Hypoglycemia - Causes and Symptoms

Definition

Hypoglycemia is a condition characterized by low glycemic values.

In particular, we talk about low blood sugar, hypoglycemia or hypoglycemia when the blood sugar level is less than 60-70 mg / dl.

If your blood sugar is too low, you can run into some problems, such as difficulty concentrating, sweating, pallor, tremor, restlessness, feeling of hunger, palpitations and tingling. In hypoglycemic crises of medium magnitude, drowsiness, headache, blurred or split vision, poor lucidity, confusion and weakness may occur. In the most serious cases, on the other hand, we can arrive at the loss of consciousness and coma.

Symptomatic hypoglycemia is the most frequent acute complication of diabetes mellitus; it occurs mainly in patients on drug treatment with insulin, sulfonylureas and glinids. In this context, situations that may predispose to a hypoglycemic crisis include taking too much insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents; fasting or ingesting insufficient amounts of food after taking the drugs; the carrying out of a particularly strenuous physical activity and the excessive consumption of alcohol.

In non-diabetic subjects, a sudden drop in blood sugar levels may occur due to poor diet and prolonged fasting (16-24 hours). Other causes of hypoglycemia are alcoholism (alcohol restricts the production of glucose from glycogen), surgical interventions on the gastro-intestinal tract that modify glucose absorption and the presence of insulin-secreting neoplasms (eg insulinoma). ).

Hypoglycemia can be the result of infections, hormonal imbalances, severe malnutrition, liver disease, congenital enzyme deficiencies and various types of metabolic disorders.