When Blood Sugar Is Too Low

Signs of Low Blood Sugar

Glucose is a sugar that comes from the foods we eat, and it's also formed and stored inside the body. It's the main source of energy for the cells of our body, and it's carried to each cell through the bloodstream.

The blood glucose level is the amount of glucose in the blood. When blood glucose levels (also called blood sugar levels) drop too low, or sign of low blood sugar, it's called hypoglycemia (pronounced: hi-po-gly-see-me-uh). Very low blood sugar levels can cause severe symptoms that need to be treated right away.

Signs of Low Blood Sugar Levels in People With Diabetes

People with diabetes can have low blood sugar levels because of the medicines they have to take to manage their diabetes. They may need a hormone called insulin or diabetes pills (or both) to help their bodies use the sugar in their blood. These medicines help take the sugar out of the blood and get it into the body's cells, which makes the level of sugar in the blood go down. But sometimes it's a tricky balancing act and blood sugar levels can get too low.

People with diabetes need to keep their blood sugars from getting too high or too low. Part of keeping blood sugar levels in a healthy range is having good timing, and balancing when and what they eat and when they exercise with when they take medicines.

Some things that can make low blood sugar levels more likely to happen are:

* skipping meals and snacks
* not eating enough food at a meal or snack
* exercising longer or harder than usual without eating some extra food
* getting too much insulin
* not timing the insulin doses properly with meals, snacks, and exercise

Also, certain things may increase how quickly insulin gets absorbed into the bloodstream and can make hypoglycemia more likely to occur. For example, taking a hot shower or bath right after having an insulin injection increases blood flow through the blood vessels in the skin, which can cause the insulin to be absorbed more quickly than usual.

Other things that can cause insulin to be absorbed more quickly include injecting the shot into a muscle instead of the fatty layer under the skin and injecting the insulin into a part of the body most used in a particular sport (like injecting the leg right before soccer practice). All of these situations increase the chances that a person may get hypoglycemia.

Symptoms and Signs of Low Blood Sugar Levels

Different people may feel low blood sugar levels differently. People with low blood sugar may:

* feel hungry or have "hunger pains" in their stomach
* feel shaky or like they're trembling
* have a rapid heart rate
* feel sweaty or have cold, clammy skin
* have pale, gray skin color
* have a headache
* feel moody, cranky, or irritable
* feel drowsy, weak, or dizzy
* be unsteady or stagger when walking
* have blurred or double vision
* feel confused
* have seizures or convulsions
* lose consciousness (pass out)
Signs of low blood sugar...
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