Glucose Tablets
I used to be somewhat opposed to glucose tablets. I thought that they were too expensive, didn’t go very far, and tasted horrible. In my 17 years of being Type 1 diabetic, I think that they have come a long way. If you visit your grocery pharmacy or stores like Walmart, Target, CVS or Walgreens, you can find them in bottles of 50 in a variety of different flavors: raspberry, watermelon, orange, grape, fruit punch, etc. I would personally avoid the orange ones! The fact that they don’t taste bad anymore is a bit of a problem because my children beg for them. A bottle will usually cost between $4.50 and $5.50. So, even though that is more expensive than other ways to raise your sugar, let me tell you the reasons they are great for treating hypoglycemia:
- They are non-perishable.
- They won’t get smashed in your purse, backpack or briefcase.
- If you the bottle that they come in too large, you can fill 35mm film canister with them or put a few in a baggie.
- They are great to pack on trips and an entire bottle should be more than ample for an entire trip.
- They are always 4 grams of fast acting glucose each.
So, what’s so great about 4 grams each? I’ll tell you. Four grams of sugar will generally raise your blood sugar level by 15 points. It makes the math simple and, more importantly, will save your from over-correcting your sugar to only have the opposite problem of hyperglycemia shortly after. There is nothing worse than over-correcting your sugar and having high sugars and weight gain. One of most common symptoms of low sugars that I experience is hunger. It’s hard for me to want to stop eating until my sugar has returned to normal. Glucose tablets help me not to overeat. If you don’t have to worry about how you are going to treat your reaction, you are likely to make better decisions if you have something ready. One tab is 15 points. Just do the math until you get to over 80 mg/dL. Usually two or three tabs will do it. This is especially great if you wake up in the middle of the night with low sugars. Just keep a bottle by your bed.
Now that I have sung the praises of sugar tabs, you do have other options. Juice, non-diet soda, candy, and fruit snacks are all good options, if you have restraint to not overeat or drink and you take the time to portion out only what you need. For years I carried fruit snacks with me in my purse, however, they generally have 20 grams of carbohydrate each, which would raise your sugar 75 points. Most of us don’t need to do that with one reaction.
Like I have mentioned in some of my other articles, the most important thing is that you are ready to treat a reaction or insulin overdose when it occurs and that you figure out why you are having them and make changes to try and eliminate them.