Hypoglycemia: low glucose levels

What is hypoglycemia aka hypo?

it's a state in which a diabetic patient's body has less glucose or sugar content in his body, usually, this occurs because of over exercise or performing heavy work which can be either physical or mental, stress can also lead to hypoglycemia

in some cases which can be considered as special, there are instances that you may feel low but your glucometer shows a whopping value of 300 or may be more than that, in such a case if you feel low it means that your body needs glucose and hence you need to eat a candy

Symptoms

here are some good indications that may help you how to understand whether you are experiencing hypo or hyperglycemia

symptoms of hypoglycemia may include: 

•  dizziness

you won't be able to walk properly and rather not be able to move your body

• extreme hunger

while its common to feel hungry, but when you are hypo the hunger usually is unbearable, on the contrary, you cant move as you don't have enough energy

• headache

well, headache is common in most of the cases

• confusion

as you don't really know what's happening all of a sudden there is a lot of confusion and hundreds of thoughts running through your mind and you hardly can think of any reasons 

• an inability to concentrate

I mean it's obvious that you won't be able to concentrate with lots of things happening at a single moment of time just stay calm and try to consume anything sweet like candy

• sweating

hypoglycemia triggers a fight or flight response from your body. You produce excess adrenaline and norepinephrine, which cause excess sweating

• shaking

A common early symptom of hypoglycemia, shaking does not refer to the full-body shakes of someone having a seizure but instead to a more subtle trembling that may initially be sensed by the person experiencing it without being visible to an observer

• blurred vision

 Your brain routinely takes two pictures from two eyes and formulates the pictures into a single image. When your brain does not have enough glucose, the brain loses the ability to coordinate vision. You may see fine with one eye closed, but quick action is needed to prevent the confused state that will follow if you don’t raise your blood glucose level.

• personality changes

this is the most common problem that is faced by a diabetic when he is in the state of hypoglycemia, while confusion is very much and he is already unable to cope and understand his situation there is a heavy chance that the person may yell, shout on you and become more aggressive but he is not harmful as he is not in an adequate stage to beat you :P 

here are few things you need to do when you have a diabetic friend

You may have hypoglycemia without having any symptoms. This is known as hypoglycemia unawareness.

Low blood sugar can cause death, Or you can go into a coma and have brain death, which your heart will still beat, but you are dead for all that matters. It is a horrible death.

Long-term effects/ implications

it is harmful to be in both hyper and hypo for the long term the implications are so frightening and disturbing here I will be describing some of the most dangerous effects of both hypo and hyperglycemia, I would also request each of my readers to be very cautious, take care of your blood sugar in any case

Hypoglycemia

If you do not adjust your blood sugar for a long-term and happen to experience hypoglycemia like conditions and if your blood sugar is below 60 mg/dl then you are prone to damage your nervous system and because our brain needs glucose to function properly in severe cases you may faint and get yourself into a condition which is called sugar byte which is getting into coma,now you know why it's harmful to get into hypo constantly

long-term effects and tips to avoid hypo

1. Keep candies and other sweet items with you where ever you go, and whenever you feel like your BG has gone low then you just need to pop out the candy and quickly let it enter your mouth, you will recover in few minutes till then just sit and relax.
2. Eat every 2-3 hours to avoid such situations as keeping your blood sugar normal is more important and eat less every time, I know it's hard to control when the food is delicious but all you need to do is just relax and control.
3. Hypo can be of many types there are instances that you may feel low but on checking your BG with a glucometer you may see a big number in such a case you need to eat candies no matter how high the number is, such cases usually come up when there is a sudden drop in glucose level in your blood 

I know it's complicated so I have an example

suppose your blood sugar is 400 at this time and you are doing some really exhausting physical/mental work, at such cases your sugar level may drop to 300 which is a sheer drop of 100 mg/dl  in a very short period of time so in such a case you need to have a candy as there is a demand of stabilized sugar level  ie 400 or near to it
though 300mg/dl is a high number your blood sugar has dropped suddenly so your body reacts to it, in simple words, it can be referred to as "relatively low" which is relative to the previous measurement your current reading is low


Hyperglycemia: high sugar levels

in a case of high sugar levels, you may feel thirsty, blurred vision, fruity breath, sleepy, tired and if these symptoms continue till long span of time you may lose your appetite and loss of weight is very common cases
in such cases, you need to exercise and maintain a proper diet
the first thing you need to do is to create a timetable according to which you can work and plan your day so that you don't suffer any of this hypo and hyper conditions,

long-term effects
the long-term effects of hyper includes

1. Failure of proper functioning of internal organs, or say malfunctioning of your internal organs
2. Low immunity towards common diseases like common cold and fever, it lates longer than usual to recover from a common communicable disease
3. Takes longer than usual to heal small wounds and cuts, most common wounds and infections are reported to be on the foot so take care of the foot, always wear shoes.
4. It easy to develop fungus and infections near unhygienic areas of one's body which are usually the armpits and genitals
5. Sexual stamina is also affected if you have a long term high sugar level in males mostly erectile dysfunction and low sexual desire, in females low sensitivity and lower desire of sex is observed, which is definitely not good, also both low and high BG are related to lower sexual desire and low potency.