# Blood sugar and it's effect on cognitive function usage



## OmarFW (Apr 8, 2010)

Since I've had this 4 year long hypoglycemia rollercoaster going on in my life, I thought I would actually see if other people noticed personality changes when they go long enough without eating or experience a sugar crash. Or maybe a change when they experience a sugar high?

First off, you don't need to be hypoglycemic to respond to this.

hypoglycemia is, in a general sense, just an extreme version of what already happens with people's normal blood sugar cycles.

If a healthy person doesn't eat for a while, their blood sugar will slowly drop. If they eat a ton of sugar, their blood sugar will spike and then fall before eventually regulating itself. Like making waves in a pool of water.

For hypoglyemics, it is much more drastic and unstable. Their blood sugar levels drop much more quickly without food intake and it takes a far smaller amount of sugar to send them into a crash and when they do crash they crash very hard to the point of mental incapacitation.

I've read in the past that one of the potential side effects is personality change.

For me, these drastic shifts i've had to learn how to deal with have given me plenty of opportunity to see how my blood sugar affects me.

Here is the theory I have fleshed out for myself

normal blood sugar: normal INFP function usage, dominant Fi and logical Ne usage. ability to talk out thoughts is easy especially with some caffeine in my system. socialization is easy. being in crowds doesn't affect me. most importantly, the ability to be happy is present.

low blood sugar: Fi disappears almost entirely as well as any Fe. Ti takes over the decision making department and all S functions diminish as well. ability to talk coherently is severely diminished. talking seems like staring at a 50 floor staircase and being told you have to walk up it. socialization becomes a chore. crowds become unbearable (probably because i lack the brain capacity to utilize my coping mechanisms). being happy even when I have reason to be becomes an enormous pain in the ass.

I call this my ENTP alternate personality because I do in fact act very much like an ENTP, but a drunk ENTP with a stick up his ass. All decisions I make I see as completely valid and legitimate. I can be a total ass to my best friends and family (which implies that my Fi is not present anymore since I am not utilizing my internal values system anymore at that point) and not once will I question that behavior until I regulate my blood sugar again.
I say ENTP rather than INTP because I talk far more when i'm in "bigot mode". And just because my Fi is seemingly gone doesn't mean it has been replaced with dominant Ti. My Ne takes control at that point and my Fi takes a backseat.

This doesn't mean I become an ENTP though, I am still an INFP, I am just using functions at the time that would resemble the function usage of an ENTP, but badly because I don't normally use them in that way.

As i've said in the past, it's like the incredible hulk if he was drunk and mentally retarded. In a worst case scenario of course, there are varying levels of severity depending on how much sugar i've eaten or how long I've gone without food.

So that's just me. I am a very extreme example of what most people go through on a smaller scale.

So how does blood sugar affect your personality? Have you ever done something when you were really hungry or sugar high and than looked back at it and thought "wtf was i thinking?" Have you ever identified different cognitive functions coming out in you that normally don't?


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## niss (Apr 25, 2010)

No...I normally feel ok up until the point where the blood sugar drops to a very low level. Then I must sit down, eat a small amount of something with some simple carbs, and wait until it passes. When I am dealing with a bout of low blood sugar, I feel as though I am watching myself from afar--an out of body experience. Very weak and very uncomfortable with lots of sweating and feel like I am going to pass out.

I'm not really too worried about functions when I'm in this state.:wink:


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## vel (May 17, 2010)

I've noticed an INFP acquaintance of mine when drunk for some reason becomes meaner and starts picking on people. Last time he decided to pick on people's speech patterns, time before that a girl misunderstood what he said and he was very rude to her and told her she is stupid. It's like the guy shouldn't be allowed to drink, ever, but he still does it. I think it is his Te coming out not Ti however, but it is his inferior function so it just acts out like this. Alcohols lowers social inhibitions so extraverted functions kick in. What is in your subconscious gets carefully filtered to a fraction of stuff that makes it out to your conscious. Alcohols, drugs, low sugar level may make that filter less effective so if you weren't previously expressing some part of yourself it suddenly gets expressed.


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## Scyllae (Sep 9, 2010)

Similar to what Niss said -- I don't particularly focus on functions at that point. I mainly get a low blood sugar when I'm at work (doing manual labor in a crowded place), and things I've noticed are that it's really, really hard for me to mentally stay in the real world. I don't pay as much attention to what's going on around me, sometimes to the point of not hearing people if they address me in some way. I get a lot less friendly/tolerant, which isn't great when working around people, but it's just because I feel extremely faint and am in a hurry to get things done.


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## AEIOU (Feb 5, 2010)

OmarFW said:


> Since I've had this 4 year long hypoglycemia rollercoaster going on in my life, I thought I would actually see if other people noticed personality changes when they go long enough without eating or experience a sugar crash. Or maybe a change when they experience a sugar high?


I cannot answer your inquiry in depth, but I do know this, I become very irritable, very grouchy if I haven't eaten for a while. Especially so, when I feel the need to eat as opposed to simply just having an empty stomach.


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## dagnytaggart (Jun 6, 2010)

I have low blood sugar at times. I literally lose every single function, lol.

I lose any sense of thought, I couldn't "feel" for shit, I can't even think, so there goes my intuition. I'm also physically lethargic, zapping away my Se. And I won't be able to remember detail for shit, obliterating my Si.

I suppose I become grouchy and impatient though. A Te crumb?


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## benfoldsfive dude (Nov 24, 2009)

I don't have hypoglycemia, but when my blood sugar goes low, I am irratable, tired, and more cynical than I am. I don't like being with other people when I feel like that since I consider them annoying and want to just tell to f/o.


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## strawberryLola (Sep 19, 2010)

FYI- keep in mind.. that inflammation levels obtained from food also effects our moods..

I think it's usually the sugar spikes that really causes mood change, whereas the sugar-lows causes symptoms of fatigue.. depending on the individual, their natural energy levels, meridians, etc..

To be safe- the fresher the food, the better- combined with omega-fatty three's (DHEA), lots of fiber, proteins, some carbs, and B vitamins!


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## Paradigm (Feb 16, 2010)

I'm borderline hypoglycemic. When I have low blood sugar, I get tired, nauseous, shaky, cynical/bitter, irritable. I become way more introverted, not wanting to talk to anyone at all, much like Omar said about socializing being a chore. Everything just seems like more work, even eating. Sometimes I have to force myself to eat when it gets that bad -_-

Ne all but disappears. Fi probably goes into a hyper-defensive state, locking up everything inside of it and partnering up with Te just in case something _does_ happen outside of its dreamy world. Even if something does, though, it can't properly contribute any worthwhile sentences because of how sluggish it can get. Si just stands around looking forlornly at Ne asking why it won't come out to play. Ti goes into a coma, unable to actually analyze anything. Ni stands in for Ne by taking a little information in for later use. Se and Fe, which are two of my least-used functions anyway, wander off and play cards together, ignoring everything around them.


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## Monsteroids (Oct 6, 2010)

I basically just become extremely irritable, loud, and dizzy. 
If I'm not aware of myself I can be struck with a wave of hypochondria.


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