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Read Dr. Elena Krasnov's Weekly Column in the Health & Fitness section of the 24 Hours Magazine. Look for new articles every week!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Soothing the Shakes

Q: Dear Elena: I would like to know what causes a person to have "the shakes" I often get shakey if I don't eat and also if I eat certain foods.

A: Your symptoms of shakes sound like hypoglycemia, which is low blood sugar. Other symptoms would be if you get hot and break out in a sweat, find yourself feeling confused or perhaps depressed or irritable, or find yourself yawning for no reason. This can happen to people when they have not eaten in a long time or if they eat something that has a lot of quickly digested carbohydrates that cause the pancreas to be stimulated too much. What happens is that your pancreas produces too much insulin, which is the opposite of being diabetic, whereby the pancreas does not produce enough insulin.

A glucose tolerance test is used to test for reactive hypoglycemia, which occurs when a person becomes hypoglycemic after eating high-sugar foods. Some of my patients, who have definite symptoms of frequent hypoglycemia, have tested normal with this test. The body is not entirely predictable, and sometimes a person will react by becoming hypoglycemic and other times they won't. In women, hormonal swings may precipitate increased incidence of hypoglycemia. You may find that the low blood sugar feeling is more likely to happen repeatedly at the end of your monthly cycle than at other times.

Several dietary changes may be helpful to ease the symptoms:

1. Cut out all caffeine - caffeine makes the problem worse by stimulating adrenal glands and of course speeding up the production of insulin also.
2. Avoid foods with high levels of quickly absorbed sugars and replace them with foods containing complex carbohydrates.
3. Eat protein with your carbohydrates to delay digestion and put fewer stimuli on the pancreas. When you get these symptoms, you may try eating a small amount of a complex carbohydrate with some protein. Things like cheese with crackers, or an apple and cheese, or nuts and some similar high-fiber carbohydrate may make you feel better. Another possible fix for the symptoms is milk. One cup of soymilk may make the symptoms go away without triggering a worse reaction, for it contains carbohydrates and proteins that are slowly digested.

Supplements that help insulin regulation especially minerals such as Chromium are very useful. Any herbs traditionally used for diabeties support can also be used for hypoglycemic patients. I frequently prescribe extracts of Bitter Melon and Gymnema sylvestre provide traditional support for healthy pancreas and glucose function. The leaves of Gymnema sylvestre have been used for over 2,000 years in India.

Alpha lipoic acid is a versatile nutrient that provides powerful antioxidant activity and together with green tea extract supports healthy glucose metabolism very effectively.

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Dr. Elena Krasnov is a registered Naturopathic Doctor and Clinic Director of the Toronto Naturopathic Clinic. Submit your questions online at 24hrs.ca

Co-written by Miranda Tallon-Malisani Holistic Nutritionist