Hypoglycemia

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests

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• Related Issues
• Specifics
• Genetics

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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• Patient Handouts

Summary

Hypoglycemia means low blood glucose, or blood sugar. Your body needs glucose to have enough energy. After you eat, your blood absorbs glucose. If you eat more sugar than your body needs, your muscles, and liver store the extra. When your blood sugar begins to fall, a hormone tells your liver to release glucose.

In most people, this raises blood sugar. If it doesn't, you have hypoglycemia, and your blood sugar can be dangerously low. Signs include

• Hunger
• Shakiness
• Dizziness
• Confusion
• Difficulty speaking
• Feeling anxious or weak

In people with diabetes, hypoglycemia is often a side effect of diabetes medicines. Eating or drinking something with carbohydrates can help. If it happens often, your health care provider may need to change your treatment plan.

You can also have low blood sugar without having diabetes. Causes include certain medicines or diseases, hormone or enzyme deficiencies, and tumors. Laboratory tests can help find the cause. The kind of treatment depends on why you have low blood sugar.

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Start Here

• Hypoglycemia (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Low Blood Glucose (Hypoglycemia) (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Blood Glucose Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• C-Peptide Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Insulin in Blood (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Is Low Blood Glucose (Hypoglycemia) Dangerous? (Joslin Diabetes Center)
• What Can I Do to Prevent Serious Hypoglycemic Episodes When I Am Hypoglycemic Unaware? (Joslin Diabetes Center)

Specifics

• Diabetic Hypoglycemia (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Is Hyperinsulinemia a Form of Diabetes? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Nondiabetic Hypoglycemia (Hormone Health Network) Also in Spanish
• Reactive Hypoglycemia (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Genetics

• Genetics Home Reference: congenital hyperinsulinism (National Library of Medicine)
• Genetics Home Reference: familial glucocorticoid deficiency (National Library of Medicine)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Hypoglycemia (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: HbA1c level as a risk factor for retinopathy and nephropathy in...
• Article: Hyperglycemia is associated with poor in-hospital outcome in elderly patients with...
• Article: Different patterns of electroencephalography during hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes mellitus:...
• Hypoglycemia -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American Diabetes Association
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Children

• Hypoglycemia (Nemours Foundation)
• When Blood Sugar Is Too Low (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• What Is Hypoglycemia? (Nemours Foundation)

Patient Handouts

• Diabetes - low blood sugar - self-care (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Drug-induced hypoglycemia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Insulin C-peptide (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Low blood sugar (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Low blood sugar - newborns (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish