Hypoglycaemia Explained

Hypoglycaemia is the technical term for low blood glucose. When people are first diagnosed with diabetes, they sometimes find it hard to understand how low blood glucose can be a problem when diabetes is all about high blood glucose!

Try imagining your blood sugar as weights on a set of scales. If you start out with all the weight on one side (let’s call it the ‘high blood sugar’ side), you’ll want to balance things out by transferring some of that weight to the other side (the ‘low blood sugar’ side).

However, sometimes it’s hard to control how much weight you shift, and you might end up over-doing it – the result being hypoglycaemia. This could be because of:

• Not enough food
• Too much insulin
• More exercise than usual
• Illness
• Travel
• Stress

Unfortunately, you can’t always avoid a low. For this reason, it’s important to establish a routine to follow when your blood glucose drops. If you have a routine, you’re sure to have something available to treat a low and less likely to over-treat and cause your blood glucose to go up too much.

Speak to your healthcare professional for guidance on what you should do if you experience hypoglycaemia.

Some people with diabetes don’t know when their blood glucose is low because they don’t feel the usual symptoms – this is called ‘hypoglycaemia unawareness’. If you suffer from hypoglycaemia unawareness, it’s important to test your blood glucose more often. Everyone with diabetes should test before driving a car to assure safety on the road.