A diabetic seizure is a serious medical condition which can be caused as a result of extremely low blood sugars and without emergency treatment it has proven to be fatal. A seizure can be serious and you should know everything about it from your doctor. You might wonder that if you’re a diabetic, Can Diabetes Cause Seizures?
What Part does Diabetes Play in Seizures?
It is so paramount for those who have diabetes to monitor and control their blood sugar. Seizure activity in the brain can be as a result of high blood sugar. As a result of these increase in the sugar, it causes hyper excitability of the neurons.
More so, abnormal glucose levels, be it too high or too low, can cause seizures. These issues are extremely common to folks with diabetes, and their blood sugar levels can be all over the board through each day and can result from an undercurrent illness, differences in insulin levels, or other metabolic factors.
High blood sugar can cause seizures and brain damage. This is something you must avoid!
It is called hypoglycemia or insulin shock when severe low blood sugar causes you to become unconscious and even one episode of severe low blood sugar. You may likely have less symptoms of severe low blood sugar if you allow to recognize an episode of low blood sugar. Low blood sugar is dangerous so keep checking your blood sugars frequently.
A seizure is excessive or abnormal neuronal activity of the brain that leads to convulsions in the body and sometimes brief to complete loss of awareness. Seizures, also known as fits, result because of disturbed brain activity. If not treated properly on time, it can lead to epilepsy, a chronic neurological disorder regarded as unprovoked or repeated seizures. Of course your doctor will be on top of this condition at all times!
There are simple partial seizures which occur in just one part of the brain. It is the most common case of epilepsy. There is also generalized seizures which are an abnormal neuronal activity that affects many parts of the brain. This type is dangerous, as it can lead to unconsciousness falls or sudden massive muscle spasms. And you will have no control over this. Hopefully someone will be there to assist you.
Causes of Seizures
The main causes of brain disorder that lead to seizures are many, but our emphasis is on diabetes which occurs as a result of metabolic abnormalities like complications of diabetes, kidney or liver failure. A seizure can be prevented by doing the following:
- Always keep your head away from any kind of injury or trauma. The simple, but best way to prevent seizures is to eat right and get enough sleep. You should try as much as possible to control your stress levels and fevers. People with seizures are strictly advised by doctors to take a diet that is high in fiber and low in protein.
- You can prevent seizure with good prenatal care, avoiding any infections during pregnancy can reduce the chances of developing brain disorders in the developing baby.
- For those children who are often prone to seizures, they can be treated with anti-convulsion medications like diazepam either rectally or orally, when they may be experiencing a fever.
- Some serious issues like infections, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and other disorders that can affect the brain should be treated on time and avoided if possible.
- If you have epilepsy, there is a need to stay on diet strictly, follow medication given to you perfectly, and go for check up with your neurologist regularly to ensure epilepsy cure. Many chances of epilepsy can be avoided wearing seat belts and bicycle helmets to protect head is adhered to.
- According to a study, people with seizures problem should practice breathing exercises in order to control their respiration, thereby preventing the usual development of events that lead to seizures.
Insulin Syringe
There are also numerous factors that can cause low blood sugar in folks with diabetes, which can include include when you take too many meds for your diabetes and/or taking too much insulin, missing a meal, or exercising harder than usual. Don’t overdo it!
Also, untreated diabetic hypoglycemia can lead to seizures and loss of consciousness and result in a medical emergency. You just shouldn’t be lax about something like hypoglycemia. The best thing you can do for yourself is to control your blood glucose numbers.
If blood glucose levels become very high, especially when there are other stresses such as an infection, people with type 2 diabetes may become dizzy and confused and as such, have seizures. This can lead to a condition called non-kenotic hyperglycemic-hyperosmolar coma and when this happens, it requires immediate medical attention. Do not hesitate to call for help right away!
Symptoms of a Diabetic Seizure
There are several signs and symptoms of a diabetic seizure. The early symptoms are listed below.
- Sweating
- Shakiness
- A headache
- Dizziness
- Hunger
- Irritability or moodiness.
- Anxiety or nervousness
- Tumor
Sweating
This kind of sweating is not from exercising or the temperature. This happens when your blood sugar gets too low and what happens next is that you produce too much norepinephrine and adrenaline, which will result in excess sweating. The sweating will cease as soon as your blood glucose is at it’s normal level again and then the sweating should stop.
