My 17-year-old daughter was given a glucose tolerance test (GTT) because she was getting faint around 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. during school. My daughter has been diagnosed with mvp (mitral valve prolapse), low blood pressure and rapid heartbeat. The cardiologist will not put her on medication because it will only further lower her blood pressure. She tries to eat salty things to raise her blood pressure, but it’s not working. The GTT was done after the first one-half hour blood sugar was 84 mg/dl [4.7 mmol/L]. After two hours, her blood sugar dropped to 48 mg/dl [2.7 mmol/L]. That’s all I know right now. I called an endocrinologist, but they can’t see her until mid-May, which is about a month from now. My wife and I are very nervous about this. Should we be? How soon should our daughter be seen by a specialist?

The 48 mg/dl [2.7 mmol/L] is definitely low, but the key is whether or not she had symptoms at the same time or not. Without simultaneous symptoms (shakiness, sweating, confusion, fatigue, tremors, rapid heart, etc.), then it is just a low sugar and not diagnostic. The other cardiac problems you describe seem more important. In any case, you should have your primary physician call the specialist and see if this can be advanced. Also, you can call and ask that your daughter go on a cancellation list since it is likely that people randomly cancel and you could take a last minute appointment within a few days rather than wait more than a month. The simple treatment for such hypoglycemia would be to avoid simple sugary foods and also to make sure that she eats a small snack containing protein or fat (i.e., cheese, peanut butter, nuts, for example) every three hours. The total calories does not have to be high as long as this is spaced out during the three meals and three such snacks. This almost always stops such problems from continuing since, even with hypoglycemia, the blood glucose does not have a chance to get so low if eating the protein/fat every three hours.

SB