# Complaint about the naming of "hypoglycemia"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 14, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-the-naming-of-hypoglycemia/831123 "2019-03-14T12:40:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-the-naming-of-hypoglycemia/831123/1 "2019-03-14T12:40:06Z")
This is in reference to an old column from '91 about ice cream headaches that was recently posted in the the FB group. > **[What causes “ice cream headache”?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342160/what-causes-ice-cream-headache)** In that article Cecil writes: > [@](#): > > One recalls the attention given some years back to a complaint someone had been shrewd enough to name “hypoglycemia.” Perhaps Cecil recalls this but I don’t. Does anyone know what he was referring to? Was this simply an attempt at a joke or was there a real incident? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-the-naming-of-hypoglycemia/831123/2 "2019-03-14T15:48:16Z")
Hypoglycemia means low sugar. Which is exactly what it is. I’m not sure what’s supposed to be shrewd about a literal naming. Maybe just the fact that it’s in Greek makes it look more important? ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-the-naming-of-hypoglycemia/831123/3 "2019-03-14T16:43:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hypoglycemia means low sugar. Which is exactly what it is. I’m not sure what’s supposed to be shrewd about a literal naming. Maybe just the fact that it’s in Greek makes it look more important? I think Cecil was referring to the fact that there had been a recent flurry of blaming everyday ills on hypoglycemia, much like the current “gluten intolerance” fad. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-the-naming-of-hypoglycemia/831123/4 "2019-03-16T17:16:05Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > This is in reference to an old column from '91 about ice cream headaches that was recently posted in the the FB group. > > [https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1005/what-causes-ice-cream-headache/](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1005/what-causes-ice-cream-headache/) > > In that article Cecil writes: > Perhaps Cecil recalls this but I don’t. Does anyone know what he was referring to? Was > this simply an attempt at a joke or was there a real incident? Unca Cecil was not referring to an incident of someone complaining about the name of hypoglycemia. “Hypoglycemia” was the name that was attached to the set of symptoms associated with hypoglycemia. The symptoms are brought to the attention of a medical professional in the form of a complaint\* (on the part of the patient) that the Patient is Feeling Vaguely Punk. One imagines that some shrewdness was involved in noticing that the complaint would be relieved upon the administration of some nutrition, and that perhaps a Greek-ish word meaning “low blood sugar” would be a good label, and maybe inspire a few rounds of funding to study the phenomenon (in contrast to the dearth of attention given to the term “Ice Cream Headache”). Pretty sure that was Cecil’s joke. \*see the monograph titled “Portnoy’s Complaint”, pub. 1969 by Philip Roth, under the auspices of Random House (who, to the best of my knowledge, never published a medical journal, so who knows how this one got through?) ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-the-naming-of-hypoglycemia/831123/5 "2019-03-17T17:50:18Z")
Duh! It wasn’t that someone complained about someone naming something hypoglycemia. What Cecil was referring to was a physical ailment (or _complaint_) that someone gave the name “hypoglycemia”. Don’t I feel dumb! ---
**Author:** ![Garak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Garak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garak)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-the-naming-of-hypoglycemia/831123/6 "2019-03-17T20:58:39Z")
I think it’s a fatphobic joke. They made up a fancy scientific name like hypoglycemic as an excuse to snack instead of “I’m hungry”.