Thursday, February, 09, 2012

Hypoglycemia

Table of Contents

Definition

Hypoglycemia is a condition that occurs when your blood sugar (glucose) is too low.

Blood sugar below 70 mg/dL is considered low. Blood sugars at this level can harm you.


Alternative Names

Insulin shock; Low blood sugar


Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Hypoglycemia occurs when:

  • Your body's sugar (glucose) is used up too quickly
  • Glucose is released into the bloodstream too slowly
  • Too much insulin is released into the bloodstream

Insulin is a hormone that reduces blood sugar. It is produced by the pancreas in response to increased glucose levels in the blood.

Hypoglycemia is relatively common in persons with diabetes. If you have diabetes and are taking any of the following diabetes medications, you have a risk for low blood sugar:

  • Chlorpropamide (Diabinese), tolazamide (Tolinase), acetohexamide (Dymelor), glipizide (Glucotrol), or tolbutamide (Orinase)
  • Glyburide (Micronase), glimepiride (Amaryl), repaglinide (Prandin), nateglinide (Starlix), and mitiglinide) -- the risk with these drugs is lower, but still possible
  • Insulin

If you have diabetes, low blood sugars may occur when:

  • You take too much insulin or diabetes medicine
  • You don't eat enough food
  • You suddenly increase your exercise without increasing the amount of food you eat

Relative hypoglycemia is a fairly common condition in which a newborn's blood sugar is low. Babies born to mothers with diabetes may have severe hypoglycemia.

Idiopathic hypoglycemia is hypoglycemia that occurs without a known cause. People with this type of hypoglycemia do not have diabetes.

Hypoglycemia may also be caused by:

  • Ingestion of alcohol
  • Insulinoma - a tumor in the pancreas that produces too much insulin
  • Liver disease

Review Date: 05/10/2010
Reviewed By: Ari S. Eckman, MD, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)