Cost of a hypo

Status
Not open for further replies.
Frantastic

Frantastic

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all,
Question for you….
How much money do you think you spend on hypo treatments and snacks in a month to keep your sugars up through the day?

I think I must spend about £20 per month on sweets and orange juice. How does that compare to everyone else?!
 
Luckily, I haven't had to use my Hypo treatments much. I carry a few biscuits, glucose tablets, Rapilose Gel etc in my handbag. When I go out on my bike, I carry a few fun size chocolate bars, but I use the excuse that I'm afraid of going into a Hypo in order to eat them :rofl: So, in answer to your question, I don't think I spend a lot, but I might be wrong :confused:
 
Frantastic said:
Hi all,
Question for you….
How much money do you think you spend on hypo treatments and snacks in a month to keep your sugars up through the day?

I think I must spend about £20 per month on sweets and orange juice. How does that compare to everyone else?!
Click to expand...
If you spend that amount then you need to have a look at how you manage your diabetes 🙂
 
I don’t think I spend that much. I buy Dextro tablets in bulk from Amazon (around £16 a box) and a box of those lasts me for months. I also keep liquid hypo treatments like Lift Gluco Shots and cans of Coke, but they last a while too.

I do like my snacks, but I tend to eat them like I would if I wasn’t diabetic rather than restrict them to hypo treatment. Chocolate, I love, and I buy a fair bit of that but, again, that’s greed rather than medical need :rofl:
 
Great question - I've no idea.

But, since having Diabox monitoring my Libre as a rtCGM and now Dexcom One - my real or very near hypos have significantly reduced. The reason is that both the Diabox app and the Dexcom software have a changing BG alert, plus 2 x low alerts (alarms) with the upper limit for each a fair bit higher than the fairly useless single Libre 2 low alarm at an upper threshold of 5.6. By having an upper alert at c. 6.5 or greater and a more urgent alarm at c. 4.4 I get masses of notice when my typically brittle BG is falling rapidly, along with an alert in the 6's and the lower alarm in the low 4's - so I rarely get close to hypo UNLESS I'm stupid enough to ignore the alerts and alarms. The tech serves me well.
 
By coincidence this is happening right now. I mistakenly thought I'd not taken my breakfast bolus and so at lunchtime took extra (unnecessarily as it turned out). I subsequently realised this had happened - silly error on my part. The rapid fall @3mmol/L/min warned me as I crossed through the 7s alerted me at 6.5 and sounded the Urgent low at 4.4 - all in the space of a few minutes and before I could get to my hypo response goodies!

Averted at 4.4 and already back in the mid 5s - without time to finger prick, but I don't really need to; the trend is ample indication at this point.
 
Proud to be erratic said:
Great question - I've no idea.

But, since having Diabox monitoring my Libre as a rtCGM and now Dexcom One - my real or very near hypos have significantly reduced. The reason is that both the Diabox app and the Dexcom software have a changing BG alert, plus 2 x low alerts (alarms) with the upper limit for each a fair bit higher than the fairly useless single Libre 2 low alarm at an upper threshold of 5.6. By having an upper alert at c. 6.5 or greater and a more urgent alarm at c. 4.4 I get masses of notice when my typically brittle BG is falling rapidly, along with an alert in the 6's and the lower alarm in the low 4's - so I rarely get close to hypo UNLESS I'm stupid enough to ignore the alerts and alarms. The tech serves me well.
Click to expand...
I’m on the Libre and the one time alarm is very frustrating. I have it go off at 5.0 but if I feel fine and ignore it, I often still hypo a little later. But sometimes I don’t. It’s a right juggle. It’s still revolutionised how I monitor and treat my diabetes though.
 
Frantastic said:
I’m on the Libre and the one time alarm is very frustrating. I have it go off at 5.0 but if I feel fine and ignore it, I often still hypo a little later. But sometimes I don’t. It’s a right juggle. It’s still revolutionised how I monitor and treat my diabetes though.
Click to expand...
Yes, revolution happened here as well, with Libre 2 in Feb '20. But rtCGM has made that revolution seem trivial by virtue of the greater range of alerts and far superior sounds with Diabox to reflect the circumstances.
 
I probably average 2-3 bags of Jelly Babies a month sometimes less and these days more to head off a hypo than treat one. I don't use anything else. They are currently £1.25 a bag from the village shop, so £2.50-£3.75 a month..
 
Inka said:
I don’t think I spend that much. I buy Dextro tablets in bulk from Amazon (around £16 a box) and a box of those lasts me for months. I also keep liquid hypo treatments like Lift Gluco Shots and cans of Coke, but they last a while too.

I do like my snacks, but I tend to eat them like I would if I wasn’t diabetic rather than restrict them to hypo treatment. Chocolate, I love, and I buy a fair bit of that but, again, that’s greed rather than medical need :rofl:
Click to expand...
I hate dextrose tablets and those gel things. Hypos are pain in the butt, and the only good thing I can get out of it is a treat to something nice like sweets and juice. I’m buying squashies sour apple flavour at the minute. I got bored of Rowntrees Randoms after several years of them. They stayed soft after the packet was open though, which helped.
The prices of any sweets though has gone up with everything else.
This leads me to another question. Why can coeliacs get food on prescription and diabetics can’t get sugar?
 
