How to treat low blood sugar
Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.
Low blood sugar can look like a stroke, drunkenness or a seizure. Check the glucose in every confused patient.
Step by step
Recognize it
Sweating, shaking, fast heart rate, confusion, odd behavior or unconsciousness, often in a patient on insulin or diabetes pills. [1]
Check the glucose
Below 70 mg/dL with symptoms means treat now. [1]
If the patient can swallow
Oral glucose 15 to 20 g (gel or tablets) or a sugary drink. Check that they can protect their airway. [1]
If the patient cannot swallow
Nothing by mouth. IV dextrose or glucagon (IM or nasal), per protocol. [1]
Recheck
Glucose again after 15 minutes; repeat the treatment if still low. [1]
Feed and find the cause
Once awake, a meal with complex carbohydrates. Ask about missed meals, insulin dose and exercise. Long-acting diabetes pills can make it come back. [1]
Common errors
- Giving food or drink to a patient who cannot swallow.
- Not rechecking.
- Calling it a stroke without checking the glucose.
Practice it in Making Synapses
In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.
Making Synapses cases that train this skill
- Hypoglycemia at school
- Fall risk at home, older adult
- Febrile seizure
- Gestational diabetes
- Newborn respiratory distress
- Opioid overdose in the waiting room
41 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library
Sources
Facts and steps follow NASEMSO National Model EMS Clinical Guidelines. Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.