Abstract
Symptoms of hypoglycemia may be as vague as malaise in a child or feeding difficulty in an infant or as striking and clinically devastating as grand mal seizures. Conversely, a low blood sugar may instead be factitious, due to a blood sample stored too long in a tube without fluoride before analysis or due to the use of outdated test strips for a glucometer. The signs of hypoglycemia revolve around changes in central nervous system function and the autonomic nervous system in the absence of glucose. Hypoglycemia should always be confirmed by specific laboratory testing as vague feelings of hunger may not be associated with low blood sugar in spite of common wisdom. At the time that glucose decreases, a “critical” blood sample must be obtained (if there is time to briefly and safely delay treatment) or an ideal diagnostic opportunity is lost and the diagnostic process may become extremely difficult or expensive.
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Styne, D.M. (2016). Hypoglycemia. In: Pediatric Endocrinology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18371-8_12
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