Posts Tagged ‘Blood Sugar Dropping’
Blood Sugar Dropping
Blood Sugar Level Dropping
Hypoglycemia, or unusually low blood glucose, may develop if your blood sugar levels drop too low (less than four millimoles per liter).
A lack of glucose (sugar) in the blood means your body lacks the fuel to function normally.
Hypoglycemia is a frequent complication of diabetes and often results from excessive insulin use, skipping meals, or strenuous activity.
Occasionally, people who do not have diabetes may get hypoglycemia. Malnutrition, heavy alcohol use, and medical diseases like Addison’s disease may all bring on these symptoms.
Effects of low blood sugar
Most individuals will experience symptoms before their blood glucose levels drop dangerously low, giving them time to take preventative measures. When blood sugar drops below four mmol/L, symptoms often show themselves.
Feeling hungry is a common warning symptom, as is trembling, shaking, and profuse perspiration. More severe instances sometimes include mental fogginess and trouble focusing. Loss of consciousness is possible in those with severe hypoglycemia.
Hypoglycemia may also happen while you’re sleeping, leaving you sweating excessively, with a messed-up sleep cycle, and groggy and disoriented when you wake up.
The Treatment of Hypoglycemia
Food or drinks high in sugar, such as dextrose tablets or fruit juice, should be consumed immediately to cure hypoglycemia.
A longer-acting “starchy carbohydrate snack,” such as a sandwich or a few biscuits, may be necessary after consuming anything sweet.
Loss of consciousness due to hypoglycemia may be treated by an injection of the hormone glucagon, which raises blood glucose levels and returns awareness to the patient. Of course, this assumes that an injection can be given and that the person administering it understands what they’re doing.
When you need an ambulance, phone 911 if:
- More glucagon for injection is currently on hand.
- No one knows how to administer the shot.
- After 10 minutes, the injection loses its efficacy.
- Person is sleepy or unconscious and should never have anything placed in their mouth because they may choke. Some of the high-sugar concoctions intended for intraoral application fall into this category.
Reducing the Risk of Low Blood Sugar
The best strategy to prevent hypoglycemia if you have insulin-dependent diabetes is to monitor your blood sugar levels frequently and know the early warning signs.
Your risk of hypoglycemia rises if you skip meals or snacks or consume fewer carbohydrates than you had intended. Alcohol use should be monitored since it, too, may result in hypoglycemia, even long after ingestion has stopped.
Another possible trigger is strenuous physical activity; to counteract this, you may need to consume carbs before, during, or after your workout or change your insulin dosage.
As the quantity of insulin absorbed by your body varies depending on where it is administered, you should switch up the injection site often.
If you sense symptoms approaching or your blood glucose level is low, have a source of rapid-acting carbohydrates on your hands, such as glucose tablets, a carton of fruit juice (one that includes sugar), or some candies.
Inform your loved ones that you have diabetes and may experience hypoglycemia. If you have a medical condition that might need medical attention, it is a good idea to have some identification with you at all times.
When hypoglycemia happens due to anything other than diabetes, that other issue must be addressed to stop the hypos from happening again.
Indicators of low blood sugar
Hypoglycemia symptoms often present when your blood glucose level drops below four mmol/L.
It is recommended that people with diabetes, especially those whose condition is managed with insulin, use portable equipment called a blood glucose meter regularly.
Symptoms may manifest differently in different people; therefore, it’s crucial to recognize the precursors to diagnosis and treatment.
Hypoglycemia symptoms may include, but are not limited to:
- needing to eat
- sweating
- dizziness
- weariness (fatigue)
- Foggy perception
- symptoms of shaking or trembling
- decreasing in pigmentation
- rapid heartbeats
- Sensational lips
- irritability
- Concentration issues
- confusion
- disruptive or illogical conduct that may be taken for intoxication.
Untreated hypoglycemia may cause drowsiness or even loss of consciousness if blood glucose levels drop too low for too long.
Most persons who use insulin to manage their diabetes report that the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia shift and become less noticeable with time.
For others, the early warning signs diminish to the point that they are no longer effective, dramatically increasing their chance of experiencing disruptive episodes that need assistance from others.
If you notice this issue, be sure to notify your diabetes care team so that they can adjust your therapy accordingly.
Insomniac hypoglycemia
Nocturnal hypoglycemia is when a hypo occurs during sleep. More often occurs in those who use insulin to control their diabetes.
Symptoms of nocturnal hypoglycemia may not present until you awaken in the morning, even if they may have caused sleep disruptions the night before.
Nighttime hypoglycemia symptoms might include:
- a painful headache similar to the feeling of a hangover
- waking up with an abnormally low amount of energy
- sweat-soaked bedsheets and garments
Hypoglycemia’s Root Causes
Although hypoglycemia most often affects those with diabetes, it may also occur in other contexts.
Diabetes-related hypoglycemia
Toxic overdose from diabetic medicine
Too much insulin for the body’s requirements is a typical cause of hypoglycemia. Blood sugar levels may be managed with the use of insulin. It is widely used for the treatment of type 1 diabetes and is also sometimes advised for persons with type 2 diabetes.
Too much oral hypoglycemia treatment, such as sulphonylurea, which stimulates insulin release, may also cause a drop in blood glucose levels. The blood sugar levels of persons with type 2 diabetes are commonly lowered with this medicine.
Weightlifting, eating, and drinking.
Type 2 diabetics need to strike a delicate balance between their insulin dosage, the calories they consume from meals, and the number of calories they expend via physical activity to keep their blood glucose levels within normal ranges.
