SIGNS OF LOW BLOOD SUGAR

Preventing Low Blood Sugar Levels

2011-10-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

Preventing Low Blood Sugar Levels
Signs of Low Blood Sugar

By knowing what causes low blood sugar levels and being prepared, you can lessen the chance that you'll have low blood sugar levels. But no matter how well they take care of themselves, people with diabetes will sometimes have low blood sugar levels.

Here are some additional tips to help you avoid low blood sugar levels:

* Eat all your meals and snacks on time and try not to skip any.
* Take the right amount of insulin.
* If you exercise longer or harder than usual, have an extra snack.
* Don't take a hot bath or shower right after an insulin shot.
* Stick to your diabetes management plan.
* Check your blood sugar levels regularly, so you can tell if your blood sugars are running too low and your treatment plan needs adjustment.
* Carry something containing sugar with you at all times and take it right away if you have symptoms. Don't wait to see if the symptoms will go away — they may get worse!

Alcohol and drugs can cause major problems with your blood sugar levels, so avoiding them is another way to prevent diabetes problems. Drinking can be particularly dangerous — even deadly — for people with diabetes because it messes up the body's ability to keep blood glucose in a normal range. This can cause a very rapid drop in blood glucose in people with diabetes. Drug or alcohol use is also dangerous because it may impair someone's ability to sense low blood sugar levels.

Learning how to recognize the signs of low blood sugar levels and get them back to normal is an important part of caring for diabetes. Keeping track of your blood sugar levels and recording lows when they occur will help you and your diabetes health care team keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range.
Signs of Low Blood Sugar
hypoglycemia-overview

Hypoglycemia (Low Blood Sugar) Symptoms & Diabetes

2011-08-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hypoglycemia (Low Blood Sugar) Symptoms & Diabetes

Signs of Low Blood Sugar

Most patients recognize the early warning signs of low blood sugar and counteract them by eating. Ideally, a simple sugar that is easily absorbed (such as a pack of table sugar, glucose tablets, lifesavers, juice, or regular soda) should be eaten. While chocolate seems an appealing choice, as perhaps does cake and other sweets, these take far too long to be absorbed and are thus not ideal choices. Half a glass of juice or soda should work adequately and care should be taken not to over treat so that blood sugars do not rise excessively. If possible, the blood sugar level should be checked before and then again at about 20 minutes after treating. If a reading in the 70's or less is obtained, treatment by eating or drinking a simple sugar is appropriate. It is also important to remember that once the blood sugar reaches a safe level, it needs to stay there. At this point it is recommended to take a longer acting carbohydrate (a slice of bread, for example) to sustain the blood sugar level.
Signs of Low Blood Sugar

How is hypoglycemia treated?

2011-08-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

How is hypoglycemia treated?

Signs of Low Blood Sugar
The acute management of hypoglycemia involves the rapid delivery of a source of easily absorbed sugar. Regular soda, juice, lifesavers, table sugar, and the like are good options. In general, 15 grams of glucose is the dose that is given, followed by an assessment of symptoms and a blood glucose check if possible. If after 10 minutes there is no improvement, another 10-15 grams should be given. This can be repeated up to three times. At that point, the patient should be considered as not responding to the therapy and an ambulance should be called.

The equivalency of 10-15 grams of glucose (approximate servings) are:

Four lifesavers
4 teaspoons of sugar
1/2 can of regular soda or juice

Many people like the idea of treating hypoglycemia with cake, cookies, and brownies. However, sugar in the form of complex carbohydrates or sugar combined with fat and protein are much too slowly absorbed to be useful in the acute treatment of hypoglycemia.

Once the acute episode has been treated, a healthy, long-acting carbohydrate to maintain blood sugars in the appropriate range should be consumed. Half a sandwich is a reasonable option.
Signs of Low Blood Sugar
hypoglycemia-low-blood-sugar-symptoms.

Treating Low Blood Sugar Levels

2011-08-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

Treating Low Blood Sugar Levels

Your diabetes health care team will give you guidelines for treating low blood sugar levels, depending on your symptoms. If you can, try to test your blood sugar levels to make sure that your symptoms are because of hypoglycemia. If you can't test blood sugar immediately, don't delay in treating your symptoms — you can always check your blood sugar after you've taken steps to get your blood sugar back up into the normal range.

