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Supporting my partner

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Bonbons65

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Carer/Partner
Hi, I am new here and hoping to learn a little more so that I can support my partner of 6 years, who is a type 1 diabetic. Specifically what brought me here is that over the last 3 years, he has started to have problems with his eyes, having had a few operations in recent years, and his consultant warned him that he must get his diabetes under control.
He has a freestyle libre which helps, and does keep a watch on his blood sugar levels from that point of view, but appointments with his diabetic nurse seem shockingly infrequent,to me, but he Says " that's the way it is".
One piece of advice I would like is this. When his sensor tells him he is having a low, he asks for chocolate, but if his blood sugar levels don't come up in 5 minutes, he asks for more, which worries me as it seems such a lot! How long should he wait after his first sugar intake before reaching for a second, and, would carbs be better?
Thank you
 
Bonbons65 said:
One piece of advice I would like is this. When his sensor tells him he is having a low, he asks for chocolate, but if his blood sugar levels don't come up in 5 minutes, he asks for more, which worries me as it seems such a lot! How long should he wait after his first sugar intake before reaching for a second, and, would carbs be better?
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The advice is generally 15g of sugar and wait 15 minutes before testing again. And testing means test with test strips (not scan with the Libre which has a delay of ~15 minutes compared to blood). Chocolate isn't great for this: because of the fat it's likely to digest slower. Jelly babies, dextrose tablets, sugary drinks (Lucozade, fruit juice, etc.), are better.

Though it depends what "low" means. With Libre it's more practical to avoid going really low (below 4.0) at all: if you set the alarm at 4.5 or 5, maybe eating some chocolate then can work. Nothing much will happen in 5 minutes, though.
 
Bonbons65 said:
One piece of advice I would like is this. When his sensor tells him he is having a low, he asks for chocolate, but if his blood sugar levels don't come up in 5 minutes, he asks for more, which worries me as it seems such a lot! How long should he wait after his first sugar intake before reaching for a second, and, would carbs be better?
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When our levels are low, we need fast acting sugar.
Unfortunately, the fat in chocolate means it is not fast acting so a low blood sugar reading is not a reason to eat chocolate.
If your parter’s levels are below 4mmol/l , he needs 15g of carbs from something like dextrose tablets, jelly babies, fruit juice or non-diet soda.
 
Morning. Ah! Thank you so much for such a quick and informative response! I have relayed all of that info to him and he has reset his alarm. He has a sweet tooth and reaches for chocolate as a preference rather than a necessity, but I will definitely make sure he follows your advice...... And we will get a new meter!
Thank you so much
 
Bonbons65 said:
Morning. Ah! Thank you so much for such a quick and informative response! I have relayed all of that info to him and he has reset his alarm. He has a sweet tooth and reaches for chocolate as a preference rather than a necessity, but I will definitely make sure he follows your advice...... And we will get a new meter!
Thank you so much
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He should definitely have a glucose meter, not just Libre sensors (wonderful though they are)! (Test strips for most meters ought to be available on prescription, but if he hasn't had any recently it might be worth asking the GP surgery. It's also possible the hospital team can offer a meter (manufacturers often give free samples in the expectation that they'll sell more test strips). (If he uses the FreeStyle Libre reader, that's also a perfectly good meter, of course.)

If he hasn't done a similar course (such as DAFNE), he may find this of value. 13-14 July (so week after next) https://understandingtype1.mydiabetes.com
 
Welcome to the forum @Bonbons65

Glad to hear you've found the responses to your thread helpful.

Fire away with any other questions, and hopefully some forum members will be able to share their experiences.

Hope he is able to reduce his glucose instability and variability, and slow any progress of the changes to his eyes.

There’s a bit more info about hypos here

What is a hypo (hypoglycaemia)?

A hypo is when your blood sugar level, also called blood glucose level, drops too low. This is usually below 4mmol/l. A hypo, also called hypoglycaemia, can happen quickly. So it’s important to always have hypo treatments with you. It's also important to know what the signs are and how to treat...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
 
In a lot of respects it is helpful to have something that you are not particularly fond of rather than a favourite treat like chocolate for several reasons. As others have mentioned the fat in chocolate slows down the release of glucose from it a little bit, so it isn't ideal as you want something that will work as quickly as possible. If he is only waiting 5 minutes then wanting more, he will almost certainly be over treating his hypos every time, because the glucose cannot get from his mouth to his blood stream to his finger tip in that space of time. I find it pretty amazing that it can do it in 15 mins, but 5 mins is not realistic. Hypos sometimes make you incredibly hungry, so it is a big temptation to eat more than you need, which results in your levels going up too high. It is harder to be disciplined and keep it to the 15g carbs you need as it is without it being something that you really enjoy and therefore want to eat. I use jelly babies or Dextrose tablets and I view these as medication, not sweets or treats.... especially the green JBs which are yuk!!. I portion out the JBs into pouches of 2 or 3. 1 JB is about 5g carbs so I can eat 1, 2 or 3 depending upon the severity of the hypo. Often I just need 1 (5g) or 2 (10g), very rarely the full 3 (15g). Then it is a question of being patient and waiting the 15 mins to finger prick. As others have said, Libre is too slow to respond to hypo treatment because it measures interstitial fluid rather than blood, so it is important to finger prick to confirm a hypo when Libre says you are low and then again to recheck 15mins later that your levels have come up.

If he wants to eat chocolate occasionally then suggest he tag it onto the end of a meal and bolus for it and then enjoy it rather than eat it at a time when your heart is racing and you feel wobbly and sweaty and yuk and you can't really savour it.
 
Thank you so much for all of the advice Barbara. Extremely useful and makes a lot of sense put that way! Obviously, when he does have a low like that, it is usually down to me to help him, so this has all been very educational! He hates dextro tabs and glucogel, so I shall be portioning up some jelly babies and keeping them in the medicine cupboard!
 
Bonbons65 said:
so I shall be portioning up some jelly babies and keeping them in the medicine cupboard!
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Please also keep some by the bed, in the bathroom (hot baths and showers have a tendancy to drop BG levels), in the living room, in your handbag and pockets and in the car if you have one. Hypo treatment should always be close to hand but particularly through the night. You don't want someone who is hypo and groggy from sleep wandering around the house looking for something to take, especially if you have a house with stairs 😱 . I always have them on the bedside table so that I can just reach across and get a couple without having to set foot out of bed and my Libre reader sleeps under my pillow with me, I don't even need to put the light on anymore.
 
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