anyone here have hypoglycemia....??? or someone with good knowledge about it thanks???

Question

can you please tell me your symptoms...??
i am talking about hypoglycemia without diabeties...!
when did you develop them... what caused your hypoglycemia?
have you ever had a long episode of hypoglycemia?? how long was it??
has it caused you memory loss??
how did you get it diagnosed??
can it cause slured speech??
can you suddenly develop hypoglycemia?? do you know the causes??
does it make you withdrawn from your friends, work etc.??? how badly??
can it interfere with your cognitive decision making, can it make you depressed, irritable etc.??
can it be diagnosed as an actual illness that can carry on for quite a long period of time???
Can it be agrivated by life circumstances/stress???
what are your tips for getting over it??
can it manifest in episodes???
I guess im just asking for as much info about this condition as possible...!!!

Answer 1

Though I'm a Type 1 diabetic, I've had many episodes of extreme hypoglycemia and it's very similar to a person that has only hypoglycemia, so I can tell you what I know:

Fasting low blood sugar (hypoglycemia): This type occurs when you have not eaten for many hours, such as overnight. It's frequently associated with having too much insulin in the blood, some medications, alcohol use, hereditary problems with the metabolizing of carbohydrates, and other health conditions.

Nonfasting low blood sugar (also called reactive or postprandial hypoglycemia): This type develops within 3 to 4 hours after eating. It can be caused by hereditary enzyme deficiencies such as galactosemia or by surgery to remove all or part of the stomach. Sometimes the cause is unknown. Nonfasting hypoglycemia within 1 to 2 hours after a meal (alimentary hypoglycemia) can occur if stomach contents empty into the intestines too rapidly.

If you have low blood sugar caused by a chronic health condition, your symptoms will be treated the same as those of acute hypoglycemia. Once you have recovered from the immediate symptoms, you will need treatment for the underlying cause of hypoglycemia. In many situations, once the cause is identified, new episodes of hypoglycemia can be prevented.

Low blood sugar may have a long-term cause that can be cured, such as some endocrine disorders or diseases of the liver, adrenal glands, or pancreas. Some conditions that cause low blood sugar, such as alimentary hypoglycemia related to stomach problems, may require surgery. Effective long-term treatment of an insulin-producing tumor in the pancreas (insulinoma) usually requires surgery.

Even if the condition that is causing your hypoglycemia is not curable, treatment often can prevent episodes of low blood sugar. Talk to your doctor about whether you can modify your diet (what, when, or how much you eat), change the dosage or types of medications you take, or modify your physical activity (such as when and how hard you exercise).

Symptoms include (from least severe to most severe:
-nausea, a jittery or nervous feeling, cold and clammy skin, and a rapid heartbeat
-you may feel very irritable, anxious, angry, or confused. You can lose the ability to concentrate in regards to reading or testing; I've done bad on tests because of this. You may have blurred vision, feel unsteady, and have difficulty walking. At this point of hypoglycemia, your speech may be slurred or not make sense.
-Severe hypoglycemia can lead to loss of consciousness, seizures, and coma and may be fatal.

It has affected my ability to retain information or remember past occurences. Brain cells die if they don't receive oxygen or energy...this will affect your memory. Doctors have yet to conclude whether the memory loss is permanent or not. I have to focus harder and specifically force myself to concentrate so I don't forget things later.

Best thing to do: eat more complex carbs and protein containing foods. If you're feeling a hypoglycemic episode, drink some juice or eat a candy bar-something that'll provide a quick sugar release. If one undergoes a hypoglycemic attack while unconsious, do not feed them. They may experience seizures. it is best to use an Emergency Glucagon Injection Kit, which provides free glucose in the blood stream.

