Whats the difference between diabetes and hypoglycemia?!

Diabetes is raised blood glucose levels and hypoglycemia is lower than 'normal' blood glucose levels.

The test for both conditions would be the same ... extraction of blood, usually from a vein inside the elbow joint, to see how much glucose (sugar) is present.

More than one test may need to be done to get a result which could be used to confirm either condition. The first of these tests is called a glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test, which measures your average glucose level over a period of 90-120 days ... roughly the expected lifespan of blood cells. The second test would be an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). For this test you would be required to fast overnight (anywhere between 8 and 12 hours, dependent on the laboratory that would do the test) and have an initial drawing of blood. This would give the lab a baseline on which to compare further blood draws. You would then drink a sickly sweet drink, called glucola, and have your blood drawn at 1 hour and then 2 hours after. (Some doctors may request longer periods of time to elapse, but you would have your blood drawn at hourly intervals.)

On comparison of the blood glucose results your doctor would be able to determine whether you have a lower than 'normal' blood glucose level, in which case s/he would diagnose you as hypoglycemic; a higher than normal blood glucose level, which COULD result in a diagnosis of diabetes or pre-diabetes, or glucose intolerance.

The reason for taking so many different blood tests would be to determine how efficiently your body deals with a sudden influx of glucose. (We normally get glucose from the breakdown, during digestion, of carbohydrates that we eat.)

If it was determined that you did have hypoglycemia your doctor may wish to continue further investigations to ascertain which type of hypoglycemia it is that you have. The most common type is termed 'reactive hypoglycemia'. This is where you eat, but your body produces too much insulin to cover the amount of carbs that you've imbibed. This can leave you feeling weak, tired and lethargic, confused, even going as far as fainting. A much rarer condition is where you have an insulin-producing tumour [tumor, if you are actually one of my American cousins] that persistently produces insulin ... whether you've eaten or not. Again, you may experience similar symptoms to someone who suffers with reactive hypoglycemia, but the pattern would be different. It wouldn't just happen after eating.

With reactive hypoglycemia there is no medication that would help. Instead you'd be requested to eat smaller but more frequent meals throughout the day ... sort of every 2 or 3 hours. You'd, ideally, learn about carbohydrate values and the low glycemic diet to aid with this. With the tumour [tumor] surgery MAY be what's called for, dependent on how the symptoms affect you when you experience hypoglycemia.

Both are uncontrollable (without medications/interventions) of the amount of insulin the body produces on it's own. Diabetes usually means the body cannot make enough insulin to counter act an abundance of glucose in the blood, where hypoglycemia means the body cannot retain insulin, therefore glucose levels decrease too much. The are almost inverse opposites.

They are exact opposites - diabetes is too high blood sugar, hypoglycemia is too low. You can't make a diagnosis of either without testing your blood sugar.
"Everybody" who complains of being lightheaded seems to be diagnosed with hypoglycemia, but the reality is that it is not that common. Wikipedia actually has good info on hypoglycemia.

read a bout : open the third & fourth link on : Www.diabetes-symptom.info

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