by J J kearns

Created on: March 13, 2009

As a result of severs malnutrition during my childhood my body developed hypoglycemia as a defense mechanism Since then I have had to learn how to treat it.

Hypoglycemia literally means low blood sugar. The cells in our bodies get their energy from a type of sugar called glucose. This glucose is what we call "blood sugar." Each cell needs a minimum amount of glucose to function properly when the blood sugar drops to low it can be very dangerous.

When I say it is dangerous I mean if my blood sugar drops to low I can slip into a coma and or die. So how do I deal with this?

Well first I had to recognize what my symptoms of low blood sugar are. When my blood sugar is low the first thing that I notice is that my head seems to be in some kind of a fog or as the doctors call it, mental confusion. This is followed by shaking or trembling in the hands and tunnel visions. If I do not treat it at this point my symptoms will continue to worsen as I get numbness around my mouth and start to have what they call a straggling walk. Which is followed by sweating, even though I am cold, and eventually leading to fainting. If not treated quickly this can lead to coma.

So how do I treat it? Well it starts with my diet. When a person who is diabetic they can not convert carbohydrates into glucose very well. It is the same for someone with hypoglycemia. So I first needed to learn the difference between a good carbohydrate and a bad carbohydrate. I cut a lot of the bad ones out of my diet along with a lot of my sugar intake. I switched to drinks with no sugar in them and quickly learned to avoid having a lot of potatoes and bread. I now eat meals that contain more protein. By doing this I been able to keep my blood sugar from dropping too low, for the most part.

When my blood sugar does drop to low I have to make sure to treat it as soon as possible. Now this can be done with a sugary drink or a hard piece of candy. But, I only use these if I have to. My body is going to process this sugar and if I don't watch how much of it I take in I can cause an even bigger problem. Sure my blood sugar is going to rise but, if I take in to much my body will process this sugar and my blood sugar can suddenly drop even lower.

The best thing that I have found, and that has been recommended to me, is pretzels. All the experts have told me that these little snacks are the best thing for bringing a hypoglycemics blood sugar back up. So far it is the thing that has worked the best for me.

So sure living with hypoglycemia can be problematic But, I have found that if you take care of yourself and watch what you eat hypoglycemia is actually very manageable. I just make sure to have my pretzels with me where ever I go.

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