When blood sugar levels are low, the goal is to get them back up quickly. To do that, you should take in sugar or sugary foods, which raise the blood sugar level quickly. Your health care team might suggest that you:

* Eat, drink, or take something that contains sugar that can get into the blood quickly. Your doctor may tell you to have really sugary foods or drinks (like regular soda, orange juice, or cake
frosting) or might give you glucose tablets or gel to take — all of these can help to raise your blood sugar level fast, which is what you need to do when it's low.

* Wait about 10 minutes to let the sugar work.
* Recheck your blood sugar level with a glucose meter to see if blood sugar levels are back to normal.
* Get a glucagon shot (see below), if your symptoms are severe or get worse after you eat, drink, or take glucose.

Sometimes, blood sugar levels can get so low that you may not be awake enough to eat or drink something to get them back up. When this happens, you may need a glucagon shot.
Glucagon (pronounced: gloo-kuh-gon) is a hormone that helps raise blood sugar levels quickly. Your parents, teachers, and coaches should all know how to give glucagon shots in case of a low blood sugar emergency or at least know to call 911. Your doctor can prescribe a glucagon kit, which should be kept in a place where the people who are close to you can easily find it.

Also, you should always wear a medical identification bracelet or necklace and/or carry an ID that says you have diabetes. Then, if you are not feeling well, whoever's helping you — even if the person doesn't know you — will know to call for medical help. This medical identification also can also include your doctor's phone number or a parent's phone number.
Signs of low blood sugar...
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When Blood Sugar Is Too Low

2011-08-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

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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Hypoglycemia - Low Blood Sugar

2009-06-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

Hypoglycemia - Low Blood Sugar

Low Blood Sugar is a pathological condition resulting to the low blood sugar level. This medical term literally means “under-sweet blood.” It has a significant variety of symptoms and signs although its primary threat is a huge effect of the insufficiency glucose supply as a fuel to brain. This condition will result to sever functional impairment of the brain called neuroglycopenia. Unpleasant malfunctioning of the brain can be as simple as just a “bad condition” to more complex situations like comatose and, in rare conditions, permanent damage of the brain or even death.

Low Blood Sugar can also affect non-diabetic patients. These are some possible causes. One is to accidentally drink oral medications for diabetics. Excessive alcohol drinking can impede the production of glucose, which depletes your body’s supply of glycogen. There are also severe illnesses that can contribute to the development of hypoglycemia. Drug-induced hepatitis is one.

This is because the liver is a primary organ in the production of glucose. A kidney failure, meanwhile, can affect your glucose level. Too much dieting that can result to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa may deplete the supply of substances that your body requires to undergo gluconeogenesis.
The endocrine system are composed of glands that secrete hormones that control various body processes. Certain disorders affecting the adrenal and pituitary glands can contribute in an inadequacy of primary hormones that control glucose production. These normally occurs more in children than in adults.

Certain tumors may not cause insulin overproduction but then utilize glucose, which later on results to overproduction of substances similar to insulin.
Hypoglycemia signs and symptoms may not be uncommon. The best way to know if they are leading to hypoglycemia is to seek medical advice. Nevertheless, these are its symptoms:

* Tremor
* Sweating
* Anxiety
* Heart palpitations
* Hunger

Since your brain requires a constant supply of glucose, hypoglycemia may have the following effects on the vital organ:

* Visual impairment such as blurred or double vision
* Seizures
* Confusion or abnormal behavior
* Loss of consciousness

It is very important to determine the specific cause of low blood sugar in order to establish what method of treatment can be best from the patient. Doctors would usually run blood sugar and other tests to know what triggers this condition in a specific patient.

Low Blood Sugar signs and symptoms can be treated by procedures of ingestion of glucose to the body or through the aid of hypoglycemia diet which is composed of foods digestible to the glucose forms. For example, a snack or a drink containing sugar will immediately increase the blood-glucose level, which will result in a quick improvement of the symptoms being experienced. When, however, the blood sugar level
becomes critically low and the patient becomes unconscious or can no longer swallow, a condition called insulin shock, it is important to seek emergency medical treatment. Glucose solution or glucagons hormone should be injected immediately into the patient.

Since low blood sugar is normally considered as a complication of diabetes mellitus, there may be a great need to modify one’s lifestyle in order to deal with this condition over a longer period of time.
low-blood-sugar-symptoms.

