Topic: THE KNOCK

[Spice-as-Nice]

Not usually one for self diagnosis but this is fairly common after eating large meals.

See this (warning.......don't look if you have hypochondriac tendencies!  ;D )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_hypoglycemia

Also check out Postprandial hypoglycemia in google!

Enjoy  ;D

CC

Hi CurryCrazy,

I appreciate all that you have said.
Im'e diabetic and have been so for 10 years. I have a blood sugar test kit. If I feel unwell and im'e not sure what it is then I always test my blood sugar ( well you would , wouldn't you ). Im'e very aware of what going hypoglycemic ( a hypo ) feels like and the relationship that hypoglycemia has with food ( along with insulin of course ). I can tell you that what I describe above is nothing to do with hypoglycemia .

Heres something for everyone and it's in Laymans Terms

Hypoglycemia is where a persons blood glucose level drops to a sate below normal ( normal is 4 or some medical people say 4 ~ 7 ) . The problem for insulin dependent diabetics is , that sometimes their own pancrias makes some insulin or ( if it normally makes crap insulin that doesn't work ) it suddenly makes a bit of good insulin. Ie , the person has injected insulin AND made some in their pancrias ... what have we there then ?
An Overdose of insulin , hence , the blood sugar then drops and keeps dropping below the number 4 level ( hypoglycemic ) known as a "hypo". If the blood glucose isn't brought back up to normal pretty quick , the person goes into a sort of coma. ( the reality is they go into an unwakeable sleep ). Even if left and nothing is done the person should in most cases recover on their own. the body will react to the condition and use stored fat , turning this into glucose and the person will wake up, poorly but awake. However, this condition is not good ( it's very bad ) so the person shouldn't be left , they need sugar quick or medical intervention. if they suffer from other medical conditions, a hypo can bring on other serious complications such as a stroke or heart attack etc.
To Summarise : A hypo is where someone has overdosed on insulin ( taken too much or taken normal amount + their own body made some )  . This should NOT happen if they have just had a large meal ( vertualy impossible ) .
OK, OK, OK .. so many of us have heard that theres 2 types... type A and Type B , yes ?
Well its simple ..
Type A is where you are born with it and is usually where NO insulin is made at all ( this should be easier to control because if None is made , then you can caluculate much easier how much to take with regards to what you eat.
Type B is where the pancreas starts to work poorly and this occurs in later life. Usually its a hit and miss afare as to how well it works and how good the produced insulin is.
Besides type A and B , theres the ability of all the other tissues in the body to accept this insulin ( injected or natural ). Where someones body doesn't "like" that insulin , it's called insulin intollerance or insulin rejection.
Type B ( thats those who get the problem later in life ) have difficulty controlling their diabetes becuase their own panceas is often working .. on / off /on off/ good stuff bad stuff . So, its hard to work out how much to inject. What you do ( work ) during the day also has a big effect because this depends on how much sugar you are using for energy. All food is converted to sugars in the blood to use as energy. Particularly the muscles as they are called upon to do work rapidly. One moment you can be sitting , the next moment your up and doing something.  This is why you might see a diabetic start to do very heavy work ( like mixing concrete with a spade ) and he can do it OK , then suddenly he just cant do it, all his energy just goes. He suddelnly feels tired , weak and shaky  ( he's near a hypo ). He might rest a while and be OK ... or ... if his blood sugar continues to drop he will go "hypo"  ( below a level 4 ) and need sugar. Sugar is sugar so it's very quickly absorbed by the stomach and converted into blood glucose thus restoring everything back to above a level 4. ( some diabetics let themselves go low so they can have sweeties ... naughty )
Some young people let their blood sugar go high ( known amongst young female diabetics mostly ) by not taking insulin . This has a dramatic effect of rapid weight loss over a few weeks but often results in the greatest danger of loss of sight ( very silly ).
Not all diabetics are overweight due to eating too much. Sometimes their high weight is a result of taking insulin and being unable to keep proper control of blood sugar levels.  However , it's a know problem that people who are overweight can become diabetic much easier than those who are not overweight. But please , don't tar them all with the same brush !

OK , now theres the opposite :
Hyperglycemia ( not Hypo , the 'O' in the word is replaced with 'er' )
This condition is known as "high blood glucose" and this is what ALL diabetics have. Their blood sugar is high because their Pancrias doesn't make insulin or doesn't make enough insulin or makes rubbish insulin. So, they have to take insulin by injection to stabalise their blood glucose to a "normal level" of between 4 ~ 7ish ( 4 is what we are aiming for ).  What makes blood sugar high ? .... it's food. In a fully fit person their own bodies secrete insulin and vary the bodies level according to how much energy they are using and how much food they have eaten. In a diabetic person this is totally cocked up due to the pancrias not working right !

