
June 20, 2000
Hypoglycemia
Question from Toronto, Canada:
I am diabetic, and I understand the negative effects of having high blood sugar, but what sort of complications can arise from having continually low blood sugar? For example, I frequently wake up in the middle of the night because of a reaction to low blood sugar, and immediately run to the fridge. This happens quite often. So my question is: what is the danger in being hypoglycemic on a regular basis?
Answer:
There are no specific dangers of hypoglycemia in an adult besides the various neuroglycopenic symptoms such as the loss of consciousness as the extreme.
Over the last decade it has been better understood how intensified metabolic control and treatment of patients with diabetes can sometime lead towards one most important dangers of chronic hypoglycemia, i.e., to develop hypoglycemia unawareness.
MS