Car hypo treatment

[Glucobabu]

Another vote for glucotabs - 4g per tab, not particularly tasty! Also longlasting.

Aren’t they now labelled ‘Lift’ or is that something else?

 

[Top_Barman]

I always keep Fruit Pastilles on my person. Even when past the best before date, they still retain shape, colour and taste, just sometimes get more sugary on the outside. Whatever works best for you is the thing to use.

 

[miahara]

I carry a bottle of "Lift" glucose juice in the car, it's 15g of carbs which is equal to 3 jelly babies and I usually also carry a banana to provide some slightly slower acting carbs. As has already been said, chocolate is very slow acting and too slow to fix an imminent hypo.
Lucozade Sport is 8.8 g carbs per 250 ml so half a 500 ml bottle would provide a bit of a boost.

 

[Chaikovsky]

Can anyone tell me the best thing that can be kept in a car long term to treat a hypo. My mum is also diabetic, doesn’t travel far really but this week on a way to an appointment she was stuck in traffic after a car accident for 1 1/2 hours her journey was only about 15 mins if that. She had 2 mars bars but she’d had them so long they’d gone off and couldn’t eat them. What can you suggest please.

Jelly Babies- just keep them out of direct sunshine. I use them when it begins to drop not when the hypo happens. Better high than low if she gets good warning signs;but to be honest, even though it has happened to us all at some point no doubt, you need to be fending it off before it happens. I am sure many would recommend any kind a liquid hypo stop sachet. Mars bars are only going to be any good at all if she is out of the car, keys out and parked up safely. Even then relatively slow acting compared to liquid glucose.Maybe try raising the glucose level before she drives??! That would be my take after 30 odd years of driving with the condition. Most if not all will advise a quick acting remedy . Complex/ starchy carbs are not ideal & too slow. Only really good for stabilising the blood sugar levels after initial treatment of the hypo.

 

[Chaikovsky]

Oh and one more thing to bear in mind - you really should not be driving whilst hypo - the potential penalties can be extremely harsh . Let alone having one hand off the wheel on a bag/bottle of anything. You should be testing your BG every hour and a half whilst driving normally and that of course means stopping! Sorry for spouting the obvious.

 

[Stephenbr68]

Can anyone tell me the best thing that can be kept in a car long term to treat a hypo. My mum is also diabetic, doesn’t travel far really but this week on a way to an appointment she was stuck in traffic after a car accident for 1 1/2 hours her journey was only about 15 mins if that. She had 2 mars bars but she’d had them so long they’d gone off and couldn’t eat them. What can you suggest please.

Have you tried Lucozade? I find the orange one is really good bought in a pack of 4. You won’t need to drink all of it and it will raise sugars quite fast. Ok? …… Steve

 

[Holly Ford]

Can anyone tell me the best thing that can be kept in a car long term to treat a hypo. My mum is also diabetic, doesn’t travel far really but this week on a way to an appointment she was stuck in traffic after a car accident for 1 1/2 hours her journey was only about 15 mins if that. She had 2 mars bars but she’d had them so long they’d gone off and couldn’t eat them. What can you suggest please.

A simple suggestion is keeping a couple of small cartons of fresh orange juice, I think they're 200 or 250mls content (For the sugar) and I personally have afterwards for some lower GI food which is usually a cereal bar. With a drink of the sugary fluid and the starchy carbohydrate the blood sugar level should rise, not too dramatically & stay at a safe level until you can stop somewhere & have some more suitable carbohydrates. Also always to ensure that you have a couple of packs of glucose tablets kept for emergencies in the glove compartment, door pocket, handbag or like myself, whenever I go out, in a bum bag, for quick easy access. I have had diabetes type 1 since 1978 & everyone uses different methods for treating hypos but I have found this works best for myself.

 

[In Response]

Kendal Mint Cake. Perfect solution as it’s quick to eat, easy to work out carbs per square, not so desirable that you want to pick at it as you’re travelling, comes in a flat pack to store easily in the door pocket, and doesn’t go off over the months, even years (Does tend to go hard and become crumbly, keep in a plastic bag). And doesn’t leave stains like lucozade when spilled. Keep a bar in all your key locations, bedside table for instance, jacket pocket when out walking. I’ve relied on it for decades.

How do you measure out how much to take?
Tablets such as Dextrose or GlucoTab/Life are convenient, did not go off or melt, work fast and you know how many carbs in each tablet.

 

[miguelcr]

Can anyone tell me the best thing that can be kept in a car long term to treat a hypo. My mum is also diabetic, doesn’t travel far really but this week on a way to an appointment she was stuck in traffic after a car accident for 1 1/2 hours her journey was only about 15 mins if that. She had 2 mars bars but she’d had them so long they’d gone off and couldn’t eat them. What can you suggest please.

Hello. What I keep in car for treating hypos are, simply, sugar sachets. They last long, usually tell how much carbs they have (typically 5-7 g) and have a relatively quick effect on raising blood sugar.

 

[SimonP78]

Re Kental Mintcake

How do you measure out how much to take?
Tablets such as Dextrose or GlucoTab/Life are convenient, did not go off or melt, work fast and you know how many carbs in each tablet.

They (packs) survive thus far in my cycling bag, each chunk (of my particular brand - they are in sections a bit like block of chocolate) delivers 10g of carbs. I far prefer to eat this to dextrose tablets - the particular advantage while cycling is that if you've had a long day and can't stomach any more food (and especially sweet stuff) the mint means you can still get it down. I also find dextrose tablets very dry and not particularly pleasant to eat unless there really is no other choice.

