Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)

Your blood sugar (glucose) level is below the normal range if you have hypoglycemia. Your body uses glucose as its primary energy source.

Hypoglycemia and diabetes management frequently go hand in hand. Low blood sugar can, however, occur in persons without diabetes due to a variety of diseases and other medications, many of which are uncommon.

Treating hypoglycemia urgently is necessary. A fasting blood sugar reading of 70 mg/dL, or 3.9 mmol/L, or lower should be seen as a warning sign for hypoglycemia in many people. Your figures, however, might be different. Inquire with your doctor.

The goal of treatment is to lower your blood sugar as rapidly as possible, either with a high-sugar meal or beverage or by taking medication. It is necessary to determine and address the cause of hypoglycemia for long-term treatment.

Symptoms

Hypoglycemia symptoms and indicators can appear if blood sugar levels go too low and include:

• Appearing pale
• Shakiness
• Sweating
• Headache
• Hunger or sickness
• A rapid or erratic heartbeat
• Fatigue
• Irritation or worry
• Difficulty paying attention
• Unsteadiness or faintness
• Lips, tongue, or cheek tingling or numbness

Signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia can include:

• Unusual behaviour, confusion, or both, such as the inability to carry out daily chores
• Inability to coordinate
• Unsteady speech
• Fuzziness or tunnel vision
• Nightmares when sleeping

Extreme hypoglycemia may result in:

• Loss of consciousness and inability to respond Seizures

Causes

When your blood sugar (glucose) level drops too low for normal bodily functions to continue, you have hypoglycemia. This may occur for a number of reasons. Low blood sugar is most frequently caused by a side effect of diabetes treatments.

Blood sugar control

Your body converts food into glucose when you eat. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, aids in the entry of glucose, the body’s primary energy source, into the cells. Insulin enables glucose to enter the cells and supply the energy required by your cells. Your muscles and liver both contain glycogen, which is a sort of extra glucose storage.

You will cease manufacturing insulin when you haven’t eaten in several hours and your blood sugar level falls. The pancreatic hormone glucagon instructs your liver to release glucose into your bloodstream by dissolving the glycogen that has been stored in your body. Until you eat again, this keeps your blood sugar levels within a normal range.

Glucose can also be produced by your body. Your kidneys and liver both play a major role in this process. The body can break down fat reserves and use the byproducts of fat breakdown as an alternate fuel during extended fasting.

Potential causes, including diabetes

Diabetes can cause either a lack of insulin production (type 1 diabetes) or a reduction in insulin sensitivity (type 2 diabetes). As a result, blood glucose levels increase and occasionally rise to dangerously high levels. You might use insulin or other blood sugar-lowering drugs to solve this issue.

However, taking too much insulin or other diabetic drugs might result in hypoglycemia, which is when your blood sugar level drops too low. In addition, hypoglycemia might happen if you exercise more than normal or if you eat less than usual after taking your daily dose of diabetic medication.

Potential causes other than diabetes

People without diabetes are substantially less likely to experience hypoglycemia. Some causes include:

Medications. Accidentally ingesting someone else’s oral diabetic medicine can result in hypoglycemia. Other drugs have the potential to cause hypoglycemia, particularly in young patients or those with kidney disease. One illustration is the malaria drug quinine (Qualaquin).

Excessive consumption of alcohol. Drinking excessively without eating can prevent the liver from releasing glucose into the bloodstream from its glycogen stores. The result may be hypoglycemia.

A few serious illnesses. Hypoglycemia can be brought on by severe infections, kidney disease, advanced heart disease, and liver diseases such severe cirrhosis or hepatitis. Additionally, kidney problems can prevent your body from adequately eliminating drugs. Due to an accumulation of drugs that lower blood sugar levels, this may have an impact on glucose levels.

Prolonged hunger. Malnutrition and famine can cause hypoglycemia because when you don’t eat enough, your body uses up the glycogen stores it requires to produce glucose. One condition that can result in hypoglycemia and long-term malnutrition is an eating disorder termed anorexia nervosa.

A surplus of insulin. You can develop hypoglycemia if your pancreas produces too much insulin due to a rare pancreatic tumour called an insulinoma. A surplus of insulin-like molecules can also be produced as a result of other tumours. The pancreas’ peculiar cells can cause excessive insulin release, which leads to hypoglycemia.

Hormonal imbalances. specific diseases of the pituitary and adrenal glands may cause insufficient levels of specific hormones that control glucose synthesis or metabolism. If a child has too little growth hormone, they may have hypoglycemia.

Prevention

Avoidance If you have diabetes

Observe the diabetes control strategy that you and your doctor have created. The treatment of your diabetes and your risk of low blood sugar may be affected if you start taking new medications, alter your eating or medication schedules, or start doing more activity. Discuss these adjustments with your health care provider.

Find out the warning signs and symptoms of low blood sugar. This can assist you in spotting hypoglycemia and treating it before it becomes too severe. You can detect whether your blood sugar is getting low by often monitoring it.

For certain people, a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is a good alternative. A CGM can transmit blood glucose levels to a receiver via a small wire implanted under the skin. Some CGM devices will sound an alarm if blood sugar levels go too low.

In order to help prevent hypoglycemia, certain insulin pumps now have CGM integration and have the ability to stop delivering insulin when blood sugar levels are falling too quickly.

Always keep a fast-acting carbohydrate on hand, such as hard candies, juice, or glucose pills, to address a dropping blood sugar level before it reaches dangerously low levels.

Unless you have diabetes

Eating numerous little meals frequently throughout the day is a temporary solution for recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia to help keep blood sugar levels from falling too low. However, as a long-term plan, this course of action is not suggested. Find the source of your hypoglycemia and treat it in collaboration with your healthcare physician.