How low can blood sugar drop before its dangerous?

I am over 2 years out and am so sick and frustrated right now...! I have had issues with iron levels being low and had iron infusions...so that is much better...but still continue to have the following symptoms....Fatigue, irritable, confusion, cloudy thinking, heart palpitations, headaches, blurred vision....I wake up sometimes in the middle of the night sweating....cold....very very hungry...dizzy , shaking and hearing ringing in my ears...at that time I HAVE to EAT...I have no choice and I am craving something high carb.....within about 30 minutes...usually I am better....I finally visited my family doctor who simply seems to have no information about low blood sugar...she told me that I just needed to eat every two hours and that nothing can be done for low blood sugar.....? I began to check my blood sugar on my own and this is what is happening.....I wake with a blood sugar of 40 to 45 each morning., feeling bad and with a headach.....after eating it raises from 110 to 160.....within an hour and a half the symptoms come back...I feel horrible again and when I check it my level its back down to 40 or below...the lowest has been 25....I went back to my family doctor and told her all this....she seems very unconcerned......again saying eat every two hours....I asked her if it is dangerous for my level to be this low...she said no...I asked her WHAT level is a concern...she said well as long as the bad episodes are waking you up you should be Ok....she said I might want to wake myself up every two hours so that I don't go into a coma....!! All of this with little concern on her part...I finally got a referral to an endo doctor.. but they can't see me until April 21......I really don't want to be paranoid...if sitting back and waiting is Ok....I will ....but this problem is really messing up my life...I can't exercise....I have lost interest in everything....am I over reacting? I hope someone else has similar issues.......Thanks for any help you can give me......I have tried very low carb and eating every two hours..but the drop in sugar is so drastic and happens every time I eat...it makes me feel very bad all the time....

25 is bad & 40 is bad. Yes, you can go into a coma from low blood sugar. I'd call the endocrinologist back and let them know your sugars are dropping to 25 at night & you'd like to get in sooner.

Thank you.....I am going to call them on Monday....

have you tried eating protien at the times your blood sugar falls?  Although carbs are a good quick fix, its the protien that helps maintian the blood sugar levels.  Try eating protien with some carbs, one of my really good friends has the same problem.  She trys to avoid carbs as much as possible, and she also keeps stuff like protien bars and peanut butter crackers around  her just in case the blood sugar drops.  Hope this helps! 

Hi Protein will not raise the sugar level when it is this low...what the poster will need is sugar but not refined sugar and not sugar that has any fat or protein attached to it. As a rescue, when you are going low, you will need to keep orange juice, or even consider chewable glucose tabs on hand and use them when you are getting shakey or wake up with these symptoms.  Glucose tabs can be bought over the counter at any pharmacy and maybe even walmart.  (when your sugars are low, DON'T take choclate or candybars, or cookies or anything like that...your sugar will spike and then crash lower than it was before, so reach for what I suggested and once you are feeling better, THEN grab some protein.)   orange juice, or other equally sweet natural fruit sugars will quickly bring the level up.  Fat or protein will prolong the sugar comming up and protein by itself will not have an effect on low blood sugar  and that can be harmful to the poster.  I hope that the poster has decided to change his doc, as his doc does not seem to understand diabetics, or even hypoglycemia for that matter....what person is going to WAKE THEMSELVES up when their sugar gets low in the middle of the night??? My suggestion, is to look at what you are eating that could be causing you to bottom out the way you are...Is the percentage of foods eaten mostly carbs in your diet throughout the day?  How much refined sugars are you eating in your diet lately?  (look at lables, anything that  ends with "ose" within the first 5 ingredients, THROW OUT.)   "ose" are  sugars and if they are listed within the first 5 ingredients that means your concentration of sugars are quite high as opposed to anything else...and you need higher proteins instead of sugars, right? So, try this...eat more protein than carbs...keep your carbs in the form of fruits and veggies only right now, and stop breads, pasta, rice, and all goodies.  no candy, no pastries, none of that right now...and no soda.  Stay refined sugar free and if you want anything sweet right now, reach for strawberries or pineapple or watermelon.  Eat  5-6 small meals throughout the day, and if you feel yourself going low on sugar, THEN grab the OJ , but throughout the day, concentrate on proteins....does that all make sense?  I suggest to try this in between you getting in there and getting seen by a reputable doc who will take this seriouly.  Low sugar is nothing to fool with.  There could be a day in the middle of the night that your sugar gets so low that you will NOT wake up.  This is serious and should be evaluated to rule out obvious things like diabetes and other things...Good luck Take care Lynne