Drug-induced hypoglycemia

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Food and insulin release

Drug-induced hypoglycemia

Definition:

Hypoglycemia is when the levels of a sugar called glucose are too low in the blood. This can be caused by the medication used to treat diabetes.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

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Even when diabetes is managed very carefully, the medications used to treat diabetes can result in episodes of drug-induced hypoglycemia. Medication-induced hypoglycemia can also be caused by improper management of diabetes. Missing meals, overexertion, and intentional or unintentional overdose of medications used to treat the condition can all cause blood glucose levels to drop.

Medications that can cause hypoglycemia include insulin and sulfonylureas. Newer drugs for diabetes such as metformin (Glucophage) can also cause hypoglycemia when used in combination with sulfonylureas. The condition may also occur when a nondiabetic individual takes insulin or a sulfonylurea drug.

Other drugs such as pentamidine can also occasionally induce hypoglycemia. Rarer causes of low blood glucose include the use of quinidine, quinine, beta-blocker drugs, MAO inhibitors (a type of antidepressant), Bactrim (an antibiotic), and haloperidol.