Hypoglycemia is a condition in which blood sugar (glucose) level is lower than normal. Glucose is your body's main energy source.

Hypoglycemia is often related to diabetes treatment. But other drugs and a variety of conditions — many rare — can cause low blood sugar in people who don't have diabetes

Hypoglycemia needs immediate treatment when blood sugar levels are low. For many people, a fasting blood sugar of 70 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), or 3.9 millimoles per liter (mmol/L), or below should serve as an alert for hypoglycemia. But your numbers might be different. Ask your doctor.

SYMPTOMS OF HYPOGLYCEMIA

If blood sugar levels become too low, signs and symptoms can include:

• An irregular or fast heartbeat
• Fatigue
• Pale skin
• Shakiness
• Anxiety
• Sweating
• Hunger
• Irritability
• Tingling or numbness of the lips, tongue or cheek

As hypoglycemia worsens, signs and symptoms can include:

• Confusion, abnormal behavior or both, such as the inability to complete routine tasks
• Visual disturbances, such as blurred vision
• Seizures
• Loss of consciousness

CAUSES OF HYPOGLYCEMIA

Hypoglycemia occurs when blood sugar (glucose) level falls too low. There are several reasons why this can happen; the most common is a side effect of drugs used to treat diabetes.

BLOOD SUGAR REGULATION

When some one eat,  body breaks down carbohydrates from foods — such as bread, rice, pasta, vegetables, fruit and milk products — into various sugar molecules, including glucose.

Glucose, the main energy source for body, enters the cells of most of  tissues with the help of insulin — a hormone secreted by pancreas. Insulin enables the glucose to enter the cells and provide the fuel cells need. Extra glucose is stored in  liver and muscles in the form of glycogen.

If some one haven't eaten for several hours and  blood sugar level drops, another hormone from  pancreas signals  liver to break down the stored glycogen and release glucose into bloodstream. This keeps blood sugar within a normal range until eat again.

POSSIBLE CAUSES, WITH DIABETES

If some one have diabetes,  might not make enough insulin (type 1 diabetes) or they might be less responsive to it (type 2 diabetes). As a result, glucose tends to build up in the bloodstream and can reach dangerously high levels. To correct this problem, you might take insulin or other drugs to lower blood sugar levels.

But too much insulin or other diabetes medications may cause your blood sugar level to drop too low, causing hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia can also occur if you eat less than usual after taking diabetes medication, or if you exercise more than you normally do.

POSSIBLE CAUSES, WITHOUT DIABETES

Hypoglycemia in people without diabetes is much less common. Causes can include the following:

• Medications. Taking someone else's oral diabetes medication accidentally is a possible cause of hypoglycemia. Other medications can cause hypoglycemia, especially in children or in people with kidney failure. One example is quinine (Qualaquin), used to treat malaria.
• Excessive alcohol drinking. Drinking heavily without eating can block your liver from releasing stored glucose into your bloodstream, causing hypoglycemia.

• Some critical illnesses. Severe liver illnesses such as severe hepatitis or cirrhosis can cause hypoglycemia. Kidney disorders, which can keep your body from properly excreting medications, can affect glucose levels due to a buildup of those medications.

  Long-term starvation, as can occur in the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, can result in too little of substances your body needs to create glucose.

• Insulin overproduction. A rare tumor of the pancreas (insulinoma) can cause you to produce too much insulin, resulting in hypoglycemia. Other tumors also can result in too much production of insulin-like substances. Enlargement of cells of the pancreas that produce insulin can result in excessive insulin release, causing hypoglycemia.
• Hormone deficiencies. Certain adrenal gland and pituitary tumor disorders can result in a deficiency of key hormones that regulate glucose production. Children can have hypoglycemia if they have too little growth hormone.

HYPOGLYCEMIA AFTER MEALS

Hypoglycemia usually occurs when some one haven't eaten, but not always. Sometimes hypoglycemia symptoms occur after certain meals high in sugar because of body produces more insulin than need.

This type of hypoglycemia, called reactive hypoglycemia or postprandial hypoglycemia, can occur in people who have had stomach bypass surgery. It can also occur in people who haven't had this surgery.

COMPLICATIONS

Untreated hypoglycemia can lead to:

• Seizure
• Loss of consciousness
• Death

Hypoglycemia can also contribute to the following:

• Dizziness and weakness
• Falls
• Injuries
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Greater risk of dementia in older adults

HYPOGLYCEMIA UNAWARENESS

Over time, repeated episodes of hypoglycemia can lead to hypoglycemia unawareness. The body and brain no longer produce signs and symptoms that warn of a low blood sugar, such as shakiness or irregular heartbeats. When this happens, the risk of severe, life-threatening hypoglycemia increases.

If some one have diabetes, recurring episodes of hypoglycemia and hypoglycemia unawareness, y

UNDERTREATED DIABETES

Ifsome one have diabetes, episodes of low blood sugar are uncomfortable and can be frightening. Fear of hypoglycemia can cause to take less insulin to ensure that  blood sugar level doesn't go too low. This can lead to uncontrolled diabetes. 

HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT OF HYPOGLYCEMIA