I know hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia are the opposite, but what’s the difference and is one just like diabetes?
In: Biology
Diabetic here. I’ve had it for at least 20 years. My pancreas does not make insulin like a normal person’s does, so I need to take insulin injections. Insulin regulates the amount of sugar in your blood. Insulin takes sugar and converts it into energy or fat.
Hypoglycemia = not enough sugar in your blood. For me this happens if I take too much insulin , don’t eat enough carbohydrates and/or exercise too much without monitoring my sugars. For me the symptoms are sweating, nervousness, confusion and blurred vision. I’ve been mistaken as drunk before too when I was hypoglycemic. My wife has become adept at spotting the symptoms and gives me a cup of Orange Juice which usually cures me in a couple of minutes. It can be a medical emergency and eventually you can lose consciousness.
Hyperglycemia = too much sugar in your blood. If I don’t take enough insulin and/or if I eat/drink things with a lot of carbohydrates/sugar in them my blood sugars will go way up above “normal” levels since my pancreas doesn’t kick into overdrive to make insulin anymore. A normal person’s blood sugar reading might top out at 140mg/dl after a large meal but mine goes up over 500-600 if I don’t take enough insulin to “cover” the carbohydrate intake. Unlike hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia isn’t necessarily a medical emergency, but over time it damages your small blood cells in organs such as your retinas and kidneys and leads to other complications. After several hours or days you also become dehydrated (I was pissing every 30-45 minutes throughout the day and was craving water when I first got diagnosed) and develop diabetic ketoacidosis (your body doesn’t get any nutrition from what you eat and starts burning fat, which makes your blood acidic) and if you don’t take insulin you can eventually slip into a diabetic coma.
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