Cost of a hypo

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I probably spend about £2/3 a year! Two bars of Kendal Mint Cake and a bag of jelly babies, which end up rock hard and I have to throw half a bag away.
I agree I think you need to look at your insulin requirements. When was the last time you did a basal test? Or checked your meal ratios? Have you done carb counting course such as DAFNE? I would contact your team for advice. And maybe your dentist too, all that sugar isn’t good for your teeth.
 
Just wanted to add, I’m very disciplined when it comes to treating my hypos, my main hypo symptom is terrible nausea and I struggle to eat really sweet things as I feel
so sick. I just have max three JBs or one 15grm square of mint cake, then if needed a slow acting carb like a slice of toast. Luckily I don’t have many bad hypos.
 
My 'hypo management' falls into two camps. There’s the jelly babies I eat if I'm actually low, and the snacks I might eat if I think I might be dropping near hypo territory, These latter I wouldn’t class as ‘hypo treatment' they are just something I choose to eat as part of my daily meals/snacks. For example, I’ve just been on a walking holiday, at altitude, which plays havoc with my Bgs. We planned the day so that we stopped for a coffee in a mountain hut mid morning, to top up my levels with a cappuccino and keep me going to lunchtime, OH also had a coffee, and I regard this as part of the holiday experience. Then at lunchtime I just bolused for and ate the roll from my picnic lunch that the hotel provided, and saved the cake for mid afternoon if I was dropping, and the fruit for when we got back to the hotel, because once I'd stopped exercising, my BGs tended to start dropping. In all, I got through about 10 jelly babies for the whole week, where I didn’t quite make it to the coffee stop, or wasn’t in a position to eat cake etc. So I wouldn’t count any of the 'extras' as costing me for treating a hypo, because they were just what I'd have eaten anyway, only rearranged a bit to suit my BGs.
 
Thanks everyone I appreciate all the responses about my personal diabetes treatment but that really wasn’t the point of the post. I won’t go into detail but my hba1c is stable at 7.2 and the doctors are happy with my care, so let’s just keep this general.

What’s more interesting is how we all look at snacks to keep us high in a different way. My orange juice is what helps keep me high but I call it a hypo treatment because I would definitely hypo without it. I don’t use cake or biscuits in that way, where as a lot of people do. If I didn’t count my orange juice in my coatings, I would definitely be paying a lot less.
 
Frantastic said:
Thanks everyone I appreciate all the responses about my personal diabetes treatment but that really wasn’t the point of the post. I won’t go into detail but my hba1c is stable at 7.2 and the doctors are happy with my care, so let’s just keep this general.

What’s more interesting is how we all look at snacks to keep us high in a different way. My orange juice is what helps keep me high but I call it a hypo treatment because I would definitely hypo without it. I don’t use cake or biscuits in that way, where as a lot of people do. If I didn’t count my orange juice in my coatings, I would definitely be paying a lot less.
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The point is, you shouldn’t need this insane amount of carbs, at least 5 hypo treatments per day, to keep your levels up. Start with a basal test, get your insulin down to a level that doesn’t cause all these bg drops, and save yourself some cash.
 
Do you use Libre to keep an eye on your levels, confirmed with a finger prick as necessary? Or do you see a slightly wobbly feeling as a green light to indulge in some sweet treats? That’s where I was 15 years ago and how I ended up 3 stone overweight. Carb counting and bolus calculations were very arbitrary and done mainly on “instinct”. My HbA1c hovered around the mid 50s and no-one was bothered, least of all me.

My epiphany came when we moved house, my husband was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, and my sister-in-law with early onset dementia, all within the space of 3 months. Diabetes management took a back seat and my HbA1c climbed to 68. I was referred to the community diabetes team who, once they’d got over their shock at the antiquity of my insulin pens, suggested a carb counting course. Once I had to actually write things down and analyse what was happening, things improved rapidly. I’ve possibly swung a bit far the other way in that I can get a bit obsessed with my levels and see both highs and hypos as a failure. But I do know how to deal with them, and I do what’s necessary, no more, no less.

