Help with - weak legs and shaky hands page

[trevork]

This happens to me periodically, and I'm looking for ways to prevent it, and stop it when it occurs. Sometimes after a walk, or light exercise, I will suddenly, unexpectadly feel like total crap. My legs feel weak, like my knees want to fold in, and my hands are shaky with very little strength to grip anything.

I typically wait for it to go away and try to eat something, but have not landed on any particlar food that helps. If this is a symptom of low blood sugar, that's bad for continued Primal living, right?

I don't eat; gluten or grains. Consumes a little dairy and some sugar in coffee/tea.

Any ideas on how to prevent it. or treat it when it occurs?

[sbhikes]

More exercise so you get stronger. More water and salty foods for better hydration and electrolyte balance.

[Gadsie]

Yes I would suggest using a food tracker (my favorite is cronometer) to check if your vitamins & minerals are in check

[Lewis]

Sometimes after a walk, or light exercise, I will suddenly, unexpectadly feel like total crap. My legs feel weak, like my knees want to fold in, and my hands are shaky with very little strength to grip anything.

How long has this been happening to you? Years? months? days?

I typically wait for it to go away and try to eat something, but have not landed on any particlar food that helps. If this is a symptom of low blood sugar, that's bad for continued Primal living, right?

Have you checked what your blood-glucose is when this happens with a portable meter in order to see whether that is the case? you could also check what it generally is for you at different times of the day.

Have you noticed any other symptoms?

Is there any other kind of pattern there -- time of day, length of time after eating, anything else at all.

Any ideas on how to prevent it. or treat it when it occurs?

If it is low blood sugar, then you could eat a little piece of fruit. In time this should go away if it's just a symptom of eating a diet lower in carbohydrate. I don't know that it is. First, you didn't say that this had only started since a recent transition to Primal (although perhaps you had meant to). Secondly, AFAIK, people more usually complain of dizziness, headaches, general lethargy, and orthostatic hypotension -- which often seems to be alleviated somewhat by playing around with levels of electrolytes and perhaps is transient anyway.

I don't like the sound of the shaky hands and the rest of it. Maybe it really is nothing much, but perhaps you should see your doctor.

[mom5booklover]

You should check your heart rate and blood pressure while this is happening. You may being having some sort of heart or kidney related issues. If either your heart rate or blood pressure is lower than usual you may be low on electrolites (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium) or some other minerals or vitamins for some reason. My husband had some kidney problems and when he exercised his heart rate and blood pressure would drop dew to electolite imbalances. He had very similar symptoms plus a few more and when his kidney was fixed these symptoms went away.

[Knifegill]

Somebody else once posted about a neurological condition, it's genetic, where any physical exertion leads to a short-lived period of tremors afterward.

But usually this is an electrolyte thing, as other have said - so I will parrot. Do track your foods. I hate pills - but I take magnesium and potassium, and vitamin D. Those are the only three I take.

[namelesswonder]

Ditto to all of Lewis' questions. It sounds like hypoglycemia to me. Do you feel gnawingly hungry too? Does eating something make it go away? For me, eating a bigger breakfast with more protein (3 eggs with a side of meat, like a burger patty) helped a lot. I have to avoid refined sugar completely.

[UniqueTII]

I get similar hypoglycemic symptoms about an hour after I drink coffee (not large amounts...around 12oz) even if I had eaten within a few hours. I'm going to go back to zero caffeine to see if that fixes it.

[Bettie]

really sounds like hypoglycemia. i get that from coffee, after a cheat, too much alcohol or sometimes just from fasting a bit too long. funny if i get it after a long fast and i can work out that time, that helps best and i can go without food for a other few hours.

but i had it much more often pre-primal and it needs less now to get over it (mostly 1/4 of a apple does the trick)