Key Takeaways
- Understanding low blood sugar seniors is important for seniors and their caregivers.
- Symptoms you may have when your blood sugar gets too low include:
- When you have low blood sugar, the reading will be lower than 70 mg/dL (3.
- The goal of treatment is to correct your low blood sugar level.
- Severe low blood sugar is a medical emergency.
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What Are the Common Causes and Risk Factors?
Understanding low blood sugar seniors is important for seniors and their caregivers. insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas. Insulin is needed to move glucose into cells where it is stored or used for energy. Without enough insulin, glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into the cells. This leads to symptoms of
diabetes
.
Low blood sugar occurs due to any of the following:
- Your body’s glucose is used up too quickly
- Glucose production by the body is too low or it is released into the bloodstream too slowly
- Too much insulin is in the bloodstream
Low blood sugar may occur in people with diabetes who are taking insulin or certain other medicines to control their diabetes. However, many other diabetes medicines do not cause low blood sugar.
Exercise can also lead to low blood sugar in people taking insulin to treat their diabetes.
Babies born to mothers with diabetes may have severe drops in blood sugar right after birth.
In people who do not have diabetes, low blood sugar may be caused by:
- Drinking alcohol
-
Insulinoma
, which is a rare tumor in the pancreas that produces too much insulin
- Lack of a hormone, such as cortisol, growth hormone, or thyroid hormone
- Severe heart, kidney, or liver failure
-
Infection that affects the whole body (
sepsis
)
- Some types of weight-loss surgery (usually 5 or more years after the surgery)
- Medicines not used to treat diabetes (certain antibiotics or heart medicines)
What Are the Symptoms and Warning Signs?
Symptoms you may have when your blood sugar gets too low include:
-
Double vision
or blurry vision
-
Fast or
pounding heartbeat
- Feeling cranky or acting aggressive
- Feeling nervous
-
Headache
- Hunger
-
Seizures
- Shaking or trembling
- Sweating
-
Tingling or numbness
of the skin
- Tiredness or weakness
- Trouble sleeping
- Unclear thinking
In many people with diabetes, low blood sugar causes nearly the same symptoms every time it happens. Not everybody feels low blood sugar symptoms the same way.
Some symptoms, like hunger or sweating, occur when blood sugar is only slightly low. More severe symptoms, such as unclear thinking or seizure, may occur when the blood sugar is much lower (less than 54 mg/dL or 3.0 mmol/L).
Even if you do not have symptoms, your blood sugar could still be too low (called hypoglycemic unawareness). You may not even know you have low blood sugar until you faint, have a seizure, or go into a
coma
. If you have diabetes, ask your health care provider if wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) can help you detect when your blood sugar is getting too low to help prevent a medical emergency. Some CGMs can alert you and other people that you designate when your blood sugar decreases below a set level.
If you have diabetes, keeping good control of your blood sugar can help prevent low blood sugar. Talk to your provider if you’re not sure about the causes and symptoms of low blood sugar.
📖 What Are Exams and Tests?
What Are Exams and Tests?
When you have low blood sugar, the reading will be lower than 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L) on your glucose monitor.
Your provider may ask you to wear a small monitor that measures your blood sugar every 5 minutes. The device is typically worn for 3 to 14 days. The data is downloaded to find out if you’re having periods of low blood sugar that are going unnoticed.
If you’re admitted to the hospital, you’ll likely have blood samples taken from your vein to:
- Measure your blood sugar level
- Diagnose the cause of your low blood sugar (these tests need to be carefully timed related to low blood sugar to make an accurate diagnosis)
📖 How Is It Treated?
How Is It Treated?
The goal of treatment is to correct your low blood sugar level. It is also important to try and identify the reason why the blood sugar was low to prevent another low blood sugar episode from happening.
If you have diabetes, it is important that your provider teaches you how to
treat yourself for low blood sugar
. Treatment may include:
- Drinking juice or other sugar containing beverage
- Eating food
- Taking glucose tablets
Or you may have been told to give yourself a shot of glucagon. This is a medicine that raises blood sugar.
If low blood sugar is caused by an
insulinoma
, surgery to remove the tumor will be recommended.
📖 What Are Possible Complications?
What Are Possible Complications?
Severe low blood sugar is a medical emergency. It can cause seizures and brain damage. Severe low blood sugar that causes you to become unconscious is called hypoglycemic or insulin shock.
Even one episode of severe low blood sugar may make it less likely for you to have symptoms that allow you to recognize another episode of low blood sugar. Episodes of severe low blood sugar can make people afraid to take insulin as prescribed by their provider.
📖 When to Contact a Medical Professional?
When to Contact a Medical Professional?
If signs of low blood sugar do not improve after you have eaten a snack that has sugar:
- Get a ride to the emergency room. Do not drive yourself.
- Call 911 or the local emergency number
Get medical help right away for a person with diabetes or low blood sugar who:
- Becomes less alert
- Cannot be woken up
Hypoglycemia; Insulin shock; Insulin reaction; Diabetes – hypoglycemia
-
Food and insulin release
-
15/15 rule
-
Low blood sugar symptoms
American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee for Diabetes. 6. Glycemic Goals, Hypoglycemia, and Hyperglycemic Crises: Standards of Care in Diabetes-2026.
Diabetes Care
. 2026;49(Supplement_1):S132-S149. PMID: 41358894
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41358894/
.
Arbelaez AM, Rickels MR. Hypoglycemia. In: Melmed S, Auchus RJ, Goldfine AB, Rosen CJ, Kopp PA, eds.
Williams Textbook of Endocrinology
. 15th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2025:chap 39.
Hussain K, Hypoglycemia. In: Goldman L, Cooney KA, eds.
Goldman-Cecil Medicine
. 27th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 211.
Updated by: Sandeep K. Dhaliwal, MD, board-certified in Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, Springfield, VA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
-
Hypoglycemia
Frequently Asked Questions
Key Takeaways
When you have low blood sugar, the reading will be lower than 70 mg/dL (3. The goal of treatment is to correct your low blood sugar level.
What Are the Common Causes and Risk Factors?
What Are the Symptoms and Warning Signs?
Double vision
or blurry vision
Fast or
pounding heartbeat
Feeling cranky or acting aggressive
Feeling nervous
Headache
Hunger
Seizures
Shaking or trembling
Sweating
Tingling or numbness
of the skin
Tiredness or weakness
Trouble sleeping
Unclear thinking
In many people with diabetes, low blood sugar causes nearly the same symptoms every time it happens. Not everybody feels low blood sugar symptoms the same way. Some symptoms, like hunger or sweating, occur when blood sugar is only slightly low.
What Are Exams and Tests?
How Is It Treated?
treat yourself for low blood sugar
.
About the Author: This article was researched and written by the SilverWell Hub editorial team. It was medically reviewed by Dr. Sarah Mitchell, MD, Geriatrics.
Sources: This article is adapted from MedlinePlus, a service of the National Library of Medicine.
Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only. See our full Medical Disclaimer.
Published: July 21, 2026 | Next review: January 2027