To answer your actual question, I probably buy a bag of jelly snakes or wine gums about once a month, and I have tubes of Lift tablets around the house, in my car and in my handbag, which I need to refill from the larger, cheaper tubs maybe every six weeks, but I don’t keep count.

While writing this essay I find that @Lucyr has summed up what I wanted to say in 5 lines! I would urge you to take her advice on board.
 
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Really surprised that you guys can't read the tone of the OPs previous post and leave it. This sounds like it might be a sensitive issue for the OP. The way I read it, the OP perhaps uses more expensive luxury juice etc rather than basic economy stuff which bumps the cost a bit but also uses this for prevention as well as hypos, so I think @Lucyr 's calculation of the number of hypos may well be seriously overestimated and especially as some of that use may be preventative.

I don't think there was a suggestion that the NHS SHOULD be paying although I had Glucogel or something similar put on my repeat list a couple of years ago but have never used it or want to as JBs are convenient for me and I can be disciplined with them, I was quite surprised that they were prescribed in some respects but not in others. I think it is an interesting and valid point to discuss.
 
I had been using Skittles fun size bags for ages as they are pretty pocket-proof. But these went from £1.50 - £2.00 a bag to £4 😱 which I refuse to pay. I am now buying bigger bags of skittles which are inconvenient.

I was using JBs over the winter in coat pockets, but a camping trip and a hot tent where a couple of bags melted into a mess of molten goop has put me off them until the weather cools.

Mini bags of squashies and mini bags of Haribo are my current mini-bag options.

So I feel your pain and frustration @Frantastic - I’m aware I am using far more hypo treatments then I did on MM640G because the tSlim suspend algorithm acts far too late for the Dex lag (I have my Dex alarming at 5.2 to get enough of a headstart, but still not enough), and despite adjusting my basal several times a month, my pesky diabetes’ twichiness with any activity and iob means I am needing far more preventative nudges than I did when my basal suspended earlier.

I also use original recipe Coca Cola which is still about 10g of fast carbs per 100ml (Lucozade have further reduced the potency of their drinks recently, and continue to regularly and significantly up their prices). Bah!

I reckon I get through 1-2 bottles of Coke a week and am on a rolling programme with 1 skittles bag a 1-2 multibag bags a week I think?
 
RBZ5416 said:
Small grip seal bags solves that. It's how I keep my Giant Skittles in 15g carb portions. Although luckily I've only had two hypos in the 14 months I've been using insulin.

I also dispense test strips into one to save the bulk of the 35mm film cannister.
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Not sure if you are aware but my pots of test strips have a dessicant in the lid to keep the test strips in optimum condition as it absorbs any moisture in the air from each time the pot is opened.
 
@Frantastic , if I have upset you I apologise unreservedly. It's just that I recognised the me of 15 years ago from your concerns - except that I was bothered by the amount of extra calories I was eating. But it was the end of a tiring day and I accept that my observations were unhelpful.

I wish you well.
 
Frantastic said:
What’s more interesting is how we all look at snacks to keep us high in a different way. My orange juice is what helps keep me high but I call it a hypo treatment because I would definitely hypo without it. I don’t use cake or biscuits in that way, where as a lot of people do. If I didn’t count my orange juice in my coatings, I would definitely be paying a lot less.
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I have various types of low treatments and preemptive-treatments.

If I'm going for a walk, I'll reduce insulin the meal before and have some fruit. I buy in-season, easy to portion fruit like blueberries, strawberries, apricots and oranges. I buy these with my blood sugar in mind and consider them a low treatment as they help keep my blood sugar up on walks. I can easily spend €5 on this type of fruit a week (we buy at the weekly market, so it's not always the cheapest option, but it is tasty).

If I'm slowly heading low with insulin on board, I pre-treat the low with granola or crackers if I catch it really early, and gummy candy if catch it a bit later, but not yet low. I keep these on hand specifically for this situation and would consider them low treatments as, like you, I would have gone low without them. I think of these as things that nudge my blood sugar up to prevent a low. Each bag costs €1.50-2 and lasts about a week, but it's eaten by others in my household, too, they just know not to finish the bag.