Shaking
Low blood sugar or hypoglycemia can be as a result of a few different processes. Hypoglycemia can produce symptoms such as tremor or shaking, lightheadedness and fatigue. Nevertheless, other causes of shaky hands exist, such as essential or familial tremor, overactive thyroid, and medication effect.
Headaches
Headaches from hypoglycemia are usually described as a dull, aching feeling in the temples. The pain can occur with other hypoglycemic symptoms like blurry vision, nervousness, increased heart rate, fatigue, irritability, and confusion. Hypoglycemia can trigger a migraine headache as well.
Dizziness
Dizziness is a very common complaint with a person one has diabetes, and may have been caused by low blood glucose or high blood glucose levels or autonomic dysfunction. The person experiences feeling lightheaded or dizziness in this condition. The reason for this is that your brain cannot function correctly if it is lacking glucose.
Hunger
When you have eating disorders or when you do not eat as you normally do, such as anorexia nervosa, you may find that your blood sugar levels drop dramatically. You do not want this happening! This is preventable. Eat when you feel hungry and don’t skip meals.
Tumors
A tumor is another sign and when you have tumors in any parts of your body other than the pancreas, it can cause your hypoglycemia. Although this is very rare. Make sure you have regular labs done. It’s important to know your numbers.
Irritability or Moodiness
Blood sugar swipes can cause rapid changes in a person’s mood, such as making you sad and irritable. Hyperglycemic episodes where levels spike high may cause confusion in people with type 1 diabetes, but are much less likely to in those with type 2 diabetes cases.
Anxiety or Nervousness
Some people can experience a panic attack because of anxiety. Although they may not be any serious danger or issue, they can still appear as an unexpected incident of fear itself. Hypoglycemia attack is very similar to symptoms of panic attacks. Hypoglycemia is a dangerous condition in which a person’s blood sugar can become too low suddenly. This is a scary situation and you don’t want to put yourself in danger.
Symptoms of Diabetic Seizure
Diabetic seizure symptoms can be compared to other seizures of other types as well. They can include involuntary body movements with possible violent convulsions, a short term of memory loss, and the possibility of the person suffering severe injuries resulting from falling and hitting hard objects, biting one’s tongue, and bleeding. On top of all that, the blood sugar abnormalities can cause the diabetic patient to lapse into a coma.
If this happens, it is impossible to tell how long the coma may last and what damage will be caused by the comatose state. Being in a coma can lead to various complications, with the most serious being brain damage. In general, the longer a person is in a coma, the greater the chance of permanent damage.
Preventive Measures
There are things to do when you have a diabetic seizure. For example, if you notice the signs that a person is beginning to have a diabetic seizure, you need to take quick action. If someone else is present who can help, tell them to call for an ambulance immediately.
While you are waiting for help to come, try to prevent the person from injuries, by moving him or her to a safe location, try to move the person away from hard or sharp objects. If the person is still conscious, try to give the person some glucose to take. However, if the person is unconscious, do not give him or her anything to drink or swallow.
When the person is conscious, put him in the recovery position which is basically on the side with the arms and legs that are opposite to the floor on the ground. The reason is to prevent the person from rolling on his back or his stomach. The person will breathe more easily in that position.
Monitor the breathing and check the pulse. Also check to see if you can notice any details such as the color of the skin especially around the mouth, as it will be very helpful when they get to the hospital. Be very aware of everything here.
Seizures affect so many people’s lives. When treated, those suffering from a seizures disorder can have a normal life, so let’s focus on the possible solutions instead of seeing only the problems.
You can now realize the potentially devastating consequences of taking your health lightly and ignoring serious conditions. It is obvious that diabetes can have a devastating effect on the entire body, including nerves, eyes, and kidneys, and ultimately leading to blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, and amputations. So try and keep these things in mind because it’s your health and your life.
Everyone who has diabetes, be it type 1 or type 2 is at risk, and even people who have prediabetes can be affected. Therefore it’s never too early to take aggressive preventive measures by changing your lifestyle choices.
