This time I will explain about hypoglycemia. First, there are several types of hypoglycemia, so I will explain them.
Types of Hypoglycemia
There are three main types of hypoglycemia. The first type is hypoglycemia caused by people with diabetes taking more insulin than necessary. The other type is called insulinoma, which is a tumor derived from pancreatic beta cells that secretes insulin excessively. The last type is a condition called functional hypoglycemia.
When you hear the term hypoglycemia, you may think it simply means you're not consuming enough sugar. Since blood sugar levels are low, you may think it's okay to simply take in a lot of sugar. When you're in a state of hypoglycemia, which occurs as a side effect of insulin, taking sugar is fine as an emergency measure. For functional hypoglycemia, it's important to reduce your sugar intake on a regular basis. In this article, we'll explain functional hypoglycemia.
Symptoms that may indicate functional hypoglycemia
First, to determine whether or not you have functional hypoglycemia, your symptoms include feeling extremely sleepy after meals, palpitations, and feeling so fatigued that you cannot work . If you go to the hospital to get a diagnosis, it is rare for a diagnosis of hypoglycemia to be made based on a medical interview alone, and you will be required to undergo a test called an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), which will be explained next.Three types of functional hypoglycemia
There are several types of hypoglycemia. Although there are no official names for these types, they can be broadly classified into three types. First, let's look at reactive hypoglycemia, which is a typical example of functional hypoglycemia.What is reactive hypoglycemia?
Reactive hypoglycemia is when blood glucose levels rise rapidly after a meal and then fall rapidly afterwards. After 3 to 4 hours, blood glucose levels may drop to around 50% of fasting levels.
Let's look at this situation using a graph of blood sugar levels over time.
The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is a test used to check whether glucose metabolism is normal.
Before the test, you will fast for 12 hours, then drink 75g of glucose liquid and measure your blood sugar levels at regular intervals for up to 5 hours.
(There are some tests that only measure every 30 minutes for up to 2 hours.)
I know someone who has hypoglycemia and took this test, and he told me that it is a very physically demanding test and very painful.
Let's compare the time course of blood glucose levels in a normal person with that of a person with reactive hypoglycemia. (This is just one example. Not everyone's blood glucose levels will change in the same way.)
In normal people, blood sugar levels rise and fall slowly, whereas in people with functional hypoglycemia,
This causes a sudden rise in blood sugar level, followed by the release of a large amount of insulin, causing blood sugar levels to drop significantly lower than their original level.
When blood sugar levels go up and down, you may feel drowsy, have a headache, experience palpitations, feel numbness in your hands and feet, or feel irritable or restless. In addition, your sympathetic nervous system is always dominant in preparation for a sudden drop in blood sugar levels. If the sympathetic nervous system continues to be dominant, you may not be able to sleep well, your peripheral blood vessels may constrict, blood flow may become poor, and you may develop chronic poor circulation.
The cause of these problems is that when blood sugar levels rise or fall, hormones are secreted to adjust them, and this produces active oxygen.
Hormones that raise blood sugar levels include growth hormone, adrenaline, adrenal cortex hormones (cortisol and aldosterone), adrenal medulla hormones (catecholamines), thyroid hormones, glucagon, somatostatin glucagon, etc. Conversely, the only hormone that lowers blood sugar levels is insulin.
The greater the sudden rise or fall in blood sugar levels, the more hormones are released, and the more active oxygen is produced.
Hyperglycemia
Blood sugar levels rise and fall repeatedly. This type is characterized by emotions that fluctuate just as wildly as blood sugar levels.Unresponsive hypoglycemia
The graph shows that hypoglycemia continues for a long time. Since blood sugar does not rise due to hypoglycemia, it is often thought that glucose is not being absorbed from the intestines into the blood in the first place, but since the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) only looks at changes in blood sugar levels every 30 minutes, it seems that an accurate diagnosis cannot be made without a device that measures blood sugar levels intermittently.It is possible that the function of the intestinal mucosa has decreased, and sugar, which should normally be absorbed slowly, is absorbed rapidly around 20 minutes after a meal, resulting in continued hypoglycemia. Therefore, it is necessary to receive comprehensive medical treatment, including intermittent blood sugar measurements and adjustment of intestinal mucosal function.
