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How many dextrose tablets??

C

claridge

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Hi!

I had my first hypo at 4am this morning- only had half a bottle of vino.
BS was 6.3 when l went to bed- didnt realise that was too low (still learning!)

At 4am it was 3.2 to a book l bought yday on Diabetes said to have 3 sugar release tablets followed by a carb snack- so 3 dextrose tablets and a bowl of cereal later l stopped sweating and tested my BS levels again an hour later they had shot up to 12.6 then an hr after that 15.2!!! Eeeek- so l took my breakki shot of novo rapid to adjust it back down- thought l was doing the best thing!
Although l woke up again at half 9 to be having anohther hypo at 3.3.

I have just taken 1 Dextrose Tablet, had a piece of fruit and now making breakkie- so lm hoping that wil be better!

Any tips please as l was rather worried last night (especially as l was home alone) and first hypo.

Thanks,

Jo x
 
Hi Jo,I'm not type 1 but the thought occurs that the bowl of cereal is probably too much sugar for you.Would a protein based snack not be better to stop such a rapid rise in BG? Hopefully an experienced type one will be along with a better answer during the day.
 
You are best to correct hypos with pure glucose. This can be lucozade or tablets. This way you get rapid resolution of your hypo, within 15 mins you should notice a difference, and you are less likely to overshoot. Limit the first dose to 15g of carb and recheck the bs in 15 mins to see you are starting to rise. You won't be back to normal for about 30-45 after the start of hypo symptoms but you won't over do it either.

It took me quite a bit of time to stop over correcting hypos as the first reaction is to stuff in as many carbs as you can.
 
Hi Jo

I'm not type 1 but am insulin dependent type 2 and have had the same problem of over-compensating for hypos. The advice which Katharine gives works for me and I have bottles of Lucozade everywhere(I find that, on me, it works quicker than Dextrose). In my car, by my bed, in my fishing tackle etc.

All the best

Phil
 
dont worry too much about it, i used to over compensate out of fear when i was on novomix, now tho i just have 3 gluco tabs and that does the trick within 15 mins :D
 
I find that Lucozade works best for me, It goes down easier and absorbs quicker, and some times its hard work to chomp the tablets if you are really weak.

I once had a member of Doorstaff that had a hypo and never asked for a drink, and he passed out, he wouldnt drink or eat and no one even knew he was diabetic, so while I was waiting for an Ambulance, I emptied some white sugar sachets in to his mouth between his bottom lip and teeth on the off chance that it was a hypo, and that brought him round enough to have a glass of full fat Pepsi, then he came round and I made him a Sandwich......Silly ******, always carry something on ya that tells people you are diabetic and not just a pen cos the amount of people that dont know about a hypo situation and thing "oh god, he's Diabetic, he must need his Insullin !!!!!!!!!!! Scarey !!!!!!!!!!
 
I usually take 1 glucose tablet, then a slice of toast. I guess they do things differently over here in France. The doctor said taking glucose is ok, but you need to back it up with a longer acting carb since the glucose tablet will allow you to drop again pretty quickly. 1 glucose tablet will stop you feeling **** v quickly. The toast will provide longer acting 'glucose' which will then take you to the morning. A slice of toast is usually around 15-20 carbs, so shouldn't send your bs shooting too high. 1 unit of Humalog will reduce your bs by 2,3 - not sure if this is the same for all insulin, but if you are on humalog, then you can use that as a guide to how much to take to reduce your sugar level. 6,2 isn't too low to go to sleep on, unless that test was done less than 3 hours after you took insulin and ate. If it was done less than 3 hours, then yes, it's too low. Eat something small before you sleep to prevent hypo's in the night. You should, if possible, wake up to double check your level a bit later :)
 
Standard protocol is 15g glucose and test again in 15 minutes.

However as a Type 2 with a funky liver that tends to overcorrect, if necessary I will do about 5 - 10g glucose and follow up with some slower carbs and protein. When Mr Liver wakes up he can double my BG quite rapidly without my eating anything, if I've done too much glucose as well it can take most of the rest of the day to even out again.
 
I usually use the 15g and 15 minutes rule, but for a tiny low of 3.5, I would probably only take 10g. It's only just a hypo in my book and wouldn't take much correction. I'd test again to make sure I hadn't just caught a bigger drop.

If you're using Dextrosol or Lucozade tablets, they are 3g each, so 15g would be 5 tablets.

Glucotabs are (I think, long time since I used them) 4g each, so you'd need 4 of those for 15g.

Whether you need to follow it up with long lasting carbs or not depends on what's caused the low: basal or bolus insulin. If it was too much bolus insulin then long lasting carbs shouldn't be needed, but if you've had too much basal then long acting carbs might be needed to prevent a further drop. I think the advice that hypo cures should always be followed with long acting carbs is based on old fashioned insulin regimes and some doctors haven't had their training refreshed to take account of modern analogue insulins.

In the case of hypos caused by exercise or alcohol, it's a bit more complicated because the after-effects of that can linger. Experience will tell.

I've never understood why people say that taking glucose will cause you to drop again. This is true for people who aren't diabetic, because the glucose makes you produce more insulin, but if you aren't producing any insulin, then once your glucose is put up by the glucose tabs, why should it drop? There isn't anything to make it drop.
 
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