The term "hypoglycemia" means low blood sugar. By definition, hypoglycemia is a glucose level ≤ 70 mg/dl (3.9mmol/L). There are several common causes of low blood sugar in people with diabetes:
- Too much insulin, and not enough carbohydrates
- Use of the older sulfonylurea drugs, such as chlorpropamide (Diabinese), tolazamide (Tolinase), tolbutamide (Orinase)
- Missing meals
- Exercise
- Alcohol
- Aspirin, warfarin (Coumadin), beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors, pentamidine, quinolone antibiotics, and other drugs
- Being sick
Let's look at the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia.