This is my daughter, aka Princess, in an episode. She is number 15. If you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you will see her blank stare, pale face and brown circles under her eyes. We are learning that this is a classic Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis episode for her. This was right before half time. She ate a snack bar during half time and was better the second half of the basketball game.
The school called about 11:00 this morning saying Princess was in the nurse's office. The description was pretty classic although this was her first time in the nurses' office with an episode. The nurse on duty today is the same one that attended me during a whopping Hypo episode in Mom's Prayer last year. This is the same nurse that warned me of the requirement to call an ambulance if I or Princess has an episode (bad idea, btw). It has been good to "grow" together and allow others to see these episodes and how we cope.
I am in and out of episodes myself today, so I couldn't go up to school. Her daddy went to attend to her and I'm sure that was special. King, my hubby, has helped me with innumerable episodes over the past 8 years ... you'd think I'd be copacetic with him going instead of myself. I was later, but my initial reaction was a mommy reaction. My baby was not well and it didn't matter if I was paralyzed ... I was going to be by her side. Silly gal that I am, I eventually saw logic and stayed home. She is out of her episode and should be taking a Latin test about now.

Princess' episodes have not produced a fully paralytic episode yet. They are full body, but profound weakness is all the physical manifestations that she has had. My episodes are also full body episodes with episodes ranging from mild weakness to paralyzation so profound that I must have oxygen to help me breathe. I hope hers never progress to that point.

As you will read in subsequent posts, I have a number of triggers for my episodes. I have both Hyper and Hypo episodes, so I get more triggers. Lucky me!

Triggers:

• Female Hormone fluctuation
• Stress
• Illness
• Fumes (like gasoline, smoke, etc)
• Too much magnesium
• Too little Calcium
• Getting too hungry
• Too tired
• Too cold
• Too hot
• Rest after exertion
• Too much or Too little Potassium
• Cold weather

Some of these are Hypo only and some are Hyper only. Some of these triggers will start a Hypo or Hyper episode. I'm still working out the hypo triggers.

Low Glycemic Foods
The glycemic index is a numerical index given to a carbohydrate-rich food that is based on the average increase in blood glucose levels occurring after the food is eaten. Basically, it's how long the food burns. Low GI foods burn longer and that's what I need for two reasons: 1) I don't get hungry as often, making losing weight easier, and 2) it releases glucose slowly in my system. A slow glucose release lowers my insulin levels and insulin levels are critical to the position of potassium in the muscle cell. Thankfully, I really like most of the low GI foods. Here's a list...

Glycemic Index Foods
Fruit:
Grapefruit Low 25
Apricots (dried) Low 31
Apples Low 38
Pears Low 38
Peaches Low 42
Oranges Low 44
Grapes Low 46
Kiwi fruit Low 53
Bananas Low 54
Pineapple Medium 66

Pasta:
Spaghetti, protein enriched Low 27
Fettuccine Low 32
Root Crop:Carrots, cooked Low 39
Yam Low 51
Sweet potato Low 54
Potato, boiled Medium 56
Potato, new Medium 57

Vegetables and Beans:
Artichoke Low 15
Asparagus Low 15
Broccoli Low 15
Cauliflower Low 15
Celery Low 15
Cucumber Low 15
Green beans Low 15
Lettuce, all varieties Low 15
Low-fat yogurt, artificially sweetened Low 15
Peppers, all varieties Low 15
Snow peas Low 15
Spinach Low 15
Young summer squash Low 15
Tomatoes Low 15
Zucchini Low 15
Chickpeas Low 33
Black-eyed beans Low 41

Dairy Foods:
Yogurt low- fat (sweetened) Low 14
Milk, chocolate Low 24
Milk, whole Low 27
Milk, Fat-free Low 32
Milk ,skimmed Low 32
Milk, semi-skimmed Low 34
*Ice-cream (low- fat) Low 50
*Ice-cream Medium 61

Cereal Grains:
Rice, instant Low 46
Rice, wild Medium 57

Breads:
Multi grain bread Low 48
Whole grain Low 50
White bread High 71
White rolls High 73

Juices:
Apple juice Low 41
Pineapple juice Low 46
Grapefruit juice Low 48
Orange juice Low 52

Other:
Cake, angel Medium 67