I have Dextrose Energy tablets for actual lows. I'm in Germany and they cost €1.79 for 40g of carbs. I usually treat lows with 10g of carbs, so that's €0.45 a low.

I also get small 200ml bottles of juice that are tasty, in glass bottles (no plastic) and 20g carbs per bottle. I have them when I really need something fast and will usually start with half a bottle (10g carb), sometimes needing the full bottle. Sometimes I take them on walks and sip as needed. These cost about €1 each.

My insulin sensitivity varies a lot with my monthly hormone fluctuations and I don't always switch profiles quick enough to stay ahead of the changes.

I don't think my hypos are always bad management, they're just something is going to happen when you need to manually do something that your body should be doing automatically, but without all the info your body would have (like hormone levels).

I'm happy to spend a bit more to treat lows and nudge my blood sugar up when it needs it.
 
I don’t know. I do know that the sweets that were less or about £1 a few years ago are now double in Lidl. And M&S have snuck their prices up too. Bulk is the best way to buy if you can. Like I got a big tube of random sweets for £2 which was 5 times more than a little packet for £1.25.
These food prices will be noticeable for some people and I do think it is a risk for some. Food poverty is a real issue for some :(
 
Robin said:
My 'hypo management' falls into two camps. There’s the jelly babies I eat if I'm actually low, and the snacks I might eat if I think I might be dropping near hypo territory, These latter I wouldn’t class as ‘hypo treatment' they are just something I choose to eat as part of my daily meals/snacks. For example, I’ve just been on a walking holiday, at altitude, which plays havoc with my Bgs. We planned the day so that we stopped for a coffee in a mountain hut mid morning, to top up my levels with a cappuccino and keep me going to lunchtime, OH also had a coffee, and I regard this as part of the holiday experience. Then at lunchtime I just bolused for and ate the roll from my picnic lunch that the hotel provided, and saved the cake for mid afternoon if I was dropping, and the fruit for when we got back to the hotel, because once I'd stopped exercising, my BGs tended to start dropping. In all, I got through about 10 jelly babies for the whole week, where I didn’t quite make it to the coffee stop, or wasn’t in a position to eat cake etc. So I wouldn’t count any of the 'extras' as costing me for treating a hypo, because they were just what I'd have eaten anyway, only rearranged a bit to suit my BGs.
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I'm in this camp, jelly babies, skittles, Kendal mint cake that I eat if I'm actually low and need to deal with it ASAP (car, bike, out and about). These I don't use very much. I also don't really like sweets so there's no danger of me snacking on them.

Other things that I would like to eat (chocolate, cake & doughnuts bought for the children, ice creams, etc.), which I will eat to pre-empt a low, though tbh if I'm not low or heading that way I also don't particularly want these things either (which makes my children happy anyway!)

I do sometimes have the problem that I'm low (or heading there) and I spend too long debating with myself what nice thing I should eat, all the while going lower - it pays to have something convenient and pleasant to hand if at all possible (I quite like the Lindor chocolate ball things, now that I've finally worked my way through the left-over Advent calendar chocolates and Easter bunnies, but of course only if time is not of the essence/I'm not particularly low, as other things will fix it faster.)

I also noted the vastly higher cost of Skittles in funsize packs vs super size bags, but the convenience outweighs the cost for me as I don't consume vast quantities.
 
SimonP said:
I do sometimes have the problem that I'm low (or heading there) and I spend too long debating with myself what nice thing I should eat, all the while going lower
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Oh yes, I do that! And the lower I go, the less able I am to make a decision, until I get to the stage where automatic hypo response mode kicks in and I dive for the jelly babies.
 
Robin said:
Oh yes, I do that! And the lower I go, the less able I am to make a decision, until I get to the stage where automatic hypo response mode kicks in and I dive for the jelly babies.
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Yes exactly, opportunity wasted! 🙂
 
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