A healthy, efficient, food/drink hypo stopper?

[Siné]

Hi I'm type 1 and looking for a good cheap hypo stopper.
Meaning not bottles of expensive lucozade, or powdery horrible expensive sweets, or bananas ( v healthy yes, but if having slight hypos, between meals- adding a lot to the ammt of food I'm eating)
I am very sensitive to insulin, meaning I have regular slight hypos where I just need a 'pick me up' -
Have always found a liquid is easier to digest quickly than a food and doesn't knock out regular food intake ie. bananas are quite filling!)
Used to carry sugary water- did the job fast but tastes VILE
Anyone else any suggestions?
Especially if your busy and on the go, working or exercising etc

 

[GrantGam]

How about a peeled apple?

The majority of the fibre is in the skin, so by peeling you will get that BG spike that you're needing quicker.

I sometimes have an apple when I'm low and don't bother taking the skin off as it raises me quick enough. But you'll be able to see for yourself what works best.

Gels are good, light and easily carried. They're not too expensive. I get mine from chain reaction cycles where they often have good sales on gel sachets.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/high5-energy-gels-38g-x-20/rp-prod4207

Grant

 

[hels]

If I'm just dropping a bit low I like a bit of fruit. Maybe a few grapes or some satsuma. Or raid the kids snacks like the little boxes of raisins or smarties or cow biscuit.

 

[himtoo]

Hi @Siné
welcome to the forum

lucozade is a fairly inexpensive treatment in comparison to a call out by paramedics if you go unconscious --- Lidl sell 8 packs of 380ml bottles of the stuff for £3.50
making it £0.44 p per bottle -- so for a pick me up of say 100 ml (15 carbs ) ( a whole bottle is circa 57 carbs ) that works out at 12p

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I'm not quite sure what the problem is? if you are having regular slight hypos between meals then your insulin balance probably needs tweaking - hypos between meals aren't normal. If you do have the occasional low anyway then what's wrong with glucose tablets? I always carry a few tablets in my pocket. They are small and very cheap.

 

[azure]

If it's an actual hypo, then glucose tablets or Lucozade (quickest) or regular Coke or Pepsi. If you're just going a tiny bit low, then I find flapjacks good (not a whole one - break off what you need) or dried dates.

 

[1abRat]

I usually correct a small hypo (like it's slowly dropping and is ~3.8 mmol/L) with a few raisins. They act pretty fast and taste nice and might even have the odd vitamin knocking about in there.

At the market in town I can get a 1 Kg bag of dried raisins and cherries for £1 and this lasts me months!

 

[Siné]

How about a peeled apple?

The majority of the fibre is in the skin, so by peeling you will get that BG spike that you're needing quicker.

I sometimes have an apple when I'm low and don't bother taking the skin off as it raises me quick enough. But you'll be able to see for yourself what works best.

Gels are good, light and easily carried. They're not too expensive. I get mine from chain reaction cycles where they often have good sales on gel sachets.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/high5-energy-gels-38g-x-20/rp-prod4207

Grant

Thanks a lot Grant- Never heard of the gels before but they sound perfect for fast paced days and light to carry is a huge plus.

 

[Engineer88]

Tesco value juice cartons 40p for 3. Might only need half

 

[Siné]

Thanks all for your suggestions- will definitely try the gels for busy days carrying heavy bags etc
To explain about the slight hypos:
The ideal blood sugar is below 7, whereas for me I can feel a slight hypo at about 4.1...
It really doesn't take that much activity / energy for me to use up those 3 mg.
So I've always found it incredibly difficult to master that slight window between ideal and starting to go low..
My insulin dosages are Actrapid 6, 5, 6 and Insulatard at 14 units
I was surprised when attending a group diabetes meeting that most people were taking 3 times the insulin for
eating pretty much the same food/ activity. and the d. nurse said I was very sensitive to the insulin.
Wondering does any one else find this?

 

[Siné]

Thanks all for your suggestions- will definitely try the gels for busy days carrying heavy bags etc
To explain about the slight hypos:
The ideal blood sugar is below 7, whereas for me I can feel a slight hypo at about 4.1...
It really doesn't take that much activity / energy for me to use up those 3 mg.
So I've always found it incredibly difficult to master that slight window between ideal and starting to go low..
My insulin dosages are Actrapid 6, 5, 6 and Insulatard at 14 units
I was surprised when attending a group diabetes meeting that most people were taking 3 times the insulin for
eating pretty much the same food/ activity. and the d. nurse said I was very sensitive to the insulin.
Wondering does any one else find this?

Just to say as well that do have fruit a lot for hypo- and lucozade for convenience when on the go-
aware that I'm eating a lot of processed sugary products when going low and wanting a healthier alternative..
Have always been on these insulins since diagnosed- do people find other insulins better? or without hypos?

 

[Siné]

Glucose tablets, about 60p for a pack, not really expensive.
Bananas for me would be useless. They take well over an hour to do anything to glucose levels.
Box of glucose powder mixed into liquid. Got to be better than sugar water.
Any bags of sweets, eg Jelly Babies.
As mentioned you shouldn't really be having small hypos regularly but if your desired level of control results in this situation then you will just have to accept you need to buy something to keep on you.

Did try the glucose powder before - is a good alternative to the sugar water.
Found that interesting about the banana with you- that it would take an hour to work- would be much faster for me
maybe 10-15 mins and very filling too
Thanks for that

 

[Siné]

I usually correct a small hypo (like it's slowly dropping and is ~3.8 mmol/L) with a few raisins. They act pretty fast and taste nice and might even have the odd vitamin knocking about in there.

At the market in town I can get a 1 Kg bag of dried raisins and cherries for £1 and this lasts me months!

Raisins is a great tip- thanks for that

 

[Siné]

How about a peeled apple?

The majority of the fibre is in the skin, so by peeling you will get that BG spike that you're needing quicker.

I sometimes have an apple when I'm low and don't bother taking the skin off as it raises me quick enough. But you'll be able to see for yourself what works best.

Gels are good, light and easily carried. They're not too expensive. I get mine from chain reaction cycles where they often have good sales on gel sachets.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/high5-energy-gels-38g-x-20/rp-prod4207

Grant

Hi Grant, the gels sound great, thanks for that

 

[azure]

Thanks all for your suggestions- will definitely try the gels for busy days carrying heavy bags etc
To explain about the slight hypos:
The ideal blood sugar is below 7, whereas for me I can feel a slight hypo at about 4.1...
It really doesn't take that much activity / energy for me to use up those 3 mg.
So I've always found it incredibly difficult to master that slight window between ideal and starting to go low..
My insulin dosages are Actrapid 6, 5, 6 and Insulatard at 14 units
I was surprised when attending a group diabetes meeting that most people were taking 3 times the insulin for
eating pretty much the same food/ activity. and the d. nurse said I was very sensitive to the insulin.
Wondering does any one else find this?

I take a lower daily total than that. I think the amount of insulin each person needs can vary a lot.

You've mentioned specific doses for your meals. Do you carb count? Have you looked at your meal ratios to check they're correct? Have you done a basal test?

If you're having a busy day, food 'top ups' are sometimes necessary, but if it's happening frequently, you may be better off tweaking your insulin