When To Call A Professional
People with diabetes should contact their doctors promptly if they experience frequent episodes of hypoglycemia. They may need to adjust their daily doses of medications, meal plans and/or exercise program.
Nondiabetic people who experience symptoms of hypoglycemia should contact their doctors for evaluation of the problem.
What Causes Heart Flutters
Palpitations can appear out of the blue and disappear just as suddenly. They can be linked with certain activities, events, or emotions. Some people notice their heart skipping a beat when they are drifting off to sleep others, when they stand up after bending over. Palpitations can be triggered by:
- stress, anxiety, or panic
- too much caffeine, chocolate, or alcohol
- fever
People with certain medical conditions, such as heart disease, anemia, and an overactive thyroid gland are more likely to experience palpitations. Palpitations can be related to drugs and medications such as cocaine, amphetamines, diet pills, some cough and cold remedies, some antibiotics, thyroid hormone, digoxin, or asthma remedies.
What Causes Hyperglycemia In People With Diabetes
- The dose of insulin or oral diabetes medication that you are taking is not the most helpful dose for your needs.
- Your body isnt using your natural insulin effectively .
- The amount of carbohydrates you are eating or drinking is not balanced with the amount of insulin your body is able to make or the amount of insulin you inject.
- You are less active than usual.
- Physical stress is affecting you.
- Emotional stress is affecting you.
- You are taking steroids for another condition.
- The dawn phenomenon is affecting you.
Other possible causes
- Pancreatic diseases such as pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis.
- Certain medications .
- Gestational diabetes, which happens in 4% of pregnancies, and is due to decreased insulin sensitivity.
- Surgery or trauma.
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How To Treat Someone Who’s Unconscious Or Very Sleepy
Follow these steps:
They may need to go to hospital if they’re being sick , or their blood sugar level drops again.
Tell your diabetes care team if you ever have a severe hypo that caused you to lose consciousness.
Doctor’s Notes On Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is a medical problem when the concentration of glucose in the blood is below 60 mg/dL. The concentrations can affect brain function and/or can lead to coma or even death at very low levels of glucose in the blood. Common symptoms and signs of hypoglycemia include trembling, clammy skin, heart palpitations, anxiety, sweating, hunger, and/or irritability. These symptoms can be quickly relieved in most individuals when blood glucose levels are higher than 60 mg/dL. This is accomplished by the patient eating or drinking a highly concentrated glucose-containing substance or by IV glucose-containing fluid. This rapid alteration of symptoms after the administration of glucose is also a sign of hypoglycemia. However, when the glucose level approaches severely low levels where the brain is derived of glucose, signs and symptoms become progressively worse .
There are many common causes of hypoglycemia. Most individuals who develop symptoms and signs of hypoglycemia have diabetes that results in loss or inadequate production of insulin. Other common causes include
- overmedication with insulin,
- use of medications such as beta blockers and other drugs,
- severe infections,
- cancers causing poor fluid and/or food intake,
- adrenal insufficiency,
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What Are Heart Palpitations
Most of the time you wont notice your heartbeat, but if you suddenly become aware of it, this may concern you or come as a surprise. The feeling of being aware of your heart beating is described as a palpitation.
Palpitations can range from simply being aware of your hearts activity to the sensation of it beating faster and harder than usual. It can sometimes feel like your heart is missing beats or you have a heart flutter.
Changes to your heartbeat are usually not serious. But always see your doctor if you have palpitations or feel you have an irregular heart beat.
Dial triple zero if you have heart palpitations along with these symptoms:
- severe shortness of breath
- fainting or blackouts
How To Deal With Heart Racing At Night
Treatment options of heart racing at night depend on the underlying cause. In most cases, it is harmless and may go away without treatment. Your doctor may suggest you to avoid certain triggers and modify your lifestyle such as:
1. Medications
Treatments for palpitation include antiarrhythmic drugs, such as beta blockers or calcium channel blockers. If these medications do not effectively reduce your palpitations, stronger drugs that act directly on the heart may be necessary. Remember to follow the medical professional’s advice on when taking medication.
2. Catheter Ablation
This procedure involves small wires being threaded from your leg veins into your heart to trigger arrhythmia, in order to identify and treat the problem areas. This is highly effective when the specific region causing the heart problem is identified, such as an SVT or supraventricular tachycardia.
3. Home Remedies
If you do not have any medical problem that needs specific treatment, certain remedies may be sufficient to relieve heart racing at night.Here are some effective home remedies:
- Taking grape juice several times a day can help with palpitation.
- Ripe guava may be eaten on an empty stomach also good for anemia and nervousness.
- Powdered anise seeds combined with dry coriander.
- Honey can be taken with a glass of water and lemon juice, before going to bed.
