s it for this week! See you next week.
Show notes
Helpful resources
https://endometriosis.net/living/diet-sugar
https://endometriosis.net/living/how-to-balance-your-blood-sugar-levels-to-reduce-endo-symptoms
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/endo-blood-sugar-gargi-parikh
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/glycemic-index-load-endo
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/endo-and-pms-the-key-to-reducing-mood-swings-anxiety-and-low-moods-in-your-luteal-phase
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/non-food-blood-sugar-management
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/reduce-fatigue-endometriosis-symptoms-and-oestrogen-dominance
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/endo-carbs-blood-sugar
Endo and blood sugar research
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10967113/
https://eurjmedres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40001-023-01280-7
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8609862/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35236-y
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378512223004115
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37673102/
Need more help or want to learn how to work with me?
Free resources:
This podcast!
Ways to work with me:
This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast digital cookbook
Masterclasses in endo nutrition, surgery prep and recovery and pain relief
Live and Thrive with Endo: The Foundations DIY course
One to one coaching info and application
This episode is sponsored by BeYou Cramp Relief Patches. Soothe period cramps the natural way with these 100% natural and discreet menthol and eucalyptus oil stick on patches. Click here to find out more and to shop: https://beyouonline.co.uk/pages/how-it-works
Produced by Chris Robson