What causes hypoglycemia?

When facing the problem of hypoglycemia, you should pay attention to understand the cause. If the secretion of hormones antagonizing insulin is too low, or if you suffer from serious liver disease, liver cancer, or decompensated cirrhosis, then hypoglycemia may occur.

(1) Insufficient secretion of hormones that antagonize insulin : Endocrine diseases such as hypothalamus, anterior pituitary dysfunction, adrenal cortex dysfunction, and hypothyroidism can all lead to insufficient secretion of hormones that antagonize insulin, causing hypoglycemia.

(2) Severe liver diseases: Severe liver diseases such as liver cancer, decompensated cirrhosis, and glycogen storage disease can lead to abnormalities in the synthesis, synthesis, and decomposition of glycogen, resulting in hypoglycemia.

(3) Non-pancreatic malignant tumors : A variety of non-pancreatic malignant tumors have been found to cause fasting hypoglycemia. These tumors are usually large and arise from either mesenchymal or epithelial tissues. The cause of hypoglycemia may be related to the tumor's secretion of small molecule peptides with insulin activity, including insulin-like growth factor and somatostatin, and may also be related to the tumor's excessive use of glucose and reduced glucose production.

(4) Alcoholic hypoglycemia: Excessive drinking can cause severe hypoglycemia and lead to coma, which is common in people who drink a lot of alcohol and do not eat for a long time (this state depletes the carbohydrates stored in the liver). Some drinkers can still experience hypoglycemia coma even when their blood alcohol content is below the legal level for driving. As a result, the police and emergency department paramedics failed to realize that the unconscious person with alcohol smell on his breath was in a coma due to hypoglycemia rather than being drunk.

(5) Autoimmune diseases: Insulin antibodies are present in the patient's blood, and the pancreas produces a large amount of insulin that combines with autoantibodies. When the insulin-antibody immune complex separates, the release of insulin can cause hypoglycemia.