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Definition of Hypoglycemia & Low Blood Sugar ConcernsDISCLAIMER: The content on " definition of hypoglycemia " and www.diabetes-blood-sugar-solutions.com is for informational purposes only and not to be used as medical advice. By reading beyond this notice you agree to the terms in the disclaimer . You should contact your physician or health care team with concerns about your diabetes or health.Thanks for staying safe folks!
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Definition of Hypoglycemia
Definition of HypoglycemiaThe simplest definition of hypoglycemia is low blood sugar or low blood glucose. You could compare it to the red fuel light popping on in your car. Actually, compare it the difficulty your car has getting up a hill on a low tank of gas. There is too little fuel available to keep the vehicle or the body functioning well. As a result, your body exhibits certain symptoms (except in the case of hypoglycemia unawareness). If you have diabetes and take insulin, or pills that make insulin, then any glucose level
meets the definition of hypoglycemia and is considered too low. This is because the medication does not know when to stop dropping you. Unless you stop, eat fast carbohydrate to treat and bring this blood sugar up, you may just keep on dropping. For people WITHOUT diabetes, you'll find varying definition of hypoglycemia. Of interest, many people without diabetes who experience symptoms of hypoglycemia and think they have "reactive hypoglycemia" actually don't have low blood sugars. Although they do have a very good reason for feeling all those symptoms. If interested, read here.
Why Avoid Hypoglycemia?
Hypoglycemia is associated with numerous symptoms that can affect physical and mental reaction times as well as co-ordination. So what does this mean? It means you are at greater risk for falling or being in an accident (or failing a test or performing poorly at work or embarrassing yourself when you can't remember a simple thing). Essentially:
In the last two months alone I've spoken with 3 people who have awoken with low blood sugars and promptly proceeded to the kitchen to treat them. Unfortunately, on the way to the kitchen they each fell down, fell on or fell into something. They each hurt themselves to a different degree. And in case you are thinking this can not happen to you, you should know that these people varied greatly in age. Young and old alike.
Driving and Hypoglycemia
Now imagine if you were driving with hypoglycemia. Which reminds me, if you are taking insulin please always test your glucose before you drive. In Canada, it is suggested that if you are under 4-5 mmol (or 70-90 mg/dL) you have a small carb snack to bring up back up so you have a bit of a buffer. Of course, if you are under 4 mmol this is a low blood sugar. Don't just eat any food. See here for the best treatments for hypoglycemia. You might be amazed to learn that juice IS NOT the best treatment. The wrong treatment for hypoglycemia can make the symptoms last that much longer! (and make you overeat!).
Very Occassionally . . .
Occasionally, people on insulin can experience a severe low blood sugar and end up in a coma. THIS IS NOT THE NORM!! This is rare if you take care. Frequent blood sugar monitoring and newer pills (Avandia, Actos,metformin, Gluconorm) and insulins (Glargine, Humalog, Novorapid) have helped to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia over the past few years. You should know that if you are aiming for target sugars and are on insulin or pills that make insulin, you will occasionally experience mild hypoglycemia. This is the norm. These are easily recognized as long as you are paying attention to the symptoms when you get them. If you treat the lows correctly and quickly there is usually no detriment to you. If you get them more than 1-2 times per week (or as otherwise instructed by your health care team) you should see your doctor to discuss changes to your diabetes medication. Please review the section on what causes hypoglycemia so you can use this information to help you avoid lows.
P.S. One more thing about Hypoglycemia.
For safety, physicians and diabetes educators sometimes give people higher blood sugar targets than what is normally recommended for targets with diabetes. In other words, a different definition of hypoglycemia would be individually set for these people. These would be people who are at more risk for low sugars, are quite elderly, can't sense low sugars, have had severe low blood sugars which required outside help or have complex medical problems. Please do not unnecessarily run your blood sugars too high unless instructed by your health care team. It is very common for people to run their blood sugars -well, sky high - because of their fear of hypoglycemia. Please work with your health care team and social worker / psychologist to help you manage through your fears of low blood sugars and set appropriate glucose targets for you. These fears need to be addressed. You need to be emotionally comfortable. You also don't want to compromise your future health. Remember, high blood sugars do damage to eyes, kidneys, nerves and large blood vessels.
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How to recognize hypoglycemia: low blood sugar symptoms. References: Canadian Diabetes Association 2003 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes in Canada. Can J Diabetes 2003;27(Suppl 2):S1-152. 2005
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