HYPOGLYCEMIA - low Blood Sugar

2009-06-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

HYPOGLYCEMIA - low Blood Sugar
Nutritional Causes, Prevention and Therapies

While many practitioners recommend nearly identical dietary lifestyles for people suffering from low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) or diabetes (hyperglycemia), Sodium management, and the presence of adequate amounts of Fiber, are an important consideration to help improve sugar metabolism in both situations.
Sodium effectively slows insulin response, which in diabetics contributes to poor blood sugar control, however for individuals suffering from low blood sugar (or even hyperinsulinism), higher sodium levels can be an advantage because they prevent a quick rise and fall in insulin levels and subsequently reduce those dreaded blood sugar highs and lows commonly experienced with hypoglycemia.

Some practitioners also place great importance on the Glycemic Index (GI) of any particular food or beverage consumed, however from personal clinical experience, only the reduction or elimination of simple sugar / carbs is necessary, while complex carbs, or even most refined carbs don't have to be avoided at all - regardless of their glycemic index.

Signs of low blood sugar include weakness, mood swings, headaches, nervousness, irritability, or nausea with milder cases, and there is the potential of visual disturbances, shaking, sweating, confusion, palpitations, anxiety, dizziness, aggression or severe fatigue with more severe cases of hypoglycemia.

Regardless of lifestyle changes or treatments recommended by their practitioners, there are general rules which patients themselves can follow trying to control the symptoms of both, blood test-verified low blood sugar, or reactive hypogycemia (symptoms only):

• Meals have to be kept smaller and spread throughout the day. If possible, individuals prone for hypoglycemic episodes should not go for more than three hours without a meal or snack.

• When consuming complex or refined carbs, they should be consumed with some fat or protein.

• Emphasis should be placed on increasing protein intake -- eggs, nuts, seeds, chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, salmon, tuna..., or one may consider a protein supplement (if protein tests consistently low).

• Evaluating frequently-consumed foods by their potential to aggravate low blood sugar symptoms will not only help with meal planning at home, but also with dinner invitations, or when travelling.

• Because of its blood sugar-lowering and blood pressure-lowering potential, the sweetener Stevia should be evaluated first on an individual basis, before being regularly used by anyone suffering from hypoglycemia, or general glucose tolerance problems.

Feedback has been mixed, with stevia being well tolerated by some, but less so (i.e. aggravated low blood sugar symptoms) by others.

Allowed are all foods containing complex and most refined carbohydrates, while simple sugars / carbs should be eliminated. Following is a list of complex, refined and simple carbs:

Complex Carbs:
Legumes, such as lentils, peas and beans.
Vegetables, such as beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, lettuce, peppers, potatoes.
Grains, nuts and seeds, including whole-grain bread, pasta, cereal and flour.

Refined Carbs:
Most unsweetened, but refined (non-whole-grain) cereal, bread, granola, pasta, general baked goods.

Simple Carbs (to be eliminated):
Candy, honey, pop, donuts, sweetened cereal, cakes, sweet fruit (particularly when overripe), fruit juice (unless watered down), white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, maple syrup, molasses, sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, and other "...ose" variations.

Additional considerations to reduce symptoms of low blood sugar include the avoidance of Alcohol and Caffeine, as well as foods or beverages that contain high amounts of Potassium (which lowers chromium and manganese). The same applies to supplementing larger amounts of Vitamin C (which stimulates insulin and lowers manganese), and Vitamin B6 (which supports potassium, magnesium, and also lowers manganese).

Adding Supplemental Fiber to one's meals - particularly when carbohydrates are consumed - equally benefits individuals suffering from hypoglycemia, and those with hyperglycemia. This may include the most common type of soluble fibers such as Psyllium seed, available in powder, husks or tablet forms, or may consist of a special fiber blend containing konjac root extract (glucomannan), sodium alginate, xanthan gum, and others.

For Vegetarians, the lower protein content of many vegetarian foods can be a problem, as can be the higher potassium and lower sodium levels - particularly with beans and potatoes - when compared to animal products. One option is to place more emphasis on consuming celery, spinach or beets, which have a lower potassium / higher sodium ratio. But regardless, vegetables - unless thoroughly cooked - and fruit provide the least satiety, although baked potatoes (consumed without any fat) ranked highest on the Satiety Index. Unfortunately, the ratings were only valid for the first two hours after consumption.
For ovo vegetarians, having eggs for breakfast provides one of the best protein bases to help maintain adequate blood sugar control into the day, while oatmeal may be a reasonable compromise for vegans.