4. Avoid Triggers
5. Manage Your Emotions
6. Comfort and Reassurance
7. Preventive Tips
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Checking For Low Blood Sugar Levels
The warning signs of hypoglycemia are the body’s natural response to low blood sugar levels. When blood sugar levels fall too low, the body releases the hormone adrenaline, which helps get stored glucose into the bloodstream quickly. This can make someone:
- pale
- start shaking
- have an increased heart rate
If the hypoglycemia isn’t treated, more serious symptoms may happen, such as drowsiness, confusion, seizures, and loss of consciousness.
The only way to know for sure if you’re having a low blood sugar level is to test. Blood sugar levels can be tested with a . This computerized device measures and displays the amount of glucose in a blood sample. But if you can’t quickly check your blood sugar level, it’s important to treat yourself for hypoglycemia immediately to prevent symptoms from getting worse.
Sometimes a person with diabetes may have symptoms of low blood sugar levels, but blood sugar levels are not actually low. This is a called a false reaction. The hormone adrenaline is not just released when blood sugar drops too low it’s also released when blood sugar levels fall quickly when they’re too high. If you’re having a false reaction, you might actually have blood sugar levels in a healthy range but feel as if you have low blood sugar. Testing blood sugar levels before treating yourself for hypoglycemia can help you figure out if you’re having a false reaction.
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Low Blood Sugar Can Increase Blood Pressure
Our body gets its energy to function properly from glucose, which is found in the carbohydrates we take in from the foods we eat. Insulin is responsible for pulling glucose from the bloodstream into cells, where it’s used for energy.
When our blood sugar levels are low, our body tries to keep essential organs working by causing various changes, including an increase in heart rate and peripheral systolic blood pressure . It also lowers central blood pressure .
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Severe Low Blood Sugar
As your low blood sugar gets worse, you may experience more serious symptoms, including:
- Feeling weak.
- Having difficulty walking or seeing clearly.
- Acting strange or feeling confused.
- Having seizures.
Severe low blood sugar is below 54 mg/dL. Blood sugar this low may make you faint . Often, youll need someone to help you treat severe low blood sugar.
People with diabetes may experience low blood sugar as often as once or twice a week, even when managing their blood sugar closely. Knowing how to identify and treat it is important for your health. Learn how to treat low blood sugar.
Preventing Low Blood Sugar Levels
Here are some other tips to help you avoid low blood sugar levels:
- Eat all your meals and snacks on time and try not to skip any.
- Take the right amount of insulin.
- If you exercise longer or harder than usual, have an extra snack.
- Don’t take a hot bath or shower right after an insulin shot.
- Stick to your diabetes management plan.
- Check your blood sugar levels regularly, so you can tell if your blood sugars are running too low and your treatment plan needs adjustment.
- Carry something containing sugar with you at all times and take it right away if you have symptoms. Don’t wait to see if the symptoms will go away they may get worse!
Alcohol and drugs can cause major problems with your blood sugar levels, so avoiding them is another way to prevent diabetes problems. Drinking can be particularly dangerous even deadly for people with diabetes because it messes up the body’s ability to keep blood glucose in a normal range. This can cause a very rapid drop in blood glucose in people with diabetes. Drug or alcohol use is also dangerous because it may affect someone’s ability to sense low blood sugar levels.
Learning how to recognize the signs of low blood sugar levels and get them back to normal is an important part of caring for diabetes. Keeping track of your blood sugar levels and recording lows when they occur will help you and your diabetes health care team keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range.
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Hypoglycemia In Children: Pediatric Ketotic Hypoglycemia
Some children experience pediatric ketotic hypoglycemia, a condition involving low blood sugar levels and high levels of ketones. If people do not have enough glucose to use as energy, the body begins to break down fat in the body instead. The body produces chemicals called ketones as a by-product of breaking down fat.
According to a 2019 study , pediatric ketotic hypoglycemia usually occurs due to poor intake of food, a gastrointestinal illness and vomiting, or a period of prolonged fasting. Severe metabolic and hormonal conditions may also cause pediatric ketotic hypoglycemia.
Pediatric ketotic hypoglycemia may affect children from 6 months old and often resolves after the age of 6 years.
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When a persons blood glucose level begins to drop, his body starts a series of reactions intended to raise its blood glucose level. Hormones are produced that cause the release of stored glucose from the liver. These hormones also produce some of the symptoms typically associated with hypoglycemia, such as trembling. If the body cannot reverse the low blood glucose on its own and the person does not recognize the symptoms of low blood glucose and does not consume some carbohydrate, the blood glucose level will drop further. If it goes low enough, a person may become confused or even pass out.
Health-care providers often recommend treating for hypoglycemia if blood glucose is below 70 mg/dl. Treatment generally involves consuming 15 grams of carbohydrate , waiting about 15 minutes, then checking your blood glucose level with your meter to see if it has risen to a safe level. Some experts also recommend checking blood glucose levels again an hour after the last treatment to see whether additional food is necessary.
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How Are Heart Palpitations Diagnosed
Your doctor will talk to you about how the palpitations start , how long they last, how often they happen and any other symptoms you may have and your family history.
