Do You Have Ongoing Depression Symptoms? You Might Have This

Many medical conditions can mimic or mask themselves as depression. There is one that we stumbled upon years ago:

It all started with a problem with our oldest son, Dawson.

From the time he turned two, it seemed like there were moments that he would go from being a happy little guy to out-of-control screaming and thrashing his arms and legs. It was like dealing with two different people, and we thought for a long time that we were just dealing with the “terrible twos.” Jim’s job allowed him to come home for lunch and he began to notice that every day he came home to a wife completely worn out from trying to deal with an uncontrollable child. After he noticed a pattern developing, Jim suggested that I try feeding Dawson lunch a little earlier in the day. From the day that I started to implement not letting as much pass between snacks and meals, we saw a huge change in Dawson’s behavior.

From that moment on, we focused on feeding Dawson more often, but we also now understand that what he eats also makes a huge difference.

Thinking that Dawson might have hypoglycemia caused me to pick up a book that God used to change my life, not just Dawson’s.

I started reading The Do’s and Don’ts of Hypoglycemia and it shocked me to read the author’s story of how she realized that she had hypoglycemia.

After her first child was born, she was diagnosed with postpartum depression and given an antidepressant. She said that her tears had no end and her doctor tried one antidepressant after another. This went on for ten years until a doctor recommended she have electric shock therapy. After undergoing several electric shock treatments with little or no progress, she felt hopeless. Finally a doctor that she was seeing decided to give her a blood glucose test and discovered she had hypoglycemia. As she began to implement the diet necessary, she began to see her emotional and physical symptoms go away.

In her book, she lists the symptoms of hypoglycemia ranging from dizzy spells to anxiety, crying fits, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

One book said you can diagnose yourself by implementing the diet for two months and seeing if your symptoms go away.

I experimented with cutting sugar almost completely out of my diet or only eating it in the evening after dinner. During or around my cycle, I tried to cut it out completely. I saw huge results in my emotional stability on a daily basis. In fact, it greatly decreased the emotional symptoms during and after my period. I am so glad that God allowed me to learn this about my body. But, as I continued to occasionally have sugar, I would pay for it and my family would pay for it with my dark moods. I cried out to God to help me please give up sugar.

My struggle with giving up sugar was real as I love sweets. It hasn’t been easy but there is something that made it easier. God truly did answer my cry for help.You can read more about that in my THM story. You can read more about that here.

I recently obtained a blood sugar monitor from a doctor and started taking my blood sugar when I felt really down, sad, or started to have angry, volatile thoughts. I found that my blood sugar was indeed low (anything 70 or under is considered low)! It was a relief to have this finally confirmed!

Here is another woman’s story of finding out her depression was caused by hypoglycemia.