Hypoglycemia (Low blood glucose levels):
Hypoglycemia occurs when your blood glucose levels are low enough that you need to take action to bring them back into the target range. This usually happens when your blood glucose is level less than 70 milligrams per deciliter.
Causes:
- Malnutrition is eating foods that contain less carbohydrates than usual without reducing the amount of insulin intake.
- Not taking diabetes readings regularly.
- Insulin overdose and diabetes medications in general.
- Increasing exercise with insufficient nutrition of the body.
Symptoms:
- Arrhythmia
- Fatigue
- Skin pallor
- Body tremor
- Anxiety
- Sweating
- Hunger
If the patient continues to have hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels) for a long time without dealing with it, the patient will begin to enter in cases of:
- Convulsions
- loss of consciousness
- It could reach to death.
Therefore, when these symptoms begin to be felt, blood glucose must be measured to determine its percentage to deal with it.
How to deal with hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels):
- The Low blood glucose levels are dealt with by the rule (15-15), which is to try to raise glucose by eating 15 grams of carbohydrates to raise the level of glucose in the blood, noting that children need less than 15 grams of carbohydrates to raise the level of glucose, and to re-measure after 15 minutes if it is still less than 70 mg / dL, another dose must be taken and repeated until blood glucose reaches at least 70 mg / dL.
- Once your blood glucose level is back to normal, you should eat a meal or snack to make sure it doesn't low again.
- Eating sugars that are easy to absorb, equivalent to ½ cup of juice, a teaspoon of sugar or honey, waiting 15 minutes and making sure that the patient returns to his normal condition, taking care of the patient's comfort and not doing any sports activity. However, if the state of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose level) develops into a fainting, it is treated with a syringe of (Glucagon), and the patient is taken directly to the hospital.
- It is important that people with diabetes also know how to deal with severe hypoglycemia that leads to fainting.
- If the episodes of hypoglycemia recur, it is recommended to make a small note in a notebook stating the number and reasons for the occurrence of these episodes; to avoid them later, discuss them with his doctor and change the treatment plan.
- The patient must follow the doctor's plan to control diabetes and keep its rates in the target range.
Prevention of hypoglycemia (Low blood glucose levels):
The more blood glucose a person checks, the lower the risk of hypoglycemia; because it can be known when blood glucose levels are low and it can be treated before reached to the extent of severely low, so blood glucose level should be measured before and after meals, before and after exercise, when insulin is changed, and before bed.