Treating a hypo with 'natural' food

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Fe 82

Fe 82

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Afternoon all and happy friday to you!

A quick deliberation...

If food is nearby and I realise I am very low, I tend to reach for either a sandwich or bowl of cereal, without taking the sugar tablets or lucozade to treat it first. Is this bad? I would much rather eat something 'normal', rather than feeding my body what I currently deem to be unnatural substances.

I understand it will take a few seconds longer to 'kick in'...is this dangerous? (i know it must vary on how low you are, but waking on 1.8 this morning due to not compensating for tennis last night, i reached for the weetabix...)

Does anyone else pause when reaching for the processed sugar or is it my naivety?

x
 
Hi, it's all to do with the ability to treat the hypo quickly. The glucose tablets or jelly babies will have an almost immediate effect (usually!), but a sandwich may not act quickly enough, especially if you are dropping fast - might take half and hour or more depending what's in it. Sometimes if I am low just before a meal I will just go ahead with my meal, unless I'm really low. So, a 3.6 before a meal would be OK for me, but a 2.9 would warrant a couple of jelly babies first, just to be on the safe side.

For a 1.8 I woud definitely go for the pure sugar, as that is dangerously low. Doesn't need much, and then you can have your weetabix in safety!
 
Fe 82 said:
Afternoon all and happy friday to you!

A quick deliberation...

If food is nearby and I realise I am very low, I tend to reach for either a sandwich or bowl of cereal, without taking the sugar tablets or lucozade to treat it first. Is this bad? I would much rather eat something 'normal', rather than feeding my body what I currently deem to be unnatural substances.

I understand it will take a few seconds longer to 'kick in'...is this dangerous? (i know it must vary on how low you are, but waking on 1.8 this morning due to not compensating for tennis last night, i reached for the weetabix...)

Does anyone else pause when reaching for the processed sugar or is it my naivety?

x
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for safetys sake anything below a 3 I always treat with some fast acting sugar , if you are dropping fast a sandwich will not act quick enough to treat a hypo , its ok as a back up carb though . 🙂
 
Same sort of view as Northerner, if I'm 'just' hypo, eg 3.3 or similar, then I'd probably go ahead with the next meal or eat something 'normal'. But if I'm any lower, or suspect I'm still dropping then it's a case of getting the quick acting carbs into me. I usually treat with fruit juice, obviously it depends what sort you buy as some has all sorts added to it, but as a general rule I view it to be a more 'natural' option than lucozade etc.
 
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I probably use far too many fast acting tings such as the babies, I'm getting better tho, but still munch, I'd like to just eat something normal, and hearing what you lot do has given me some ideas, but if I woke below 2, not only would I be wearing brown shoes, I'd drink coke, eat sugar and everything😱
Cheers for the tips peeps.
 
Hi All ...

I treat Nathan .. with Glucose tablets/ or Full sugar coke for any reading under 4 ... Depending on the level he at .. hypostops are frequently used .. I f for example he was 3.6 before a meal .. I would give him a couple of glucose tablets and then his meal .. and wait till after he had finished the meal before giving him insulin... If it were in between meals .. I would offer him either toast or cereal.

Any reading of 1-2 is very low and in my view would needing treating with sugar .... Bearing in mind we have no idea how fast we are dropping.

Natural alternatives ... Honey or jam

Heidi
xx🙂
 
See my thread about my friends telling me to eat "normal food" instead of glucose tablets http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=3444. As others have already said, I'll always treat anything below 3 with a glucose tablets since they are pretty much instantly absorbed into the blood stream and will therefore raise your blood sugar out of hypo levels quickly.
Treating a 1.8 with anything other than glucose or dextrose is way too dangerous since other food will take at least 20 mins or so to start raising your blood glucose and by that point you could be unconscious!
 
