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Drink Hypo Treatment

Nicola M

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Messages
985
Location
Nottinghamshire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
What do you all use as your go to drink hypo treatment? I've always used lucozade but after they've recently changed their recipe to have less sugar it doesn't taste the same and I'm forced to look for an alternative but I'm not sure what sort of thing to go for. Just looking for some hypo recommendations from all of you really.
 
Irn bru, has just as much sugar as the old lucozade , if its not available where you live Coca-Cola is almost as good
 
Hi - I use very berry gluco juice its exactly 15 gm carbs and works very very fast... usually get mine from Boots chemist in small bottles only about 60 ml so very easy to carry around
 
Usually a carton of orange or apple juice, I do keep cans of coke in my bag and car though as a while ago my carton of OJ burst in my bag and got all sticky and gross.. and I keep a pack of dextros on me all the time too!
 
Fresh orange juice, but then sometimes milk and flapjacks usually if its a night time hypo. I stopped with the lucozade, bit synthetic and over compensates, but it is handy sometimes.
 
Hello Nicola m as an alternative you could use hypo stop it's a fast acting glucose gel and is available on prescription (well it is at my surgery?) Taste not that good but great at getting your sugars up really quick especially in an emergency and only small bottle with measurements on side only a thought good luck.
 
Guess it depends what counts as drinking...
I carry some glucose gel packets. Never used one though besides tasting it.
Plain old coke is my favorite.

I like the gel idea because you can tear it open with your mouth - I get super shaky hands when I get low and if I got to that point, I'm not sure I could open a bottle/not spill it everywhere.
 
I still have stocks of the old Lucozade, but when that gets used up, I'll swap to Pepsi or Coke as they've worked ok in the past. I never buy unbranded coca cola as so many now seem to have sweeteners rather than full sugar.
 
I know many people use drinks because they find them easier to swallow than something solid.
However, I prefer the convenience of carrying something small which are easy to measure how much sugar I have eaten so use dextrose or Glucotabs.
I was also concerned by the recent article describing that Lucozade is one of the hardest packaging to recycle so happy not to give my money to a company that has so little concern for such things.
 
I use KA grape, karibbean kola, fruit punch flavours, in their bottled variety, and sometimes drink it casually but it has higher sugar content than coca-cola or red bull. 89p per bottle or 39p per can pretty good value for the amount of sugar in it
 

I know with a Glucotab that one is approx 4g carbs. When hypo I tend to panic overdose on glucose, so Glucotabs (which I don't like) are better for me for easy carb counting and I'm not going to overdose on them!
 
I use apple juice or orange juice
works pretty quickly and tastes good too !!
 
We used ribena cartons in the past, but now use apple juice. It seems to do the job nicely
 
Hi - Apple juice sometimes but normally Dextrose or jelly babies. I have some in the car, by the side of the bed & in my bag!
 
I use Glucotabs, they come in a nice plastic container so I don't have to eat the dirty fluffy ones from the bottom of my handbag. If I'm home I like drinking chocolate x
 
Grumpy ole thing said:
I use Glucotabs, they come in a nice plastic container so I don't have to eat the dirty fluffy ones from the bottom of my handbag. If I'm home I like drinking chocolate x
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I like drinking chocolate too. However the fat content in the chocolate means it takes longer to act. So drinking chocolate is a treat for me rather than a treatment.
 
helensaramay said:
I like drinking chocolate too. However the fat content in the chocolate means it takes longer to act. So drinking chocolate is a treat for me rather than a treatment.
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Hi @helensaramay, that's true it is much slower, so no good for emergencies x
 
Postleneo said:
Hi - I use very berry gluco juice its exactly 15 gm carbs and works very very fast... usually get mine from Boots chemist in small bottles only about 60 ml so very easy to carry around
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They're a bit expensive if you need them regularly but I also use the GlucoJuice; they are so convenient - small little bottles that are easy to carry around and they provide an instant 15g hit of sugar that gets me out of my hypo in minutes and ensures I don't over-treat and end up high.
 
The thing with glucotabs is comparing the price between them and liquid. I know as far as solid glucose you can get jelly babies which usually cost £1 per bag in the supermarket (not saying they're the only fast acting glucose sweets). I think it's companies like Gluco and their glucogel or glucotabs like to capitalise on diabetics hypo's but if you're smart you can either get a pack of small cans of coke or buy a particularly cheap 80p 500ml bottle of high sugar content drink and only pour out 1/5th into a glass and save it until you get another hypo. If you really don't like those options and aren't bothered about the price you're free to get whatever u want.
 
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