Seems like I read that somewhere, but then I also read peanut butter and crackers and cheese.
What say y’all?
Thanks
Quasi
According to that site, candy and sugar pills may form part of a person with diabetes’ emergency supplies in case of a “hypo”. I’m not sure about the rest you mention there, Quasimodem. As I understand it, it’s sweet stuff that helps – but the experts around who know diabetes would be able to say more.
Ideally it’s best if you eat something with glucose to boost it back up real quick. A glucose tablet or drink like Lucozade is ideal but if you don’t have that to hand, any carbonated drink will do the trick. Jelly beans are good too if you’ve got them (about 3).
Once it’s back up, it’s best to follow it up with a long-acting carbohydrate snack like the crackers and cheese that you read about. This prevents the sugar-level dipping again after the sudden sugar fix.
Hope that helps!
Pretty much any damn thing made of simple sugar. Cheese/crackers/PB would be good long-term, (as I see Pixelle notes), as they have carbohydrates that are broken down over a longer period. If you found your blood sugar to be low, they’d be better than nothing, but wouldn’t act nearly as fast as you’d want. (My brother is diabetic, but it’s really late so I can’t ask him right now).
If very low/shaky, something high in refined carbs, i.e. hard candy, orange juice. Follow it up as above. Your best move is to keep from getting that low in the first place. In the last 4 months I’ve had good luck with frequent small snacks of nuts, fruit, and cheese. Ex.: 5 almonds, half an apple or 3 dried apricots, 1/2 oz havarti at 10:00 (breakfast with protein at 7:00, lunch of mostly vegetables and 2-3 oz protein at 12:00 or 1:00). This has kept me from needing/craving/grabbing chips, chocolate, or muffins.
Frankly, any diabetic at risk for a low blood sugar reaction (i.e. those on insulin, sulfonylureas like glyburide and others, or on the glitazones (actos, avandiaa)) should really carry glucose tablets or glucose icing in a squeeze tube. It’s well-absorbed thru the oral mucosa, and does the job quicker than just about anything else. Fructose-laden products aren’t bad either.
That’s for the acute low sugar. One must look to the future, in an hour or two. No sense in bumping the sugar levels up quickly, only to have them crash again later, so eating something which will slowly provide a sugar boost (such as crackers) may be a good idea, depending on the diabetic’s individual meds, meal plans, etc.
Remember, in treating a symptomatic diabetic, err on the side of ensuring NO LOW BLOOD SUGAR! Sugars in the 400’s are bad over months and years, but won’t do real harm today. A sustained blood sugar under 40 or so is real problematic right now!
How do you feel about Glucagon, Qadgop? I got taken to task here once for recommending a younger diabetic have it available. But it’s saved my life twice. Sure, if you’ve used it too many times recently it’s not very effective, but at that point one might have larger problems…
glucagon is a very useful tool in the treatment of certain diabetics, mainly (but not exclusively) those of the type I persuasion. The frequent need for glucagon would indicate significant DM management problems which should be addressed, however. Overuse is an issue, which is why I prefer patients to not depend on it for “ordinary” hypoglycemic event, but to utilize glucose then.