A Healthy Respect....

Paris Roach, MD  ADA Magazine ©2010

HYPOGLYCEMIA IS A FACT of life for people with Type 1 diabetes and for many people who have Type 2 diabetes. Attitudes about hypoglycemia which is low blood glucose, range from paralyzing fear that prevents effective management to indifference and denial that leads to unnecessary risk.

Hypoglycemia unawareness puts people with diabetes at especially high risk for severe hypoglycemia.

People with high HU puts people with diabetes at especially high risk for severe hypoglycemia because these people can not feel the early warning signs of hypoglycemia, like the typical shakiness and sweating, which would otherwise cause them to treat the low blood glucose before it became dangerously too low.

Instead they have no symptoms even when their blood glucose drops down in the 50s or 60s and their first sign of hypoglycemia may be confusion or 'acting goofy' which is a result of hypoglycemia.

For years before I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic, occasionly I would have these shakes and sweating episodes, and usually after a candy bar, I would be alright. However, after having said that, I am a Type 2 which means my blood sugar is too high and I have to medicate to keep it lower, and along with eating the proper food portions, and keeping the sugar at a minimum.

If you have any of these symptoms, if is definitely necessary to talk to your Doctor about it. Please, do not put it off.