Hypoglycemia—a definition 

Hypoglycemia literally means “low blood sugar”—that’s the simple answer. The best understood cases of hypoglycemia occur in Type I diabetics. For these people, maintaining a steady blood sugar level, which can be a tricky task, is accomplished through medication. Too much insulin, too little food or too much exercise can bring the blood sugar level down too low and trigger a hypoglycemic response.

Who experiences hypoglycemic symptoms?

There are many people experiencing symptoms, though, and they are not diabetic. Increasing numbers of doctors and lay people are coming to believe that hypoglycemia is really quite common in people who do not have diabetes. Many sources estimate that 25-50 percent of non-diabetics are dysglycemic, meaning that their bodies are unable to deal properly with the sugar in their diets. 

How your body uses sugar as fuel

The human body runs on sugar. Everything we eat contains either a form of sugar or is converted to sugar, which is then used as fuel to run the body and brain. When your blood is low on sugar, the first part of your body to notice the problem is your brain. Your brain uses 20 to 75 percent (depending on which medical expert you ask) of the sugar your body produces, so it makes sense that a low blood sugar level would affect your brain first.

When you eat something, whether it is a steak, pasta, an apple or a candy bar, your digestive system extracts the sugars and converts them to glycogen. The glycogen is then stored in your liver for use later. Sugar, appropriately converted for storage, also goes into your muscles and fatty tissues. Insulin is sugar’s partner. When your body needs sugar for proper operation, your pancreas releases insulin that reacts to the level of circulating blood sugar and “opens the cells” to release the sugar for use by the body. When your blood sugar begins to drop after you haven’t eaten for a while, the liver releases some of the stored sugar (glycogen). If you have a sugary snack (or an easily broken down low-fiber carbohydrate like pasta), insulin is released to prevent your blood sugar from rising too much or to lower it if your sugar level has risen too high or too quickly. A constant fuel supply is critical to proper functioning of all of the body’s systems, but this is especially true of the brain. The idea is to keep your blood sugar as level and constant as possible. This is the way the system is supposed to work, but in hypoglycemia, it doesn’t work properly.

Insulin resistance 

In many people, the insulin produced by the pancreas is ignored, mostly because the North American sugar-rich diet keeps our insulin levels artificially high, and our cells have learned, over the years, to ignore the high levels. This is called “Insulin Resistance”. When the insulin fails to have an effect, more insulin is released. When the cells finally do react, there is so much insulin floating around that the sugar drops suddenly and rapidly. In hypoglycemics, the level of sugar in the blood is pushed too low. At this point the adrenal gland sends adrenalin to signal the emergency condition and stops the release of insulin. The adrenalin also signals the liver and muscles to circulate some of the sugar that they have been storing to help bring the blood sugar back to normal operating levels. Additional hormones are produced to metabolize the sugar and block the insulin.

Initial symptoms of hypoglycemia... and more
The release of adrenalin (also called epinephrine) is what causes the classic “fight or flight” response. This is where your initial symptoms of sweating, dizziness and elevated heart rate come from. Symptoms can be aggravated if your adrenal system is “burned out” from prolonged or frequent stress. Other reactions vary widely, but you may find that you are hungry again soon after you eat, or you may crave sweets, or you may feel sick and dizzy. The symptoms range all the way from a mild discomfort to the inability to function normally. In very severe cases, low blood sugar can cause passing out, coma or even death.