Dear Readers:

Janice D. writes Lifeline about her 13-year-old daughter who fainted several times recently while standing in the assembly line at school. Her daughter complained of dizziness and weakness and sweating profusely during these incidents. Her physician has told her that the child probably wasn't eating properly and was experiencing hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) attacks. Her daughter often leaves home without breakfast, which is a bad habit.

Functional hypoglycaemia is usually directly related to dietary habits. It is usually caused by one or more of three situations:

1) Eating too little.

2) Not eating often enough.

3) Eating excessive amounts of sugar.

Eating sugar causes the pancreas (a sugar-regulating organ) in the abdomen to produce insulin. The function of insulin is to regulate the levels of sugar circulating in the blood. In some situations associated with hypoglycaemia, the pancreas produces more insulin than is needed, resulting in a rapid fall in blood-sugar levels. Under these conditions, the blood sugar can fall to abnormally low levels.

The symptoms associated with hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) are:

Irritability

Sweating

Hunger

Tremors

Dizziness

Impaired coordination

Weakness

Visual problems

Problems with focusing on tasks

Depression

Anxiety

This occurs because the brain needs a steady supply of sugar (glucose) to function normally. When enough sugar is not available, hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are released to stimulate the liver and tissues, causing them to release more sugar into the blood. However, these hormones have other effects and can result in palpitations and other symptoms similar to a panic attack.

Low blood sugar can also occur secondarily to several medical disorders such as thyroid and pituitary illness, adrenal insufficiency and disorders of the kidney, liver and pancreas. People can also develop hypoglycaemia after stomach surgery.

People with depressed immune systems or those who undergo regular high stress can also experience hypoglycaemia. Because of this, it is necessary to test for and rule out other possible underlying disorders before diagnosing hypoglycaemia. One way of confirming hypoglycaemia is by a five-hour glucose tolerance test which is available at medical laboratories islandwide that demonstrates just how much insulin the pancreas produces in response to the ingestion of sugar.

solution

A person experiencing an acute attack of hypoglycaemia should ingest a very sweet drink and sugary foods immediately. However, often long-term dietary management is necessary. Instead of eating three large meals per day, the individual suffering with low-sugar episodes will feel much better eating six small meals daily or three main meals of moderate size with healthy snacks in-between.

Consumption of refined sugars should be avoided to prevent overproduction of insulin.

Many teenage girls are worried about being chubby and are purposefully not eating adequately. These girls may also have recently begun to see their menses, which could also contribute to dizziness and fainting spells due to mild anaemia in conjunction with poor eating habits.