Treating hypos

[Pearsall85]

Hey all, just wondering what you all use to treat a hypo and what snack you have afterwards to keep your levels up?

I'm struggling a bit as I tend to send my levels too high.

Stu.

 

[Cobra3164]

Hello. I use orange juice in a small carton to give my blood sugar a quick boost then will have a sandwich with peanut butter to get some carbs in me.

Best

Simon aka Cobra3164

 

[Pearsall85]

Hello. I use orange juice in a small carton to give my blood sugar a quick boost then will have a sandwich with peanut butter to get some carbs in me.

Best

Simon aka Cobra3164

How long do you wait to have your sandwich?

Stu.

 

[lauramcentee]

Well i am kind of lucky and work in a convenience store so just grab the safe bet of lucozade. Sandwich or a pasta bowl to help keep levels steady afterwards. Keep jelly babies for a quick boost in a sandwich bag when out and about in town. Never keep a whole bag with me cause i will eat them all

 

[Ambersilva]

We are all different and what works for me will not necessarily work for anyone else. I am small and need much less food and insulin than someone who is big.

I do not suffer from serious hypos. But if I feel anxious and wobbly or am being very active I eat one mini jelly bean and test. If the shakiness does not resolve within a few minutes I eat another and test again 15 minutes later - but one jelly bean usually resolves the situation. I top up with jelly beans every twenty minutes during a walk to prevent BG levels going too low. If I consider my BG is too low at bedtime I eat a small amount of plain Greek Yoghurt.

 

[ivinghoe]

I am probably at the other end of the scale to Ambersilva being shall we say "heavily built" !
The mini (200ml) cartons of ribena also work well (the normal sugar ones) They contain an ideal amount of carbs for hypo treating which I was advised as being around 15g... take the drink and test 10 to 15 mins later to make sure the bg is recovering.
Jelly babies work well for me too and are more pocket friendly 5 jelly beans have 15gms of carbs are are quickly absorbed into the blood stream
If I`m working hard or steadily I rest up and just have a "go ahead" bar which has more carbs (25gms) and give it 15 mins to get digested Its slightly slower to work but usually keeps me steady ( I do gardening/groundsman/tree work on a reasonably large estate)
I used to over correct hypos too but sticking to around 15g of carbs does the job for me and I don`t go sky high afterwards.

 

[SamJB]

If I'm in the 3s then I have 3-5 dextro tablets. If I'm in the 2s then I have a few glugs of lucozade.

 

[lauramcentee]

Dextro tablets good. No need to keep cold, long dates on them and easy to carry in a pocket like a big packet of gum. Just down side is the chalky kind of taste for me. Orange flavour available in ASDA but lime and blackcurrent flavours available in TESCO. You just need to find out what works best for you just as ambersilver said "We are all different and what works for me will not necessarily work for anyone else" Just prefer jelly babies as can rip their heads off :lol:

 

[Spearmint]

5g of carb will take my daughter up 1mmol so usually 2-3 glucotabs is enough unless she still has a lot of bolus insulin active.

 

[noblehead]

2-3 jelly babies depending on how low I am, with regards to following up with a carby snack that will depend on how soon I have hypo'd following the previous injection, if it's within 3 hours I'll have a small 5-10g snack as where if it's preprandial then I'll just stick with the JB's.

 

[Riri]

What works for me is 1 bottle of glucojuice if readings between 3 and 4. If dropping to low 4s I usually have 2-3 jelly babies to keep me going. I don't need to take any additional carbs as I'm on a pump as there is no long acting insulin floating around. (Below 3 and I panic and usually end up over doing it with 2 glucojuices and carbs - I try hard not too but it always happens :x )

 

[Klang180]

Hello. I use orange juice in a small carton to give my blood sugar a quick boost then will have a sandwich with peanut butter to get some carbs in me.

Best

Simon aka Cobra3164

Just as a friendly bit of advice OJ is quite low GI and thus not that suitable as a hypo treatment. I would also say that OJ and a sandwich afterwards might be overcooking it a bit.

The question all depends on how soon after a bolus you are going low. If it is within an hour of taking your bolus and your dinner you have obviously misscalculated quite badly and will need more carbs. Whereas if you haven't eaten or taken a bolus for 4 hours or more you will need minimal carbs, say 5-15g to bring you back up.

Beware of a rebound high as your liver dumps glucagon into your blood!

Do not do what i always used to do and eat until i felt better because by that time you are already at 4plus and anything extra will just be on top. That is a recipe for a rollercoaster BS!

 

[hanadr]

There's a bag iof Jelly Babies and a bottle of Lucozade in the car. I drive, I don't get hypos. T1 husband rarely gets them, but we do have supplies.
Hana

 

[bluntneedle]

Hi :wave:

It sounds like your having or making a yo-yo effect. Try 4 glucotabs should be equal to 2 BE or KE that is usually enough, you could follow up with a small Muesli bar that equals 1 BE or KE this should normally be enough. Of course if you're diving deep and quick you have the feeling that you must eat everything in reach you have to avoid this because afterwards you will have to make a correction injection. Let us know how it goes :thumbup:

 

[ronialive]

Hi
My hospital did a research study on amounts
it seemed to much when i started doing it but stopped rebound hypos and fully corrected within a short period of time.

basically they recomment:

lucozade - 1/3 bottle if between 3-4
2/3 bottle if 2-3
the whole bottle if below 2
follow this with 20g of long acting carbs - preferrable a cereal bar to keep up.

have had far more stable sugars and no follow on hypos since been following this.
research seems to show that it works well.

if using glucotabs - 3,6 or 9.

I bought a hypokit.
I keep it stocked now with a cereal bar - 1 measure of lucozade or small can of coke and glucotabs and 1 hypogel. means i cannot overeat if follow instructions. I have a kit in my car, 1 by my bed and one to carry for work.

 

[kimhollis]

Thanks for all these suggestions. The research study about the glucotabs is interesting and they seem to be the easist thing to carry around, since they don't expire and are small. The dextro-tabs sound easy too.

I've recently been diagnosed with type 1, and had dropped quite a few kilos before being diagnosed, then have sprung up 7 kilos in three weeks from miscalculations and compensating with too much carb/sweets. I had being trying fruit - apples, plums. But its sounds like they aren't the most exact way to ensure I don't over do it.

 

[Napolyon1]

I keep a bottle of lucosade close by. It's full of sugar.

 

[Lauralou]

I hope this doesn't sound bad, but I treat my hypos by eating sugar sachets, they are quick and easy and you can keep them in your pocket.

 

[Cobra3164]

Hi sorry late on reply I try to have a sandwich or carbs within 20 mins of consuming orange juice seems to work good for me.

Hope this helps

Simon aka Cobra3164 :thumbup:

 

[Ambersilva]

I hope this doesn't sound bad, but I treat my hypos by eating sugar sachets, they are quick and easy and you can keep them in your pocket.

Good idea! About one teaspoonful of sugar - 5grms Carbohydrate in self contained doses. And they don't disintegrate and scatter powdered glucose everywhere like some tubes of glucose tablets do. I know the Glucotabs are contained in plastic tubes and don't disintegrate.