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June 26, 2006

Hypoglycemia

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Question from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA:

I was diagnosed by my primary care physician with hypoglycemia a little over two years ago after I went unconscious from having an oral glucose tolerance test done. My blood sugar had gone down to 50 mg/dl [2.8 mmol/L]. I went to an endocrinologist and he told me to eat healthier and sent me on my way. I also went to a dietitian and got on an eating plan. I continued to have more problems as far as being dizzy, having blurry vision, feeling shaky, and having cold sweats, etc. so my mom got me an appointment with another endocrinologist. He told me to test ONLY when I felt low and to come back a month later. When I went back, he said everything was okay and, if it were 40 mg/dl [2.2 mmol/L] and below most of the time, he would do something, but it wasn’t. He said they could only diagnose hypoglycemia with readings of 40 mg/dl [2.2 mmol/L] or below. Is this true? My lowest blood sugar was 50 mg/dl [2.8 mmol/L] and my highest was 184 mg/dl [10.2 mmol/L]. What could it be? Is it safe to say that I am NOT hypoglycemic?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

If you tested when you had symptoms, then 50 mg/dl [2.2 mmol/L isn’t too low. You may even feel all the symptoms of hypoglycemia at 55 mg/dl [3.1 mmol/L], say, but the pathological causes make sugar go below 50 mg/dl [2.2 mmol/L].

LD