[dreamcompiler]

> Burning out all of the glucose and dopamine in your brain” isn’t a thing

You may be right that it can't happen from overwork--I've never heard of it--but glucose starvation of the brain is very much a thing. That's what hypoglycemia causes. Type 1 diabetic patients get brain fog when they take too much insulin (which causes hypoglycemia). When it's mild, they can tell it's happening and they seek sugar, which fixes the problem very quickly, if temporarily. When it's severe, they lapse into a coma and sometimes die.

If this person's diagnosis was accurate, sucking on a sugar cube would fix it instantly. If that didn't work then the diagnosis is suspect.

[Trasmatta]

Yeah, I'm a type 1 diabetic and nothing about this person's post made sense. It's just not how blood glucose works. There's not a store of glucose in the brain that can just suddenly be depleted because you worked too much. Glucose travels in the blood and its uptake is regulated by insulin. If he was suffering from hypoglycemia he would feel effects in his entire body, and it would be at least temporarily resolved by eating sugar.

[GordonS]

AFAIK, when it's mild your brain is not actually starved of glucose at all, and hypoglycemic symptoms (e.g. brain fog) are caused by your endocrine system changing hormone levels (such as cortisol) to "signal" your body that it needs glucose to increase blood sugar levels. If it gets severe enough, then the brain can run out of glucose and the person can die - but AFAIK the body prioritises the brain for fuel above all else, so it really is the last thing to go.

[garganzol]

Glucose can be present in blood but the brain can be still unable to consume it due to diabetes (insulin absence) or some form of a mitochondrial disease (inability to transfer glucose to ATP via oxidation).

In both cases this is a panic situation from brain's point of view which is compensated by a spontaneous "stop" (seizure as OP seems to call it) and by injecting adrenaline with a corresponding response from endocrinal system (more glucose + more insulin).

[wittyreference]

Neuronal glucose uptake is via transporter GLUT1, which is insulin independent. Insulin-dependent glucose uptake is primarily GLUT4. Even in insulin absence, the brain gets its sugar.