By Blood glucose is the main sugar present in blood. It is the primary source of energy in the body. The body obtains sugar from food the one eats. Majority of food is broken down by the body into glucose and glucose goes to the bloodstream.
When the blood glucose rises, the body sends a signal to the pancreas to secrete insulin which makes the glucose enter into the cells to be utilized for energy.
Hypoglycemia is a case of low blood levels of sugar, it is a reduction of blood sugar below what is healthy for you. For most patients, they have hypoglycemia if blood glucose level is less than 70 mg/dl. This number differs from one patient to another.
Hypoglycemia is common among people with diabetes who take insulin or other diabetes medications.
Symptoms of hypoglycemia differ from one patient to another, these symptoms happen quickly and range from mild to severe.
Mild to moderate symptoms include feeling hungry, tired, dizzy, confused, irritable, headache, fast heart rate and disability to speak or see clearly. Severe symptoms may include that the brain doesn’t work functionally, loss of consciousness, seizure and it can be a life-threatening condition if not treated quickly.
Taking medicine for diabetes is the most common cause of hypoglycemia, especially insulin and other medications.
Hypoglycemia can also occur when you don’t eat or drink enough carbs, during fasting and continue taking medicine, increased physical activity more than your usual.
Drinking too much alcohol without eating lowers your blood sugar and masks the first symptom of hypoglycemia and being sick is also a reason for hypoglycemia because when you are sick, you don’t eat well.
If you start to feel one or more symptoms of low blood sugar, you should measure your blood sugar levels and if you find it below 70 mg/dl, you must eat or drink 15 to 20 grams of glucose or carbohydrates quickly.
What is the difference between hypoglycemia and diabetes?
Hypoglycemia means that in a case of low blood sugar levels, blood sugar level is below 70 mg/dl. It can be a life-threatening condition if untreated quickly with the right treatment.
Diabetes is a condition of hyperglycemia, blood sugar levels are higher than normal. It is a metabolic and chronic disorder in which body doesn’t act properly with glucose in the blood.
Who potentially could have low blood sugar?
There are many situations that can cause low blood glucose but there are some people more labile to have low blood sugar levels such as those who have type 1 diabetes, who take insulin or other medications for diabetics, whose age are 65 or older and who have other health conditions in kidney, heart or cognitive problems.
People who don’t eat or drink enough carbohydrates. Carbs you eat or drink enter the body and are digested to give glucose units which finally go to blood and raise blood sugar levels. So if you don’t get enough carbs your blood sugar levels will drop below your healthy level.
Fasting and Continuing to take your medications for diabetes make your blood sugar level to be lower. Generally, fasting can decrease your blood sugar levels due to shortage of glucose in the blood even in normal people.
Doing physical exercise more than your usual can decrease your blood sugar levels. So, if you are a diabetic and want to do exercise or increase your physical activity, be careful of your blood sugar level and measure it before, during and after exercise.
Drinking huge amounts of alcohol without eating enough food. Alcohol makes your body not be able to keep the blood glucose level steady.
Is there a correlation between tumors (cancer) and low blood sugar?
Yes, there is a correlation between tumor and low blood sugar. People who suffer from insulinoma have low blood sugar levels.
Insulinoma is a case of tumor on pancreas which causes the pancreas to release excessive insulin more than the body needs, so the body can’t use them.
This excessive amount of insulin leads to extreme decrease in blood sugar levels. This type of tumor is rare and its metastasis is also rare.
Studies found that women are more liable to insulinoma than men. Usually, this type of tumor occurs between the ages of 40 and 60. Genetics disease increases the chance of catching insulinoma.
One of the genetic disorders which causes insulinoma is multiple endocrine neoplasia type I. It is abnormal growth of endocrine system tissues.
Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome is an inherited disease which causes cysts and tumors in different parts of the body such as pancreas.
Neurofibromatosis type 1 and tuberous sclerosis are also genetic diseases which can lead to insulinoma.
What are hypoglycemia symptoms?
Symptoms of hypoglycemia are not the same in all people, it varies from one person to another. You want to know your own symptoms.
The most common symptoms includes :
- Feeling shaky.
- sweating.
- confusion.
- Fast heart rate.
- Being nervous.
- Feeling anxiety and irritability
- Feeling light headed and impatience.
- Feeling hungry and nauseated.
- Severe symptoms include
- Blurred vision.
- Slurred speech.
- Difficulty with coordination.
- Being disoriented.
- Seizures.
- Loss of consciousness
The best way to know whether you have low blood glucose is to check your blood glucose levels, if it is available. If you feel symptoms and you couldn’t check your blood glucose because of any reason, start to treat hypoglycemia.
When you experience a low blood glucose level, your body responds to this situation by stimulating the release of epinephrine (adrenaline), the “fight-or-flight” hormone. This hormone is the cause of feeling symptoms of hypoglycemia such as sweating, increased heart beats, anxiety and tingling.
If your blood sugar continues to decrease and you don’t take the suitable treatment, the brain may not be able to get enough glucose and stops its work functionally.
This can lead to CNS symptoms such as difficulty in concentrating, blurred vision, confused thinking, numbness, slurred speech and drowsiness. If blood glucose remains low for much time and the brain is deprived from glucose, it can lead to seizures, coma, and death in rare cases.
Why is blood glucose low during sleep?
Because sleep is considered a form of fasting, blood sugar levels naturally decrease overnight because the body uses its content of glucose reserves to help you with recovery from the day.
