Insulin shock
| Diabetic hypoglycemia | |
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| Classification and external resources | |
| ICD-9-CM | 250.8 |
Diabetic hypoglycemia is a low blood glucose level occurring in a person with diabetes mellitus. It is one of the most common types of hypoglycemia seen in emergency departments and hospitals. According to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP), and based on a sample examined between 2004 and 2005, an estimated 55,819 cases (8.0% of total admissions) involved insulin, and severe hypoglycemia is likely the single most common event.
In general, hypoglycemia occurs when a treatment to lower the elevated blood glucose of diabetes inaccurately matches the body's physiological need, and therefore causes the glucose to fall to a below-normal level.
Diabetic hypoglycemia can occur in any person with diabetes who takes any medicine to lower their blood glucose, but severe hypoglycemia occurs most often in people with type 1 diabetes who must take insulin for survival. In type 1 diabetes, iatrogenic hypoglycemia is more appropriately viewed as the result of the interplay of insulin excess and compromised glucose counterregulation rather than as absolute or relative insulin excess alone. Hypoglycemia can also be caused by sulfonylureas in people with type 2 diabetes, although it is far less common because glucose counterregulation generally remains intact in people with type 2 diabetes. Severe hypoglycemia rarely, if ever, occurs in people with diabetes treated only with diet, exercise, or insulin sensitizers.
For people with insulin-requiring diabetes, hypoglycemia is one of the recurrent hazards of treatment. It limits the achievability of normal glucoses with current treatment methods. Hypoglycemia is a true medical emergency, which requires prompt recognition and treatment to prevent organ and brain damage.
A commonly used "number" to define the lower limit of normal glucose is 70 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/l), though in someone with diabetes, hypoglycemic symptoms can sometimes occur at higher glucose levels, or may fail to occur at lower. Some textbooks for nursing and pre-hospital care use the range 80 mg/dl to 120 mg/dl (4.4 mmol/l to 6.7 mmol/l). This variability is further compounded by the imprecision of glucose meter measurements at low levels, or the ability of glucose levels to change rapidly.
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