# Why am I shaking? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-shaking/270607 "2004-10-22T15:48:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-shaking/270607/1 "2004-10-22T15:48:42Z")
I’m hungry. I missed breakfast. Last time I ate anything was a green salad about 7:30 last night, before that was some yummy sesame chicken & rice for lunch. It’s 10:00 am now. And I’ve got a serious case of the hungries–and my hands are shaking so badly I can hardly type. I’ll fix this by nipping off to Chipotle in about an hour and having a chicken fajita bol. But why am I shaking? What causes that? ---
**Author:** ![Galanthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Galanthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galanthus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-shaking/270607/2 "2004-10-22T15:51:36Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > I’m hungry. I missed breakfast. Last time I ate anything was a green salad about 7:30 last night, before that was some yummy sesame chicken & rice for lunch. It’s 10:00 am now. And I’ve got a serious case of the hungries–and my hands are shaking so badly I can hardly type. > > I’ll fix this by nipping off to Chipotle in about an hour and having a chicken fajita bol. But why am I shaking? What causes that? Low blood sugar, happens to me too when I miss a meal. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-shaking/270607/3 "2004-10-22T16:43:28Z")
Right. But \*why \*does low sugar make muscles move even _more_? Seems like they’d want to move \*less \*so as to conserve energy? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-shaking/270607/4 "2004-10-22T20:09:25Z")
Maybe they’re saying “Eat something you turkey!” Actually, I don’t know (duh!) and would be interested as well - I’m hypoglycemic and get the shakes something aweful when I don’t eat. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-shaking/270607/5 "2004-10-22T20:17:10Z")
[Here’s a cite:](http://www.embarrassingproblems.com/pages2/shakyhands.htm) > [@](#): > > Low blood sugar causes shakiness because the nerves and muscles are deprived of fuel. The adrenaline system responds by kicking in, and this can make the shakiness worse for a while ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-am-i-shaking/270607/6 "2004-10-22T20:18:53Z")
Some hypoglycemic hamster must have eaten the first part of my post where I said what I understood the cause to be.