What is Hypoglycemia?
As many people that have been diagnosed with diabetes will know, part of your diabetes management is learning to live with hypoglycemia. But what is hypoglycemia, and how do I deal with it when it happens? Hypoglycemia is also known as low blood sugar.
This low blood sugar issue can happen at anytime even when you work hard on keeping your diabetes under control. It is very important to treat this low blood sugar as soon and as best as possible. So let’s walk through some helpful steps. First we will make sure that you know when this problem attacks, knowing the symptoms is very important. Then we will work on a management plan.
Symptoms of hypoglycemia
In order to treat the symptoms we need to recognize them. Here are a couple of symptoms that you might experience when your blood sugar is to low: shaky feelings, feeling dizzy, sweating, feeling extra hungry, headache, extra white skin color, mood swings, clumsy, confused, tingling around your mouth or even having a seizure.
Is your blood glucose low?
When you have these feelings then it is always good to check your blood sugar level. Your doctor has advised you on how often you should check your blood levels but an extra check will not hurt anything. But what if you can’t check your levels at the time you feel these symptoms? Simply treat them as soon as you can, it is better to treat it than be too late.
Hypoglycemia Treatments
Having low blood sugar means just that, your sugar levels are to low. To help make them higher you need to eat 5 or 6 hard candies, or use 3 or 4 sugar tablets. This will relieve your symptoms fast, and even more importantly it will help to prevent permanent damage. It is always a great idea to ask your doctor or dietitian to make a few suggestions as to which foods will help you in these matters. And make sure you always have one of these foods with you when you go out.
After taking an extra sugar dose wait 15 to 20 minutes and check your levels again. If you find that no change has been made, then repeat this process. This is very important simply because if not treated right on the spot you might pass out. If you do end up passing out you will need immediate hospital care. Many ambulances carry injections that are called glucagon injections. This will raise your blood sugar immediately, but you will still have to visit the hospital for observation. What’s more, when you do end up passing out people should do the following; do not inject insulin, keep your mouth free, inject glucagon, and call an ambulance.
But there are also many people that do not even feel low blood sugar come on. This is called hypoglycemia unawareness. This is a very dangerous and serious problem. This tends to happen to people that have had diabetes for many years and have nerve damage, or to people that use blood pressure medication. But even when the symptoms are there some people might just not recognize them as such simply because the symptoms change over the years. So keep checking your sugar levels, and report to your medical team any problems with your sugar falling below 50mg/dl. Also make sure to tell your co-workers or friends, and of course family about this new problem, they can save your life.