How do Doctors test for Hypoglycemia?
Since Hypoglycemia, or Low Blood Sugar, can cause a myriad of symptoms, and ALL of them could also be caused by something else, I strongly caution you against self-diagnosis..
Difficulty of Diagnosis
Hypoglycemia is difficult to diagnose, and the range of symptoms you may have will often send your doctor off on other trails. Medical diagnosis is a very complex art/science and it is often difficult to separate causes from effects, symptoms from diseases.
If you have given your doctor a head start by mentioning that you think you might be hypoglycemic, you may still not get a diagnosis. Most doctors believe that hypoglycemia is rare in non-diabetics and that the only way you would have it is the presence of tumours or liver disease.
This is understandable, given the medical literature. Most family medical books talk about hypoglycemia as a rare problem, and imply that most people who believe they have hypoglycemia are suffering from other problems, including mental instability!
Even with a doctor who is ready and willing to consider a diagnosis of hypoglycemia, there are more hurdles to contend with.
The Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT), used mostly for the detection of diabetes, is the test used most often to diagnose hypoglycemia. Unfortunately, it is often not reliable as a test for hypoglycemia since the standard diabetes GTT only runs for 3 hours and often the most important readings occur at and after the 3½-hour mark. In addition, blood samples are not taken at the appropriate intervals. If blood is taken at the beginning of the test and then at one-hour intervals, a sudden drop at the 3½-hour mark, for instance, would be missed. One source also recommends that a sample be taken at the ½ hour mark, since that is often when the blood sugar rises following the glucose (or a meal).
In addition, it is important for additional tests to be done while you are experiencing symptoms. This is crucial to make the link between your symptoms and the lower blood sugar level.
Another important test result is the insulin level. Some doctors request that an insulin level be taken with each blood sugar test. Even without symptoms, high insulin levels show that cells of the body have become insulin resistant. When this happens, the cells stop listening to the insulin, similar to the way parents are able to tune out the loud noises of their children after a while. When the cells don’t release sugar at the appearance of insulin, the pancreas keeps producing more until the cells finally start paying attention. By the time they finally do, there is so much insulin floating around that the blood sugar can drop drastically. In addition, chronically high levels of insulin are toxic to the body and cause great stress on the pancreas.