Does The Blood Pressure Readings Indicate Any Abnormality While Suffering From Symptoms Of Hypoglycemia?

Posted on Tue, 24 Dec 2013

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

Tue, 24 Dec 2013 Answered on

Mon, 13 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I'm a male 85 year old in good health...my latest blood pressure is 141/65 and my pulse rate is 78. What is your opinion? I'm having symptoms of hypoglycemia.. eating candy and drinking orange juice calms the jittery feeling

Answered by Dr. Jorge Brenes-Salazar (29 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Check fasting glucose, Whipple's test Detailed Answer: Dear XXXXXXX Thanks for your question. Indeed, judging by your small medication list you are probably in robust shape. Congratulations. The first thing that should be done is to determine if the symptoms are indeed from low blood sugar or not. Usually, people do not have symptoms of fasting hypoglycemia until the levels go below 70 or 60; in this regard, you should coordinate with your physician for a fasting blood draw, and determine if at the time, you had symptoms. If you have what we call Whipple's triad: 1) Symptoms suggestive of low blood sugar 2) Documented blood sugar numerically at the time of symptoms 3) Resolution of symptoms after ingesting free sugars... then it would be consistent with hypoglycemia and more investigations would follow. Hope that helps, Happy Holidays, Dr Brenes-Salazar MD Mayo Clinic MN

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