Nocturnal Hypoglycemia and night sweats

keeping comfortable during the adjustment of dealing with nocturnal hypoglycemia can be demanding. Night sweats caused form nocturnal hypoglycemia can often interrupt the sleep pattern of a chilled and cause more problems down the road. This site will deal with alleviating  the sweating at night.

No matter what we're doing - even when we're sleeping - our brains depend on glucose to function. Glucose is a sugar that comes from the foods we eat, and it's also formed and stored inside the body. It's the main source of energy for the cells of our body, and it's carried to each cell through the bloodstream.

When blood glucose levels (also called blood sugar levels) drop too low, it's called hypoglycemia. Very low blood sugar levels can cause severe symptoms that require immediate treatment.

Blood sugar levels are considered low when they fall below your child's target range. This doesn't necessarily mean that a blood sugar level slightly lower than the target range will cause symptoms in your child, but having a pattern of blood sugar levels below the target range may indicate a need for a change in your child's treatment plan to help avoid hypoglycemia symptoms.

Your child's diabetes health care team will let you know what your child's target blood sugar levels are, which will vary based on factors like your child's age, ability to recognize hypoglycemia symptoms, and the goals of his or her diabetes treatment plan.

Causes of Low Blood Sugar Levels in Someone With Diabetes

Low blood sugar levels are fairly common in people with diabetes. A major goal of treatment in diabetes is to keep blood sugar levels from getting or staying too high to prevent both short- and long-term health problems. To do this, people with diabetes may use insulin and/or pills, depending on the type of diabetes they have and other factors. These medicines generally help keep the blood sugar level in a healthy range. But in certain situations, the medicines a person takes to manage his or her diabetes may cause the person's blood sugar level to drop too low.

Hypoglycemia can happen at any time in a person with diabetes who takes blood sugar-lowering medicines, but it's more likely to occur if a person with diabetes:

•  skips or delays meals or snacks or doesn't eat as much carbohydrate- containing food as was expected when the person took his or her dose of diabetes medicine. This is particularly likely to occur in children when they develop an illness (such as a stomach virus) that involves loss or appetite, nausea, or vomiting.
• takes too much insulin, takes the wrong type of insulin, or takes insulin at the wrong time.
• exercises more than usual without eating additional snacks or adjusting the dosage of diabetes medicines to help prevent drops in blood sugar level.

There are a few other situations in which low blood sugar levels in kids and teens who have diabetes occur:

• Low blood sugar levels that occur when your child is sleeping. Doctors call this nocturnal hypoglycemia.
• Low blood sugar levels that occur several hours after exercise. Doctors call this delayed postexercise hypoglycemia.
• Low blood sugar levels that occur after drinking alcohol or using drugs. Alcohol impairs the body's ability to keep blood glucose in a normal range, which can cause an abrupt drop in blood sugar in people with diabetes. Drug or alcohol use can pose additional risks for kids with diabetes because it may impair a person's ability to sense low blood sugar levels. Talk to your child or teen about the health risks associated with alcohol and drug use.

In addition, certain conditions that may increase how quickly insulin gets absorbed into the bloodstream can make hypoglycemia more likely to occur. For example, taking a hot shower or bath right after having an insulin injection increases blood flow through the blood vessels in the skin, which can cause the insulin to be absorbed more quickly than usual. Insulin can also be absorbed more quickly when it's injected into a muscle instead of into the fatty layer under the skin. And giving a shot in a part of the body most used in a particular sport (like injecting the leg right before soccer practice) can also cause the insulin to be absorbed more quickly. All of these situations increase the chances that nocturnal hypoglycemia will occur.

Signs and Symptoms of Low Blood Sugar

The signs and symptoms of low blood sugar can vary from child to child. The actual blood glucose level that triggers the symptoms differs depending on the person and how rapidly the blood sugar level falls. It's also important to remember that most of these symptoms can also be caused by problems unrelated to hypoglycemia or diabetes.

Warning signs of nocturnal hypoglycemia low blood sugar include:

• extreme hunger (some children complain of a gnawing stomachache or "hunger pain")

• shakiness or tremors

• rapid heart rate

• cold sweat

• ashen skin color (a pale, gray skin color)

• headache

•  moodiness or crankiness/irritability

• drowsiness

• weakness

• dizziness

• unsteadiness/staggering when walking

• blurred or double vision

• confusion

• seizures or convulsions

• loss of consciousness

In addition, children who have nocturnal hypoglycemia may experience bouts of crying or nightmares, night sweats (with damp sheets and/or pajamas), or wake up groggy or with a headache.