Hypoglycemia, an emergency should be treated promptly
Hypoglycemia an emergency should be treated promptly
What is Hypoglycemia?
Hypoglycemia is a condition of falling of blood glucose level to below the normal level (Below 60mg/dl). This condition is usually observed in diabetic patients undergoing with insulin treatment. When insulin is given in high doses in type I diabetes patients comparing to the intake of food it lowers blood glucose level. Therefore regulation of dosage of insulin is very important in type I diabetes patients.
Intake of food increases and physical exercise decreases the blood glucose levels. Maintenance of a balance between these two factors is important to regulate the blood glucose levels. Hypoglycemia is also seen in type II diabetes patients associated with kidney dysfunction. Rarely hypoglycemia is also seen in people suffering with liver disease, adrenal failure and tumors in the pancreas.
What are the symptoms of Hypoglycemia?
The symptoms vary from individual to individual from moderate to severe. Usually the following symptoms are seen in many individuals.
- Shivering
- Sweating
- Anxiety
- Weakness
- Speaking will be effected and slurred.
- Loss of consciousness
- Palpitation of the heart
When the blood glucose level falls from the normal range the person experience certain warning signs like feeling hungry with shivering and palpitations. At this stage the body tries to cope up with low levels of glucose and releases the reserve glucose from the liver and simultaneously regulating the insulin production so that the supply to the brain is not affected. All this takes place in the body automatically to restore the blood glucose levels to normal. If these warning symptoms are ignored to raise the blood glucose levels by supplementing by eating, the glucose levels further fall drastically to below 50mg/dl. Then the patient experience confusion, dizziness, behavior changes and leads to coma. or death.
How hypoglycemia is treated?
It is important to treat acute hypoglycemia immediately as soon as the symptoms are observed otherwise blood glucose may further fall complicating the condition. The patient should be given 15 Gms of sugar, Juice with glucose, soda or even a table sugar to supplement the blood glucose. Blood glucose levels also should be estimated simultaneously. If there is no improvement in 15-20 minutes another 15 Gms of glucose should be given. If the patient does not improve he should be moved to a hospital for a thorough investigation and necessary medical aid. In diabetic patients the dose of insulin or medications should be regulated carefully. If the patient cannot take glucose by mouth Glucagon injection can be given which causes a rapid release of glucose from the liver and the response will be seen in 10 minutes.
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