Reactive hypoglycemia
A fall in blood sugar which causes symptoms during the period following
meals. Simply put, the body has trouble braking the secretion of insulin
after a meal, resulting in the blood sugar dropping further than it should.
Reactive hypoglycemia is different from spontaneous hypoglycemia,
which is not assoicated with meal ingestion. Reactive hypoglycemia generally
has a benign prognosis.
See also: Hypoglycemia.
Reagents, Reagent Strips
Terms no longer used for diabetes blood and urine glucose or acetone
test strips.
Rebound
A swing to a high level of glucose (sugar) in the blood after having a
low level.
See also: Somogyi
effect.
Receptors
Areas on the outer part of a cell that allow the cell to join or bind
with insulin that is in the blood.
See also: Insulin
receptors.
Regular Insulin
A type of insulin that
is fast acting.
Renal
A term that means having something to do with the kidneys.
Repaglinide
A pill taken to lower the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Only
some people with noninsulin-dependent diabetes take these pills.
See also: Oral
hypoglycemic agents
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Renal Glycosuria
Glycosuria
occurring when there is a normal amount of sugar in the blood, due to an
inherited inability of the kidneys to reabsorb glucose
completely.
Renal Threshold
When the blood is holding so much of a substance such as glucose (sugar)
that the kidneys allow the excess to spill into the urine. This is also
called "kidney threshold," "spilling point," and "leak point."
Resistance to Insulin
See Insulin
Resistance.
Retina
The center part of the back lining of the eye that senses light. It has
many small blood vessels that are sometimes harmed when a person has had
diabetes for a long time.
Retinopathy
A disease of the small blood vessels in the retina of the eye.
See also: Diabetic
retinopathy.
Risk Factor
Anything that raises the chance that a person will get a disease. With
noninsulin-dependent diabetes, people have a greater risk of getting the
disease if they weigh a lot more (20 percent or more) than they should.
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Rosiglitazone
A drug used as a treatment for Type 2
(noninsulin-dependent) diabetes; belongs to a class of drugs called
thiazolidinediones.
See also: Oral
hypoglycemic agents.
