Posted by Larry Hoover on March 21, 2008, at 22:05:06
In reply to Alcohol induced hypoglycemia (alcohol trigger?), posted by texaschic on March 19, 2008, at 13:14:00
True alcohol-induced hypoglycemia is actually quite rare. If a person has, or is developing a metabolic disorder, even relatively modest alcohol consumption can reveal that vulnerability through low blood sugar.
Ethanol inhibits the liver's ability to manufacture glucose, a task it generally performs without difficulty, to maintain blood sugar during the periods between meals. But, liver stores of glycogen (basically, a quick release source of glucose) usually are more than able to prevent ethanol intake from messing things up.
Without getting into too much biochemistry, there are probably 100 different reasons why a person could develop low blood sugar. It might be nothing more than a coincidence that you're a drinker, and you have hypoglycemia.
If alcohol is involved in your symptoms, then the most likely concerns would be hypoadrenal or hypopituitary output, or, the beginnings of diabetes, or excessive thyroid output. Like I said, there are many different factors to consider.
It's probably a good idea for you to get to the bottom of the underlying metabolic aspects.....symptoms of hypoglycemia can include depression, anxiety, emotional lability....even if hypoglycemia isn't the only source of these symptoms, it can aggravate these psych symptoms.
You're quite right that you may be drawn to drinking because you have hypoglycemia. I share the others' concerns about habitual drinking.
I'll be in touch offline.
{{{{TC}}}}
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:818805
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20071116/msgs/819331.html