What type of doctor for hypoglycemia

Certified Diabetes Educators CDE are health professionals with extensive knowledge and experience of the latest news and practices for managing or preventing diabetes and prediabetes. They have specialized training in how to educate people about managing their diabetes in order to optimize their health in the future. People with diabetes have a higher risk of kidney disease over time than someone without the condition. For this reason, a doctor may recommend regular testing to monitor kidney function.

A general doctor will normally carry this out. If a doctor finds something that needs closer inspection, they may refer a person to a nephrologist for additional tests. Physical activity plays an important role in the management of diabetes. Current guidelines recommend that adults should spend at least minutes a week on moderate-intensity, aerobic exercise or 75 minutes on vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise.

People can work with a physical trainer to create a personalized exercise program that works for them. People with diabetes may benefit from seeing a podiatrist regularly. Common complications of diabetes include nerve damage and circulatory problems. These can increase the risk of a minor wound becoming an infection. If a wound remains untreated, or if a person does not notice it, ulceration can result. In severe cases, an amputation may be necessary.

The loss of sensation may mean that the person does not notice a blister or other wound. Common areas where this occurs include the legs and feet. A podiatrist can spot the signs of a problem that might get bigger and help the person to resolve it in the early stages. They may also carry out toenail trimming and other routine care.

This can reduce the risk of the person injuring themselves while taking care of their feet. Learn more here about how diabetes can affect the feet. Diabetes can affect the eyes , and a person may benefit from regular checkups with an eye doctor, or ophthalmologist. What is the link between diabetes and blurry vision? Learn more here. If you don't use medications known to cause hypoglycemia, your doctor will want to know the following:.

What were your signs and symptoms? If you don't have signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia during your initial visit with your doctor, he or she might have you fast overnight or longer. This will allow low blood sugar symptoms to occur so that he or she can make a diagnosis. It's also possible that you'll need to undergo an extended fast in a hospital setting. Or if your symptoms occur after a meal, your doctor will want to test your glucose levels after you eat.

In addition, your doctor will likely conduct a physical examination and review your medical history. Hypoglycemia is considered severe if you need help from someone to recover. For example, if you can't eat, you might need glucagon injection or intravenous glucose. In general, people with diabetes who are treated with insulin should have a glucagon kit for emergencies. Hypoglycemia is the medical term for low blood glucose.

It can be dangerous for people with diabetes. You need to know what to watch for, and what to do to correct it. The symptoms of low blood glucose, or hypoglycemia, include shakiness, headache, and sudden moodiness. This is called hypoglycemic unawareness. Hypoglycemic unawareness can happen for several reasons:.

There are a lot of reasons why your blood glucose might drop too low. Here are a few common causes:. To prevent hypoglycemia, stick to your self management plan. They will help you figure out the problem and show you how to correct it. Hypoglycemia usually comes on quickly. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. If you have symptoms of hypoglycemia , your healthcare provider will need to figure out the cause , starting with a blood test. Similar to when you have a fever, having low blood sugar is not a disease, it's a condition that indicates that something else is going on in your body.

If you're a person with diabetes, especially when you're newly diagnosed and beginning treatment, you will likely encounter episodes of hypoglycemia on occasion.

If you do not have diabetes, schedule a visit with your healthcare provider if you keep having symptoms of hypoglycemia. Your healthcare provider will do a physical exam, medical history, and ask you questions about your symptoms. Blood Tests. Your healthcare provider will need to see if your blood glucose level is low when you're having symptoms. If you have symptoms of hypoglycemia after you eat, your healthcare provider may have you come back after a meal to check your blood glucose.

If you do have hypoglycemia, the cause can be as simple as a medication you're taking that can lead to low blood sugar, like the antibiotic Bactrim sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim , beta blockers, monoamine oxidase inhibitors MAOIs , or Haldol haloperidol , or the result of an alcohol binge.

If it's not due to medications or alcohol, your healthcare provider may do additional testing to find out what the underlying cause is, such as a hormonal deficiency or an illness like kidney disease or hepatitis. If you don't have diabetes and you have symptoms of hypoglycemia yet your blood sugar levels are normal, there's something else going on. In fact, there's a long list of conditions that your symptoms could be attributed to. The most common non-diabetes causes include:. Your healthcare provider may do additional testing to look for the cause of your symptoms depending on what they are and your family and medical history.

If you have diabetes and your blood glucose levels are too low, but you have few or no symptoms, it is probably due to hypoglycemia unawareness. When you have repeated episodes of hypoglycemia, you can stop showing symptoms.