Woman dismissed as “hypochondriac”—then med school experiment reveals truth

A video of a medical student conducting an experiment in class took a turn when the results indicated something serious.

In the TikTok video, Kamilla Cecilie, 23, can be seen laughing with her friend and teacher while pricking her skin to draw blood and measure the amount of glucose (sugar) in it. However, her face drops as she views the test results. The clip, posted under the handle @ceciliekamilla, has received 2.3 million views.

The text layered over the clip said, “POV: Taking a blood glucose course at med school thinking it’s gonna be fun and games until you realize your results are actually really messed up and could indicate something more serious.”

Cecilie told Newsweek that she was looking forward to the blood glucose course after suspecting something was wrong but being dismissed.

“I often feel off after having eaten, especially if it’s food high in carbs,” she said. “However, when I was at my doctor’s the first time, all they did was take my fasting glucose, and when that was normal, they kind of just disregarded my concerns and looked at me like I was just a hypochondriac.”

The Blood Glucose Experiment

On March 7, Cecilie, who lives in Oslo, Norway, shared a snippet of the experiment online, which involved taking a blood test before and after consuming a glucose drink.

On its website, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists various types of diabetes testing and result ranges, including these:

• Fasting blood sugar test (after overnight fasting)
  • Normal: 99 mg/dL or below
  • Prediabetes: 100–125 mg/dL
  • Diabetes: 126 mg/dL or above
• Glucose tolerance test (measured at two hours after consuming glucose)
  • Normal: 140 mg/dL or below
  • Prediabetes: 140–199 mg/dL
  • Diabetes: 200 mg/dL or above

“As expected, my glucose levels at fasting were normal. They were 5.4 mmol/L = 97.30 mg/dL,” Cecilie said.

She continued: “However, then we consumed this glucose drink to see how our insulin reacts to having ‘eaten.’ The next measurement we did was 30 minutes later, and it was 7.0 mmol/L = 126.13 mg/dL, which is a quite normal result. However, on the next measurement, it had dipped down to 4.0 mmol/L = 72.07 mg/dL. This was quite abnormal, as it’s way below my fasting glucose and within such a short time frame after having ‘eaten.’

“My teacher at this point said that although very low results, it’s not anything to be concerned about unless it keeps dropping, and that for most people, if it falls this rapidly, it will go up again at the two-hour mark. For me, however, at the two-hour mark, it had gone down to 3.8 mmol/L = 68.47 mg/dL. At this point, I was feeling even more dizzy, lightheaded, and I was almost ‘cold sweating.’

“My teacher then looked at me, concerned, and told me to first and foremost get some more food and go to my doctor to get this further checked out.”

Diagnosis: Reactive Hypoglycemia

Cecilie was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia, a condition that refers to low blood sugar occurring within four hours of eating.

She said: “It’s fun that I discovered this from med school, and that I finally have an answer to a question that I’ve had for so long.

“The problem with a condition like this is that there is no medication or cure. It’s something you must manage yourself with the food you eat and how you eat.

“I’ve learned that I need to focus more on meals high in protein and fats, avoid those refined sugars that give me a glucose spike, and also try to eat something every two to three hours (small, frequent meals) to stabilize my blood sugar.”

TikTok Reacts

The clip has received more than 173,000 likes and 655 comments, many from medical students sharing their experiences.

“We looked at our blood under the microscope at [university], and three people got sent to the doctor,” one user said. Another wrote, “A student found out they had blood cancer.”

A commenter said: “I had this during a blood glucose course. My glucose was high, but we forgot I was sipping a Starbucks iced latte the whole time.”

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