Most Nuts - if otherwise tolerated - can, or should be part of a hypoglycemic diet, being a convenient source of protein for those trying to manage low blood sugar symptoms. Cashews, chestnuts, and coconuts in particular have a lower potassium / higher sodium ratio, which helps sustain higher blood sugar levels.

Coconuts (i.e. coconut oil) also contain larger amounts of medium chain triglycerides
(MCT), which may offer nutritional support in a number of medical conditions, including seizures, poor immunity or immunosuppression, and various malabsorption syndromes. Nuts, particularly almonds, and (sunflower) seeds are also convenient, non-perishable foods when travelling.
Signs of Low Blood Sugar....
hypoglycemia-low-blood-sugar

Other Low Blood Sugar Treatment

2009-06-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

Other Low Blood Sugar Treatment
Rest, relaxation, meditation

Proper rest is essential for those suffering from low blood sugar. A tranquil mind is of utmost importance in this condition. Nervous strain and anxiety should be relieved by simple methods of meditation and relaxation. A prolonged bath at room temperature will also be helpful in relieving mental tension.

Yogasanas.

Yogasanas like vakrasana, bhujangasana, halasana, sarvangasana; and pranayama like kapalbhati and anuloma-viloma will be beneficial.

Hypoglycemia-overview

Low Blood Sugar Diet

2009-06-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Low Blood Sugar Diet
Low Blood Sugar Home Remedies suggested by users

Grains, seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables

The ideal diet for low blood sugar should be based on three basic food groups, namely, grains, seeds and nuts, vegetables and fruits supplemented by milk and milk products, and vegetable oils. Seeds, nuts and grains should be the main constituent of the diet. Seeds and nuts should be taken in their raw form. Grains in the form of cereals, should be cooked. Cooked grains are digested slowly and release sugar into the blood gradually, six to eight hours after meals.
This will keep the blood sugar level normal and constant for a long period.

6-8 smaller meals per day

Persons suffering from a low blood sugar should take six to eight meals a day instead of two or three large ones. Eating raw nuts and seeds such as pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or drinking milk, buttermilk, or fruit juices between meals will be beneficial.

Avoid refined and processed foods, reduce salt intake

All refined and processed foods, white sugar, white flour and all their by-products should be completely eliminated from the diet. Coffee, alcohol, and soft drinks should also be avoided. The consumption of salt should be reduced as an excessive intake of salt causes loss of blood potassium, which causes blood sugar to drop.
Signs of Low Blood Sugar...

Low Blood Sugar Remedies

2009-06-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

Low Blood Sugar Remedies

Treatment for Low Blood Sugar using Vitamins

Certain vitamins have been found effective in the treatment of low blood sugar. These are vitamins C, E, and B complex. Foods rich in these vitamins are therefore valuable in low blood sugar. Vitamins C and B increase tolerance of sugar and carbohydrates, and help normalise sugar metabolism, Pantothenic acid and vitamin B6 help to build up adrenals which are generally exhausted in persons with low blood sugar. Vitamin E improves glycogen storage in the muscles and tissues. The patient should take vitamin C in large doses from 2,000 to 5,000 mg B6 - 50 mg, and vitamin E - upto 1600 IU daily

Treatment for Low Blood Sugar using Apple

Apples are considered valuable in low blood sugar. Two small apples with their peels should be taken after each meal for treating this condition.

Treatment for Low Blood Sugar using Molasses

The use of molasses has been found very useful in low blood sugar. When blood sugar becomes abnormally low as a result of over exertion or under-nutrition, a glass of sherbet made of molasses will serve as a tonic and prevent the feeling of faintness. It serves the same purpose in the body as glucose.

signs of low blood sugar

low-blood-sugar-causes.

Low Blood Sugar Causes

2009-06-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Low Blood Sugar Causes

Excessive intake of refined carbohydrates

Low blood sugar is usually caused by an excessive intake of refined carbohydrates and sugary foods. These substances cause the pancreas, the adrenal glands, and the liver to lose their ability to handle the sugar properly.

Tumor or disturbed functoning of liver, pituitary gland

Other causes of low blood sugar are a tumour or a disturbed functioning of the liver, pituitary gland, or adrenal glands. Stress intensifies this condition.
Signs of low blood sugar...
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Low Blood Sugar Symptoms

2009-06-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Low Blood Sugar Symptoms

Craving for Sweets
A craving for sweets and starch in excessive amounts between meals is the first sign of a low blood sugar level.

