What exactly is hypoglycemia?

Hypoglycemia in normal people refers to the phenomenon that blood sugar levels are lower than 2.8mmol/l. Diabetic patients generally have hypoglycemia when their blood sugar level is less than 3.9mmol/l. Under normal circumstances, hypoglycemia will cause symptoms such as palpitation, weakness, trembling hands and feet, sweating, increased heart rate, and mildly elevated blood pressure.

There are many causes of hypoglycemia. Specifically, they include the following situations:

1. Drug factors

1. Insulin: Excessive insulin injection or too little food intake and relatively excessive activity after injection may produce a typical acute hypoglycemia reaction.

2. Sulfonylureas: The degree of hypoglycemia caused by these drugs is related to the drug half-life, metabolism rate, etc. When patients have diet reduction, liver and kidney disease, and adrenocortical insufficiency, hypoglycemia may occur.

3. Oral hypoglycemic drugs are particularly good at lowering blood sugar and can easily cause hypoglycemia.

2. Disease factors

1. In severe liver disease, the liver cannot effectively regulate blood sugar, and hypoglycemia may easily occur when sugar intake is insufficient.

2. Endocrine diseases such as the adrenal gland, thyroid, and pituitary gland may cause hypoglycemia.

3. Living habits

1. Long-term undereating and excessive consumption, such as anorexia nervosa, chronic malabsorption, chronic diarrhea, renal glycosuria, etc., will cause blood sugar to drop.

2. Excessive drinking on an empty stomach stimulates the secretion of large amounts of insulin and causes hypoglycemia.

3. Continuous strenuous exercise, long-term hunger or excessive blood sugar consumption in patients with high fever can also cause hypoglycemia.

4. Functionality

A type of functional hypoglycemia with unclear causes mostly occurs in some obese middle-aged women. The characteristic of this kind of hypoglycemia is that it often occurs about three or four hours after a meal, and the more meals you eat, the more likely it is to occur. It is currently believed that the reason is that the food the patient eats stimulates polypeptide hormones in the intestines, and this hormone can stimulate a large amount of insulin secretion, thereby lowering blood sugar very low, leading to hypoglycemia.

"Prevention is better than cure" for hypoglycemia

For hypoglycemia, "prevention is better than cure" must be achieved. The following four points should be achieved in the prevention of hypoglycemia:

Rational use of insulin and oral hypoglycemic drugs

According to clinical statistics, more than 60% of diabetic hypoglycemic reactions are caused by improper use of hypoglycemic drugs. Therefore, insulin or insulin secretagogues should be started with a small dose, gradually increased, and adjusted carefully.

Life style, regular and quantitative meals

If the amount of meals is reduced, the dose of hypoglycemic drugs should be reduced accordingly and preparations should be made before meals.

Proper exercise

Exercise can promote the body's metabolism, enhance cardiovascular function, improve the body's immunity, help improve diabetes symptoms, and reduce complications. However, increasing the amount of exercise (violent activities or labor) or changing the exercise time can consume too much glucose and induce a hypoglycemic reaction, especially in patients with type 1 diabetes receiving insulin treatment. Therefore, for diabetic patients, mild to moderate exercise is appropriate.

Strengthen blood sugar monitoring

Some patients are in unstable condition and often suffer from hypoglycemia at night. Therefore, blood sugar should be monitored before going to bed. If the blood sugar is low, an appropriate meal can be eaten before going to bed. If you change your eating time or eating habits, you should monitor your blood sugar promptly. Diabetic patients should monitor their blood sugar before and after exercise. If they feel any discomfort during exercise, such as palpitation, sweating, etc., they should also monitor their blood sugar in time. Diabetic patients should also monitor their blood sugar regularly for a period of time after adjusting the dose of oral hypoglycemic drugs or insulin to avoid hypoglycemia caused by drug adjustment.

Finally, I would like to remind every diabetic friend that you should carry two "treasures" with you when you go out: one is a "first aid card", which indicates your name, name of the disease, medication status, home address, phone number, etc. It can provide Important information about diabetes first aid, so that you can get diagnosis and treatment in the shortest time in case of severe hypoglycemia; another item is biscuits, bread or candy, in case of hypoglycemia, to correct hypoglycemia in time to avoid causing Severe hypoglycemia.