I've never eaten Kendal mintcake while not on the bike (there are things I'd prefer to eat, say Skittles), but I'd expect it to be pretty quick in normal life - I was certainly feeling much better after 10min on my ride yesterday, even if my libre only reckoned I'd started heading back up after 30min (digestion is delayed with lots of exercise).

I saw a comment above about jelly babies - I use these in the house (by the bedside for example, though they get stuck on your teeth, so perhaps not ideal when you just want to eat something quickly and then brush your teeth again) and used to use them in the car until last summer when I ended up with one large congealed jelly pool in the bag, which made trying to work out how many carbs were in any bit I pulled off quite difficult (also a bit sticky iirc!) My children were happy to finish the pack off over a few days (they would have been happy to do it in a single go tbh, but I intervened!)

 

[AutisticMum]

I don’t keep my hypo treatment in my car. I keep it in my bag so it is with me all the time.
Note that chocolate is not a suitable hypo treatment. You need fast acting carbs like jelly babies or lucozade. The fat in chocolate slows down the glucose absorption and prolongs a hypo.

You & me both on keeping it in my bag. Glucose tablets or these tubes of glucose gel should always be the first thing used. Chocolate bars are useful for after they have kicked in to keep your blood sugars up for longer than the glucose. Another helpful trick is to eat before you travel which unless its a long car journey can avoid the hypo happening in the first place.

 

[AutisticMum]

Hi Sarah! I'm Type 1 insulin dependent for 62 years and a driver. I always make sure I carry a couple of tubes of Glucogel wherever I go for emergency blood sugar hypos. I also keep a blood test kit in the car all the time and I always test my bloods before even getting in the car despite me having a Libre patch on all the time. I test ever hour on a long journey.In addition I keep a bottle of water in the car as well. You can get Glucogel from the doctors on prescription as a Type 1, but you can also buy 25g tubes off eBay. You've got to be so careful driving with diabetes. The last thing you want is low blood sugar at the wheel of your car. If that does happen- just pull over into a safe place and get yourself sorted out.,Don't attempt to move until your bloods have risen to 4.5 mmols plus. Best of luck - stay safe

Here in the UK its a legal requirement if you are the driver & are on insulin to have a blood glucose test kit with you for proving you're out of the hypo before you start driving again after a hypo (even if you use the likes of Libre) and to check your blood sugars twice before you drive (this can be with the likes of libre or Dexcom).

 

[In Response]

Here in the UK its a legal requirement if you are the driver & are on insulin to have a blood glucose test kit with you for proving you're out of the hypo before you start driving again after a hypo (even if you use the likes of Libre) and to check your blood sugars twice before you drive (this can be with the likes of libre or Dexcom).

I agree with most of this but I am not sure about testing twice before driving,
I thought it was only necessary to test a second time if the first reading was less than 5 mmol/l.

Also worth mentioning that the OP's mother is not driving so the testing is not a legal requirement.

 

[AutisticMum]

I agree with most of this but I am not sure about testing twice before driving,
I thought it was only necessary to test a second time if the first reading was less than 5 mmol/l.

Also worth mentioning that the OP's mother is not driving so the testing is not a legal requirement.

The post I was replying to referred to being the driver themselves hence why my post was about that

 

[CakieJ]

Can anyone tell me the best thing that can be kept in a car long term to treat a hypo. My mum is also diabetic, doesn’t travel far really but this week on a way to an appointment she was stuck in traffic after a car accident for 1 1/2 hours her journey was only about 15 mins if that. She had 2 mars bars but she’d had them so long they’d gone off and couldn’t eat them. What can you suggest please.

Just to add that mum does not drive!!

I always have dextrose tablets on me. I have packs in the car, all over the house, at work! They work quickly and I’m not too keen on the taste so there isn’t any temptation to eat them. They usually have a good lung expiry date on. Jelly babies are also recommended but I would just eat them if they were around so don’t trust myself!

 

[Sarah69]

The post I was replying to referred to being the driver themselves hence why my post was about that

I have amended the post now to make it clear that my mother doesn’t drive so doesn’t need to test before she goes out.

 

[Niki Shuttleworth]

I keep giant skittles in my car and handbag, T1 diabetic for 47 years on a pump, so 5 skittles and test 15 mins later, another 5 if needed and test again, repeating until BS over 5 mmol, then have a peanut bar afterwards, works a treat for me.

 

[daffy1]

I cant keeps sweets in my bag cos I’d eat them. But I have Lift glucose in my bag and at the side of my bed all the time. I find that 2 or 3 Usually get me back on track

 

[Waggytails]

Can anyone tell me the best thing that can be kept in a car long term to treat a hypo. My mum is also diabetic, doesn’t travel far really but this week on a way to an appointment she was stuck in traffic after a car accident for 1 1/2 hours her journey was only about 15 mins if that. She had 2 mars bars but she’d had them so long they’d gone off and couldn’t eat them. What can you suggest please.

Just to add that mum does not drive!!

I use Skittles. I keep the requisite number in old camera film tubs. In coat pockets, handbags, bedside drawer and left in the car glovebox. Wherever they are they keep for so long that I can't remember lol.

 

[Icantsleep]

150ml cans of Coke - 10g each