Hypoglycemia, also known as hypoglycemia, which occurs when blood sugar levels fall below 50 mg/dl, is a condition that can be prevented if precautions are taken against risk factors. If precautions are not taken, low blood sugar levels can occur in people taking insulin or anti-diabetic medication. If blood sugar levels drop, the individual needs urgent intervention. By consuming foods with high sugar value or by taking certain medications, blood sugar quickly returns to normal. However, for long-term and effective treatment, the causes of hypoglycemia should be known and these causes should be treated. Nutrition plays an important role in low blood sugar. The person should not be hungry for too long. Incorrect and uncontrolled diets or detoxes can cause a person's blood sugar to drop.
Cutting sugar all of a sudden, cutting out carbohydrates to a large extent and not consuming them; because the body is not used to this situation, it causes blood sugar imbalance and even fainting. This can lead to the development of diabetes and death due to attacks.
What is hypoglycemia?
What is hypoglycemia; hypoglycemia occurs when the sugar level in the blood, i.e. glucose level, drops below a certain level (50-60 mg/dl) and the pancreas secretes excess insulin. Hypoglycemia, which occurs as a result of a decrease in glucose, the human body's energy source, can usually occur in connection with diabetes treatment. However, in some medical conditions, depending on the use of medication, it is one of the conditions that can cause a drop in sugar even though the person does not have diabetes. There are three different types of hypoglycemia: Mild, moderate and severe hypoglycemia.
Hypoglycemia occurs when blood sugar does not fall below 50 mg/dl during fasting in the daily routine. Sugar is the energy source for vital organs such as the brain, heart and lungs, which depend on blood flow. Sudden drops in blood sugar cause disruptions in the functioning of these important organs.
Why does hypoglycemia (hypoglycemia) occur?
There are many factors that can predispose to low blood sugar. To explain the causes of hypoglycemia , the factors that may be a factor can be listed as follows:
- Using more insulin or oral anti-diabetic drugs than necessary
- Eating main and snacks at irregular times
- Eating fewer carbohydrates at meals than necessary
- Exercise more than usual
- Alcohol use
- Taking medicines at the wrong times of the day
- Onset of the menstrual cycle in women
- Changing where insulin injections are administered
- Digestive difficulties or delayed gastric emptying
- Going from a cold/warm environment to a very hot environment suddenly
What are the Symptoms of Low Sugar (Hypoglycemia)?
Symptoms of low sugar can be classified into three different types/degrees. These; It may come up with different symptoms as mild sugar drop, moderate sugar drop, severe sugar drop.
In case ofmild low sugar, it is possible to experience the following symptoms:
-Weakness
-Blurred vision
-Dizziness
-Cold sweating
In the event ofa moderate sugar drop, the following symptoms may occur:
-Intense cold sweating
-Intense weakness
-Blurred vision
-Speech impairment
-Blurred consciousness
-Heavy movement
Symptomsof a severe sugar drop are:
-Intense cold sweating
-Blurred vision
-Intense weakness
-Blurred consciousness
-Speech impairment
-Heavy limping
-Coming into a coma
What is Hypoglycemia (Hypoglycemia) Treatment?
It would be appropriate to consume simple sugars containing 20 g carbohydrates for adults and 16 g carbohydrates for children under 10 years of age. For example; 1 teaspoon of honey contains 16 g of simple sugar containing carbohydrates. After the patient's blood sugar balance is achieved, he/she should rest for 15 minutes and his/her sugar should be checked again after 15 minutes. If blood sugar is not stabilized, some fruit juice, simple sugary foods such as sugar cubes can be consumed. People with moderate to severe symptoms of hypoglycemia should seek medical attention.
What are the complications that may occur with hypoglycemia?
If hypoglycemia, i.e. low sugar, is not treated quickly, it can result in loss of consciousness, trembling attacks or coma and even death. Although direct complications are not always encountered, dizziness, weakness, loss of consciousness can lead to accidents, injuries or dementia in elderly people. If a person suffers from constant episodes of low sugar, this may prevent the person from recognizing the attacks over time. As the body gets used to these attacks, after a while, symptoms such as tremors and irregular palpitations no longer appear. At this stage, the risk of serious and life-threatening severe diabetes mellitus increases. The physician changes the treatment plan accordingly and helps stabilize the blood sugar level.
People with diabetes try to use less insulin to avoid a drop in blood sugar levels because of their fear of experiencing sugar crash attacks. This can lead to uncontrolled diabetes. For this reason, a physician should be consulted to avoid a decrease in diabetes medication.
How to Prevent Low Sugar (Hypoglycemia)?
Diabetes patients should act within the doctor's supervision and plan. Since any changes that can be made about nutrition, exercise routine, medication use do not know how they can affect the person's diabetes and low blood sugar, they should get support by consulting a doctor.
- It would be good for people to have fast-acting carbohydrate sources such as fruit juices, chewy candies, glucose tablets. In this way, the person will be able to prevent sugar crash attacks when necessary.
- For those who suffer from low blood sugar but are not aware of the condition, it would be effective to use a "continuous glucose monitor". This monitor is placed under the skin and measures blood glucose regularly and sends the readings to a receiver. Some models of continuous glucose monitors warn if blood sugar drops too low.
- People without diabetes should eat frequent snacks throughout the day in case of frequent episodes of low sugar. Although it is a temporary measure, this way the blood sugar level does not drop too low. On the other hand, it would be better to determine the causes of low sugar and to find solutions for these causes.