Drug-induced hypoglycemia

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Food and insulin release

Drug-induced hypoglycemia is low blood sugar that results from medication.

Even when diabetes is managed very carefully, the medications used to treat diabetes can result in drug-induced hypoglycemia. Missing meals, drinking alcohol, too much activity, and intentional or unintentional overdose of medications used to treat diabetes can all cause blood glucose levels to drop.

The condition may also occur when someone without diabetes takes a medicine used to treat diabetes. In rare cases, non-diabetes-related medicines may cause hypoglycemia.

Medications that can cause drug-induced hypoglycemia include:

• Insulin
• Sulfonylureas
• Metformin when used with sulfonylureas
• Pentamidine
• Quinidine
• Quinine
• Beta-blockers
• MAO inhibitors
• Bactrim (an antibiotic)
• Haloperidol

Review Date: 02/08/2007
Reviewed By: Robert Hurd, MD, Professor of Endocrinology, Department of Biology, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.