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Would you fast with hypoglycaemia?

Title. Hypoglycaemia is low blood sugar. Randomly for me it drops and it goes dark in front of my eyes and I feel like I am low in sugar, my body doesn’t produce enough glucose. After that happens I have a chocolate bar 🍫 to make myself feel stronger. It happens out of no where and I can’t control it. When I was fasting once this happened and I didn’t break my fast, instead I felt weak at around 6:30pm so that’s 2 and a half hours before iftar (sunset meal) and somehow got myself up from the sofa to my bedroom and started to lay there until iftar, I didn’t even pray the prayer before sunset

Some people tell me not to fast and make it up later and God didn’t say for us to kill ourselves fasting if we are not well, others would say it’s a blessing that I managed to keep it and it’s good I kept it. What would you do?
(edited 4 years ago)

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No.
A person with a serious illness is not required to fast, particularly if they require medication.
Whatever religion you belong too, there are other alternatives to fasting.
Your health must come first.
Reply 2
You need to prioritise your health and well-being instead of religious commitments.
Reply 3
Original post by londonmyst
No.
A person with a serious illness is not required to fast, particularly if they require medication.
Whatever religion you belong too, there are other alternatives to fasting.
Your health must come first.

I belong to Islam so there is no alternative to fasting, if you don’t keep it, you make it up later or pay to the poor and needy. I don’t require medication, it’s a condition I was born with, I was born with a growth disorder and a symptom of that is hypoglycaemia. You can’t cure my growth disorder or the symptoms that come with it. If, of course, my illness did require medication I wouldn’t be allowed to fast (or knowing me I would fast anyway). I don’t eat on a normal day anyway, I find it difficult to eat more than one meal a day because I have a growth disorder with digestive problems. Sometimes I don’t even eat one meal, and I eat a biscuit and water and that’s it. If I overfill myself I wouldn’t eat for the next 3 days, so no food no water and not going to the toilet.
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by Deggs_14
You need to prioritise your health and well-being instead of religious commitments.

Fasting is my most favourite time of the year, no one will hassle you to go and eat. When it comes to Ramadan I am so much more calmer than normal, I have severe anxiety but I don’t worry this much when I am fasting, I feel peaceful. I wouldn’t not participate in fasting but I suppose if I love fasting so much I can just not fast in the Holy month (when fasting is long hours) and fast in the Autumn which is when it gets dark early.
(edited 4 years ago)
Even if I was perfectly healthy, I still wouldn't fast.
why on earth would you risk dying?...

also, are you sure you don't have diabetes?
Original post by idontkn
Title. Hypoglycaemia is low blood sugar. Randomly for me it drops and it goes dark in front of my eyes and I feel like I am low in sugar, my body doesn’t produce enough glucose. After that happens I have a chocolate bar 🍫 to make myself feel stronger. It happens out of no where and I can’t control it. When I was fasting once this happened and I didn’t break my fast, instead I felt weak at around 6:30pm so that’s 2 and a half hours before iftar (sunset meal) and somehow got myself up from the sofa to my bedroom and started to lay there until iftar, I didn’t even pray the prayer before sunset

Some people tell me not to fast and make it up later and God didn’t say for us to kill ourselves fasting if we are not well, others would say it’s a blessing that I managed to keep it and it’s good I kept it. What would you do? Personally I wouldn’t break it even if I was in a life or death situation, because that’s more to make up because us women have periods and I don’t want to fast a whole month by myself.


You say that personally you wouldn't break your fast even if it was a life or death situation.!!!!!!?

I am sorry but how stupid is that. Do you not have people who love and need you.... and you put fasting ahead of them.
Reply 8
Original post by PastaIsLife
why on earth would you risk dying?...

also, are you sure you don't have diabetes?

Lol how does someone who is 4 ft 7 and 30-35kg have diabetes? I am sure because a symptom of Russell silver syndrome (a rare genetic disorder/growth disorder which means height and weight will never be normal for each other and for your age) is hypoglycaemia. I don’t even eat anything so I rarely eat sweets as well. When I have those blackouts I need to have chocolate or I don’t feel strong, I feel weak and like I will fall to one side.
Reply 9
Original post by squeakysquirrel
You say that personally you wouldn't break your fast even if it was a life or death situation.!!!!!!?