My low alarm is set at 4.2 which still usually gives me time to turn my levels around if I am dropping and the alarm goes off, but I have a pretty fast digestive system, which is good for treating hypos but less good if I want to eat porridge!! 🙄
 
Frantastic said:
I hate dextrose tablets and those gel things. Hypos are pain in the butt, and the only good thing I can get out of it is a treat to something nice like sweets and juice. I’m buying squashies sour apple flavour at the minute. I got bored of Rowntrees Randoms after several years of them. They stayed soft after the packet was open though, which helped.
The prices of any sweets though has gone up with everything else.
This leads me to another question. Why can coeliacs get food on prescription and diabetics can’t get sugar?
Click to expand...
I have tried different sweets but the only ones I can be disciplined with are JBs. I seem to be able to view them as medication and not be tempted to eat more than absolutely necessary or at other times, whereas other sweets just seem to call "eat me"! I also find the 5g carbs per JB really helpful and usually 1 JB will save me but occasionally I need 2 depending on how low I am and the arrow direction.
 
rebrascora said:
I have tried different sweets but the only ones I can be disciplined with are JBs. I seem to be able to view them as medication and not be tempted to eat more than absolutely necessary or at other times, whereas other sweets just seem to call "eat me"! I also find the 5g carbs per JB really helpful and usually 1 JB will save me but occasionally I need 2 depending on how low I am and the arrow direction.
Click to expand...
Most foods call out “eat me” when I see them especially when I’m having a hypo. I’m impressed with your discipline. I certainly do not have that! Maybe that’s why I spend so much on juice and sweets ‍♀️
 
I use GluTab Lift which I buy in bulk from eBay.
I think I use more than I would like but that includes a preemptive tablet when my levels are below 5.
I probable spend less than £5 a month.
 
I divide my bags of JBs up into 2 JB portions so there is much less temptation and this really helps mentally. I do find it surprising as I was a sugar addict pre diagnosis and I had no "off switch" when it came to eating sweets, but since adopting a low carb way of eating I find it much easier, but if I buy a bag a liquorice allsorts or cola bottles, I will lose control at some point and sometimes when I am not hypo. With JBs I am never ever tempted and it isn't that I don't like them because I do..... well apart from the green ones..... My definition of a bad hypo is one that has to be treated with a green JB 🙄 Yuk! I make sure to pair a green JB with a black or red one when I portion them out into 2s so that the favourite flavour compensates for the yuk one!
 
Frantastic said:
Hi all,
Question for you….
How much money do you think you spend on hypo treatments and snacks in a month to keep your sugars up through the day?

I think I must spend about £20 per month on sweets and orange juice. How does that compare to everyone else?!
Click to expand...
Orange juice at Tesco is 5 cartons for £1.50 or 40p each. If you’re spending £20 a month on orange juice that’s 66 cartons a month or at least 2 cartons a day, some days 3. Are you getting help with adjusting your insulin doses to reduce all these hypos?
 
Frantastic said:
I hate dextrose tablets and those gel things. Hypos are pain in the butt, and the only good thing I can get out of it is a treat to something nice like sweets and juice. I’m buying squashies sour apple flavour at the minute. I got bored of Rowntrees Randoms after several years of them. They stayed soft after the packet was open though, which helped.
The prices of any sweets though has gone up with everything else.
This leads me to another question. Why can coeliacs get food on prescription and diabetics can’t get sugar?
Click to expand...

How about Coke? I get five 120ml cans as a supermarket offer. Appletizer is often included too. For sweets, I have Jelly Babies, Rowntrees fruit pastilles, etc. I find orange juice a bit slow. Is it the texture of the Dextro you don’t like? I chew mine then swig water. I also choose nice flavours like Blueberry, Tropical, etc. I like them best because they’re portable and easy to dose correctly with like, well, a proper tablet :D

I don’t think we should get sugar on prescription but I do think the sugar tax is pointless and that Lucozade and similar should have been exempt.
 
If you’re buying jelly babies at Tesco, £2 a bag for the branded ones is 10 x 350g bags a month. At 78% carb that’s 2,730g carb or enough to treat 182 hypos at 15g carb per hypo

I wonder if I’ve got the maths wrong, or if you’re exaggerating as that would mean you’re having 6 hypos per day

Squashies sour apple are a bit more expensive, £1.15 for 160g bag so your £20 will buy you 17 bags (45p change). 81.4g carb per 100g so you’ll get 2,214g carbs or enough for 148 hypos, or 5 hypos per day.
 
Frantastic said:
Why can coeliacs get food on prescription and diabetics can’t get sugar?
Click to expand...
They can't in most areas of the country. Unless under 18 when basic flour or bread might be provided. GF flour is almost £2/kg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top