Blood sugar levels

[nomore]

Well, my newest worry is Hypoglycaemia, my blood sugar will become too low and I'll pass out!

A couple of weeks ago I was walking through the park and started feeling light-headed, weak, had cold sweat, trouble concentrating, etc. It didn't feel like a panic attack so I assumed Hypoglycaemia. I know I am not diabetic because of all the blood tests I've had in the last year, due to the health anxiety . So, I bough a blood sugar meter and I've been using it when I get a bout of what I think is Hypo.

The lowest measurement I got was yesterday, 4.2 mmol/L, this was around 6pm and I was feeling light-headed again, trembling, cold sweat, etc. I had a small lunch around 1pm and hadn't eaten anything since then, just had a cup of coffee.

I've been trying to figure out what the range is for normal glucose levels but the information out there varies so widely!!! Sometimes it says that low is below 3 mmol/L, sometimes it says that low is below 4.5 mmol/L, it's just so inconsistent! The manual that came with the meter says that low is below 3.3 mmol/L! I even read that low might be anything below 2.0 mmol/L!



Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


I get the Hypo symptoms when my anxiety is high, but I guess that would make sense. I just don't know what to think anymore!!!! Is this just a different variation of a panic attack???? I have plenty of "fun" living with all of the other stuff I worry about.

[Cathy V]

I dont know anything about measuring blood sugar levels, but it sounds like this is whats happening, and i get this too at least one time in the day, in fact its very common. I doubt if you will become so bad that you will pass out, as you are not diabetic, but the combination of not eating and using up more energy being anxious can make the blood sugar drop, hence the trembling and weakness.

Try to keep your sugar levels even by eating slow-release energy foods like fruit, bananas are good, and cheese, rather than biscuits and cakes. Its also a good idea to carry those lucazade lozenges with you for when you start to feel a little shaky. I used to get this more in the run up to a period, so it can be hormone related sometimes too (what isnt!). Having 'hypos' doesnt mean you will develop full blown diabetes and i think alot of doctors fail to realise that this low blood sugar thing can be quite debilitating, but because the tests for diabetes come back negative they think its not a problem.

[Turner]

Hi

I'm diabetic & your normal range is between 4-7, you can't go into a hypo unless you are diabetic. It's funny going into one you start to shake a bit & you get confused, that's when you need to get some sugar & fast. I'm not long diagnosed, I collapsed on holiday & smashed my skull but that was down to low blood pressure but throught that they found out I had the onset of diabetes.

I've always ate healthy & trained which is lucky because that's what you have to do if you want to live longer & keep good health. I know your minds racing mate but that's all it is, hopefully you'll never become diabetic.

[redballoons]

hi
I had a gestational diabetes test a few days ago and they do a fasting finger prick thing to start - mine was 4.6 which the woman told me was normal?

sophie

[Turner]

hi
I had a gestational diabetes test a few days ago and they do a fasting finger prick thing to start - mine was 4.6 which the woman told me was normal?

sophie

Anything between 4-7 is normal, people without diabetes maybe go slightly higher or lower than this but their bodies can deal with & process sugar through their pancreas which produces insulin which lets your body absord sugar/glucose.

Someone with diabetes can't process there sugar/glucose so they have to cut sugar out. People with type 1 need to take insulin injections because there body's can't process sugar/glucose even more so, if they don't take insulin their blood sugar would be dangerourly high which leads to all sorts of bad stuff.

Blindness, amputations, harding of arteries, heart diseaes, strokes the list goes on & on. So if you don't take care of yourself your gonna end up in bother, it's a right laugh.

[redballoons]

I was going to add (but my son pulled our xmas tree over lol)
that my mum had type 1 diabetes from childhood and when she was having a problem it was very very obvious, first she would get almost overexcited kind of like my kids on christmas eve or something and then start to get disorientated and at if it was left she would just not know what she was doing at all.For example once when I was about 13 i found her going through the cupboards tipping out all of the bags of flour and sugar etc - I have no idea why. Obviously if it gets further than that then you would collapse and go into a coma.

My mum didnt look after herself at all (as you can tell from the story above!) and ate as much sugar etc as the rest of us but then again she died at the age of 42 from heart disease so the moral is do what the doctors say i think!

this is why i had the test because of family history - luckily all was clear!.

[Charlottie]

4-7 is a normal range, we learnt it in class the other day And I'm a student nurse btw.

[nomore]

Thanks everyone! I've been getting these Hypo-like symptoms pretty much every day for the past 3 weeks or so.
I really think that it's connected with the anxiety, like Cathy is suggesting, because it only seems to happen when I feel anxious.
I used to get this once-in-a-blue-moon before, but never really paid too much attention. Now...every time it happens I am like "OMG, OMG, OMG...it's happening again". I do try to keep calm but that's not always easy to do when you are trembling and can't really think straing!