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:: Hypoglycemia ::

Have you ever been prone to mood swings, headaches, foggy thinking,
dizziness, allergies, tingling in your hands or feet, cold hands or feet,
heart palpitations, insomnia, memory loss, depression, confusion, sugar or
chocolate cravings, bursts of anger or sadness for no apparent reason,
irritability, shyness or low sex drive? This is just a small list of the
possible symptoms you may experience if you have hypoglycemia.

Hypoglycemia just may be the most underdiagnosed disease of the century!
Since most of the above symptoms look just like other diseases, your doctor
will often diagnose you with some other problem, while missing the overall
diagnostic picture of hypoglycemia completely. But hypoglycemia is as real
as the thousands upon thousands of people who have it. And not only that, it
can be totally debilitating and create divorce, arguments on the job, anger
towards children, road rage, criminal acts and other anti-social behavior.

The good news is that hypoglycemia is easily diagnosed and cured. You just
need a doctor who will take the time to evaluate your symptoms and run the
appropriate tests. The first step in evaluation is to list all of your
symptoms. If you have many of the above symptoms, then the next step is to
have a fasting blood glucose test run. If you have a low glucose reading,
then the next step is to have either a hair analysis or saliva test run. The
hair analysis will tell you if your adrenal glands are overstressed, and the
saliva test will tell you the stage and severity of your adrenal burnout.
Additionally, a blood chemistry panel will be able to evaluate the level of
your electrolytes, which are key indicators of how much stress is being
placed on your body.

A number of years ago, most doctors would run a 6-hour glucose tolerance
blood test on you to determine if you were hypoglycemic. This test is very
hard on the body, since you have to fast for a minimum of 12 hours and then
drink 8 oz. of syrupy sugar water. Then your blood is drawn every hour for 6
hours to see how your body responds to the sugar water. If you are
hypoglycemic, your blood sugar will go way up after drinking the sugar, and
then go way down an hour or so later.

In reality, you probably already know if you’re hypoglycemic. If you crave
caffeine, sugar or any other stimulants, and your mood and energy gets really
good after consuming them, but then two hours later you feel really horrible,
and need some chips or more sweets or coffee to pull you back up, this may
indicate hypoglycemia. It’s especially easy to diagnose in women who are
experiencing PMS, since it’s more common at that time.

Blood sugar is a term for how much glucose you have circulating in your
bloodstream at any given time. If there is too much, then you have
diabetes, and if there is too little, then you have hypoglycemia. Either
way, your glucose is out of balance. Many people have what is called
dysglycemia, which means that your blood sugar swings too quickly from high
to low or low to high, causing just as many, if not more, problems as in
hypoglycemia.

In terms of Chinese medicine, the main reasons for, or causes of hypoglycemia
are either Stagnant Liver Chi, Weak Kidneys, or a weak Spleen. Therefore, in
Chinese medicine we work to strengthen these organs by using acupuncture and
Chinese herbs. Some of the formulas that will work very well for the Weak
Kidneys are the Rehmannia 6 and Rehmannia 8 Formulas, and Dynamic Warrior.
For the Liver, I like to use a formula called Relaxed Wanderer. In treatment
of the Spleen, I prescribe Ginseng and Astragalus or Aucklandia and Cardamon.

Other supplements which will help a lot in balancing your blood sugar include
the following: Chromium, P5P, Licorice Root, Dandelion Root, a good balanced
B-vitamin complex and multi-vitamin, and vitamin C. There are also many
homeopathic remedies which are very effective in treating hypoglycemia. But,
in general, these need to be prescribed for the individual based on their
specific symptom picture.

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