Advice for when BS drops

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Berniecdj

Berniecdj

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi
A very new type 1-diabetic here.

Any tips on suitable snacks if BS drops to around 5 which will work to either maintain or lift BS levels?

After a period of sustained high BS levels before and since my diagnosis 3 weeks ago my levels are now normalising which is good albeit being uncharted territory for me.

Thanks!
 
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I think it would depend on how you define snacks. Given that some advise to avoid snacking to me that would be fruit. Although I hear there is a different type of sugar in some fruit but a more healthy type. My initial thoughts.
 
I tend to use glucose tablets if need to raise it quickly. Grapes, also pretty quick. Otherwise chocolate if slower, more sustained increase needed, or naked bars, or a small bit bread.
For a real emergency/hypo full sugar soft drink or juice is quicker than glucose tablets
 
Welcome @Berniecdj 🙂 It depends on whether your blood sugar is still heading down and what you’re about to do. As an example, if my blood sugar was 5.0 and I was about to go shopping, which usually drops my blood sugar, I’d have some Dextro glucose tablets, then something a bit longer lasting like a flapjack or similar. I find those work well for me. I eat as much or as little as I judge necessary.

Biscuits are good too, as are those fruit winder things, dried fruit (remember it’s concentrated so don’t overdo it), cereal bars, rice cakes, a slice of bread, crackers, fruit, etc etc. I usually keep a selection of things around, and always have easily portable, long-life things I can take out with me, eg biscuits or cereal bars or flapjacks.
 
Do you have a Libre? What insulins are you on? Are you carb counting and adjusting your mealtime insulin? My advice is to always err on the side of caution. Better a bit high than risk a hypo, especially in the early months and during the honeymoon period.
 
Inka said:
Do you have a Libre? What insulins are you on? Are you carb counting and adjusting your mealtime insulin? My advice is to always err on the side of caution. Better a bit high than risk a hypo, especially in the early months and during the honeymoon period.tha
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Inka said:
Do you have a Libre? What insulins are you on? Are you carb counting and adjusting your mealtime insulin? My advice is to always err on the side of caution. Better a bit high than risk a hypo, especially in the early months and during the honeymoon period.
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Thank you for the reply. Not carb counting yet, will be on that path in a few weeks. I’m on a set level of insulin per meal and long lasting 24hr insulin before bed. I agree that it’s best to be higher at this stage that’s why I’m vigilant once my sugar drops below 6. this is a new world to me!
 
You can still practise carb totalling to make sure you’re eating the same amount of carbs for your set dose. That’s important. Don’t be surprised if your insulin needs drop a little at some point. Often our remaining beta cells rally briefly when insulin injections are started.

Don’t be worried about carb-counting. It’s pretty basic 🙂
 
I always carry glucose tablets around with me to head off or treat a hypo, after that I try to have something that would keep BG up longer term, for me that tends to be a Belvita soft bake bar or a Fibre One. A lot of people use jelly babies as their initial treatment, but I just don’t like the texture or taste of them.

@Elenka_HM has coined the phrase “hypocket” which I also have - glucose tablets in pockets of all my coats and jackets :rofl:
 
Yes, best to just leave some glucose tablets in every coat and or bag you have so you don't need to remember each time to put them in
 
Berniecdj said:
Thank you for the reply. Not carb counting yet, will be on that path in a few weeks. I’m on a set level of insulin per meal and long lasting 24hr insulin before bed. I agree that it’s best to be higher at this stage that’s why I’m vigilant once my sugar drops below 6. this is a new world to me!
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I agree with @Inka - no harm in starting to get your head around carbs from the get-go, and seeing if you can work out (roughly) what amount of carbs ‘matches’ your set doses for each meal.

There’s a basic guide to the concept here:

The nuts and bolts of carb counting

When you live with type 1 diabetes, carb counting is a great way of managing your blood sugar or glucose levels. It can give you more freedom and flexibility in what you eat when you're preparing meals at home, grabbing food on the go or eating out. Carb counting does take some time and effort...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

For gentle nudges I’m one for choosing something like a single biscuit (will likely raise my BG by 2-3mmol/L, or a single jelly baby (raises BG by 1-2ish).

All depends on whether I am gently drifting downwards (and whether I quite fancy a biscuit!)
 
Eternal422 said:
@Elenka_HM has coined the phrase “hypocket” which I also have - glucose tablets in pockets of all my coats and jackets :rofl:
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I love that you remember that! :D

I also carry glucose tablets, I do like jelly babies but the tablets are more compact to carry in the pocket. And they don't get hard or melt together like jellies sometimes do. I also like to carry a cereal bar or individually wrapped biscuits (usually the Biscoff ones you might get for free with a coffee) for when I'm not too low but I want to push BG a bit up.
 
