Semaglutide for Refractory Reactive Hypoglycaemia: A Case Report
Abstract
Reactive hypoglycaemia is characterised by symptomatic hypoglycaemia occurring several hours after food intake and can significantly impair quality of life. Management is often challenging, particularly in patients who fail dietary modification or cannot tolerate conventional pharmacological therapies. We present the case of a 50-year-old woman with longstanding, debilitating reactive hypoglycaemia who experienced marked symptomatic and biochemical improvement following treatment with semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. The patient presented with recurrent episodes of dizziness, profound fatigue, tremulousness, and syncope despite adherence to dietary recommendations. Previous treatment with acarbose was discontinued because of gastrointestinal intolerance, and metformin failed to improve symptoms. Continuous glucose monitoring and an oral glucose tolerance test confirmed reactive hypoglycaemia. Following initiation of semaglutide, the patient experienced a substantial reduction in hypoglycaemic episodes with corresponding improvement in glucose profiles and quality of life. This case highlights the potential role of semaglutide as a novel therapeutic option in patients with refractory reactive hypoglycaemia and contributes to the emerging evidence supporting the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists in this condition.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment
- Metformin Lysosomal Targeting: A Novel Aspect to Be Investigated for Metformin Repurposing in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
- Aberrant HSF1 signaling activation underlies metformin amelioration of myocardial infarction in mice
- Metformin induces ZFP36 by mTORC1 inhibition in cervical cancer-derived cell lines
- Protein Interaction Network for Identifying Vascular Response of Metformin (Oral Antidiabetic)
- Preventing Long COVID With Metformin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.