Low Blood Sugar in Elder Diabetics

We all know that sustain high blood sugar is the feature of Diabetes. People seldom think that low blood sugar will occur in diabetics, especially in elder diabetics. Actually, low blood pressure also can be found in diabetics. It may do more harms than high blood sugar. Why does low blood sugar occur in elder diabetics?

For elder diabetics, low blood sugar is not only related with medicine, but also related to the decline of physical functions. Glucagon, growth hormone and adrenaline all can elevate blood hormone. The secretion of them decreases in elder diabetics, which means the loss of ability to regulate blood sugar. Once low blood sugar caused by medicines or other factors occurs, stress reaction won’t appear in time. Therefore, low blood sugar in elder diabetics is more serious and lasts for a long time.

Poor control of blood sugar can lead to many complications. Low blood sugar can cause central nervous system disorders, resulting in the loss of consciousness and other severe neurological symptoms, which is harmful to people. Low blood sugar may occur during treatment and the risk gets higher with ages increasing. Therefore, compared with middle-aged diabetics, the incidence of low blood sugar is higher, which may threaten patients' life.

In addition, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) falls by 1% per year in elderly people. Therefore, kidney filtration functions declines gradually and the clearance to medicine and insulin slows down. If patients take improper medicines or dose, medicines and insulin will accumulate in body, prolong the medicine functions and increase the risk of low blood sugar. Meanwhile, liver gluconeogenesis dysfunction occurs and the generation and storage of glycogen get less. Once low blood sugar occurs, it is hard to compensate, increasing the low blood sugar degree.

Elder diabetics should control blood sugar strictly and prevent the occurrence of low blood sugar. Besides, they should control carbohydrate properly. If acute gastroenteritis occurs in elder diabetics, they should reduce medicine dose.
Hope what mentioned above is helpful.