How I Stopped my Hypoglycemia Within One Day

Since early adulthood (1990), I have suffered from random sugar shakes—or as I call them, my 'Elvis modes'—because I become all shook up, haha.

The video above is a typical example of me experiencing hypos. No matter what I eat, or even if I take dextro tablets designed to recover from hypos, they just don’t work.

This image shows a hypo of 3.8. Now, this shouldn’t be in the hypo range, but it is for me. And remember, I have been hiking with my blood sugar this low.

I noticed a while ago that if I ate no food in the mornings, I wouldn’t experience hypos. However, soon after eating, my sugar levels would go crazy, and I could have anywhere from 5 to 30 hypos per day. I had no life and even had to take a fridge with me while hiking just to try and prevent them.

This image was taken around 30 minutes after the one above, on the same hike, and both images are from the video above. This reading of 3.2 occurred after taking five dextro tablets, so you can see that those tablets weren’t working. According to the NHS, this is the result of too much insulin lowering my levels, leading to the hypo.

The Keto Diet

Last spring, when that video was taken, I could no longer handle the sheer number of hypos. They caused power loss in my legs, brain fog that lasted for days, confusion, and general ill health. Something had to change.

While researching online why I was experiencing hypos in the mornings before eating, I misspelled something, and the word keto came up under carbohydrate-induced hypos. Intrigued, I dived in and started researching the keto diet.

Basically, the keto diet is a low-carb diet—it's as simple as that. I remember it well: I went shopping for low-carb foods with more protein, but being a vegetarian, this proved harder than I thought. To make matters worse, I live in Scotland, where health food options seem to be quite limited.

After extensive research, I learned that it could take around three weeks for a low-carb diet to stop hypos. So, I went all in—completely changing my diet overnight. Out went all the junk food, and in came the healthy stuff.

Sunday in April 2024 – My First Hike on the Keto Diet

After years of random hypos, I wasn’t expecting much. I set off on a hike with a bag full of bananas and my usual sugary drinks to recover from hypos.

The hike was seven miles long—one I had done many times. One mile in—okay. Two miles—still fine. Three, four miles—no hypos! I checked my blood sugar, and everything was steady in the 4s. Normally, my hikes would leave me with knee and leg pain, but this time, all was well. Five miles, six miles—still fine. Seven miles—nothing. By now, I was in a state of shock.

I got back to my motorhome and felt perfect.

Monday, I hiked seven miles in a different location—again, no hypos. I had found the root of my issues within just one day!

Carbohydrate-Induced Hypos

After a few visits to my doctor, we concluded that I suffer from a carb or food intolerance. Many foods send my blood sugar through the roof, causing excessive insulin production, which then leads to a condition known as the blood sugar rollercoaster.

Finding the exact foods that trigger this reaction is hard work, and it’s still an ongoing challenge in 2025. It hasn’t been perfect—I’ve had multiple trips to the hospital, including a three-day stay for fasting, which went badly wrong.

The fasting caused my body to enter diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)—a serious condition where a lack of insulin leads to a dangerous buildup of ketones in the blood. It can be life-threatening and requires urgent hospital treatment.

My ketone levels reached 9.8, and I could have died in the hospital. To make matters worse, the nurses had never encountered a case of DKA before, which led to even more complications.

Currently, I’m waiting for an ultrasound scan on March 19th for two lumps found under my left ribs and an MRI on March 28th for lower back issues.

Some foods are still causing terrible reactions—extreme diarrhea, severe stomach swelling, and unbearable pain. To make matters worse, the NHS is struggling to manage my health issues due to a lack of adequate care.

Hypos and the Damage They Cause

Having experienced hundreds of thousands of hypos since the 1990s, I have developed a number of complications, primarily nerve damage. One of the most severe issues is the loss of sensation in my legs.

Hypos cut off energy to my legs, and if I’m out hiking, I could be eight miles away from my motorhome and suddenly have to walk with quadriceps that have completely shut down. This results in excruciating pain, which then spreads to my knees, causing them to become inflamed and painful.

As a result of leg failure, my legs go numb, then tingle, followed by goosebumps, leading to a total quadriceps shutdown. Once this happens, there’s nothing I can do to recover them. The prolonged pain also triggers intense brain fog, leaving me bedridden for days.

It is an ongoing battle to fix these issues, but I am back to hiking and running—without pain and without hypos. However, the hospital trips continue.

Why I am not stating the foods I am eating

If you're wondering why I haven’t listed the foods I eat, it’s because we are all different—what works for me may not work for you. The only thing I can say is that, because I hike and run, I still need carbs. The keto diet isn’t suitable for intense training, such as hiking uphill or running, as those activities require glycogen, which only comes from eating carbs. For the average non-sporting person, a standard zero-carb diet might be fine.