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Tea with Sugar - type 1

T

Tracie1212

Well-Known Member
Messages
138
Type of diabetes
Type 1
After exhausting experience with low blood sugars I eventually opted for cup of tea with sugar this morning. My levels started to drop one hour after injecting novorapid I still had 4 units on board and 3 hours left. My knees were shaking, so fed up of eating carbs when I don't want them went for tea with tiny sprinkle of sugar. It worked my energy levels replenished quickly I did go a little high so will use less sugar next time. Appreciate sugar not good for teeth but it did help me feel so much better.

Does anyone drink tea with sugar to keep levels stable?

Thanks
 
Coffee drinker myself but don't use sugar, simply because I don't like the taste.

My poisons for treating hypo are ,Jaffa cakes, jelly babies, gluco tabs and sometimes a jam butty.

Think there are a couple that have sugar with a drink just can't remember who :)
 
Preferably if it was me, I would investigate what it is causing me to go low, and adjust to stop it happening or less frequently in the future :)

Tea with sugar in is fine to raise your sugars, BUT if its hot you can't drink the mug quickly, I would opt for drinking full sugar drink or eating glucotabs / jelly babies. Lukewarm tea that you can kneck all the sugar will be fine for raising sugars I think
 
Thanks both. Unfortunately my ratios change on a daily basis, fluctuations hard to manage. I eat virtually same amount of carbs every day.

As long as I can stabilise before going too low I'm OK with that. I want a gentle sugar level rise everything I try feels too fast. Happy with sprinkle of sugar in tea for now. Maybe I need to count the grains....
 
If its a low low BG and you need to raise BG fast, my go to, is coffee with 2/3 spoonfuls of sugar and a couple of biscuits. Dont make it too hot, hot enough so you can neck it in a minute or so. I have been known in bad old days when I had silly low BG to have upwards of 8 sugars. It defo get BG up very quickly
 
When I hypo, I need fast acting carbs immediately. I cannot wait for the kettle to boil and the tea to brew.
With some bad hypos it's not a good idea to let me near boiling water.
I go for the GlucoTabs. They are easy to measure, easy to carry and no one thinks they're sweets. They don't taste great but they'd be sweets (and others would want me to share) if they did.
 
If tea with sugar is what you enjoy to treat low blood sugar do it, you have to have some pleasures in life. This was always a classic treatment in the american lassie series in 1970's when they came accross diabetic in coma scenario tea and sugar lump.

I love being hypo at home as it gives me excuse to hit the shreddies,sugar puffs, cornflakes,breafast juice and plenty of sugar on top. Usually I over compensate but calculate a novorapid dose to combate what i have just eaten and its a lot, but i do love sugar and cereal and its only excuse I get to eat loads. If I am at work its a safer approach Aldi wine gums (6 gums) and slice of honey and bread it needs to be fast as have beeen hypo in past changing chimney cowl only mind confusion made me realise to come down and test, as I was working installing flue liners till I got better job.
 
It is a nice treat BUT I would need the carbs in me pretty quickly if going low or hypo. By the time the kettle boils (another problem while low, but thats another story) and then waiting for the tea to cool so I can get it down my neck would be too long a wait. I have my Libre and MiaoMiao to alarm me when I am approaching 4.5 mmol/L
My goto is JellyBabies, I bleeding love them lol (BUT hate hypos)
 
Hi Tracie1212... im not quite clear on your post ,
are you using the few grains of sugar in your tea through the day everyday to keep your levels up or just when you hypo?
Also, why are you eating carbs when you dont want to ? Sounds like force feeding / grazing which isnt right . Please, please clarify and we might have a more helpful response to get you on track. Sorry i dont quite understand ....
 
smc4761 said:
If its a low low BG and you need to raise BG fast, my go to, is coffee with 2/3 spoonfuls of sugar and a couple of biscuits. Dont make it too hot, hot enough so you can neck it in a minute or so. I have been known in bad old days when I had silly low BG to have upwards of 8 sugars. It defo get BG up very quickly
Click to expand...

Arh! I knew someone had sugar in a warm drink Hello @smc4761 :)
 
Knikki said:
Arh! I knew someone had sugar in a warm drink Hello @smc4761 :)
Click to expand...

Hi Knikki

I only have this if I am really low and still heading down. I prefer that to coca cola or Lucozade.

I know some of you guys swear by jelly beans/ jelly babies and only take about 4/5 of these, but for me they simply dont work fast enough
 
Thanks to you all for replies.

To clarify following breakfast if after an hour my knees are shaky and I still have 4 units of insulin on board my aim is to head off the hypo and stabilise before reaching hypo. No I don't do this everyday but tea and a biscuit doesn't work for me when going low. I have extreme sensitivity to changing blood sugars wish I didn't but I do. I am carb counting but my body deals with food differently everyday. Hence I can be taking 5 units one morning feel OK and the next day having to correct with additional insulin. Yes I am in weekly contact with DSNs and seeing Endo Consultant end of Nov. Today I took 6.5 for breakfast got to lunch time another 5.5 felt good this afternoon I had an oatmeal biscuit 10 carbs wish I hadn't because pushed everything out of sync. Get all sorts of weird symptoms throat tightening and choking feeling. Doctor says it's a warning but can't say what.. Yesterday I took action and treated shakes with small amount of sugar in tea hey presto and it worked perfectly. Level now on 5.8 but don't feel good at all. The life of a diabetic I guess?
 
Not the life of every diabetic though fairly common. Hypos are pretty debilitating and I would not put up with this because it would mean my life would be restricted .. (as you indicate it isn't just the hypo that you dread but the after effects) thus I don't blame you trying to head it off at the pass and in that circumstance it will be in and out of your system quickly so shouldn't have any lasting impact. The only thing with all this sugar/biscuits is that it may cause weight gain and insulin resistance. I think it is a delusion that we can carb count and match insulin perfectly as if we humans could do what our bodies do so well when beta cells aren't broken.
Could you get onto a pump? Having unpredicatable hypos is one of the criteria. You can adjust the background level and also have variable carb ratios for different times of the day and different basal rates e.g. PMT rate!
Another option is low carb see YouTube Dr Ian Lake (UK gp with type 1) and the grandfather of all low carbing type 1s Dr Richard Bernstein.
 
Thanks for your reply tried the pump for couple of months had lots of problems with ended up in hospital with Ketones. Pumps work for some but definitely not me. I've lost a lot of weight have always been quite small so no problem with weight. I eat a fairly simple diet and try stick to meal times. If I low carb snack in between leaves me feeling unwell. If I reduce my background insulin my Ketones rise if I increase I go hypo. Levels drop by 6 overnight so I have a biscuit before sleep and monitor throughout the night. Sometimes it works other times not. I have looked at low carb and dabbled but feel quite drained
Unfortunately eggs make me ill. I do eat a lot of fish usually with beans. Enjoy cheese but getting fed up of same old. Thanks for sending low carb info will take a look at.
 
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