in today's video we're going to be going over 10 symptoms of low blood sugar a couple of weeks ago
i did a video on high blood sugar or hyperglycemia and today we're going to be looking at low blood
sugar or hypoglycemia in my previous video i discussed some of the severe consequences of
leaving high blood sugar untreated which include kidney failure nerve damage and even death but
having low blood sugar can be just as dangerous so in today's video we're going to go over what
causes low blood sugar 10 signs you might be experiencing it and what you can do about it
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a health coach and i post
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start your free trial today as i mentioned at the start of this video having low blood sugar is not
something to take lightly in the most severe of cases it can result in death usually the level of
glucose in the blood considered to be too low is anything below 70 milligrams per deciliter
or 3.9 millimoles per liter but with that being said some people can have readings below this
threshold without having any symptoms however when it gets below 54 milligrams per deciliter
or 3.0 millimoles per liter that is when you want to take immediate action we're going to start off
today talking about the two types of hypoglycemia then we'll get into the 10 symptoms and we're
going to finish off by talking about what you can do to prevent hypoglycemia from happening reactive
versus non-reactive hypoglycemia there are two types of hypoglycemia reactive and
non-reactive reactive occurs when your blood sugar drops a couple hours after eating a meal
and non-reactive is not always diet related non-reactive hypoglycemia also known as
fasting hypoglycemia is commonly seen in diabetics when they overdose their insulin
and there are other medications that can cause it either intentionally or unintentionally insulin
of course as we just mentioned metformin and certain types of antibiotics can all cause blood
sugar to drop lower than it should excess alcohol consumption can also cause a drop in blood sugar
and if you have kidney heart or liver issues this can also be the cause but reactive hypoglycemia
can be seen in those who are not diabetic and who do not take medication
and reactive hypoglycemia can be a bit tricky to diagnose as i touched on earlier the numbers are
not the same for everyone some people can have blood sugar levels that are considered to be low
and not experience any symptoms and on the other side some people can have blood sugar
readings that are considered to be normal but be experiencing all the signs of hypoglycemia and
this results in the diagnosis being missed someone might be experiencing symptoms go to their doctor
and have their fasting blood sugar look normal but because reactive hypoglycemia happens after eating
this test isn't able to identify the problem which is another reason why it gets missed but anyways
of course if you are experiencing these symptoms the first thing you should do is check your
blood sugar if you have a reader at home they are relatively inexpensive and i will link a few that
i recommend in the description box down below but i'm going to reiterate this hypoglycemia is not
something to take lightly so you should definitely book it with your doctor asap but with that let's
get into the symptoms number one a rapid heartbeat the first symptom we're going to talk about today
is a rapid heartbeat or heart palpitations when blood sugar drops below what the body requires
this symptom is very common so if you notice your heart is beating faster than normal
or it is beating irregularly this could be a sign you are experiencing hypoglycemia
number two shaking the next symptom is shaking and trembling when blood sugar drops the body will
release certain hormones in an attempt to bring it back up these hormones include the fight or
flight hormone adrenaline which might cause you to shake number three is sweating sweating is another
sign of low blood sugar and again this is related to the hormones being released in an attempt to
bring blood sugar back up number four anxiety some people who are hypoglycemic experience anxiety low
blood sugar causes the central nervous system to malfunction as we already mentioned there
is an acute increase in adrenaline and this sudden influx can cause you to become anxious
number five blurred vision this side effect can be very scary if you aren't aware of what's going on
and even if you are aware it can still be very scary our brains are particularly sensitive to
drops in blood sugar which can impact our vision now whereas with high blood sugar
the eye itself can actually become damaged with low blood sugar changes in vision are
due to how hypoglycemia affects the brain vision will return to normal when your blood sugar does
number six confusion another symptom of hypoglycemia is confusion and again this
comes down to a lack of glucose getting to the brain you might have trouble thinking clearly
or become forgetful number seven irritability low blood sugar can also impact our mood
when it drops we can see our mood drop as well and we might become irritable as a result
number eight trouble concentrating once again this has to do with the brain your thoughts
might wander and it might be really difficult to focus on your work or the task at hand number nine
extreme hunger if you experience extreme hunger either right after you've eaten or a couple hours
after you have eaten this can be a sign of low blood sugar even if you check your blood sugar
when you are experiencing this and the reading is what is considered to be normal this can still
be a sign what could be happening if that is the case is that your cells are malfunctioning
and not able to take in the glucose out of your blood and use it for energy so basically your
cells are starving despite there being enough energy in your system number 10 headaches and the
final symptom we're going to talk about today is headaches once again this comes down to the brain
not getting enough glucose now before we get into what you can do to treat hypoglycemia i'm going to
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sponsoring this video treatments so what can you do to treat hypoglycemia the first thing you need
to identify is if you are experiencing reactive or non-reactive hypoglycemia in the case of
non-reactive hypoglycemia the answer is pretty straightforward address what is causing the drop
in blood sugar aka too much insulin and adjust accordingly now with reactive hypoglycemia
which is what is often seen in people who are not diabetic it can be a bit more tricky you might
eat a meal in carbs which you would think would raise your blood sugar but experience hypoglycemia
symptoms shortly after eating so what's going on reactive hypoglycemia is one of the earliest
signs of insulin resistance pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes all of these things go hand in hand as
someone becomes more insulin resistant their ability to produce the right amount of insulin
to regulate blood sugar decreases for someone who has hypoglycemia here's what happens when
they eat their blood sugar rises and insulin rises but it rises too much so because there's too much
insulin then too much sugar is taken out of the bloodstream and you are left with low blood sugar
and the symptoms we discussed earlier the treatment usually prescribed to someone who's
experiencing hypoglycemia is to eat more carbs at which point you have fallen into a vicious cycle
where you're trying to consume just enough carbs to bring your blood sugar back up
dealing with hypoglycemia in this way is a nightmare really if you are ever somewhere
where you don't have access to carbs or to food in general that can be a pretty scary situation
the good news is is that by addressing the root cause your body's increasing resistance to insulin
you can stop hypoglycemia from happening the key is to focus on improving insulin sensitivity
and i'm not going to go into how to do that today because i have so many other videos on this topic
so definitely check out this video afterwards i give you three super simple steps you can
take to start improving your insulin sensitivity reversing your insulin resistance and preventing
hypoglycemia anyways guys that's all i have for you today so to quickly recap
the symptoms number one a rapid heartbeat number two shaking number three sweating
number four anxiety number five blurred vision number six confusion number seven irritability
number eight trouble concentrating number nine extreme hunger and number ten headaches
let me know in the comment section down below if you have ever experienced hypoglycemia
and what symptoms you experienced i love hearing from you guys in the comment section
and i try to get back to every comment that i can within the first couple of hours after i post so
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thank you guys for watching if you did enjoy this video you might also enjoy my video on how
to reverse insulin resistance which i was talking about earlier i will put it right here if you want
to catch up on my most recent upload you can find it here and if you want to check out my keto diet
and carnivore diet coaching programs you can find them here thanks guys i'll see you next time bye