What Causes Hypoglycemia?
Insulin Resistance
Most cases of reactive hypoglycemia are labelled idiopathic, which means "unknown cause". I believe insulin resistance causes most cases of idiopathic reactive hypoglycemia, and that insulin resistance is caused, in turn, by diet and heredity. Insulin resistance can be an early warning sign of Type II diabetes and studies have shown that some type II diabetics have been insulin resistant for up to 12 years before diagnosis.
Insulin is supposed to trigger the acceptance of stored sugar into the body's cells, but over time and with an over-refined diet, our cells can become insulin resistant. When cells are insulin resistant, it takes more and more insulin to trigger the acceptance of additional sugar into cells in your body.
Unchecked, this often progresses to Type II diabetes because our pancreas just gives up after years of producing more insulin than it was meant to. Our blood pressure and cholesterol and tryglycerides readings go up, and now we are at risk of heart attack. PROCAM (Prospective Cardiovascular Munster) Study: Diabetes or high blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack by 2.5 times; Both diabetes and high blood pressure increases risk by 8 times; Abnormal lipid profile increases risk 16 times; abnormal lipids plus diabetes and/or diabetes increases the risk of heart attack 20 times. Syndrome X is defined as insulin resistance with high blood pressure and high tryglycerides. Syndrome X also increases the risk of developing cancer.
As with almost everything, some people are more quickly affected by adverse conditions than others are. We already know that some people are more likely to get diabetes or cancer or heart disease. And this is at least partly because some people are more likely to have trouble with our over-processed and over-refined diet than others are. This is the heredity component of insulin resistance. The more refined foods, especially sugar, that we eat, the more insulin the pancreas produces. No one should be eating the amounts of sugar that most of us do, but some people's bodies can resist the effects longer.
Insulin resistance happens when your body has been overwhelmed with too much insulin for so long that your cells stop listening. For the cells of your body, a constantly high level of insulin is just like constant noise in your ears. Over time, you learn to ignore the noise, and it takes a louder sound to get your attention. Your cells view insulin in the same way. It takes more and more insulin to get your cells to pay attention. When your cells ignore insulin and refuse to open to take in sugar from your blood, your pancreas simply sends more insulin until your cells begin to respond. The excess insulin has several effects. First, by the time the cells finally begin to accept sugar, there is so much insulin floating around that your blood sugar drops too much-hypoglycemia. Second, insulin resistance causes more insulin resistance, so eventually there is a lot of insulin floating around your system all the time.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, so please don't use these articles to diagnose yourself. They are only intended to provide information.