Diabetic hypoglycemia (also called insulin shock or insulin reaction) is having an abnormally low amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood relative to the amount of insulin in the blood.
A person with diabetes can become hypoglycemic by taking too much insulin or diabetes medicine or by skipping meals.
Symptoms of hypoglycemia include headache, hunger, weakness, sweating, anxiety, and changes in personality. If untreated, it can lead to seizures, unconsciousness, brain damage, or death.
Treatment for diabetic hypoglycemia involves eating foods that contain sugar or getting a shot of glucagon, a substance that stimulates the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream.
|Primary Medical Reviewer||E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine|
|Specialist Medical Reviewer||Jennifer Hone, MD - Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism|
|Last Revised||September 20, 2012|