Low blood sugar - Argh!

[AuntieMaggie]

I sometimes suffer from Low Blood Sugar due to PCOS and thought I had it under control but my blood sugar seems to have plummeted in the last 10 minutes and I don't know why!

Maybe it's because of Auntie Flo I don't know but I had my breakfast at about 9am and even by my standards 2 and a half hours seems mighty quick!

I had porridge with frozen berries, skimmed milk, cinnamon and a tsp honey and a banana, and a coffee with sweetener.

Any ideas? I'm currently munching an apple to try to help it before I have to resort to something sugary.

Oh and I've also taken Ibuprofen for my neck.

I don't know much about PCOS but it does sound like you have quite a carby breakfast which could cause the sugar plummet. Have you thought of trying a more protein based breakfast, bacon, eggs etc. You can also have some porridge, but I think you need some more protein, it takes longer to digest and keeps you fuller for longer.

I'm sure someone with far more knowledge than me will be along soon though....

Thanks Headfairy - I tend to have porridge as I make it at home and by the time I get to the office it's the right temp to eat. And I've never had this problem when eating it this way before but maybe I should try having some protein too.

Auntie Maggie,
I agree that protein breakfast lasts longer but in the winter I do enjoy porridge. One thing I've noticed over the years is that if I haven't had enough sleep I get hungry more quickly. Sometimes more sleep seems to calm your metabolism down IYSWIM

there's no reason you can't still have your porridge, but perhaps add some protein too... if you're dashing about a bit perhaps have a couple of hard boiled eggs in the fridge you can just grab. Or some cheese. A full fat yoghurt would work too, but try to avoid one with too much sugar to avoid peaks which would then be followed by sugar troughs. Have you been told to try a low GI diet? I know a friend of mine with mild PCOS was told to and it helped her to lose a lot of weight and stabilise her blood sugar.

I'm trying to follow SW (but have been pretty rubbish at it lately) and my gynae said that red days are perfect.

I tried to follow low GI but found it complicated.

I'm just surprised as I never really thought of porridge as carby and never had this problem with it and have been eating it in this kind of combo for ages.

More sleep... thats interesting because I haven't been sleeping because I've been worried.

I guess the porridge itself isn't too carby (not an expert) but the addition of honey probably makes it more so.

Porridge is fine, but bananas and honey are very carby. You would be better off putting a handfull of chopped nuts into your porridge, or having a smaller amount of porridge and having an omlette (or other protein) as well. If it needs to be something you can transport to work, take porridge and a yoghurt?

Thanks fatpants. I use the honey to sweeten it cos the berries can be a bit sour/tart.