Check out this link:

Answer 2

What you are describing is not unusual, and you are correct regarding the symptoms of hypoglycemia: dizzy, lightheaded, adrenalin pumping, feels like panic attack, also (you didn't mention) not thinking straight. It may be the case that your body produces too much insulin in response to the intake of sugars, causing too much to be stored in your liver rather than available in the bloodstream, leading to low blood sugars. My father in law had this issue, and based on your glucose tolerance test, I'd say you probably have something similar. It is DIFFERENT from type 1 diabetes. Contrary to what others say, this type of hypoglycemia IS related to your intake of foods with high glycemic indexes (sugars and starches). As I undertand it, if you avoid foods with a high glycemic index (simple sugars, starches, etc.) this will happen less often. You may also ask your doctor how to treat these low blood sugar episodes, as IF your problem is an overreaction to sugar, just getting more sugar may make it worse. By the way, as far as lows go, 51 is no fun, but at least you will stay conscious. You won't be able to think too well, so have a friend handy who knows what to do. You definitely don't want to let your sugar get any lower. What's more interesting is WHY you started having the hypoglycemic episodes. If you can't find a good endo, talk to the diabetes center at your local hospital (usually an office outside the hospital) and find out of they know someone they'd recommend.

Answer 3

I've delt with Hypoglycemia since the early 1980's and just three months ago I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. Hypoglycemia wasn't called a condition all it's own until the past 10 years or so. Before that, doctors associate chronic low blood sugar with only diabetes, which has been found not to always be so.

What's happening is that the pancreas, our body part that makes insulin to control our sugar level in the body, is starting to give out way to much insulin. The trick here is to control your diet. If you continue on this route your pancreas can start to give out all together due to producing so much.

Diabetes, when full blown, is an Auto Immune disorder. Your body starts attacking your pancreas considering it an enemy. It completely destroys the organ. BUT, if Hypoglycemia or prediabetes is controlled early enough, you stand a good chance of getting rid of the conditions all today. If you're over weight, loose weight, excerise too. But once it becomes full blown diabetes, there is no "cure", only treatment. A low carb diet is usually suggested by some dr.s. A diet in lowglycemic fruits and veggies, along with whole grains (which trun into sugar slower than refined sugars and grains) are usually suggested too.

Each person is different and may not have all the symptoms, but only a few of them. The symptoms I'd gotten were distorted vision, weakness,disorientation, sweating, hard to concentrate or think.

As for slurred speech, I've not heard of that symptom, but if you were getting ready to pass out, that could happen. Slurred speech and happen from other reasons too though.


Write down your symptoms and food list daily. Do this for a week and take them to your dr. Talk to your dr. about getting a
3-hour Glucose Tolerance Test This is a simple blood test. When you get to the lab they will take your blood first, then send it to be tested to make sure the level is ok. Once they get the OK from the lab tech, you will drink a very sugary drink they give you. Your blood will then be drawn once every hour for three hours. Each time they will check for the glucose level in your bloodstream. That tells them how well your insulin is working. The test runs around $40, or at least it did here during my last test.

If the test shows that nothing is wrong, which my first test did, my son's in home nurse lent me a glucomitor to use. I took it to work with me and took my blood sugar each time I got a symptom. I did this for a week, wrote it down. That's how I found out I had it. Sometimes the glucose tolerance test will only show up really major cases and skip those who are borderline, but still the glucose test should be run.

And yes, hypoglycemia can run in episodes. This is depending on how your pancreas is holding up and how much you overdo the refined sugars.

Blood sugar can be effected by other things as well. My dad, during his bought with cancer, had what the dr. called "chemical sugar" While, he wasn't diabetic, he would have a diabetic like episode during illness. Not everyone has this though, but it can and does happen.

Also, if you're having high blood pressure, where you've not had it before, having diabetes can cause this as well. I'm finding that now I'm on medication for my diabetes that my high blood pressure was back to normal the last time I went to my dr. (not insulin but something called glucophage to help my body use what it has better)

Sorry for the novelette here. If you have any questions please email me. Just click on my nickname and click on the link to send me an email.

Answer 4

Since glucose is the primary energy substrate of the brain, Hypoglycemia is even more dangerous than hyperglycemia. Its absence like that of oxygen can produce deranged function, tissue damage or even death if the deficit is prolonged. The vulnerability of the brain to hypoglycemia is due to the fact that it cannot metabolize other subrates like free fatty acids which other tissues can however, short chain fatty acids like acetoacetic and B-hydroxybutyric (ketone bodies or ketoacids) are effeciently used by the brain and can protect it from the effect of hypoglycemia.