If you take your regular insulin dosage but eat fewer carbs than usual or burn through them more rapidly, hypoglycemia might result. It’s possible to experience this if you work out for longer than normal, doesn’t consume enough carbs, or skip meals.
Hypoglycemia may also occur in people who have diabetes and have consumed too much alcohol or alcohol on an empty stomach.
However, there are situations when there is no clear cause for a hypoglycemic episode, and doctors are left guessing.
Non-Diabetic Hypoglycemia
Non-diabetic persons seldom experience hypoglycemia. What follows is an explanation of the probable reasons.
Hypoglycemia reaction
People who do not have diabetes nevertheless risk developing hypoglycemia if their pancreas produces an abnormally high quantity of insulin in response to a substantial meal high in carbohydrates. The medical term for this illness is reactive hypoglycemia.
Although the exact cause of this phenomenon is unknown, it seems to be more common in people who are overweight or who have had surgery to do a gastric bypass.
Occasionally, a pancreatic tumor that is not cancerous may cause an excessive amount of insulin to be generated or utilize an excessive amount of glucose for its requirements.
Additional potential factors
Hypoglycemia may also occur in persons who don’t have diabetes for a variety of other reasons:
Binge drinking or heavy alcohol consumption is malnutrition, in which the body does not get enough nutrients for it to function normally fasting.
Addison’s disease is the name given to the condition that affects the adrenal glands (two small glands that sit on top of the kidneys)
Patients using quinine, which is used to treat malaria, salicylates, which are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and propranolol have all been documented to have had hypoglycemia (for high blood pressure), an illness of the liver, kidneys, or thyroid.
Hypoglycemia treatment
Hypoglycemia is usually a self-treatable condition as long as you know what to look for.
The management of hypoglycemia
An urgent remedy for hypoglycemia is the consumption of sugary food or drink (about 15–20g of fast-acting carbohydrate) to stop the episode.
Here’s one example that could fit the bill:
a regular-sized soft drink or fruit juice
Three to five dextrose pills
a little bag of candies
At first, it’s best to stay away from high-fat foods and beverages like chocolate and milk since they don’t often have as much sugar, and the sugar they do have may be absorbed more slowly.
It would be best if you had a longer-acting carbohydrate snack after ingesting sugary meals. Some examples of this kind of snack are a few biscuits, a cereal bar, a piece of fruit, or a sandwich. This will help you maintain your energy levels.
Recovery from an episode of hypoglycemia that is considered to be slight normally takes around 15 minutes. Take another measurement in the next 15–20 minutes if you have access to a blood glucose meter. If your blood sugar level is still too low (below 4 mmol), consume anything with added sugar and take another test after 15 to 20 minutes. If your blood sugar level is still too low, seek medical attention immediately.
If you are caring for someone who is experiencing hypoglycemia and the methods described above are not successful in treating the condition, you can try rubbing the outside of their cheeks with glucose gel (or honey, treacle, or jam if glucose gel is not available) and applying it directly to the maid.
It might be between ten and fifteen minutes before they start feeling better. Because of the risk of choking, this procedure should not be carried out on a person who is dozing off or already sleeping.
Your diabetes care team should consider the matter if you regularly experience hypoglycemia. You may need a change in the dosage of your medicine, or you may need medical attention for an underlying condition that is the cause of your hypoglycemia.
Keeping blood sugar levels stable
For those with diabetes, maintaining a regular meal schedule and medication schedule helps reduce the risk of hypoglycemia.
Keep an eye on your blood sugar levels.
FAQ
Do you know what it’s like to have your blood sugar suddenly drop?
Hunger pangs, shakiness, and profuse perspiration are common early warning signals. It’s also possible, especially in more extreme circumstances, that you’ll experience confusion and find it hard to focus.
Why does glucose level decrease suddenly?
If you don’t eat enough or miss meals, your blood sugar might decrease dangerously fast. Extra exercise, using specific medications, or taking too much medication (including insulin) may cause this condition. If you have trouble detecting the symptoms of low blood sugar, you should avoid alcohol.
When glucose levels in the blood drop, what happens?
This may cause visual blurring, difficulties focusing, muddled thinking, slurred speech, numbness, and tiredness. Long-term hypoglycemia, in which the brain goes without glucose, may cause convulsions, unconsciousness, and even death.
When blood sugar drops too low, what usually happens?
Although insulin users are more likely to have low blood sugar, everyone taking diabetic pills runs the risk. An overdose of insulin or other diabetic medicine is a common cause of diabetic hypoglycemia. Under-consuming or not eating enough.
At what point do you notice a dip in blood sugar?
Neither prediabetes nor diabetes has been identified. After an increase in blood sugar levels, one to two hours should pass before the levels return to normal. If you want to speed things up, going for a stroll or doing some exercise will help.
What other conditions than diabetes may result in hypoglycemia?
Hypoglycemia may also be caused by factors other than diabetes, such as
- consuming drinks with alcohol.
- Drugs include antibiotics, malaria and pneumonia pills.
- kidney health issues.
- Issues with either the adrenal glands or the pituitary gland.
- Cystic adenomas of the pancreas.
- Deadly disease
- conditions affecting the liver.
- Malignant pancreatic tumor.
At what level of blood sugar is there a serious health risk?
Extreme hypoglycemia is defined as a blood sugar level below 55 mg/dL. Depending on how you’re feeling, you may not be able to do self-tests of your blood sugar or administer your treatment.