OK , now we have accertained that a curry will affect blood sugar ( a curry is food ). It will make a persons blood sugar rise. However a high blood sugar level is NOT harmful in the short term. It doesn't do much to a person other than give them a short term energy boost, but ,... heres the BUT ... a continuous high blood sugar level is bad , very bad and it leads to many other problems , like ... going blind , having your legs amputated due to bad circulation , heart attack , any cuts not healing etc etc. So , this is the reason why a diabetic must control their blood sugar levels.

So, Summary No 2:
Food will make a diabetic have short term energy boost ( then after about 20 minutes it makes then sleep like they took a sleeping pill ! )
NOT having any insulin ( like you see them panic in movies because they havn't got insulin when theyv'e been kidnapped or summat ) is not bad in the short term . ( so this idea in movies is really a load of crap ) . It's only long term high blood sugar that is bad and in this case bad really = months or years. ( actaully, days isn't so good either ).

Postprandial hypoglycemia is a RARE variant of the normal diabetic whereby the blood sugar drops uncontrolably some time after a meal ( usually because their own pancrias has made too much insulin ). This is not a one-off , it happens every time they eat something , so this sufferer will know about it.  It's often not referred to as diabetes because the pancrias is working , it's just not working correctly.

In my case , the curry I ate did not affect my blood sugar beyond what any other meal affects it ( cos when I felt off , I tested it and it was 6.8 ) . I had taken my normal amount of insulin before the curry. All blood sugar levels taken after the curry were within my normal level and even the following day. I know what going hyper and hypo feels like.
Besides that, eating makes your blood sugar go UP , this means you go hypER not hypO . Look at the text above again and see that Hyper isn't bad in the short term. It won't make you feel ill unless you have had a MEGGA amount to eat or eaten lots and lots of sugar food.  The most a hypER will do is make you feel thirsty and temprorarily hyperenergetic. ( like an upper drug ... speed etc. ) but it's temporary and after you will feel very tired.

Now then , theres one thing worth mentioning here . Fenugreek ( Methi ) is known to improve or boost pancriatic function . Eee-By-Gum , its good stuff that there Methi .
It's been well researched and documented. This is a long term thing and not a short term thing so it wont immediatly make any difference to blood sugar levels when used in a curry.

I do hope this is interesting for anyone reading it. Im'e sorry about the length but thought I might include all of it as there are too many misconceptions regarding diabetese.

Please have another look at the original post. I call it The Knock. Read carefully what I wrote there. I'm talking about something similar to what might happen if you ate something salty, or something peppery or something acidy and "at that time" it just didn't agree with you.  We all know the common thing people talk about after eating a Chinese meal , dryness , thirst or even very hungry a short time afterwards. Suppose you had some gravy with a Sunday lunch time meal but the cook made it much too strong a flavour, so strong it sort of overpowered the meal but you were enjoying it all so you ate it all. Afterwards you might feel "different" but not necessarily "unwell" . Ok ,well this is what I was describing . I don't get it often . Only now and again and it's not connected to HOT curries , it's more connected to spicy curries. It's not a feeling of being unwell , its just a feeling of "something's happening" but it is connected with an underlying headache or as I said before like a bit of a hangover. It can upset sleep . To be honest , now that I've rethought it all , I think it's just a spice overload. You are eating something that you would no way eat in its uncombined form. You just wouldn't eat 3 or 4 spoons full of natural ginger , or same with garlic , or even onions , let alone the powdered spices. Imagine putting 3 spoons full of Turmeric in your mouth , yet that's what we are doing with the final curry and lots of it. Sometimes it's OK but sometimes it's not and if it's over done a bit it can tip the balance. I think that's whats happening when I get THE KNOCK.
OK OK OK , I hear you all saying " but he put that green sauce in it " . Yes I did but I don't think it was a heat issue as I have had hotter with no problems.

So, having re-thought it all , gone over everyone's replies , I have deduced ( for the time being ) that it's simply an overdose of spices that my body doesn't like at that particular time ( remember im'e not talking HEAT here )  ....... solution , use less spice , choose less spicy stuff off a menu.

I had thought the post might end yesterday when I accepted that no other people had posted replies confirming The Knock. 
I think now is the time to end it and move on  to things more related to the site . CURRIES.

Once again , thanks to all who have replied , contributed and showed concern.

I won't add any more to this post , Happy cooking to you all.

[joshallen2k]

I'm in awe of this thread. Buddy, how much do you weigh?