Hypoglycemia has two causes:

1. Postprandial hypoglycemia of which the most common cause is alimentary hyperinsulinism. The imbalance between insulin and glucose causes a decrease in blood glucose.

This problem can also be seen in patients who have undergone:

-Gastrectomy (resection of the stomach)
-Gastrojejunostomy (surgical attachment of the jejunum to the stomach)
-Vagotomy (resection of the vagus nerve innervating the stomach)
-Pyroplasty (sometimes done along with a vagotomy and involves enlarging the (pylorus) opening into the duodenum and small intestine enabling contents to pass more freely from the stomach.).

2. Fasting hypoglycemia occurs when there is an imbalance between the production of glucose by the liver and its utilization in the peripheral tissues. A lot of problems cause this and these are only major causes:

1. Hormone deficiency
2. Enzyme defects
3.substrate defficiency
4. acquired liver disease
5. drugs
6. overutilization of glucose

Symptoms are divided into two categories:

1. Those which are induced by excessive secretion of epinephrine ( a counter regulatory hormone together with glucagon, cortisol and growth hormone that serves as a protective mechanism in hypoglycemia). This is the one responsible for the adrenergic symptoms like sweating, tremors, tachycardia (increased heart rate), anxiety and hunger.

2. Those which are induced by dysfunction of the central nervous system such as dizziness, headache, clouding of vision, blunted mental acuity, loss of fine motor skills, confusion, abnormal behavior, convulsions and loss of consciousness.

Usually, there are associated disease processes that induces hypoglycemia and a doctor will be able to recognize it easily. But in case you are far from any immediate medical intervention, the very first thing that should be done is to give a hypoglycemic patient with anything that contains sugar like fruit juices. Be sure that the patient has the capability to respond to such measure since those who are unconscious has the risk of aspiration which may add insult to injury. unconscious patients are an emergency case because prolonging the problem can cause brain damage especially with a blood glucose level way below 50 mg/dl.

Answer 5

Two types of hypoglycemia can occur in people who do not have diabetes: reactive (postprandial, or after meals) and fasting (postabsorptive). Reactive hypoglycemia is not usually related to any underlying disease; fasting hypoglycemia often is.
Symptoms

Symptoms of both types resemble the symptoms that people with diabetes and hypoglycemia experience: hunger, nervousness, perspiration, shakiness, dizziness, light-headedness, sleepiness, confusion, difficulty speaking, and feeling anxious or weak.

If you are diagnosed with hypoglycemia, your doctor will try to find the cause by using laboratory tests to measure blood glucose, insulin, and other chemicals that play a part in the body's use of energy.

Answer 6

hypolglycemia is a precursor to diabetes
it is a sudden drop in the bodies ability to produce sugar the proper way. it can be caused by sickness, stress, not eating, fasting, not taking in enough protein.
It is also known as low blood sugar
symptoms can range from clammy skin, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, fruity breath, slurred speech as though you were drunk, and you can lose consciousness.
they only last as long as the body can handle it, then you pass out. corrected by eating cheese, orange juice with sugar, candy bar, crachers, peanut butter....etc.
certainly it can make you depressed, withdrawn, decision making altered until it is corrected. memory loss at the time, many people do not even remember episodes. normal sugar is 70-110. lower than 70 can bring on symptoms although people can be hypoglycemic and not manifest symptoms, except being tired.
it is not a illness, it is a condition of the body
eat normal meals, don't skip, stay away from low carb and no sugar diets, especially low protein diets. it is all about balance.
it manifests at any time, you do not have to be doing anything special. like i said it is a precursor to diabetes. be careful and if you are experiencing episodes, you need to have a dr. do a fasting glucose test on you to see how at risk you are for developing diabetes, also known as a glucose tolerance test. good luck

Answer 7

it can be caused if you do not eat enough carbohydrates,cure is to eat properly

Answer 8

dunno but it dont sound to healty,look up on yahoo search and it may show u on there.