Can Insect Bite Be The Cause Of Dizziness And Varied Sugar Level ?

Posted on Thu, 2 Jun 2011

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 2 Jun 2011 Answered on

Last reviewed on

Question : I had insect bites few days ago while playing golf. The area was red and swollen in most of my forearm and it was very itchy. I bought over-the-counter "After Bite" which contains 3.5% ammonia. It helped in reducing the itch.
Two days later, I suddenly got whirling in my head like having vertigo and also got cold sweat. It lasted more than 10 minutes. I checked my blood pressure. It was 140/70. I checked the blood suger. It was 135 (after meal). I had to lie down for 2-3 hours. The entire afternoon and evening I still felt dizziness. After an overnight sleep, I felt much better.
Is it possible the problem was coming from insect bites, or something elase?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (4 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for your query.

Insect bite produces allergic and local inflammatory symptoms. So I do not consider insect bite as the cause of the described symptoms.

You reported "sugar was 135mg/dl (after meal)". Did you take your meal after you had the symptoms?

The reported symptoms are commonly found in 'hypoglycemic spells'. If the answer to question was yes, the event is more likely to be an hypoglycemia itself. If you have similar recurring episodes in the future then anti-diabetic medications have to be scrutinized and modified appropriately.

Hope I have answered your query. I will be available to answer your follow up queries if any.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Prasad J (49 minutes later)

I had my lunch about 12:30 pm. Symptoms occured about 1:45 pm. I checked suger level and blood pressure only few minutes after symptoms started. My head was spinning so fast and won't stop for more than 10 minutes until I took a nap. This is the first time it happened to me.
Could a person used to have higher sugar level also have lower sugar level? I had my blood check every 3 months (routine physical) and had never detected at low range.
Also, could hypoglycemia casue cold sweat too?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (18 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me.

As you have told that, you had your lunch at 12.30 pm, and onset of symptoms were started after an hour, so it cant be an hypoglycemic attack.

The possibilities for this attack is---

Delayed hypersensitivity reaction due to insect bite. To confirm this and to rule out other systemic disease, you will have to consult a physician and get following investigations done....

1- MRI SCAN HEAD.
2- Random blood sugar.
3-Renal and Liver function test.
4- Serum, Na, K, Ca
if these comes out to be normal, then consult an ENT surgeon and get Vestibular function tests done, to rule out any labrinthine problem.

Hope this will help you.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar