Suggest Treatment For Reactive Hypoglycemia

Posted on Tue, 7 Feb 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 7 Feb 2017 Answered on

Fri, 3 Mar 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : I have always had reactive hypoglycemia. I have been able to control it. I am 53 yr old female weigh 180. I have recently started to diet. I have been feeling terrible and started monitoring my sugar. 4 days ago it was low, 72. I stayed on the diet (Just avoiding fried, startch, sugar, white bread, etc). I have still felt bad, headache, lightheaded, checked my sugar last night it was 220. It came down to 138 before bed but up to 144 this morning after sleeping. I ate light breakfast of grits(no sugar) and my sugar is up to 280. Cannot get a dr. Appt until next week. Should I see a dr. now? What should I do?

Answered by Dr. Mirjeta Guni (50 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
About high glucose levels;

Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for asking!
I have gone carefully through your concern.
Females who are diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia, have a tendency to develop type 2 Diabetes in the future.
If there are found more than 2 glucose levels over 200 mg/ dl ( at every time of the day) or more than 125 mg/ dl fasting, Diabetes is confirmed.
HbA1c level will confirm the diagnosis.
For the moment i would suggest to check the ketones in urine ( with an urine dip stick) and if negative wait for the appointment of the next week.
Otherwise, if they are positive and the blood glucose continue to raise, you should not wait until next week.
It is a bit strange, why the blood glucose has a tendency to go up while you are on diet, anyway some further exams ( liver and renal function, HbA1c level, ect ) will give more info and probably will find a cause while the blood glucose is raising.

Hope the information will help.

Kind regards,
Dr.Mirjeta

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad