March 2, 2006
Hypoglycemia, Type 2
Question from Elma, Washington, USA:
I am a 24 year old, 233 pound, female. For the most part of the year, I’ve had several troubling symptoms. I’ve had really bad sweating, heat intolerance, shakiness/nausea if I don’t eat several meals a day, extreme thirst, and incontinence in between catheterization use (I have a neurogenic bladder). My parents think these are pre-diabetic symptoms.
I had a test to see if I had diabetes and an overactive thyroid, but both tests came back negative. My doctor told me it could possibly be hypoglycemia with uncommon symptoms. He is having me eat frequent meals throughout the day, carry glucose tablets with me in case I feel shaky, and check my blood sugar once in a while (I am using the MediSense Sof-Tact meter).
Can the symptoms of hypoglycemia mimic diabetes, even if you are not diabetic? Will this increase my risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future? Can hypoglycemia go away with a diet change?
Answer:
Hypoglycemia can definitely go away with diet change. That is the goal of the dietary intervention. Whether bouts of hypoglycemia predict diabetes is a bit more cloudy. There is evidence to suggest that those at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes have a period before they develop diabetes of uncontrolled insulin release because of the stress on the pancreas. This leads to intermittent low blood sugars. How severe, how often, and how tightly related to diabetes these episodes are have not been worked out with any specificity. I would suggest you have some risk for developing diabetes already. This can be further quantitated with knowledge of your family history, your results on your fasting glucose testing, and other known elements of your periodic health examination. I suggest you speak with your physician about those results from your own evaluation that might predict whether you are at high risk for developing diabetes.
JTL
