To worry that I keep going weak and shakey?

[nursetobee]

I keep going weak and shakey around 3 hours after eating lunch, with my hands physically shaking and legs feeling like jelly. I'm in my 20s and slightly overweight but otherwise healthy. Type 2 diabetes does run in my family, but recent blood tests have shown no signs of diabetes.

Today I had full fat yoghurt, strawberries and blueberries and granola for lunch (fancied something cold for lunch) and 3 hours later I'm feeling like I'm going to collapse with my legs feeling like complete jelly. It happens before I experience any physical signs of hunger.

Do you think it's normal or should I go to the GP about it?

I get this sometimes and had it lots in pregnancy, for me it is low blood pressure

I used to get this a lot, particularly if I had carb heavy foods like a scone for breakfast or a pasta salad at lunch. I stopped eating most carbs and sugar a few months ago to lose weight and it has pretty much stopped, plus I've lost weight which is great

Hypoglycaemia?

I did similar to this, on 1st July 2022 I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I joined diabetes.org as the doctor didnt have a leaflet to give me, just told me to check the NHS site for diet advice.

Mu HbA1C was 80, my weight was 14.7 I was obese size 24 and had visceral fat of 16 (excessive) I learnt to reduce my carbs to 130g a day and have followed this for a year.

a year later I am in remission my HbA1c is 38 I am a size 10 and weigh 8 stone 10, it worked for me at the grand old age of 58, I still have the odd drink, mainly gin or red wine, and eat 3 meals a day, but I no longer eat loads of bread, potatoes, pasta and rice, removing those gave me back my life

It’s either blood sugar levels, or caffeine. I’m no expert but if I’ve had a lot of coffee and not much food then I end up like this too

I get like that if I eat a lot of sugary things for a day or so and then not much on the following day, it's happened all my life. Eating protein generally helps (or a lot more sugar, but that's not the way to do it!)

I have the same, if you trial low carb (not eating yoghurt and berries) and more fats and protein it might reduce the symptoms for you

I used to get something like this regularly. It would usually come on towards the end of the working day when I was about to set off for home. I would feel weak and shaky and just a bit "dithery". As I walked home at the time, just over a mile, I would often buy some sugary snack to give me a boost.

Anyway, slightly unrelated to this, I decided to start eating more salads for lunch rather than my usual sandwich and a packet of crisps. I did worry a bit that this might make my weak spells worse. In fact I noticed that on the days I ate salad for lunch instead of bread I never got the weak spell. At all.

In fact, when I went through a phase of doing the 5:2 and was having a very small lunch, I still did not get the weak spells. Seemed to be the bread at lunch time did it.

I get this all the time, I find it really frustrating because I feel like I've fed you, stop moaning. Like my body is a whiny cat or something 😂

Following for suggestions, sorry no useful info.

I started being like that last year after several years of having low blood sugar. It was weird because normally eating something stopped the shaking but this year it didn't.

I've done several things but the main one is taking a good quality multivitamin and Iron as deficiencies can cause shakiness (amongst other things).

The other one was cutting down sweets/chocolate, and being more aware of how much bread I was eating (I love bread).

I get this too if I’ve eaten too much carbohydrate for lunch. Generally a glass of orange juice or bread roll will sort me out short term (or a spoonful of sugar!) but I now follow a low Gi diet where possible and have protein and low GI carbs wigh meals and this has solved the problem.
ive had it as long as I can remember and generally healthy / not diabetic but diabetes does run in my family so possibly something to be mindful of.

Non-diabetic reactive hypoglycaemia. It’s a question of management rather than treatment. Even supposedly slow release GI foods like porridge can trigger it. Keep a food diary and get a referral to endocrinology where they should offer you further tests - i has glucose and CT and MRI. It’s a pain but it is manageable. I had my first attack in months today because I succumbed to the lure of the Haribo so serves me right

I have to say it's so helpful to know there are so many people just like me !

If I crave something sweet I have an Aldi chocolate protein mousse or a Bounce protein millionaires bar.

What is your heart doing when this happens?

I am the same. It started in my teens. Ive lived with it for more than 30 years. I've learned to eat little and often and carry snacks when out and about. Low GI eating helps a bit.

The feeling lasted quite a while last night, even after eating dinner. The shaking hands stopped but I still felt quite weak and jelly-like so I'm not sure if I've got a virus at the moment which is making it worse.

What would be a good breakfast to have? To me full fat greek yoghurt, strawberries and blueberries and a handful of granola sprinkled on top is a healthy breakfast? I don't eat meat or fish, and don't really like eggs.

I’d advise following a low GI diet- aim to avoid blood sugar spikes, low salt, take a multi vitamin and iron supplement, drink plenty of water and aim to get your weight down to a healthy level.

Given you have diabetic family members and you’re overweight- your symptoms align with reactive hypoglycaemia which is an indicator of pre diabetes.

If you have a virus and high temperature then obviously that would contribute to your symptoms.

Sorry if that sounded really bossy! Hope you feel better soon 😊

Could you swap out the granola for some flaked almonds? Granola tends to be full of sugar and is very easy to overeat

It could be something called post prandial dumping syndrome where the sugar causes surges and makes you feel as you describe.
It helps avoid it if you eat more fibre during your meal to slow reactions down

A meatless diet can be healthy, but vegetarians especially vegans need to make sure they're getting enough vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and zinc. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics warns of the risk of vitamin B12 deficiencies in vegetarians and vegans. Vitamin B12 is found naturally only in animal products.

Lack of Vitamin b12 (and folate) can cause muscle weakness and heart palpitations amongst many symptoms. Are you taking a supplement?

@nursetobee its not that your Greek yoghurt breakfast isn’t healthy, but that it’s not really suitable for people who get the jelly thing after eating carbohydrates.
Try for a few days 2 fried eggs, steamed asparagus green beans spinach kale, very small serving of baked beans pref home made without added sugar. If you eat meat add some quality sausages (vegetarian ones may also be ok for you).
I will always be fine on this and almost never be fine of the yoghurt breakfast.

You are silly to ask for medical advice from complete strangers!
Your surgery know your history you should be talking to professionals to get the right advice for you.
Seeking random strangers advice is not going to work is it?