Medical Questions » Blood Questions » Question No. 139
| Question: | Could you please explain what causes low blood sugar, the symptoms and the treatment? |
| Answer: | Low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) is caused by an inadequate intake of carbohydrate foods (ie. starvation), excess use of drugs used to treat diabetes, alcoholism and by a very rare tumour that secretes excess insulin.
Sugars are the fuel of the body, and are chemically ' burned' to provide the energy necessary for us to function. There are many different types of sugar in our diet, including sucrose (the white stuff we sprinkle on our cereal), glucose, fructose (fruit sugar) and lactose (milk sugar).
Starvation is rare in Australia, and so there are very few people who suffer from true hypoglycaemia. There are people who lead a very active lifestyle who burn up their body sugar rapidly, and who therefore feel much better shortly after taking sugar containing foods. Rest usually gives the same result, but more slowly, as reserves of sugars are released by the liver into the bloodstream. This problem is far more common in women than men.
The symptoms of a transient episode of low blood sugar are tiredness, burred and double vision, headache, light headedness and personality changes.
True, prolonged hypoglycaemia is very rare, and I have never encountered a patient with this problem in 25 years of general practice. Temporary symptoms of hypoglycaemia after exercise or stress are common, and are not a reason for concern. If you feel that you surfer from this problem regularly, suck some barley sugar before exercise or at times of stress. |
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