After Eating, Is Blood Sugar Declining Drastically? What is the reason?

Medical Video: What causes decreased post prandial blood sugar levels & its management? - Dr. Mahesh DM

Many people feel drowsy and weak after eating. This is actually still reasonable. However, you need to be careful if other symptoms appear. For example, the mind becomes dazed, the body sweats, or trembles. It could be that you experience a condition of low blood sugar after eating, also known as reactive hypoglycemia. What is reactive hypoglycemia? Is it true that blood sugar drops? Find out the answer here.

Get to know blood sugar levels in the body

After eating, sugar (glucose) is absorbed, moves from the intestinal tract, passes through the intestinal cells, then is inserted into the blood vessels. In this situation, blood sugar increases and becomes the main energy source. Generally, food is absorbed within four hours. After that, the body enters fasting. In this situation, the energy source for activity comes from the energy reserves in the body.

Changes in blood sugar levels after being absorbed and in the fasting phase do not change too much because the body has the hormone insulin and glucagon to control blood sugar. If it is too high, the insulin hormone will be released to reduce blood sugar levels by entering blood sugar into the cell. While glucagon is released when low blood sugar levels to form glucose from nutrient reserves in the body, so that levels can be increased.

What is reactive hypoglycemia?

When blood sugar levels drop below 70 mg / dL, this condition is called hypoglycemia. This condition, or in diabetics often referred to as "hipo", can also be experienced by people who have no history of diabetes (non-diabetes). There are two types of non-diabetic hypoglycemia:

Reactive hypoglycemia, namely hypoglycemia which occurs within a few hours after eating.
Fasting hypoglycemia, namely hypoglycemia that is not related to eating. Generally related to a disease, such as the use of drugs (salicylates, sulfa class or quinine antibiotics), alcohol, severe liver, kidney and heart disease, insulinoma, and low glucagon hormones.

Reactive hypoglycemia can occur in several conditions such as pre-diabetes or risk of diabetes, obesity, gastric surgery, and enzyme deficiency.

In addition, if you eat foods that are too sweet or contain too much carbohydrates (foods with high glycemic index values), blood sugar levels will increase too high so that the insulin hormone is released. As a result, a decrease in blood sugar will occur in a short time and the decline can be quite drastic.

What are the symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia?

Symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia are the same as hypoglycemia in general. Hypoglycemia or blood sugar drops dramatically can be characterized by the following symptoms:

Hunger
Trembling body
Drowsiness and weakness
Anxious
Dizzy
Daze
Sweating
Cramps around the mouth

If symptoms appear like this, immediately make sure that your blood sugar levels are really low and consult your doctor to do some other tests such as checking blood glucose tolerance and insulin levels.

What to do if blood sugar drops after eating

For immediate treatment of reactive hypoglycemia, immediately consume fast-acting carbohydrates (in the form of juice or candy) and are easily absorbed, about 15 grams of carbohydrates. After that, consult your doctor or nutritionist regarding changes in diet. Some dietary patterns recommended for people with reactive hypoglycemia are:

Eat foods that contain balanced nutrition. These include protein, dairy products such as cheese and yogurt, and high-fiber foods.
Limiting high-sugar foods, especially those with an overly high glycemic index.
Avoid high-sugar foods before going to bed or when you can't eat in a few hours like during fasting.
Consumption of foods that are high in sugar after fasting also increases the state of reactive hypoglycemia.

After Eating, Is Blood Sugar Declining Drastically? What is the reason?

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