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Hypos & Dextro Energy Tablets?

miahara

miahara

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,019
Location
Tayside
Type of diabetes
Type 3c
Treatment type
Insulin
Rather than carry jelly babies and lucozade I'm thinking about Dextro Energy tablets. Nice and small and easily carried. Has anyone tried them, and if so how many should I take in the (unlikely) event of a hypo.

Dave
 
@miahara I was told 1-3 tablets, but see what suits you. It depends how low you are. Give them 10 mins or so to,work.
 
Dextrose tablets are fine but Glucotabs are better I feel. Why? To treat a hypo you may 2/4 tablets. Use dextrose and you'll always be left with half a packet or more that are now open. This happened to me many years ago, had half packet dextrose in my jeans pocket, felt myself going low in queue at Wilkinsons, got the tablets out only to find they had gone rock hard and totally inedible. Glucotabs on the other hand come in a resealable tube and stay edible for literally months even years. You can even buy larger tubs of Glucotabs and top up your smaller tubes.
 
therower said:
Dextrose tablets are fine but Glucotabs are better I feel. Why? To treat a hypo you may 2/4 tablets. Use dextrose and you'll always be left with half a packet or more that are now open. This happened to me many years ago, had half packet dextrose in my jeans pocket, felt myself going low in queue at Wilkinsons, got the tablets out only to find they had gone rock hard and totally inedible. Glucotabs on the other hand come in a resealable tube and stay edible for literally months even years. You can even buy larger tubs of Glucotabs and top up your smaller tubes.
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I agree... used to use dextrose tabs but switched to Glucotabs and personally find them much better - 4g carb Vs 3g with dextrose and the re-sealable tube is fantastic. I normally take 3-4 gluco tabs to treat a hypo and seemd to see a a good effect after about 10 mins
 
miahara said:
Rather than carry jelly babies and lucozade I'm thinking about Dextro Energy tablets. Nice and small and easily carried. Has anyone tried them, and if so how many should I take in the (unlikely) event of a hypo.

Dave
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I use Dex 4 - there's 10 to a tube and I just refill it when I'm running low on tablets. The tubes seal them and keeps water and other contaminants away from the tablets. I carry them all the time and like the previous replies to your post 1 - 3 usually does the trick although it is soooooo easy to overcompensate going low to high .
 
Many thanks to everyone for your replies. I'll try to get old of some glucotabs.
 
miahara said:
Rather than carry jelly babies and lucozade I'm thinking about Dextro Energy tablets. Nice and small and easily carried. Has anyone tried them, and if so how many should I take in the (unlikely) event of a hypo.

Dave
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Miahara, how close do you feel you have been to a hypo? Are you taking any hypo inducing meds?

Although I have experienced very low numbers, and do quite regularly, I have never knowingly had a hypo. I don't carry anything with me. The odd time I've felt very hungry and quite, quite empty, it has usually been in the run up to a meal (I don't snack).

If my meal is imminent, I wait it out. If my meal is a bit further off, I'll have a cup of tea, with some milk in, which just gives my system something to be working on until my food arrives.

As a healthy, unmedicated T2, I believe my liver will look after me, by releasing some of it's stores. So far, it had behaved pretty well.
 
AndBreathe said:
Miahara, how close do you feel you have been to a hypo? Are you taking any hypo inducing meds?

Although I have experienced very low numbers, and do quite regularly, I have never knowingly had a hypo. I don't carry anything with me. The odd time I've felt very hungry and quite, quite empty, it has usually been in the run up to a meal (I don't snack).

If my meal is imminent, I wait it out. If my meal is a bit further off, I'll have a cup of tea, with some milk in, which just gives my system something to be working on until my food arrives.

As a healthy, unmedicated T2, I believe my liver will look after me, by releasing some of it's stores. So far, it had behaved pretty well.
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I'm on gliclazide, a sulphonylurea that can cause hypos. So far I've only experienced one and that was in exceptional circumstances and largely due to eating very little all day and what I did finally eat was very low carb followed by a couple of glasses of wine. This was last summer after flying out to Greece. My normal BG lows are in the 5+ to upper 6 range, though yesterday after a rather chaotic day with no 'normal' meals I felt unusually knackered by evening and when I tested was 4.6.
I'm not unduly worried about hypos and just want something that's handier than a bottle of lucozade or bag of jelly babies to carry around. Having said that I am steadily reducing my BG and have been told I could be classed as 'in remission' if it continues so will need to watch that the meds and diet don't drive it too low.

Dave
 
I use raspberry gluco tabs, and tbh they actually taste pretty decent! As they have 4g of sugar, i take between 3-6 depending on how low i am. Then wait 15-20mins and test again.
 
miahara said:
I'm on gliclazide, a sulphonylurea that can cause hypos. So far I've only experienced one and that was in exceptional circumstances and largely due to eating very little all day and what I did finally eat was very low carb followed by a couple of glasses of wine. This was last summer after flying out to Greece. My normal BG lows are in the 5+ to upper 6 range, though yesterday after a rather chaotic day with no 'normal' meals I felt unusually knackered by evening and when I tested was 4.6.
I'm not unduly worried about hypos and just want something that's handier than a bottle of lucozade or bag of jelly babies to carry around. Having said that I am steadily reducing my BG and have been told I could be classed as 'in remission' if it continues so will need to watch that the meds and diet don't drive it too low.

Dave
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If you're on Gliclazide, then f course you need to have something to hand. Here's hoping you don't have to use them.
 
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