A stubborn hypo

[mum2westiesGill]

Although this has happened to me before during my diabetic life does anyone else get 'a' persistent hypo like I did last night?

22:45pm
BGL 3.6

23:03pm
BGL 3.3

23:20pm
BGL 3.6

When it came to the third time of testing and I was still hypo I started getting a bit upset

 

[Pumper_Sue]

That's a 35 min hypo and it depends on what you used to bring the low blood sugar up.
That is def not a persistent hypo.
Basic rule applies treat test 15 mins later and repeat again if still low. (with correct hypo treatment)

 

[mum2westiesGill]

That's a 35 min hypo and it depends on what you used to bring the low blood sugar up.
That is def not a persistent hypo.
Basic rule applies treat test 15 mins later and repeat again if still low. (with correct hypo treatment)

What's the difference between a 35 min hypo and a persistent hypo? I use 3x jelly babies to bring the low blood sugar up and each time I tested and it was hypo I repeated the treatment again with another 3x jelly babies.

 

[Sally71]

3.6 isn’t terrible so it could have been worse!
We used to get them sometimes which would take a whole hour to come up again, and more often than not at bedtime for some reason, so I’d be getting stressed because I’d be camped out in daughter’s bedroom when I’d rather be relaxing watching telly, she’d be getting distressed because she was tired and wanted to sleep but couldn’t because she felt like pooh and her brain was in panic mode, and the 15 minute waits felt like forever... Soooo tempting to just shovel extra sugar in to speed things up, but more often than not even without that a couple of hours later she’d be 17, as if all the sugar was hiding somewhere and then all decided to hit the blood stream at the same time! Since she got her latest pump we rarely get them that bad any more thank goodness, I think basal IQ helps a lot.

You could try glucose tablets or a sugary drink for your hypo treatment, that would work faster than jelly babies. Glucose tablets are less pleasant to eat but because they are pure glucose they will get through your stomach quicker (jelly babies are better than most other sweets because they contain glucose syrup, but also other stuff which will slow down their digestion)
Glucojuice/Lift drinks can be bought from places like Boots in small containers just the right size for one hypo treatment, they smell disgusting and daughter confirms that they don’t taste very nice but you can knock them back quickly and they will work fast because they contain glucose AND because they are liquid which goes through your stomach faster than solid food.

Or if you really can’t stomach glucose, could you try a sugary drink? Unfortunately because of sugar tax most drinks now are not as sugary as they used to be, full sugar coke is one of the exceptions, you can get 150ml mixer cans of that or Appletise which contain exactly the right amount of sugar for one hypo, again will go through stomach quicker than jelly babies. There are also some cordials (orange or blackcurrant I think) called Rocks which are about 44% sugar so you don’t need much of that, have to keep it in the fridge once opened though or it will go mouldy!

 

[mum2westiesGill]

3.6 isn’t terrible so it could have been worse!
We used to get them sometimes which would take a whole hour to come up again, and more often than not at bedtime for some reason, so I’d be getting stressed because I’d be camped out in daughter’s bedroom when I’d rather be relaxing watching telly, she’d be getting distressed because she was tired and wanted to sleep but couldn’t because she felt like pooh and her brain was in panic mode, and the 15 minute waits felt like forever... Soooo tempting to just shovel extra sugar in to speed things up, but more often than not even without that a couple of hours later she’d be 17, as if all the sugar was hiding somewhere and then all decided to hit the blood stream at the same time! Since she got her latest pump we rarely get them that bad any more thank goodness, I think basal IQ helps a lot.

You could try glucose tablets or a sugary drink for your hypo treatment, that would work faster than jelly babies. Glucose tablets are less pleasant to eat but because they are pure glucose they will get through your stomach quicker (jelly babies are better than most other sweets because they contain glucose syrup, but also other stuff which will slow down their digestion)
Glucojuice/Lift drinks can be bought from places like Boots in small containers just the right size for one hypo treatment, they smell disgusting and daughter confirms that they don’t taste very nice but you can knock them back quickly and they will work fast because they contain glucose AND because they are liquid which goes through your stomach faster than solid food.

Or if you really can’t stomach glucose, could you try a sugary drink? Unfortunately because of sugar tax most drinks now are not as sugary as they used to be, full sugar coke is one of the exceptions, you can get 150ml mixer cans of that or Appletise which contain exactly the right amount of sugar for one hypo, again will go through stomach quicker than jelly babies. There are also some cordials (orange or blackcurrant I think) called Rocks which are about 44% sugar so you don’t need much of that, have to keep it in the fridge once opened though or it will go mouldy!

