Could meltdowns be related to blood sugar?

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Luckily for me, I don't meltdown very often: not outwardly anyway. I do have a tendancy to want to melt down when my blood sugars are low. In my old age, I can recognise the signs and am often able to do something about it before it is too late.

In the case of my 9 year old AS daughter, her meltdowns are very predictable and very much related to blood sugar levels. She does not recognise the signs and by the time that my wife and I are aware of a problem it is normally too late to avoid the inevitable tantrum. If we can get her to eat something, her meltdown subsides almost immediately; like flicking a switch. She then realises that her behaviour has been inapropriate and she can't do enough to appologise. I know how she feels.

As it has been mentioned in this thread, I can clarify that neither of us is diabetic.

Luckily for me, I don't meltdown very often: not outwardly anyway. I do have a tendancy to want to melt down when my blood sugars are low. In my old age, I can recognise the signs and am often able to do something about it before it is too late.

In the case of my 9 year old AS daughter, her meltdowns are very predictable and very much related to blood sugar levels. She does not recognise the signs and by the time that my wife and I are aware of a problem it is normally too late to avoid the inevitable tantrum. If we can get her to eat something, her meltdown subsides almost immediately; like flicking a switch. She then realises that her behaviour has been inapropriate and she can't do enough to appologise. I know how she feels.

As it has been mentioned in this thread, I can clarify that neither of us is diabetic.

I'm quite sure I have reactive hypoglycemia. I've experienced symptoms up to the moderate level and it's quite frightening. You feel this extreme sense of urgency to eat something right away. My hands shake, I feel anxious and confused. I feel like I'm going to faint. I'm wondering if milder level of this is responsible for some of my inattentive add symptoms.

Gosh! My message got posted twice. Don't know how I did that.

I have meltdowns and tremmors if I haven't eaten for 3-4 hours. I don't have to have something big to eat every three hours. I need a medium breakfast, snack, small lunch, snack and a good sized dinner. I need a fruit or veggie snack or crackers in between.

I used to suffer from reactive hypoglycemia. I was in the bad habbit of eating too much sugar and refined carbs. When my blood sugar dropped I would become anxiouse and shaky, feeling confused and disorientated. At this point I became very irratable and irrational, feeling totally detached.Then I would feel an urgent need to eat although I wasn't hungry. It was always sweet foods or foods high in refined carbs I craved.

Since avoiding sugar as best I can and cutting out on too many refined carbs it seems to have stabilised. I have also noticed an improvment in my consentration and focus.

That's like me. That's why I have to eat at certain times.
People never believed me when I said I needed to eat that I felt physically weak and shaky.
So now I have three meals at certain times and snacks in between when I feel I need more energy.

SunConure,
I am with on this issue. My sonis exactly like that. Please send me a message, i like to discuss with you further.

I took the habit of eating regularly (every hour) very little things rather than three meals a day, and slow down on sugar. I noticed that i feel mentally and physically much better that way.

When i eat "too much sugar" (2 pieces of cake at a time for example), i get exactly what you describe. It can last for 1 or 2 hours:

"Moderate:
Mind fog, difficulty thinking, confusion, exhaustion, hard to breath, tremors, shakiness, dizziness, crying, nausea, tiredness, belligerence, weakness "

I didn't think it could be typical with AS, but maybe.

My Dad has diabetes and had reactive hypoglycemia for years before. When his hypoglycemic episodes stopped happening, we thought it was a good thing, but it wasn't.

I have reactive hypoglycemia myself, too.

I never considered that there might be a link between AS and blood sugar issues, even though the two aspies in our family both have blood sugar issues.

However, for aspies with blood sugar issues, those can definitely trigger meltdowns. I've never had meltdowns from too much sugar, but low blood sugar is definitely a meltdown trigger for both me and my Dad. It doesn't directly cause meltdowns in either of us, but it makes us more easily set off by anything else.

I just now researching the link between hypoglycemia and ASD. I'm on the spectrum, and seem to have hypoglycemia. So, yesterday I skipped a meal, but had a hearty lunch and dinner. However, today, I was weak, hungry, tired, and lightheaded just 3 hours after a good breakfast. It seems I have to eat 3 balanced good sized meals a day to not get hypoglycemic.

However, I am on a tight rope, because I tend to gain weight very easily too, in spite of walking briskly for 35-60 minutes every day. I'm a 55 year old female. I suspect that us middle aged women gain weight really easily.