I hate the feelings associated with a hypo e.g. feeling wobbly, unable to think straight etc etc and therefore go for the fast acting thing that I can get - which for me is usually Lucozade, even then it can take 15-20 minutes for the hypo symptoms to disapear. Quick acting is even more important the few times each year when my BG drops like a stone and then takes over an hour to get back above a 4
 
I just hit the glucose gel/tablets for any hypo, no matter how bad it is. I want to stop myself from dropping too low. If you just reach for a sandwich it won't have the desired effect quick enough and you risk your blood sugar plummeting too low for you to sort out the hypo on your own.
 
At those levels you should be treating with glucose first. The longer you stay hypo the more you put yourself at risk of hypo unawareness.
So I will always treat anything under 4 with glucose tablets. I will also have something if I test at 4.x, I have a bit of a fear of being under 5.
 
1.8 😱 I would have to agree with everyone else that any BG this low would require some fast-acting sugar.
K carries around 200ml of coke in her handbag and some rich teas. In a hypo she would drink the coke and eat 2 biscuits and that would keep her going well until the next meal.
She also has glucose tablets as a back-up.
 
Orange juice or other fruit juice can work quickly if you don't want lucozade... but yes, I'd definitely have something sweet before eating a normal meal.
 
I guess it depends on how you feel, but if I was as low as 1.8, I would not be able to wait for the weetabix to kick in! 😱

On DAFNE, we were told that the problem with not treating hypos quickly is that you risk hypo unawareness in the longer term, and also the longer your body has to wait for your blood sugar to rise, the more likely your liver is to kick in, and then you risk the rebound high.

What about something like fruit juice?
 
DiabetesPartner said:
1.8 😱 I would have to agree with everyone else that any BG this low would require some fast-acting sugar.
K carries around 200ml of coke in her handbag and some rich teas. In a hypo she would drink the coke and eat 2 biscuits and that would keep her going well until the next meal.
She also has glucose tablets as a back-up.
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Always make sure that you leave it for 10 minutes after the coke - because if you have the biscuits too soon - this can hamper the absorption of the glucose and she could spend an hour trying to get levels within range. The fat in the biscuits takes time to digest and it can stop the sugar from doing its job.🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Always make sure that you leave it for 10 minutes after the coke - because if you have the biscuits too soon - this can hamper the absorption of the glucose and she could spend an hour trying to get levels within range. The fat in the biscuits takes time to digest and it can stop the sugar from doing its job.🙂Bev
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Agree with Bev ... Please also remember to test BG after 10 mins to make sure the BG is rising .. as sometimes you will drop a little further, before coming back up .. If there is no change in BG or you have dropped more .. repeat the coke, glucotabs, hypostops again and wait anothr 10 mins and test again .. by then your BG should be rising .. it will then be ok to have biscuits, cereal bar or cereal or sandwich ... please also remember if you have has to use the 'Glucogen' injection ... be careful not to give to much food or sandwiches with mayo in etc .. as a side effect of the injection is sickness, on a massive scale ... Toast etc is a much better option.

Heidi
xx:D
 
Thanks for the advice...Fruit juice seems like a good option...my doctor advised supermarket own freshly squeezed was the best as Tropicana and others have too much other additives. Is orange juice the most effective and quickest acting or is there no difference?
 
Fe 82 said:
Thanks for the advice...Fruit juice seems like a good option...my doctor advised supermarket own freshly squeezed was the best as Tropicana and others have too much other additives. Is orange juice the most effective and quickest acting or is there no difference?
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I usually use pure orange as a change /rest from lucozade , the small cartons are handy and handbag sized , also they have enough sugar to treat a hypo. I wouldnt use them for a 2 and below though , I still tend to go for the pure glucose /sugar option .
 
E favours apple juice, more particularly a carton, for fast-acting, though if v low forces down glucose tabs (tropical flav only)...apple juice cartons though are usually 250ml, which is really a bit too much for a mild-ish hypo...does anyone know of smaller ones?
 
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