Hypoglycemia

After eating a meal?or going too long without one?are you tired? Lightheaded? Dizzy? A little bit anxious? You may be among the thousands of people who have been told or who have convinced themselves that they have low blood sugar, or?hypoglycemia?and who are wrong.

Hypoglycemia, also called “sugar blues,” was a condition that appeared some years ago and was supposedly caused by eating excess sugar, which led to very high glucose levels followed by very low levels. More likely, says John Buse, M.D., Ph.D., the symptoms were caused by skipping meals, lack of sleep, or tension.

But hypoglycemia does, indeed, exist. Doctors have determined that there are two basic types. One, called fasting hypoglycemia, occurs after?missing one or more meals and develops slowly as the blood sugar gradually drops lower and lower. It commonly produces central nervous system symptoms, and its causes can be serious underlying disorders, such as tumors that produce insulin. Type I diabetics who take too much insulin for the amount of food they eat may experience the symptoms of fasting hypoglycemia.

The second type, reactive hypoglycemia, occurs about two to four hours after eating, especially if the meals are high in carbohydrates. The usual symptoms include shakiness, weakness, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and faintness, which indicate that the body is reacting to a sudden blood sugar drop by producing adrenaline, cortisol, and glucagon hormones that aim to bring blood sugar back to normal. People in the early stages of diabetes may rarely have this type of hypoglycemia, but it is?more common after extensive abdominal surgery or other surgery.