Finally Confirmation…I Am Not Crazy!!
From Despair to Hope: How Understanding Hypoglycemia and the Brain-Food Connection Transformed My Life and Mission to Save Others
It has taken 45 years for me to finally forgive myself—not only physically, mentally, and spiritually, but through a deep dive into my heart and soul. I have traveled to depths that no one sees but me, and in the darkest of hours, the feelings of isolation, embarrassment, humiliation, degradation, and stigma still resurface and grab me by the throat.
For almost ten years, I didn’t talk about my secret. Then God placed circumstances in my life that led me to read an article in 1977 that appeared on the front page of our local newspaper’s Broward Edition of The Miami Herald: “Shock Treatments Send Her on a One-Woman Crusade.”
Even though I eventually shared my story—and later founded The Hypoglycemia Support Foundation in 1980, wrote five editions of my book The Do's and Don’ts of Hypoglycemia: An Everyday Guide to Low Blood Sugar, and accumulated a lifetime of accomplishments throughout four decades—there were still moments when I doubted myself.
Yes, I have come a long way, and I feel honored and privileged to have worked with some of the best doctors in the world who have supported and praised my work. I have also received hundreds of thousands of letters from people saying my work saved their lives. My secret wish, deep down, was always that I could save my own.
Thank you, Dr. Chris Palmer, for giving me that gift through the publication of your book Brain Energy. From the first page to the last, I cried—sometimes even sobbed. You gave me the scientific validation I desperately needed.
The mood/food connection absolutely and undeniably exists. You are not only what you eat and metabolize, but also what you do not eat. I have listened to thousands of teenagers, exhausted mothers, overworked fathers, and frail elders who skip both breakfast and lunch, only to become famished by 3 p.m.—diving into a quick fix of high sugar or processed food: a donut and coffee, pizza and a soda, a smoothie… the list goes on.
I know every trick of the trade. I’ve been there!
Unfortunately, I was once a stranger to—and ignorant of—the devastating effects sugar can have on the body, both physically and mentally. Only when my life was falling apart did I begin to learn that sugar has been called the white plague, the quiet killer, and the most destructive, addictive chemical of choice. It has been written that it contributes to fatal diseases, fuels crime and delinquency, and may lie at the root of many mental and emotional problems.
As a young wife and mother, I had no idea that food—especially the wrong kinds of food—could affect me mentally as well as physically. I grew up in an environment where food was the center of our existence. Cooking, sharing, and feeding others was the ultimate act of love. But my comfort food was also my downfall.
My high-carbohydrate diet of pasta, bread, Italian pastries, cookies, hot fudge sundaes, and hot apple pie contributed to chronic fatigue that left me unable to rise in the morning, insomnia that kept me awake at night, headaches that felt like my skull would explode, and depression so deep that I asked myself, “Am I going crazy?”
That nightmare lasted ten years (from 1960 to 1970), during which I faced dozens of doctors, countless tests, thousands of pills, and even electric shock therapy—only to be told that I had a severe case of functional hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and all I needed was a diet.
A simple glucose tolerance test, a proper diagnosis, and the elimination of sugar finally led me toward recovery.
What is so heartbreaking is that what happened to me nearly 40 years ago is still happening today.
I receive almost 500 emails a month from people around the world through my website, www.hypoglycemia.org, an extension of The Hypoglycemia Support Foundation. I founded it in 1980 to provide the information, support, hope, and encouragement that I so desperately needed when I was sick and had nowhere to turn.
Today, my message is simple:
Your Symptoms May Not Be in Your Head
If you suffer from fatigue, insomnia, mental confusion, nervousness, mood swings, faintness, headaches, depression, phobias, blurred vision, trembling, temper outbursts, sudden hunger, heart palpitations, cravings for sweets, allergies, or crying spells (just to name a few), you may have functional hypoglycemia—often caused by poor diet, stress, and lifestyle.
So, Dr. Chris Palmer, I feel enormously honored and privileged to join you and your staff at the Brain Energy Team. My dream and passion—what has fueled my willingness to keep sharing my story—is to help bring hypoglycemia back to the forefront of medicine where it belongs.
Blood sugar irregularities are finally being discussed more than ever. Unfortunately, this shift comes at a time when type 2 diabetes is at an all-time high—and so is hypoglycemia. Dr. Seele Harris said powerfully in the early 1950s:
The low blood sugar of today is the diabetes of tomorrow.
Even more alarming is that these conditions are affecting not only adults and adolescents, but very young children—some as young as two.
My heart shatters when mothers write to me:
Testimony from a Mother
“My 12-year-old has struggled with obesity and depression for years. She’s even on Zoloft. At Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the endocrinologist gave me a glucose monitor. Her morning sugars were 95–110, but by 3 p.m. (she eats lunch at 11 a.m.), her sugar dropped to 50. Her father also has hypoglycemia and refuses to take care of himself. I won’t let this happen to my daughter. Now that I’ve found your website, I know I’ll have support. I have hope she will get off the depression meds and be treated with a sensible diet. Thank you for your hard work.”
Testimony from Another
“I have a 21-month-old boy who gets very shaky if it has been a few hours since he has eaten. After a 4-hour glucose test, his blood sugar dropped to 37. This is one of the first websites I found, and I hope you can guide me to more information. Thank you.”
So again, Dr. Chris Palmer, I am honored and ready to join you and your team in raising awareness about the powerful connection between physical, mental, and emotional health—and how it all begins with what we eat (or don’t eat).
I’m ready.
