Can Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia) Cause Panic Attacks?

There are some people who think that there might be a relationship, even a causal relationship between low blood sugar and panic attacks.

The theory behind this is as follows:

When there is a sudden fall in blood sugar levels the brain sends a hormonal signal to the adrenal glands to pour adrenaline into the system, and it is thought that an excess of adrenaline could be a contributor to panic attacks.

It sounds like a plausible theory, and normally the solution to would then be to follow a diet that would balance the sugar levels so that a drop in blood sugar levels does not occur.

But in clinical trials it have been found time and time again that artificially lowering the blood sugar levels through application of insulin, for example, does not induce panic attacks and conversely, when people suffer from these attacks, their blood sugar levels are not necessarily low.

On the Pubmed.Gov website we can find various studies that have been published to this effect.

Some of the abstracts from this website state:

"Seven of nine patients with panic disorder given a standard glucose tolerance test developed symptomatic hypoglycemia but not panic attacks. These findings suggest that hypoglycemia is an unlikely cause of spontaneous panic attacks in this population."

Also:

"Many patients with panic disorder believe hypoglycemia causes their symptoms. Of 10 patients with panic disorder given sodium lactate to induce panic, none had evidence of low blood sugar levels when they began to experience anxiety symptoms."

Why then do many people believe that low blood sugar levels cause anxiety attacks?

To my mind, the problem comes in that hypoglycemia and these attacks have very much the same symptoms.

These include:

• 
  Heart Palpitations
  


• 
  Dizziness
  


• 
  Trembling
  


• 
  Feelings of anxiety
  

My hypothesis therefore is rather not that hypoglycemia causes anxiety, but that we are dealing here with two separate disorders. In the case of hypoglycemia, it is not so much a disorder as a disease, and the symptoms that are so similar can potentially be controlled to an extent through diet.

Some of the diet tips for controlling hypoglycemia include:

Having smaller meals but more of them, in other words, rather have smaller meals more often.These meals should preferably contain protein and complex carbohydrates rather than sugars.

Avoid simple carbohydrates in the form of sugars and rather eat complex carbohydrates in the form of whole grain foods.

Avoid alcohol since alcohol can cause blood sugar fluctuations.

Although these might not fix or prevent actual anxiety attacks, it really cannot do any harm to change your diet to incorporate these healthy food habits.