Low Blood Sugar and Chronic Fatigue

Hypoglycaemia or low blood sugar levels are another cause of chronic fatigue syndrome. There are many reasons why an individual can feel tired all the time.  This week I’ll look at hypoglycaemia and low energy levels.

     Normal levels of blood sugar are necessary to maintain the body’s energy levels. Hypoglycaemia occurs when blood sugar levels fall, causing irritability, anxiety and nervousness. The body will suddenly feel terribly fatigued. Cold sweats, shaking and palpitations are a reaction of the nervous system, and weakness, especially in the knees, is common. At night in bed, low sugar levels will prevent sleep. When hunger pangs accompany the other symptoms, the diagnosis is easier, but in times of stress, hunger is often not noticed.

     The body has a great capacity for fine-tuning blood sugar levels so that they remain stable. When blood sugar levels are too high, the hormone insulin is released. When they fall too low, hunger signals are given and stores of sugar and fat are released into the bloodstream. If this natural balancing system is sluggish, hypoglycaemia can develop. Some conditions can cause hypoglycaemia - diabetes, for example - but in most cases people experiencing symptoms of hypoglycaemia do not suffer from serious illness. Rather, these symptoms are signals of food sensitivities or poor eating habits or both, especially over-indulging in sweets and having a lack of fibre. Simple sugars can be found in the refined white flour of bread and pastries, in pasta and refined white rice and in foods stripped of their natural fibre. These sugars are too quickly absorbed by the body, causing blood sugar levels to rise sharply, putting the pancreas under great stress. To compensate for the sudden rise in blood sugar levels, large amounts of insulin are released, causing a sharp fall in blood sugar levels. If carbohydrates from a healthy meal containing natural fibre are eaten, blood sugar levels will rise and fall more slowly, and with better control.

     Missing breakfast, eating large, infrequent meals and using stimulant substances like coffee and tobacco create problems for people susceptible to hypoglycaemia. Alcohol is a problem because of its high sugar content and sedative effect.

     Hypoglycaemia is often the result of years of eating sweet-baked foods made with white flour. Eliminate white sugar from the diet. For the occasional sweet-tasting food, eat raw fruit, which provides valuable nutrients and fibre. Treatment requires a radical change in the diet to whole foods like soaked whole grains, raw fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds. A good breakfast is important to prevent the morning slump typically experienced by people suffering from hypoglycaemia. Eat several small meals in the course of the day, including a snack before bedtime, to maintain consistent blood sugar levels. Take a small, fibre-rich snack such as an apple with some cheese or rice cake with avocado half an hour before a larger meal to prevent a hypoglycaemic reaction. Foods like cheese, avocado, nuts and seeds which contain some fat make an excellent snack food for people suffering from hypoglycaemia, since they offer long-lasting energy and important vitamins and minerals.

     Take vitamin B complex 100mg with 200 mcg chromium to combat problems with blood sugar. Take spirulina between meals to help avoid extreme swings in blood sugar levels. Bee pollen in small quantities helps the body to deal with fatigue.

     Ginseng regulates blood sugar, helps to increase energy and increase stimulation of the pituitary gland.  

David Foley

MNIMH, MRCHM

Medical Herbalist

The Story Behind Echinacea

     In 1899, Dr John King of Cincinnati opened a letter containing an unusual request. A Dr Meyer from Kansas was offering to travel to Cincinnati and let himself be bitten by a rattlesnake in front of Dr King. He even offered to provide the snake. Meyer would then treat the bite with a herb called Echinacea snakeroot, whose use he had learned from Native Americans. He claimed to be confident of a safe and speedy recovery.

     King was a prominent member of the Eclectic Medical Profession, a group of MDs who, from 1840 until about 1930, used primarily herbal medicines in their practices.

     King decided to take Meyer seriously, though he didn’t take him up on the rattlesnake offer. Over the next twenty years, he and others in the Eclectic Profession began experimenting with Echinacea.

     Today it is the best-seller of all herbs sold in both Europe and the United States.

     The story of Echinacea begins with the Native American tribes throughout the Great Plains of the American Continent; we can conjecture that these people used it for tens of thousands of years. It was through these Plains Indians that Echinacea entered into American professional medicine and then into Europe in the 1930s.

     The man who bridged the gap between the native use of this plant and the medical profession was Dr Meyer who, it seems, came across the use of Echinacea by observing a Native American woman crushing Echinacea plants between two stones. On being asked what it was used for, she told him it was a poultice for wounds, that it helped them heal them more quickly than other remedies and that it was also good for rattlesnake bites.

     Over many years of using Echinacea root, Meyer found numerous other uses for this plant. Most striking among Meyer’s claims for it was the assertion that it cured 613 cases of rattlesnake bite in men and animals, all supposedly successfully treated with its remedying powers.

     The Eclectic practitioner, Ellingwood, relates an experiment that Meyer performed on himself:

     With the courage of his convictions upon him he injected the venom of a rattlesnake into the first finger of his left hand; the swelling was rapid and in 6 hours was up to the elbow. At this time he took a dose of the remedy, bathed the part thoroughly, and laid down to pleasant dreams. On awakening in 4 hours, the pain and swelling were gone (Ellingwood, 1919).

     King’s acceptance of Echinacea moved it into widespread use in America up to the 1930s, before the Eclectic Profession was swept from medical history because of the Regulars using political clout to deny accreditation to their schools and licensing to their practitioners.

     By the 1930s Echinacea Angustitolia was widely used in Europe and large quantities were imported each year from the United States. In 1937 the French bought the entire crop, creating a shortage for German firms. Dr G. Madaus decided to travel to the States and obtain seeds so that his company could grow its own supply. He bought what he thought were seeds of E. Angustitolia, but when planted turned out to be E. Purpurea. This historical accident had huge implications for the worldwide use of Echinacea. Upon experimentation, Madaus found that E. Purpurea had medicinal properties similar to those of E. Angustitolia. Also Madaus used the flowering tips instead of the roots and found them almost as effective as the roots.

David Foley

MNIMH, MRCHM

Medical Herbalist