What makes me sleepy?

I have not yet seen an endocrinologist; my oft-deferred appointment is now scheduled for Jan. 22.  I only suspect the LADA diabetic diagnosis.  When I went to my primary care physician after the sleep attacks started, he ordered blood glucose tests that showed...nothing.  A friend gave me a glucose meter which also showed...nothing.  Normal levels.  The medical community had no answers to give me, but I was clearly not normal--normal people don't fall asleep 30 minutes after eating and sleep so deeply that their kids can't wake them for two hours.

About three years ago, I noticed that I would sometimes have difficulty climbing stairs.  The fatigue was so great, my legs so heavy, I could barely make it to the top.  Other times, I would climb them with no problem.  Around the same time, I noticed that my "regularity" had changed.  I won't share too much information here, but let's just say that my intestines seemed to progress at about "rush hour" speed.  Getting sleepy while driving was also a rather alarming symptom.  I never actually fell asleep (by the grace of God), but it was sometimes a severe struggle.  Other times, no problem at all.

Two years ago, I was attacked by naps.  I would sit down to read, surf, or watch a movie, and my eyelids would ache and get heavy, and I would drift into the deepest, blackest, most deliciously velvety sleep.  My husband and offspring would try to wake me to talk to me but would get no response (or got one that made no sense, and I never remembered talking to them). After I woke, I would feel disoriented and draggy for hours, or even a day.  My brain was foggy and often detached from my mouth, so that I sounded disconnected and awkward.

Internet research led me to suspect that carbs were somehow involved.  I decided to try South Beach recipes, and that led me to the glycemic index.  Ah ha!  Now I was getting somewhere.  I still hadn't tested my theory, but I had the means to clear the deck so I could start some experiments.  Carbs are measured in seemingly mysterious ways, but the glycemic index is pretty straight-forward.

The glycemic index gave me a short list of foods that were under 30 (for comparison, glucose is at the top at 100, and sucrose, or table sugar, is 65).  I chose 30 because milk has a 32 GI, and a whole glass of milk puts me under, but I can tolerate a tablespoon or two in my tea.  I figured that 30 was the break point.  Guess what?  There's not a whole lot on the list under 30!

However, the list doesn't include foods without carbs, foods that are high in fat and protein.  So it wasn't as short a list as I feared.  I used my new list of low GI, fat, and protein foods to form my new diet.  Another website I ran across mentioned the benefits of spacing food intake by intervals of 30-90 minutes, to give stomach acid time to do its job, so I added the concept to my plan.

Next post:  Going carb-free (almost)