If you are suffering from diabetes and have been taking treatment for it, you would know that missing meals or taking too much insulin or to many tablets can cause the blood sugar levels to drop to a dangerously low level. Such a situation is called hypoglycaemia. Hypoglycaemia requires urgent treatment as low blood sugar levels can have an impact on the functioning of the brain and other vital organ systems.
In this article, we shall briefly review the steps that patients must take in case they feel that their blood sugar levels are low or the reading on the glucometer demonstrates very low blood sugar levels. But before we discuss that, it is important to recognise what exactly hypoglycaemia is and what the symptoms that the patient experiences can be.
What is hypoglycaemia?
Hypoglycaemia is defined as a blood sugar level of less than 70 mg/dl on a fasting blood test. The normal blood glucose levels lie between 80 to 100 mg/dl. It is maintained at this level by the food that we eat at meal times and by the secretion of insulin from the pancreas into the bloodstream. In patients with diabetes, missing a meal can result in the blood sugar levels dropping remarkably low. In addition, if a patient misses a meal and still takes the medication required for diabetes such as tablets or insulin, this can drop the blood sugar levels dangerously low. This requires urgent treatment.
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