Why do people with diabetes have a high rate of hypoglycemia?
In diabetes, people with type 1 can’t produce insulin and those with type 2 have insulin but they can’t use it properly.
As a result, glucose accumulates in the bloodstream and can go to seriously high levels. To solve this problem, you might need to take insulin or other medications to make your blood sugar levels lower.
But the problem happens when the patient takes too much insulin or other diabetes medications. This may lead to too much drop in your blood sugar level which results in hypoglycemia.
Hypoglycemia can also happen if you take your regular dose of diabetes medications and eat less than your usual or if you do exercise more than your usual.
Could hypoglycemia be fatal for humans?
Yes, hypoglycemia could be fatal for humans if left untreated. This case is linked to a high mortality rate in diabetic patients.
One study said that prolonged hypoglycemia can lead to sudden death. Prolonged hypoglycemia can cause brain stem damage, encephalopathy, cardio-respiratory arrest and death.
Prolonged hypoglycemia can also lead to severe ischemic cardiovascular attacks and arrhythmia.
How can you prevent hypoglycemia?
The most important thing to do to prevent hypoglycemia is doing continuous measurement for your blood sugar levels.
You can also follow some tips to keep you away from hypoglycemia. You should choose foods with fiber, eat often, eat light, take chromium supplement, refuse to take alcohol and caffeine and cut back on refined carbs.
Good-established approaches to decrease the risk of hypoglycemia include patient awareness in addition to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), making some dietary modifications and doing regular exercise, always adjusting your medications, monitoring your glucose carefully and making continuous check ups by the doctor.
Awareness with symptoms of hypoglycemia is a must for diabetics for self-care practice because well-informed people are more likely to have better control on their case.
Having well awareness with hypoglycemia is well associated with effective hypoglycemia prevention practice.
In another way, if you are a diabetic and your case requires treatment with insulin, making a regular check on your blood sugar levels is the best way to avoid hypoglycemia
Always make sure you have rapid-acting carbohydrates with you, such as glucose tablets, a carton of fruit juice which contains sugar or some candy. You must take one of them if you feel symptoms starting or if you feel your blood glucose level is low.
Make sure your surrounding people and family know about your case and you may have a risk of hypoglycaemia. You may also carry some form of identification that makes people know more about your case in an emergency.
You should also make sure you change the place of insulin injection regularly because the amount of insulin your body absorbs can differ with difference of site of injection.
When hypoglycaemia happens because of an underlying problem other than diabetes, you will need to treat with the problem to prevent a further hypoglycemia.
When hypoglycemia is considered a normal case?
Hypoglycemia is considered a normal case when the reason for it is not diabetes.
For example, reactive hypoglycemia which occurs when you get low blood sugar after a meal. It typically happens about two to four hours after a meal.
Studies don’t yet clarify the exact reason. But some studies think it occurs because of a sudden spike and then a fall in blood sugar after eating certain foods, especially simple carbohydrate foods such white bread, potatoes, white rice, pastries and cake.
This occurs to nearly everyone and it is easy to correct so don’t worry about it.
What are hypoglycemia causes?
Diabetes
Hypoglycemia occurs with diabetics and non diabetics, it occurs with diabetes when:
- Patients increase the dose of treatment without asking the doctor or it can also happen unintentionally.
- When you eat carbohydrates less than your plan, missing snacks or meals can put you at risk of hypoglycaemia.
- You should take in consideration if you drink alcohol because it can also lead to hypoglycemia, even many hours after drinking.
- Doing exercise or activity is another probable cause. You should have a well-organized plan to avoid this problem, you can eat carbohydrates before, during or after exercise, or monitor your insulin dose.
If you are not a diabetic:
- Hypoglycemia can occur when you don’t have enough sugar in your blood or if your body is not able to stabilize your blood sugar level. This happens when your level becomes below 70 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).
Low blood glucose means that your body doesn’t have enough energy to do its function properly or to perform its activities.
The underlying reason for nondiabetic hypoglycemia varies. It can be due to an unhealthy or imbalanced diet.
You get glucose (which is your body’s main energy source) from food. This is why you might get a drop in your blood sugar after several hours pass without food or if you don’t eat before a workout. In both cases, eating can help your blood sugar level be stable.
On the other hand, there are some problems that can happen with non-diabetic people and are not related to food intake. This might show a reduction in insulin production and this may be due to problems with:
- your metabolism.
- Hormone levels.
- A problem in organs such as the liver, kidneys or pancreas.
Hypoglycemia is less common in people who are not diabetics than who are diabetics or have related health problems.
How to treat hypoglycemia?
The urgent treatment for hypoglycemia is to get some food or drink that includes sugar such as fruit juice or glucose tablets to correct your blood glucose levels.
After getting something sugary, you may need to get a longer-acting “starchy” carbohydrate food such as a few biscuits or a sandwich.
If hypoglycemia leads to a loss of consciousness, the patient needs to be injected by an injection of glucagon hormone to provide an increase in blood glucose levels and restore consciousness. You can do this for the patient only if an injection is available and the person who gives the injection knows well how to use it.
You should dial the number of ambulances in your country to request an ambulance if a glucagon injection kit isn’t present, there is no well-trained person to give the injection, the injection doesn’t produce an effect after 10 minutes.
Don’t try to enter food or drink into the mouth of the one who is drowsy or unconscious because they could choke. This also includes any high-sugar preparations specifically made for smearing inside the cheek.