Nervousness, Irritability, Fatigue
When the blood sugar level falls much below normal, symptoms such as nervousness, irritability, fatigue, depression, disturbed vision, and headaches appear.

Sweating, Trembling, numbness
Other symptoms are sweating, trembling, numbness, absent-mindedness, dizziness, palpitations of the heart, and some sexual disturbances. Most hypoglycaemia or low blood sugar patients feel hungry and eat frequently to get over the feeling of weakness and emotional irritability. They feel tense if they have to go without food for several hours. When the patient experiences any symptoms that indicate a fall in blood sugar, he should immediately take a heaped teaspoonful of sugar and then seek medical help.

Signs of Low Blood Sugar...
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Low Blood Sugar: A Killer For Kidney Disease Patients

2009-06-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Low Blood Sugar: A Killer For Kidney Disease Patients

Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, poses a serious health threat for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).
The findings indicate that low blood sugar may account for some portion of the excess heart-related deaths seen in CKD patients.

Glucose control is the key to preventing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in CKD patients with diabetes. However, managing diabetes in CKD patients can be complicated, as patients' reduced kidney function can affect how they react to anti-diabetes medications. Difficulties with managing their diabetes can predispose CKD patients to episodes of low blood sugar, a condition that can cause severe health complications including dizziness, disorientation, slurred speech, convulsions, and death.

Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar increased patients' risk of dying in the near term. According to the authors, there was a reduced risk of near term death in individuals with CKD relative to those without and this attenuation in the risk of death might relate to an increased quality of care in these patients with CKD relative to diabetic patients without CKD.

"The association of low blood sugar with one-day mortality underscores the significance of this metabolic disturbance in patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease," said Dr. Fink. While details on therapy were not included in this study, the findings are consistent with others that have shown that putting patients on intensive glucose-lowering medications can lead to an increased incidence of hypoglycemia and does not prolong their survival.
Signs of low blood sugar..
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Hypoglycemia or Signs of Low Blood Sugar Symptoms

2009-02-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

Hypoglycemia or Signs of Low Blood Sugar Symptoms

Epinephrine is among the major hormones released during hypoglycemia/ low blood sugar. Epinephrine causes the majority of the early symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Common symptoms signs of low blood sugar / hypoglycemia include the following:

* trembling,
* clammy skin,
* palpitations (pounding or fast heart beats),
* anxiety,
* sweating,
* hunger, and
* irritability.

When the brain remains deprived of glucose, a later set of symptoms follows:

* difficulty in thinking,
* confusion,
* headache,
* seizures, and
* coma.

Ultimately, after significant coma or loss of consciousness, death can occur.
It is important to realize that with chronic or repeated hypoglycemia, the body does not respond as vigorously, so any hypoglycemic individual may display mild symptoms, or even experience no appreciable symptoms. Again, documentation of the blood glucose level is essential to confirm the diagnosis, with further testing to establish the specific cause if not known.
Signs of low blood sugar...
low-blood-sugar-killer-for-kidney

Hypoglycemia Causes

2009-02-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

Hypoglycemia Causes

Common causes of low blood sugar include the following:

* Overmedication with insulin or antidiabetic pills (for example, sulfonylurea drugs)
* Use of medications such as beta blockers, pentamidine, and sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim (Bactrim, Septra)
* Use of alcohol
* Missed meals
* Reactive hypoglycemia is the result of the delayed insulin release after a meal has been absorbed and occurs 4-6 hours after eating.
* Severe infection
* Cancer causing poor oral intake or cancer involving the liver
* Adrenal insufficiency
* Kidney failure
* Liver failure
* Congenital, genetic defects in the regulation of insulin release (congenital hyperinsulinism)
* Congenital conditions associated with increased insulin release (infant born to a diabetic mother, birth trauma, reduced oxygen delivery during birth, major birth stress, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, and rarer genetic conditions)
* Insulinoma or insulin-producing tumor
* Other tumors like hepatoma, mesothelioma, and fibrosarcoma, which may produce insulin-like factors

What follows are expansions on the points noted above and should be incorporated within those points (such as cancer, diabetes drugs, organ failures).

* Most cases of hypoglycemia in adults happen in people with diabetes mellitus. Diabetes has two forms, type 1 (loss of all insulin production) and type 2 (inadequate insulin production due to
resistance to the actions of insulin). People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin to control their glucose level; if they skip meals or have a decreased appetite without changing their insulin dose,
they may develop hypoglycemia/ low blood sugar. Insulin is also used to treat some people with type 2 diabetes.