Thank you and it's good know I'm not on my own with a long drawn out hypo. Can I ask on this thread did you test and treat after every 15 mins until you get back to a normal level?
I've started another thread about my DSN's hypo treatment - see what you think

Thank you for letting me know about the other hypo treatments.

 

[Sally71]

Yes that’s the rule, 15g, wait 15 mins (feels like forever but no point testing earlier because your hypo treatment might not have reached your bloodstream yet) then retest and repeat if necessary. Of course you have to retest after the 15 mins, you won’t know if you’ve come up far enough if you don’t, and if you try to judge it on what you feel like then I think blood sugars can be back in range quite a while before you actually feel better.

On a pump we don’t have to have the extra snack afterwards, because basal is more tightly controlled, but everything else is the same 🙂

Oh and just to clarify, if you decide to try cans of coke for hypo treatment, it has to be Coca Cola not Pepsi or any cheap own brands 🙂

 

[Lucyr]

Yes I get these, the first time i treat as normal, if I was hypo the second time I would have used a faster acting liquid carb if I had one available (lucozade or juice not jelly babies or other sweets) to bring it up and had a snack straight after, as I find that gets me up quicker.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

if I was hypo the second time I would have used a faster acting liquid carb if I had one available (lucozade or juice not jelly babies or other sweets) to bring it up and had a snack straight after, as I find that gets me up quicker.

In her email this is what my DSN is saying I should do but after the first time of being hypo but.......I've tried to explain that the way I was taught and what I've always done is test find out you're hypo so have 15g of fast acting carbs then test after 15 mins and keep repeating until you reach a normal level - my DSN wants to keep things as simple as possible so what do I do? I would be much happier doing it the way I've always done it.

 

[Sally71]

If you would be happier doing it the way you’ve always done it, then do that. Especially as it seems to agree with everyone on here! Like we’ve said before, your DSN can only offer advice, you don’t have to take it. Your DSN seems to be a bit quick with criticism and not very good at praising what you did do right, either that or she doesn’t know quite as much about diabetes as she thinks she does (actually having to live with it every day or not makes a LOT of difference sometimes)
If you ask lots of people the same question you have to be prepared to get different answers, there isn’t always just one way of doing things, so then you have to be the one to decide which of those answers you like best! And then go with that and ignore all the others 🙂

 

[mum2westiesGill]

if I was hypo the second time I would have used a faster acting liquid carb if I had one available (lucozade or juice not jelly babies or other sweets) to bring it up and had a snack straight after, as I find that gets me up quicker.

If it was a meal time would you have your faster acting liquid carb and your meal instead of the snack and if so would you still take insulin for your meal?

What snacks do you have? I usually have the bags of Jacobs mini cheddars 13g of carbs or mini bags of maryland mini choc chip cookies 13g of carbs

 

[mum2westiesGill]

You could try glucose tablets or a sugary drink for your hypo treatment, that would work faster than jelly babies. Glucose tablets are less pleasant to eat but because they are pure glucose they will get through your stomach quicker (jelly babies are better than most other sweets because they contain glucose syrup, but also other stuff which will slow down their digestion)
Glucojuice/Lift drinks can be bought from places like Boots in small containers just the right size for one hypo treatment, they smell disgusting and daughter confirms that they don’t taste very nice but you can knock them back quickly and they will work fast because they contain glucose AND because they are liquid which goes through your stomach faster than solid food.

Or if you really can’t stomach glucose, could you try a sugary drink? Unfortunately because of sugar tax most drinks now are not as sugary as they used to be, full sugar coke is one of the exceptions, you can get 150ml mixer cans of that or Appletise which contain exactly the right amount of sugar for one hypo, again will go through stomach quicker than jelly babies. There are also some cordials (orange or blackcurrant I think) called Rocks which are about 44% sugar so you don’t need much of that, have to keep it in the fridge once opened though or it will go mouldy!

So I'm going to ditch the jelly babies and move on to the Glucose tablets - how many tablets are 15g? These would be handy for my handbag instead of the jelly babies and also handy for at home. I might also try the Glucojuice/Lift which would be handy for at home and for a before meal hypo and like you say just the right size for one hypo treatment



How many of these would you recommend getting in?

 

[Bruce Stephens]

So I'm going to ditch the jelly babies and move on to the Glucose tablets - how many tablets are 15g?

They say each one contains 3.7g of glucose. So 4.

 

[2sweet4me]

I use the 4 oz boxes of Juicy Juice for a hypo. I always have them around for the grandkids and they contain exactly 15 grams of carbs.

 

[Sally71]

My daughter says the berry burst flavour Lift drinks are the nicest, they taste like jelly apparently! You can get boxes of 12 on Amazon, probably cheaper than buying them individually. Worth having a reasonable stock. If you get the Glucotabs tablets they come in nice tubes which fit nicely in your handbag and you can then refill from big tubs of 50 also from Amazon and cheaper than buying the little tubes.

