Читать книгу Low Blood Sugar: The Nutritional Plan to Overcome Hypoglycaemia, with 60 Recipes - Martin Budd N.D. D.O. - Страница 20

There is only one physical sign linked to low blood sugar – a tenderness over the pancreas in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen, often extending as low as the umbilicus. This tenderness is felt just below the ribs, or at times round the side of the ribcage. It is caused by pancreatic sensitivity due to hyperinsulinism. (The functions of the pancreas include the secretion of various substances including insulin to lower blood sugar, and glucogon to raise the blood sugar.) In practice, I find that if I press most patients’ abdomens hard enough they are tender in most places. It is important therefore to press with the same gentle pressure all over the stomach, liver and pancreas areas – and then ask the patient, ‘which is the most tender?’ The fingers encounter a feeling of tightness, or even hardness, accompanying the discomfort. This sign usually disappears as treatment progresses and provides confirmation that the situation is normalizing.

Although the patient’s weight, colouring, blood pressure and so on are all significant in low blood sugar, they are all influenced by many other disorders and are therefore not of special value in diagnosing low blood sugar.