Hypoglycemia is a result of the body’s natural defense mechanisms reacting too fast to either a sudden rise in blood glucose level or when the blood glucose levels fall way below the required level. The signs of hypoglycemia are varied and a lot of them resemble some neuro-psychiatric disorders, and can be misdiagnosed. Currently, the only 100% sure way of knowing if a person has hypoglycemia in advance is to test the blood for its glucose levels. Lacking that option, there are signs of hypoglycemia that can be seen without any medical instruments as long as a person knows how to add them all up and make a proper conclusion.
A person suffering from hypoglycemia may feel hunger pangs even if he or she has eaten a lot of food fairly recently. In fact, eating too much of certain foods is one of the primary triggers, and other signs of hypoglycemia may show up in under an hour after a heavy meal. A meal heavy in sugar and carbohydrates is a sure fire way of knowing if the hypoglycemia attack is caused by diet.
Profuse sweating will happen to a person regardless of the surrounding’s temperature or climate. This excessive perspiration is the result of the body processing and demanding too much energy than what is readily available. Aside from sweating, they may exhibit paleness of the skin, and dryness or discoloration of lips and the skin surrounding it.
Hypoglycemic patients will have slurred speech patterns, or tend to forget what they were saying, of have difficulty in speaking altogether, as a result of the brain not getting enough energy and starting to adapt to the lower energy state.
Drowsiness may also set in, and will result in a hypoglycemic person to experience inappropriate and out of schedule sleepiness, similar to the signs of jet lag. Sleepiness means the hypoglycemia has reached the point where the body is already too low on fuel (glucose) to function normally.
Vertigo, dizziness, and loss of balance will also occur as the brain starts to struggle. This is a very risky stage and the patient should be assisted, as this could result in accidents that are immediately fatal and therefore more dangerous than just hypoglycemia. Once the person complains of dizziness, you should make him sit or lie down while medication or treatment is administered.
A person will also exhibit nervousness and suffer panic attacks while hypoglycemia is occurring; shaking, odd speech patterns, and complaints of headache and excessive mental tension characterize further characterizes a hypoglycemic person. Extreme cases can result in alarming convulsions, loss of consciousness and even retrograde amnesia as the brain starts to develop temporary damages. Short-term abnormal behavior is also very possible and results in further misdiagnoses, with some hypoglycemia cases being mistaken for schizophrenia cases.
It is important that a person who exhibits these signs of hypoglycemia be sent to a physician for proper diagnosis or medication to prevent the affliction from getting worse and having long-term effects. It is also recommended to research and learn about some first-aid procedures for the treatment of hypoglycemia attacks, which could save you some time while waiting for an emergency ambulance or a physician to arrive.
Quick Tip #1
Treatment of hypoglycemia is an ongoing process, remember to have a good diet with evenly spaced out meals every 2-3 hours apart. Also exercising can really help in keeping this condition under check.
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Quick Tip #2
A lot of symptoms of low blood sugar have common signs as other diseases. If you exeperience any of the hypoglycemia symptoms, do consult your doctor for treatment.
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