Medical disclaimer
The information that I provide on my website is purely based on my own personal experience and subsequent research into the diabetes disease. It is not intended to take the place of medical advice,diagnosis and treatment. Care and investigation should always be sought from an appropriate health care provider. I am happy to discuss my own symptoms, diagnosis and history of my diabetes disease, but want to stress that I am not medically trained in any way. All opinions on my website are my own. I have created this site as a way to share information and experiences.
In Conclusion
So, Can Diabetes Cause Seizures? Now you know the answer. Seizures are nothing to take lightly as is diabetes either. One without the other is bad enough. But it’s much better if you can at least control your diabetes. This will help with your seizures. Of course any changes you make should always be consulted with your physician.
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What a great article and plenty of resources you’ve got there. It seems diabetes is truly a growing problem worldwide and there really should be much more focus on improving the Western diet in my opinion. Health begins in the gut! The more we can educate ourselves about this disease the better for all.
Hey Steve,
Thanks! It’s so important for folks with diabetes to know that it can cause so many problems including seizures.
The best thing we can do as diabetics is to be schooled about just what it can do to us. Seizures can be a scary thing if you have epilepsy and/or diabetes.
Prevention is worth a pound of cure. Let’s control diabetes and prevent seizures!
Thank you for sharing!
My Dad has diabetes and I don’t think he’s ever had a seizure yet. In fact I learned something about diabetes through your post, as I never connected seizures to diabetes at all. Also the sweating part, my Dad often mentions feeling too hot and then sweating for apparently no reason that he can figure. I’m going to mention this to him the next time I see him. My Dad has an inherited disorder called hemochromatosis, which leads to heart disease (he’s had a heart attack), leads to diabetes (which he has) and can also lead to cancer when not handled. I noticed you have another article linking sinus infections with diabetes, I have not read it yet, but wow…. if there is a link, that would totally make sense for my Dad. He is ALWAYS struggling with sinus infections and sinusitis. Good article!
Hi Madeleine,
I’m sorry to hear your dad has these issues. It always good to learn something new because it can possibly help.
I hope that your dad doesn’t ever experience a seizure and especially in light of what he’s been through already.
Hopefully things will turn around and start looking better for him.
Yes, you may want to check out my article about sinus infections and diabetes too.
Thank you and good luck 😉
Rob,
My great aunt was a diabetic and when I was young she suffered a seizure from her blood sugar dropping too low, this was a frightening thing for a child I will not forget. My great uncle knew what was happening and always carried candy in his pocket for her stopping the seizure before it got to the point of needing medical attention.
Making people aware of the fact this happens when people have diabetes and getting this information out to the public is very important.
Thank you,
Susan
Hey Susan 🙂
Sorry that your great aunt or anyone else for that matter had diabetes. Low blood sugars and seizures are linked and it can be very scary.
It’s so important to check your blood sugars frequently for many reasons especially to avoid a seizure.
It’s vital for everyone to know what to do to avoid a seizure. Try to get the diabetes in control!
Thanks for sharing 😉
Great article, I never knew Diabetes is linked to so many dangers., Your article helped so much. My uncle is succumbing to sugar diabetes and I don’t think he is aware of all of this. He is a teacher and if the condition resulted in Eplepsy, that will really cost his job and life. I have bookmarked your website for it is going to help him a lot, thank you so much
Yes there were very many dangers when it comes to Diabetes. I’m glad my article has helped you.
It really is a shame that diabetes as caused his epilepsy.
It would be wonderful if he could get his diabetes under control and that in turn would help control his epilepsy.
Thank you for marking my website and I hope I provided additional help to you in the future!
Hello Rob,
It seems to me that with the increasing amount of people who have poor diets, the issue of diabetes is on the increase. The risks are realities are really scary and often people react after it is too late.
Could you suggest some natural remedies that could assist with righting the onslaught of seizures or are pharmaceuticals the only real solution?
Thanks for your help.
Rich
Hi Rich 🙂
It’s always about poor diets when it comes to diabetes. And for most of us diabetes sneaks up on us and then it’s right in your face!
And the fact that diabetes can cause seizures is scary! Fortunately there are natural methods to help prevent seizures without resorting to meds.
Check some of these out HERE
Thank you for sharing!