Do I take insulin after treating a hypo?

The idea behind bolus (fast-acting) insulin is to "correct" high blood sugar.
The idea behind drinking a coke or orange juice is to "correct" low blood sugar.

With that in mind, if I had a hypo (low blood sugar), I would drink a soda or something with sugar to bring it back up to normal, but I would not take insulin as well. Doing so would defeat the purpose of drinking the soda.

Disclaimer: these are my own personal experiences and you should decide with your doctors what works for you.

No, if you have a hypo you need to bring your blood sugar back up to normal so do NOT have insulin for the food/drink you've taken to treat the hypo.

Keep testing to make sure your blood sugar has come back up.

No, but sometimes it doesn't take as much as you'd think and it's very easy to over-compensate. Particularly as your judgment isn't at its best when you're hypo!

So test as much as you need to after you've sorted it, because you may go high later - I know I quite often do.

Edited to remove ambiguous advice

No don't take insulin because if you're injecting insulin to deal with the food you are using to treat a hypo, then you will start a roller coaster effect. Make sure your hypo treatment is just enough to treat your hypo, and not so much that you get a resulting high blood sugar. Otherwise you're going to be on that roller coaster and tired of the rocky ride
It's early days for you and congratulations on your first hypo (!) but you'll want to avoid them if you can. So test your blood sugar regularly to spot your blood sugar dropping. Treat it promptly but with just enough food to bring you up to around 5.

Edited to remove ambiguous advice

I know the first few hypos are scary but you only need about 15g of sugar/carbs to treat. That being said thats about 1/2 can of coke. So drinking a full can and then toast means you likely over did it and without taking insulin to correct the 'extra' sugar you ingested you will probably go really high.

Edited to remove inappropriate advice.

Sorry to confuse you man,

If you handle a hypo perfectly you shouldn't need to take insulin because you should have eaten the exact right amount of carbs required to bring your sugars back up to 5.5mmol/L

So when your low, you need to eat something to get back up, but if you eat too much you need insulin to keep you from going too high.

Its a balancing act. Insulin makes you low, sugar/carbs make you high, and you need to stay right in the middle. So even though your numbers are low you only need A LITTLE bit of sugar/carbs to float back to normal.

Certainly discuss it with your doctor and start writing things down, it REALLY helps to sort this stuff out because you can look back and say "2 weeks ago I was at 3.2, and i drank a whole juice box and went up to 10.5 two hours later - ok, this time I am at 3.2 I will only drink half that juice box (or take insulin to counter the other half) and should end up around 6.5"

This is what the forums are for! The best thing you can do is test, remember what happens /write it down, and then try again next time and adjust for the mistakes from that last time.

You'll get it, it will get easier and before you know you it you will be able to handle it all without even having to think, you'll just know, like instinct!

Edited to remove ambiguous advice that may confuse

TravisBoyd said:

Okay I'm so confused because some are saying I should take insulin and others are saying not to

I will discuss it with my doctor. This stuff is so hard for me to get the hang of. I'm only 16 so it's really confusing and frustrating

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No you don't take insulin when treating a hypo, there's no confusion about that @TravisBoyd.

What people are trying to say is you should treat the hypo with just enough glucose to bring your bg levels back up to a normal range, over-treating a hypo means that you will inevitably go high afterwards. Do discuss this with your diabetes team if unsure on what to do.

Some posts have been edited in this thread. Please be careful about information overload, especially for the newly diagnosed. As you can see, it can cause confusion, even though what you're saying is correct. Travis did exactly the right thing. A small glass of coke and a piece of bread or toast is a commonly advised hypo treatment.

@TravisBoyd as Noblehead and others have said - do NOT take insulin with the food you have to treat a hypo.

TravisBoyd said:

Okay I'm so confused because some are saying I should take insulin and others are saying not to

I will discuss it with my doctor. This stuff is so hard for me to get the hang of. I'm only 16 so it's really confusing and frustrating

Click to expand...

It's a learning process so don t stress yourself out bud,take it easy m8

(Edited by a moderator)

Be aware that your body may respond to a hypo as well, so you might find that after treating it your levels go too high because of that, not necessarily over-treating. I've never taken insulin after a hypo, even if I have gone too high. I'd rather wait till my next meal and correct then as its less risky. Personally, as its very early days for you I really wouldn't recommend it. Keep in close contact with your team, they'll be able to reassure you

The short answer to this is No.....A hypo is purly down to low sugar a shot of insulin would lower it further resulting
in a further & maybe a more serious hypo

TravisBoyd said:

Okay I'm so confused because some are saying I should take insulin and others are saying not to

I will discuss it with my doctor. This stuff is so hard for me to get the hang of. I'm only 16 so it's really confusing and frustrating

Click to expand...

If you have a hypo take immediate action, food, to get your levels up, NOT insulin. 15 g is recommended and test 15 to 20 minutes later to see whether it has increased, if not then have a little more food,.
It is a lot to take in, also, if you cram your face with lots of carbs your reading will probably go through the roof and be sky high afterwards.
Well done for asking for advice and help, it shows you are in control and taking care of yourself.
Take care RRB