They may send you for further testing, including an electrocardiogram to measure your hearts electrical activity. This may be done by wearing a Holter monitor, a device that you wear for 24 hours while going about your normal activities.
Capturing Heart Palpitations In Action
If you are at risk for a heart rhythm problem, or if palpitations are interfering with your life or mental health, a recording of your heart’s rhythm for 24 hours or even longer may capture an electrical “signature” of the problem. Getting visual evidence of this signature can help determine how best to treat your palpitations.
A Holter monitor constantly records your heart’s rhythm for 24 hours as you go about your daily activities. Small patches called electrodes are stuck onto your chest and attached to a recorder that you carry in a pocket or wear around your neck or waist. During the test, you keep a diary of what you are doing and how you feel, along with the time of day of each entry. When you return the monitor to your doctor, he or she will look at the recording to see if there have been any irregular heart rhythms.
Twenty-four hours often isn’t long enough to detect palpitations. An event recorder can monitor the heart for days or weeks. There’s even an implantable recorder that can invisibly monitor the heart for a year or more.
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Interesting Heart Palpitations Causes And Treatment For A Case Of The Heart Flutters
Does your heart unexpectedly start to race or pound, or feel like it keeps skipping beats? These sensations are called heart palpitations. For most people, heart palpitations are a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence. Others have dozens of these heart flutters a day, sometimes so strong that they feel like a heart attack.
Most palpitations are caused by a harmless hiccup in the heart’s rhythm. A few reflect a problem in the heart or elsewhere in the body.
What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Low Blood Sugar
Different people may feel low blood sugar levels differently. People with low blood sugar may:
- feel hungry or have “hunger pains” in their stomach
- feel shaky or like they’re trembling
- have a rapid heart rate
- feel sweaty or have cold, clammy skin
- have pale, gray skin color
- have a headache
- have seizures or convulsions
- lose consciousness
If you have diabetes, try to remember how your body reacts when your blood sugar levels are low. It may help you figure out when you’re having a low blood sugar level more quickly the next time.
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Why Foods Cause Heart Palpitations
Feeling palpitations after eating is a relatively common experience, which tends to occur when a substance in your food or drinkor your bodys natural biochemical response to that substancejolts the hearts electrical system and causes fluttering sensations, skipped beats, or a feeling that your heart is beating too hard or too fast.
Coffee drinkers, think about the last time you drank one cup too many. You know what I mean!
If your heart is healthy and you have no history of arrhythmia or heart diseaseand youre not experiencing any other symptomstheres little need to worry about an occasional episode of these irregular beats. For people who do have arrhythmias or cardiac issues, however, its a different story. Palpitations caused by food can cause an existing disruption in your hearts rhythm to escalate, and potentially lead to a major event.
How Can I Prevent Low Blood Glucose
All people with diabetes:
- If you experience low blood glucose often, ask your doctor if setting a higher goal for your A1C level may be appropriate.
- Ask your doctor to look at the test results from your home blood glucose monitor. These results reveal how often you have low blood glucose and when these episodes occur. Your doctor will look for patterns to see if low glucose happens after exercise or at certain times of day, for example.
- If you’ve had low blood glucose in the past, consider wearing a medical alert bracelet so that others will know that you have diabetes in the event of an emergency.
- Keep a fast-acting carbohydrate in your bag, desk drawer, car and other places for easy access. Good options include hard candy, fruit juice or glucose paste or tablets, which can be purchased at most pharmacies.
- Ask your doctor for an emergency glucagon kit. This kit contains a fast- acting medication that can be injected in case of loss of consciousness because of low blood glucose. Keep one kit at home and one at work or school.
- Monitor your blood glucose regularly so that low levels can be corrected before symptoms progress.
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Wearable Heart Rate Monitor Could Signal Low Blood Sugar In Type 1 Diabetes
A wearable medical patch measuring the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate is a promising device for the early detection of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, in type 1 diabetes, according to the researchers who tested the new monitor. Results of their preliminary study will be presented Saturday at ENDO 2018, the Endocrine Societys 100th annual meeting in Chicago.
Hypoglycemia is common in children and adults with type 1 diabetes. When untreated, severe hypoglycemia can lead to seizures, loss of consciousness or even death. Sometimes people with diabetes do not recognize symptoms of low blood sugar, a problem called impaired awareness of hypoglycemia. Although wearing a continuous glucose meter can help identify hypoglycemia, the glucose sensor, inserted under the skin, typically has a delay.
This delay can compromise the accuracy of measuring low glucose values, said the studys principal investigator, Marleen Olde Bekkink, M.D., Ph.D., an endocrinology fellow at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands. People with impaired awareness of hypoglycemia may need to wear an additional monitor.
Wireless technology transmitted the heart rate data to a mobile Apple device, either an iPhone or iPod. Then the investigators used an algorithm they developed to determine various parameters of heart rate variability. They conducted their primary analysis on 39 hypoglycemic events that occurred in 10 subjects.
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