Hypoglycemia: a stumbling block on the road to achieving blood sugar control

With the development of society and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the number of people suffering from diabetes is also increasing year by year. Diabetes is a chronic disease. If blood sugar is not well controlled, it will induce many complications, such as numbness of hands and feet, blurred vision, and severe cases of diabetic foot (commonly known as rotten feet) and uremia, which not only endangers physical health, but also brings many inconveniences to daily life. Therefore, diabetic patients must control their blood sugar. However, in people's subconscious, they often only pay attention to high blood sugar, thinking that the lower the blood sugar is controlled, the better, but they don't know that the harm of low blood sugar to the human body should not be underestimated.

Whether taking oral hypoglycemic drugs or injecting insulin, hypoglycemia may occur. Hypoglycemia can be called a "stumbling block" to controlling blood sugar levels, because once hypoglycemia occurs, the first thing to be damaged is the brain cells, and this damage is irreversible. In addition, hypoglycemia can also induce heart and brain infarctions, impaired consciousness, and even lead to death, so it must be taken seriously.

This article will introduce you to the prevention and emergency treatment of hypoglycemia.

1. What is hypoglycemia?

For people who have not been diagnosed with diabetes, a blood sugar level <2.8 mmol/L is considered hypoglycemia. For diabetic patients who are receiving medication, such as taking oral hypoglycemic drugs or injecting insulin, it is considered hypoglycemia as long as the blood sugar level <3.9 mmol/L.

2. Symptoms of hypoglycemia

When hypoglycemia occurs, the symptoms that occur in the body are related to the blood sugar level and how quickly the blood sugar drops.

Its symptoms can be divided into two categories: one is the sympathetic nerve excitement symptoms, which manifest as sudden dizziness, palpitations, blurred vision, cold sweats, hand tremors, hunger, etc.; the other is central nervous system symptoms, such as changes in consciousness, cognitive impairment, convulsions, and even coma. Elderly patients often show abnormal behavior or other uncommon symptoms when hypoglycemia occurs. Some patients may have no obvious symptoms when hypoglycemia occurs, which is called asymptomatic hypoglycemia, also called unaware hypoglycemia or unconscious hypoglycemia. Some patients may show hypoglycemic coma without premonitory symptoms after repeated hypoglycemia. However, patients who do not show symptoms when hypoglycemia occurs are the most dangerous.

3. Emergency treatment of hypoglycemia

Since hypoglycemia can cause many harms, what should you do when hypoglycemia occurs at home? Should you seek help from a doctor, nurse, relative or friend? In fact, you are the first person responsible for your health. When hypoglycemia occurs, you can use the "15 rules" to save yourself.

What is the "15-point rule" and how can you save yourself? If you suddenly feel dizzy, panicky, have trembling hands, or sweat, or your blood sugar is ≤3.9mmol/L, and you are conscious and able to eat, you should immediately eat 15-20g of sugar food, such as a spoonful of glucose powder, honey, or 150ml of juice. If you cannot eat on your own, ask your family to help you apply honey on your gums.

Someone asked, can you drink milk or eat chocolate when you have hypoglycemia? Actually, it is not recommended. Because milk and chocolate are rich in fat, difficult to digest and absorb, and the blood sugar rise rate is relatively slow. Diabetics should retest their blood sugar 15 minutes after eating. If the blood sugar is still ≤3.9mmol/L, and the symptoms of hypoglycemia have not improved, they should eat 15-20g of sugar food again and go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible. If the blood sugar value rises to >3.9mmol/L, the symptoms of hypoglycemia improve or ease, but the time to the next meal is >1 hour, you need to eat some snacks such as half an apple, a glass of milk, or 3-4 soda crackers to prevent hypoglycemia from happening again.

After we have dealt with this hypoglycemia incident, we should reflect on what caused the hypoglycemia, whether it was due to not eating in time, using hypoglycemic drugs incorrectly, or increasing exercise without adding meals in time. We should record this incident and take the initiative to tell the doctor about the hypoglycemia experience when we go to the hospital for a follow-up visit next time, and discuss with the doctor whether the treatment plan needs to be modified.

4. How to prevent hypoglycemia

In order to prevent hypoglycemia from happening again, the majority of diabetics need to do the following in their daily lives: 1. Eat at regular times and in fixed quantities. If the amount of food eaten is reduced, the dosage of hypoglycemic drugs should be reduced accordingly. Be prepared in advance when you may miss a meal. 2. Do not increase the dosage of hypoglycemic drugs at will; 3. Eat more meals when the amount of exercise increases; 4. Pay attention to self-monitoring of blood sugar so that the doctor can adjust the treatment plan in time; 5. Do not drink excessively or drink on an empty stomach; 6. If vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms occur, timely treatment and adjustment of the dosage of hypoglycemic drugs are required, and blood sugar monitoring should be strengthened. 7. Carry candy, biscuits and other foods and a diabetes emergency card with you when you go out, and tell your family where you are going.

Hypoglycemia may seem tricky, but it is actually preventable and treatable. As long as the majority of diabetics start with the details, do not drink alcohol, exercise regularly, maintain good living habits, strengthen daily blood sugar monitoring, detect subtle changes in the body in a timely manner, and actively cooperate with the personalized treatment plan formulated by the doctor, it is not difficult to remove this "stumbling block" on the road to controlling blood sugar.

"Medical Herald" 24th issue 42, author: Lv Yuying, Luoding People's Hospital