hypoglycemia??

In simple layman's language, hypoglycemia is the body's inability to properly handle the large amounts of sugar that the average American consumes today. It's an overload of sugar, alcohol, caffeine, tobacco and stress.

In medical terms, hypoglycemia is defined in relation to its cause. Functional hypoglycemia, the kind we are addressing here, is the oversecretion of insulin by the pancreas in response to a rapid rise in blood sugar or "glucose".

All carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits and grains, as well as simple table sugar), are broken down into simple sugars by the process of digestion. This sugar enters the blood stream as glucose and our level of blood sugar rises. The pancreas then secretes a hormone known as insulin into the blood in order to bring the glucose down to normal levels.

In hypoglycemia, the pancreas sends out too much insulin and the blood sugar plummets below the level necessary to maintain well-being.

Since all the cells of the body, especially the brain cells, use glucose for fuel, a blood glucose level that is too low starves the cells of needed fuel, causing both physical and emotional symptoms.  There are lots of symptoms associated with hypoglycemia:

• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Mental confusion
• Nervousness
• Mood swings
• Faintness
• Headaches
• depression
• Phobias
• Heart palpitations
• A craving for sweets
• Cold hands and feet
• Forgetfulness
• Dizziness
• Blurred vision
• Inner Trembling
• Outbursts of temper
• Sudden hunger
• Allergies
• and Crying spells 

So, your doctor is looking to see if your A1C is abnormally low and also if your blood sugar reading was low.  This would indicate that he should treat you for low blood sugar. 

Hypoglycemia is NOT sorta like diabetes. A diabetic does not produce enough insulin in response to the sugar in his blood or has a resistance to the insulin he is producing; whereas the Hypoglycemic produces to much insulin throwing the body into shock and coma if it is serious enough.  It is EXACTLY the opposite reaction from that a diabetic would have and is in fact the reaction many diabetics have to taking to much medication.

Lets see what your tests say when they come back.

there is absolutely no harm in doing what the nurse has asked you to do, it fact it's probably a very good idea.

Hi David,

You are a long way from the "medication" route.  I would suspect that simple diet and the occasional "coke" or OJ can keep you normal.  You first have to acertain that there IS a problem to treat it; and then you have to acertain to what extent the problem IS a problem.  All this before anyone is ever going to prescribe you meds.  So take some Blood sugar readings and eat healthy and above all, see what your doctor tells you.