How many jelly babies do you buy at once? Bearing in mind that one bag is enough for several hypos, try and base your purchasing on that. Get a reasonable stock in to start with (e.g. a few of each thing that you want to try) and then see how quickly you get through them, that will tell you how many/how often to replace them.

We always used to use only 3 glucose tablets but if they are only 3.7g each then it should be 4, oops! Always worked though, then she got bored of those and moved onto jelly babies, then got bored of those and now we use mostly mini cans of coke/Appletise or Lift drinks, with a few orange Dextrose tablets. There are several flavours of glucose tablets, try a few different ones you might find a favourite that you don’t mind the taste of, they are weird things!

Edit: daughter has just come in and says Dextrose tablets are nicer than Glucotabs and have a wider range of flavours, they just come in wrappers though instead of tubs. So you can now have much fun trying different ones to see which you like best 🙂

 

[mum2westiesGill]

My daughter says the berry burst flavour Lift drinks are the nicest, they taste like jelly apparently! You can get boxes of 12 on Amazon, probably cheaper than buying them individually. Worth having a reasonable stock. If you get the Glucotabs tablets they come in nice tubes which fit nicely in your handbag and you can then refill from big tubs of 50 also from Amazon and cheaper than buying the little tubes.

How many jelly babies do you buy at once? Bearing in mind that one bag is enough for several hypos, try and base your purchasing on that. Get a reasonable stock in to start with (e.g. a few of each thing that you want to try) and then see how quickly you get through them, that will tell you how many/how often to replace them.

We always used to use only 3 glucose tablets but if they are only 3.7g each then it should be 4, oops! Always worked though, then she got bored of those and moved onto jelly babies, then got bored of those and now we use mostly mini cans of coke/Appletise or Lift drinks, with a few orange Dextrose tablets. There are several flavours of glucose tablets, try a few different ones you might find a favourite that you don’t mind the taste of, they are weird things!

Edit: daughter has just come in and says Dextrose tablets are nicer than Glucotabs and have a wider range of flavours, they just come in wrappers though instead of tubs. So you can now have much fun trying different ones to see which you like best 🙂

Thank you so much for your very helpful info 🙂

Re the Lift drinks for a box of 12 on Amazon is cheaper than buying individually from Boots
Coca-Cola regular 330ml for 12 cans is the cheapest - so for now I'll go with the Coca-Cola from Tesco

Your daughter has helped me decide on having the Dextrose tablets again cheaper in the supermarket for the amount I would buy.

I usually 2 packs of jelly babies.

Until tomorrow though I'm stuck with the jelly babies

 

[Sally71]

Make sure you get the right ones - Coca Cola are very naughty and also do a zero sugar one in red cans - double check the label and make sure you get the ones with sugar!

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Make sure you get the right ones - Coca Cola are very naughty and also do a zero sugar one in red cans - double check the label and make sure you get the ones with sugar!

I will do - we usually buy diet Pepsi or Pepsi max and they also do normal and zero sugar

 

[Lucyr]

If it was a meal time would you have your faster acting liquid carb and your meal instead of the snack and if so would you still take insulin for your meal?

What snacks do you have? I usually have the bags of Jacobs mini cheddars 13g of carbs or mini bags of maryland mini choc chip cookies 13g of carbs

If I was low at a meal then yes I’d have a glass of juice or whatever then my meal. I wouldn’t take insulin until my blood sugar was safe, so probably after the meal, unless I’d pre bolused already.

It would also depend on how I felt. If I felt really sick because of the hypo then I might have a snack and eat my meal when I feel better.

 

[Lucyr]

So I'm going to ditch the jelly babies and move on to the Glucose tablets - how many tablets are 15g? These would be handy for my handbag instead of the jelly babies and also handy for at home. I might also try the Glucojuice/Lift which would be handy for at home and for a before meal hypo and like you say just the right size for one hypo treatment
View attachment 18244
View attachment 18245

How many of these would you recommend getting in?

I use cartons of fruit juice when I’m at home. The kids ones are the right size and much much cheaper than those lift bottles. I do have the lift bottles in my instrument cases though as they are more durable than cartons of fruit juice.

 

[Sally71]

I've just realised you're buying 330ml cans - you know you don’t need a whole one for a hypo, don't you? That's why we buy the 150ml ones because they are just the right size, if you aren’t thinking very clearly then no need to measure it out just drink the whole thing. You can get the 150ml ones in boxes of 12 in Tesco too. Apologies if you already knew this - just checking 🙂