I am sorry but how stupid is that. Do you not have people who love and need you.... and you put fasting ahead of them.

Not really, no.

God didn’t say for us to kill ourselves fasting if we are not well, we can make up for it or pay to the poor and needy. It is good if we die during Ramadan because we believe the gates of hell are closed and the gates of heaven are open, and some may argue that I am killing myself so I will go to hell but I am not, that’s not my intention. My intention is just to fast 18 hours like I do technically on a regular basis anyway.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by idontkn
Lol how does someone who is 4 ft 7 and 30-35kg have diabetes? I am sure because a symptom of Russell silver syndrome (a rare genetic disorder/growth disorder which means height and weight will never be normal for each other and for your age) is hypoglycaemia. I don’t even eat anything so I rarely eat sweets as well. When I have those blackouts I need to have chocolate or I don’t feel strong, I feel weak and like I will fall to one side.

You can be at any weight and any height and still have diabetes ....

so you know what could happen and you fast anyway? not even god agrees with that.
Reply 11
Original post by PastaIsLife
You can be at any weight and any height and still have diabetes ....

so you know what could happen and you fast anyway? not even god agrees with that.

It might be sugar and/or lack of food causing these blackouts. I only eat as much as my little stomach can handle, I don’t over fill it, and if I do I don’t eat for 3 days straight and only on the 3rd day I would start getting hungry. Sometimes I black out during what I call a 3 day fast (because it is literally, I don’t eat a sunrise meal or sunset meal like we do in Ramadan so I think that’s worse than fasting) and then eat sweets, and sometimes I would have those blackouts even on days when I do eat. It’s something I can’t control. Why would I not fast when I am basically fasting all the time anyway? There is no difference between me fasting and me not fasting, I still wouldn’t eat. Like on days when I am on my period and God said that fasting is not allowed, I still wouldn’t eat, because my body is so used to fasting and because I suffer from indigestion. If I did eat (because I have to on days that I have periods, there’s no point starving yourself if the fast is invalid) I would eat one little biscuit and then a quarter of a cup of water and no lunch, no dinner, I would wait for sunset meal.

I am very strict on myself when it comes to fasting, my mum tells me not to when I feel well enough, my DAD and BROTHER don’t even care they say for me not to because I look too anorexic and my lips go pale white, but when it comes to my sisters they might care (or if they were caught out eating they would know that they are on their period it’s obvious so they wouldn’t say anything)

And can you actually die from low blood sugar or are people just exaggerating? If God doesn’t want me to die, I won’t die. You can get in a motorbike accident and if He doesn’t want you to die, you won’t die, you will survive. You can try to attempt suicide and survive, because it’s not your time to die. God could have taken me with a click of his fingers when I felt weak but did he? No, I survived because it is not my time to die.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by idontkn
Not really, no.

God didn’t say for us to kill ourselves fasting if we are not well, we can make up for it or pay to the poor and needy but I need to show that I am strong and not so damn weak (the illness makes you like that) like everyone thinks I am. It is good if we die during Ramadan because we believe the gates of hell are closed and the gates of heaven are open, and some may argue that I am killing myself so I will go to hell but I am not, that’s not my intention. My intention is just to fast 18 hours like I do technically on a regular basis anyway.


Words fail me. You are not being sensible. Your attitude towards you religion is unhealthy on so many levels
Reply 13
Original post by squeakysquirrel
Words fail me. You are not being sensible. Your attitude towards you religion is unhealthy on so many levels

So basically just because I have this stupid thing, I can never fast? If I don’t fast during Ramadan and the long hours then I need to fast any time after Ramadan before the next Ramadan (or autumn days are easier but I sleep a lot, so basically at 4pm it would be sunset and I would just wake up and my fast is invalid) or I pay so much to the poor for missing the whole month of Ramadan if I miss fasting for every year that I am alive. If I do not do one of these things I go to hell. Money doesn’t grow on trees, I come from a working class family so we have to earn our money, so paying so much to the poor and needy for every year that you are alive is not an option.