* If a person with type 1 diabetes accidentally takes too much insulin, or a person with type 2 diabetes accidentally takes too much of their oral medications or insulin, he or she may develop
hypoglycemia / low blood sugar. Even when a diabetic patient takes medications correctly, improper meals, odd mealtimes, or excessive exercise may result in hypoglycemia.

* Often a person who has more than one medical problem may become confused about how much of a certain medication they should take, or their medications may interact to cause hypoglycemia.

* Hypoglycemia also may occur in people with cancer, which often causes loss of appetite. Many such people skip meals because they are not hungry or because chemotherapy causes foods to taste differently.
To prevent this, people on chemotherapy should be encouraged by their doctors and loved ones to try to stay on special diets and take medications to keep them from feeling sick. If this does not work, special medications to help with appetite are available.

* Adrenal insufficiency results from diseases that impair the adrenal glands, which are located above the kidneys. These small structures make certain hormones and substances, mainly cortisol and epinephrine, which also help elevate glucose in addition to their other functions. If these substances are not made, low blood pressure, hypoglycemia, or both can result.

* The pituitary gland makes growth hormone, which also helps to maintain the balance of glucose. Deficiency of growth hormone causes hypoglycemia, especially in young infants and children.

* Kidney failure causes hypoglycemia in three separate ways. The kidneys help to generate new glucose from amino acids (called gluconeogenesis). Gluconeogenesis is impaired in kidney failure.

Also, insulin circulates for a longer period of time and is cleared slowly when kidney function is poor. The third important reason is that kidney failure reduces the appetite and consequently, oral intake of food.

* The liver stores glucose in a form called glycogen. In the presence of liver failure, the abilities of the liver to generate new glucose and to release glucose are impaired.

* Insulin-producing tumors of the pancreas (called insulinomas) cause hypoglycemia by releasing inappropriately high amounts of insulin. Certain tumors of the liver called hepatomas or other tumors such as fibrosarcomas and mesotheliomas can also cause hypoglycemia by producing insulin-like factors.
signs of low blood sugar

Hypoglycemia Overview

2009-02-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hypoglycemia Overview

Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is a commonly perceived problem. In actuality, while some or many of the symptoms may be present, it is rarely confirmed or documented. The presence of true, documented hypoglycemia in the absence of diabetes treatment must be evaluated
comprehensively by an endocrinologist. Hypoglycemia most often affects those at the extremes of age, such as infants and the elderly, but may happen at any age. Generally, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is defined as a serum glucose level (the amount of sugar or glucose in your blood) below 70 mg/dL.

As a medical problem, hypoglycemia is diagnosed by the presence of three key features (known as Whipple's triad). Whipple's triad is:

1. symptoms consistent with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar),
2. a low plasma glucose concentration, and
3. relief of symptoms after the plasma glucose level is raised.

Symptoms of Low Blood Sugar / hypoglycemia typically appear at levels below 60 mg/dL. Some people may feel symptoms above this level. Levels below 50 mg/dL affect brain function.
The body regulates its glucose level—the primary source of energy for the brain, muscles, and other essential cells - by the actions of different hormones. These hormones include insulin (which lowers the blood sugar level) and other chemicals which raise blood sugar (such as glucagon, growth hormone, and epinephrine).

* Both insulin and glucagon are manufactured in the pancreas, an organ near the stomach which assists the digestive tract. Special cells in the pancreas, called beta cells, make insulin. Alpha cells in the pancreas make glucagon.

* The role of insulin is to help in the absorption of glucose from the blood by causing it to be stored in the liver or be transported into other tissues of the body (for metabolism or storage).

* Glucagon increases the amount of glucose in the blood by breaking down stored glucose (starch, called glycogen) and releasing it from the liver into the bloodstream.

* Insulin and glucagon are usually correctly balanced if the liver and pancreas are functioning normally.

Traditionally considered a stress hormone, epinephrine (or adrenalin) is made in the adrenal gland and in certain cells in the central nervous system. Epinephrine also elevates blood glucose levels by making glucose available for the body during a time of stress. When this mechanism is not working properly, hypoglycemia can result.
Other hormones also help in raising the level of blood glucose, like cortisol made by the adrenal gland and growth hormone made by the pituitary gland.
Signs of low blood sugar....

hypoglycemia-or-signs-of-low-blood.