Questions Your Doctor May Ask - and Why!
During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Hypoglycemia.
These may include a physical examination or other medical tests.
Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing
your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information
you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
- Symptoms of hypoglycemia?
Why: e.g. early symptoms include sweating, tremor, palpitations, hunger, pins and needles around the mouth. Later may have a loss of consciousness and coma.
- Past medical history?
Why: e.g. liver failure, terminal kidney failure, hypopituitarism and Addison's disease may cause hypoglycemia.
- Past surgical history?
Why: e.g. low blood sugar occurring after meals can sometimes occur after gastric surgery, due to rapid gastric emptying and mismatching of food and insulin.
- Medications?
Why: Oral hypoglycemic medications, notably sulphonylureas and insulin may cause low blood sugar and the dosage may have to be reduced. Propanolol, quinine and pentamidine may also cause hypoglycaemia.
- Alcohol history?
Why: alcohol may cause reduced blood sugar. The person who substitutes alcoholic beverage for lunch is particularly at risk, as is the poorly nourished chronic alcoholic.
- Family history?
Why: e.g. multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (simultaneous recurrence of tumors involving parathyroid glands, pituitary, pancreas (insulinomas), adrenals and thyroid glands).
- Travel history?
Why: may suggest possibility of malaria.
Questions your doctor may ask about related symptoms:
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse
your condition. These may include:
- Weight gain and /or episode of loss of consciousness?
Why: would strongly suggest an insulinoma as the cause.
- Symptoms of malaria?
Why: e.g. chills, paroxysms of fevers, sweating, fatigue, exhaustion, headaches. Severe falciparum malaria may be complicated by hypoglycemia, especially in children.
- Symptoms of Addison's disease?
Why: symptoms are often vague but may include e.g. weight loss, loss of appetite, tiredness, weakness, fever, depression, lack of menstrual periods, impotence, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, fainting, abdominal pain, constipation, muscle aches.
- Symptoms of insulinoma?
Why: Symptoms are associated with fasting or exercise e.g. double vision, sweating, palpitations, weakness, confusion, abnormal behavior, loss of consciousness or seizures.
- Symptoms of Simmond's disease?
Why: e.g. usually develops after childbirth due to lack of blood supply to the pituitary during an episode of low blood pressure during delivery. Characterised by weakness, loss of weight, loss of body hair, low blood pressure and symptoms of low thyroid, adrenal and gonadal function.
- Symptoms of hypothyroidism
» Next page: Types of Hypoglycemia
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