My aunt visited me today from out of town. She was commenting on my weight loss and told me that she had been on Atkins and loved it. She lost 21 lbs. in 15 days and said she wasn't hungry at all. However she had a serious problem with her blood sugar. It dropped to 10 (!) and she passed out. Had to go to the hospital by ambulance, etc. She was later tested for hypoglycemia and diabetes and was found to be okay. Her doctor told her to get off Atkins so she quit it. She is seriously overweight and is now considering a gastric bypass. I really hate to see her have this done if it could be avoided. I had another aunt that had the surgery and she had so many complications that she was near death...was in the hospital for over 2 months. Do any of you have any suggestions as to why this drop in her blood sugar might have happened? Do you think she should even consider trying Atkins again? I wondered if she might try it and take in more carbs but I don't know enough about it to offer any suggestions. I figured if anyone knew, it would be someone here. Thanks in advance!

She might have still been taking medication. Atkins and other lc programs naturally control blood sugar. If you then take medication without closely monitoring it and adjusting medication the result is dangerously low blood sugar. That's why I always suggest that diabetics closely and frequently monitor their blood sugar and consult with their doctors for reduction of medication.

She isn't on any diabetic meds because they told her she wasn't diabetic but she does take other medications. Thank you...that could be it! If her doctor told her to get off Atkins I'm not sure he is going to be willing to help her much. He is really pushing the gastric bypass for some reason. I would change doctors but you know how that goes. You can't make someone else do what you want them to. I will tell her what you said though and see if she will check into it.

I don't have any advice to add but I just wanted to wish your aunt all the best, I hope everything goes well for her.

Hey Kiddo:
I would think that IF your aunt had visited her doctor BEFORE atkins, and had blood work done etc...then she would have had a very good run at Atkins and safely so. OR, her doc would have flagged her to a potential problem that she could have avoided. My guess is that she did not do this before starting.

Now: She should get several opinons from several doc's...have complete bloodwork done, and if possible at all...should go back on atkins and NOT have the surgery unless it is absolutely needed for other med reasons. I have 5 friends and family members that have had gastric bypass...and I DO NOT suggest it!

But, she should only do atkins if she gets Doc's clearance to do it.

Please send her my best wishes!
Happy Jake

Thanks Lcalamari and Mammoth for your support and good wishes! I plan on giving her all this informed wisdom from you guys. I hope she will listen but at least I'll know I tried. Yes Mammoth, I agree that she definitely needs to get more opinions from other docs. Thanks again...y'all are the bestest! I wish she had a computer so she could access this site.

How much more money would a doctor make from an operation, than, say, helping someone follow a proven weight-loss method..... I wonder$$$$$...

I admit I'm horribly biased, since my father died of complications from the older "stomach stapling" surgery, but in my experience, a doctor that pushes an invasive procedure over other, less agressive methods has other motive$.

Just my 2 cents.

Since your aunt reacted badly the first time, I would suggest she start out with a higher carb level and work her way down to prevent the insulin reaction. Her body is working against her and she needs to gain control again. She will loose weight- but it may be a slower process for her. Induction level carbs should probably take a few weeks to get to. She should still be able to use the plan and benefit from the health benefits-but she'll have to approach it from the backside

Hmmm... if she had "no appetite" she may not have been eating enough to control her metabolism. Also, she was losing so quickly that she probably lost a lot of vital nutrients along with the water and fat.

Gastric bypass saddens me. How is she gonna be able to eat properly and keep a level blood sugar and not pass out on 500 calories a day?! It just doesn't make any sense. LC or expensive, dangerous starvation.. hmmm, tough call.

I really hope your aunt wants to figure this out. Maybe a plan like Atkins isn't right for her, maybe she needs a more tailored diet plan for her own body chemistry, maybe she needs a supportive doctor...

Do you know if she was doing Atkins correctly? I mean, a drop in blood sugar that serious doesn't happen to most people who try this plan. And considering she doesn't even have hypoglycemia or diabetes, it seems odd.

Okay, I've offered no help. I just really hope your aunt gets better and tries to lose weight the good old-fashioned way by changing her lifestyle, not the size of her tum. I wish her and you the best.

I don't know where your aunt lives but Dr's Eades have a clinic in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Co-authors of "Protein Power" an Atkins parallel. Their approach seems to be more medical than holistic.

I'm no expert, but I'd definitely have your aunt go to get a second and third opinion before resorting to a gastric bypass. I've heard the mortality rate alone is pretty high (something like 2 in 100 people will die from the surgery) and the complication rate is staggering (25% - not sure of the exact number)

Pam

Thanks again for all the input! I am going to question her more and send her all your advice. She lives in East Tennessee so I don't know if Little Rock would be doable for her or not but I will certainly ask! I am like the rest of you...it seems funny to me that it happened but I'm armed with lots of good advice and info to give her now.

My cousin had a gastric bypass last year and has lost 150 lbs so far. She was at 400 lbs and about 5' 10". She was on deaths doorway - all kinds of *mysterious* health problems and then the final straw was her kidneys shutting down. The attending physician said: 'We need to do something about your weight or you are going to be dead inside of 3 months." He was likely correct. She was an extreme case and it was best that she did this. She is serious about staying alive and that means watching her food consumption. However, statistically something like 50% gain back most or all their weight - this is a MISERY considering what they have to go through and survive!!!

Perhaps you can have your Aunt try something like LIFETIME MAINTENANCE of Atkins (No doctor can argue with the health plan of LM) and help to monitor her closely to make sure she is eating enough - it does sound like that was her problem initially. Perhaps she has very little metabolic resistance and it simply was a danger that she lost so much weight so quickly. I firmly believe being overweight is a health risk but more importantly it is the food we put in our mouths that put us at all kinds of health risks. Helping her to count the carbs at say 100 grams a day and then SLOWLY moving her backward through the program to obtain weight loss may be what she needs.

I want to make another VERY IMPORTANT point that never gets mentioned even by the medically astute. When someone is morbidly obese or even mildly obese, doctors advise NOT to have any kind of surgery because of the risks involved, yet they all jump on the bandwagon for this surgery as a *fix all* for the same type of person - it just doesn't make good, safe, surgical sense!

Give your Aunt a good shaking (wink wink) and help her find a Diet Doc who believes in the Atkins venue. If she is being *rushed* to have this surgery, think of the numbers: it will take at least a month for her to *recover* from the surgery (if she survives) and just think of what she can do naturally on Atkins or similiar plan within a month! She can stabilize all kinds of bloodwork numbers that this doc seems to be so concerned with (don't recall you mentioning what is driving his obsession with the gastric bypass).

You are a wonderful niece!!!

You and your aunt are in my prayers

Atkins isn't the only LowCarb plan. If her blood sugar has problems with going low, then she should probably eat smaller meals more frequently. Have her look at Other diets such as Protien Power that starts you off at 30g of carbs a day, or the Zone which has each meal balanced at 40% carb, 30% protien, and 30% fat. The weight loss is more gradual, but that may be what she needs to keep from having too low of drops. Having a ton of carbs would be the worst thing she can do as after a blood gluclose surge the body produces even more insulin and overbalances bringing the blood sugar low until it has a chance to balance out.

She should definetly get a second opinion though. While the surgery may one day happen a doctor should not pressure a patient into a surgery like that without trying a nutricion and exercise plan first. For me surgery should be the last option, not the first. Even with the surgery she would have to follow a strict diet inorder to avoid complications.