Hypoglycemia, also known as low blood sugar, is a condition that occurs when you have abnormally low blood levels of your body's main energy source, called glucose. People with this condition don't need insulin. In fact, hypoglycemia usually occurs in people with diabetes who use too much insulin or other medications to control their glucose levels.
Basics
When you eat or drink, your body absorbs the carbohydrates in your diet and passes them on to your bloodstream in the form of glucose. While your cells need this glucose to function properly, they can't access it on their own. Instead, they rely on insulin, a hormone produced in your pancreas that enters your bloodstream and chemically "opens" your cells so they can accept glucose into their interiors. People with diabetes either don't produce enough insulin to support this process or don't react properly to insulin's effects. The damage associated with diabetes stems from the chronic presence of excessive blood glucose.
Understanding Hypoglycemia
People with hypoglycemia need to raise their blood glucose levels, not lower them. Potential underlying causes of the condition include abnormally slow entry of glucose into your bloodstream, abnormally rapid use of glucose in your body's cells and the excessive presence of insulin in your bloodstream. Because diabetics frequently need to take insulin or other medications to lower their glucose levels, they regularly run a risk of lowering their levels too far and triggering an episode of hypoglycemia.
Risk Factors
In addition to insulin, specific medications known to increase a diabetic's risks for hypoglycemia include glipizide, tolazamide, chlorpropamide, tolbutamide and acetohexamide. Certain other medications carry a lower level of risk but can still provoke hypoglycemia. They include glimepiride, glyburide, mitiglinide, nateglinide and repaglinide. Diabetics can also develop hypoglycemia if they don't eat regularly or eat enough, consume alcohol or make sudden increases in their levels of physical activity and don't adjust their eating habits accordingly. Potential non-diabetes-related causes of the condition include liver disease, alcohol use, hypoglycemia of unknown origin and the presence of a pancreatic tumor called an insulinoma.
Symptoms and Treatment
Potential symptoms of hypoglycemia include rapid heartbeat, hunger, blurry or double vision, headache, nervousness, sleep disturbances, trembling, irritability, fatigue and convulsions. You can also develop low blood glucose without any distinct symptoms. People with hypoglycemia can increase their blood glucose by consuming roughly 15 g of carbohydrates, according to PubMed Health, a National Center for Biotechnology Information website. This is equivalent to a tablespoon of syrup or honey, a tablespoon of sugar, three glucose tablets or 4 oz. of non-diet soda or fruit juice. In severe cases of the disorder, treatment involves either glucose injections or use of a hormone called glucagon. Type 1 diabetics run the greatest risk for severe problems. If you don't take steps to increase your blood glucose, hypoglycemia caused by excessive insulin levels can trigger loss of consciousness, cause you to lapse into a coma or kill you.
