Hypoglycemia misdiagnosed as cerebrovascular accident

Hypoglycemia can give rise to a variety of neurological signs and symptoms. This may occur in the absence of the well known signs of acute hypoglycemia taught to diabetics on insulin. In the past year, 6 patients with hypoglycemia were admitted with a diagnosis of cerebrovascular accident. They were all being treated with oral hypoglycemic drugs. The neurological signs all reversed immediately with the restoration of a normal blood glucose. Their circumstances of admission illustrate some of the difficulties in making the correct diagnosis in this group of patients.