Elenka_HM said:
I love that you remember that! :D
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Once I read your post about it, it just stuck in my head! Now I always say to myself hypocket when I check to make sure I have enough glucose tablets with me!
 
I use the alert before low as an excuse to have something that I don’t normally have. A (very) few grapes, a biscuit, otepherwise a jelly baby or some skittles, if the arrow is steeper on my sensor.

I also have JBs or skittles everywhere and in every bag for the hypos that I don’t manage to head off. JBs do have a tendency to melt and mould into a blob if left in the car, so skittles are more manageable For me.

It is well worth you starting carb counting. This will be the basis of your management once you are matching your insulin to your choices of food. This becomes more flexible, but fixed doses are very common at the start, whilst you get used to your ’new normal’.

As questions arise, just ask. Nothing is thought to be silly on here, and there is a wealth of experience to tap into.
 
Digestive biscuits are quite reasonable, 10g/biscuit, nice and easy to do the calculations, not too fast, not too slow. They were my go-to at school. I dislike the taste/texture of Dextrose tablets, also 4g/tablet makes the mental arithmetic more difficult while low 😉. I prefer Skittles or Jelly Babies, there are lots of options, lots of opinions, depends where you can store them (fun packs of skittles can survive in my pocket, while dextrose tablets are less good - I used play rugby with half a pack in my pocket to munch while the ball was out of play, painful to land on when tackling/tackled, and they are rather less appealing when wet and muddy, not that an open pack of Skittles would be any better.)

I second the comment to start carb counting, even if you've not been told (allowed!) might as well start to take control (or at the very least inform yourself as to what is happening with how you react) as soon as possible rather than relying on other people to tell you what to do.

5mmol/l sounds fine (if not going down), though as mentioned above if going out shopping I'd be eating another ~20g of uncovered carbs to handle the flight or flight response it elicits in me (making me go low!) All part of the fun 🙂
 
20g of uncovered carbs would make me sky rocket! Which underlines the importance of seeing what works for you, though, if you are heading low, sometimes its better to overdo it rather than bei g conservative and going too low
 
Thank you all for your extremely helpful comments. All noted.

As a side note my BS hit 5 at 2am this morning (the lowest it’s been) on a downward spiral so i panicked and eat a slice of bread! The learning curve is steep….
 
SimonP said:
Digestive biscuits are quite reasonable, 10g/biscuit, nice and easy to do the calculations, not too fast, not too slow. They were my go-to at school. I dislike the taste/texture of Dextrose tablets, also 4g/tablet makes the mental arithmetic more difficult while low 😉. I prefer Skittles or Jelly Babies, there are lots of options, lots of opinions, depends where you can store them (fun packs of skittles can survive in my pocket, while dextrose tablets are less good - I used play rugby with half a pack in my pocket to munch while the ball was out of play, painful to land on when tackling/tackled, and they are rather less appealing when wet and muddy, not that an open pack of Skittles would be any better.)

I second the comment to start carb counting, even if you've not been told (allowed!) might as well start to take control (or at the very least inform yourself as to what is happening with how you react) as soon as possible rather than relying on other people to tell you what to do.

5mmol/l sounds fine (if not going down), though as mentioned above if going out shopping I'd be eating another ~20g of uncovered carbs to handle the flight or flight response it elicits in me (making me go low!) All part of the fun 🙂
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Hello SimonP I note your comments regarding rugby. I’ve been a sportsman all my life. These days it’s golf and 5 a side football (having retired from 11 a side years ago!). I‘m very keen to get back to it when the time is right. Can I ask how do you prepare for sporting activity in terms of food and insulin both before and after activity?

Any advice gratefully received.
 
@Berniecdj do you want to start a new thread in the Sports/Exercise section? More than happy to answer (and there are doubtless others who can comment), but better in its own thread with the advantage of a more searchable/relevant title too.
 
Tdm said:
20g of uncovered carbs would make me sky rocket! Which underlines the importance of seeing what works for you, though, if you are heading low, sometimes its better to overdo it rather than bei g conservative and going too low
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Just imagine how much I dislike shopping! 😉.

More seriously if it's completely uncovered with no IoB then I would also go high-ish (so perhaps I selected the wrong terminology), but if I still have IoB from a previous meal/snack (which basically covers most of the day in reality) even if my blood sugar would otherwise remain quite stable (right # units for the carbs, etc.) were I to stay at e.g. at home or at work, the act of going shopping will all of a sudden make that insulin rather more effective and so need more carbs.
 
SimonP said:
@Berniecdj do you want to start a new thread in the Sports/Exercise section? More than happy to answer (and there are doubtless others who can comment), but better in its own thread with the advantage of a more searchable/relevant title too.
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Yes that is a very sensible suggestion. Will do that later on. Many thanks again
 
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