Mr. Gong, 55, suddenly felt dizzy, palpitation and cold sweat about two hours after dinner the day before yesterday, suspected hypoglycemia attack. The family quickly gave him two pieces of sugar, the symptoms did not ease, but Mr. Gong was in a trance. When the paramedics arrived, his blood sugar was only 1.6 mmol/l, and he rushed to the hospital for an intravenous infusion of glucose to save his life. Why does blood sugar decrease after eating? Clearly is hypoglycemia attack, why does eating sugar not work?
When blood sugar drops below 3.9 mmol/l, it is diagnosed as "hypoglycemia". At this time, the human body usually feels hunger, palpitations, cold sweat and so on. When blood sugar is below 2 mmol/L, severe hypoglycemia is reached, and the patient may have a disturbance of consciousness and develop a "hypoglycemic coma." There are two main causes of hypoglycemia, one is reduced glucose intake, the other is excessive glucose consumption.
Mr. Gong himself does not have diabetes. One year ago, he underwent subtotal gastrectomy due to gastric perforation and lost the physiological function of gastric pylorus. When he ate too fast, the food in the stomach was suddenly dumped into the duodenum or jejunum, and the glucose was quickly absorbed by the intestinal mucosa, resulting in a sudden rise in blood sugar, which stimulated the excessive secretion of insulin from the islets and resulted in hypoglycemia. This condition is called "dumping syndrome" and eating sweets can actually worsen the condition, but eating foods such as biscuits and steamed buns can be helpful. For patients with dumping syndrome, like Gong, intravenous glucose supplementation can correct postprandial hypoglycemia.
Postprandial hypoglycemia and the inability to eat sugar can also occur in diabetic patients. If sugar friends use acarbose in combination with insulin or sulfonylureas, postprandial hypoglycemia may occur when the amount of food intake does not match the amount of hypoglycemic drugs. Because acarbose can inhibit polysaccharide decomposition and delay glucose absorption in the digestive tract, eating sugar may not be able to quickly correct postprandial hypoglycemia, and intravenous glucose supplementation is needed for treatment.
In addition, some pre-glucose patients, especially obese people, are prone to hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, and delayed peak insulin secretion, often about 3 hours after eating insulin secretion, and then hypoglycemia. Once the patient eats a large number of sweets during the meal, the rapid rise in blood sugar will stimulate the secretion of insulin, which is more likely to induce post-meal hypoglycemia. Such patients should take dietary conditioning, usually eat less carbohydrates, and it is best to drink sugar-free drinks at meals.
There are many possible reasons for postprandial hypoglycemia, such as eating less, exercising more, serious infection, digestive tract diseases, and neoplastic diseases. However, if the sugar can not be relieved after 15 minutes, it is necessary to seek medical attention in time.
