Blood Sugar or Hypoglycemia

General or Other | Hematology | Blood Sugar or Hypoglycemia (Symptom)


Description

Blood sugar represents the level of glucose found in human blood. Glucose is the main source of energy and its normal values between 70 and 130 mg/dl before meals and less than 180 mg/dl before a meal. The process in which human body regulates blood glucose is called metabolic homeostasis.

Causes

Hypoglycemia is the clinical syndrome that results from low blood sugar. Symptoms of hypoglycemia may vary from person to person, like gravity. Classically, hypoglycemia is diagnosed with low blood sugar with symptoms that resolve when the sugar level returns to normal. Patients who have no metabolic problem may complain of having symptoms of hypoglycemia. The actual hypoglycemia usually occurs in patients receiving treatment for diabetes (type 1 and type 2).

Patients with pre-diabetes with insulin resistance may also have low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia can have several causes. In the case of healthy people it is usually the result of a very prolonged fasting because the body is using glucose, when there is no glycogen in the liver to produce it. For people with diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia is very common, usually due to a failure in the administration of exogenous insulin or oral medication.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Hypoglycemia can cause manifestation like: heart palpitations, shakiness, anxiety, sweating, hunger, tingling sensation around the mouth, confusion, abnormal behavior or both, such as the inability to complete routine tasks, visual disturbances, such as double vision and blurred vision, seizures, or even loss of consciousness.

First treatment involves ingesting sugar such as candy, sweets, and fruits, to increase the glucose in blood. For more serious condition treating the underlying disease is necessary. Depending on the underlying cause, treatment may involve: medications or tumor treatment (nesidioblastosis, enlargement of the pancreatic cells that make insulin, may be treated by partial removal of the pancreas).

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