It’s like saying oh Allah said if you’re ill you can’t fast, so people just say “oh I have a fever I can’t fast the month” or the fact that Allah made women have periods “oh I have my period I won’t fast the month”, no you break those days that you have periods or the day you are ill and then make them up, women are not entirely excused because they have periods, they still have to fast for the remaining days of the month and make up the days they missed.

You may not understand what I am saying unless you’re Muslim.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by idontkn
So basically just because I have this stupid thing, I can never fast? Is that what you’re saying? If I don’t fast during Ramadan and the long hours then I need to fast any time after Ramadan before the next Ramadan (or autumn days are easier but I sleep a lot, so basically at 4pm it would be sunset and I would just wake up and my fast is invalid) or I pay so much to the poor for missing the whole month of Ramadan if I miss fasting for every year that I am alive. If I do not do one of these things I go to hell. Money doesn’t grow on trees, I come from a working class family so we have to earn our money, so paying so much to the poor and needy for every year that you are alive is not an option.

You may not understand what I am saying unless you’re Muslim.

I understand exactly what you are saying. I am not a muslim, but I work with many muslims who are rational and you are not being rational. ( My daughter in law is a muslim too)

I don't know why I am pasting this link - you clearly don't understand and want to beat yourself up over this - but you have to read this and stop being so silly

https://islamqa.info/en/answers/23296/reasons-for-which-one-may-excused-from-fasting-in-ramadaan
Original post by idontkn
It might be sugar and/or lack of food causing these blackouts. I only eat as much as my little stomach can handle, I don’t over fill it, and if I do I don’t eat for 3 days straight and only on the 3rd day I would start getting hungry. Sometimes I black out during what I call a 3 day fast (because it is literally, I don’t eat a sunrise meal or sunset meal like we do in Ramadan so I think that’s worse than fasting) and then eat sweets, and sometimes I would have those blackouts even on days when I do eat. It’s something I can’t control. Why would I not fast when I am basically fasting all the time anyway? There is no difference between me fasting and me not fasting, I still wouldn’t eat. Like on days when I am on my period and God said that fasting is not allowed, I still wouldn’t eat, because my body is so used to fasting and because I suffer from indigestion. If I did eat (because I have to on days that I have periods, there’s no point starving yourself if the fast is invalid) I would eat one little biscuit and then a quarter of a cup of water and no lunch, no dinner, I would wait for sunset meal.

I am basically fasting all the time so why shouldn’t I fast? I am very strict on myself when it comes to fasting, my mum tells me not to when I feel well enough, my DAD and BROTHER don’t even care they say for me not to because I look too anorexic and my lips go pale white, but when it comes to my sisters they might care (or if they were caught out eating they would know that they are on their period it’s obvious so they wouldn’t say anything)

And can you actually die from low blood sugar or are people just exaggerating? If God doesn’t want me to die, I won’t die. You can get in a motorbike accident and if He doesn’t want you to die, you won’t die, you will survive. You can try to attempt suicide and survive, because it’s not your time to die. God could have taken me with a click of his fingers when I felt weak but did he? No, I survived because it is not my time to die.


yes you can die from it if you have diabetes. so yes it is possible.
With doctors supervision, possibly. Probably best not too though.
I really would urge you to speak to whoever is managing your RSS about your eating habits, they sound quite damaging for you.
Reply 18
Original post by Pathway
I really would urge you to speak to whoever is managing your RSS about your eating habits, they sound quite damaging for you.

No one is managing it, I was just diagnosed and surprisingly I found out through my mental health team (camhs) as she contacted a paediatrician and found out. I found out I had this condition at 17. I went through these blackouts from the age of 10 and the RSS causes early puberty and I hit it at 10.
You quite clearly have mental health issues.

To answer your question, no, I would not fast if I had these issues.

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