This is all I can find as well as far as “helpful” information goes. Who ever came up with this bogus strategy. Its never ONCE worked for me. Not ever.
I just got to sweat it out for at least 1/2 hour or more. literally.
and, I might add, where did they come up with the idea that all lows require 15gms of carbs? 4 grams brings me up by aproxamately 20 points. If I am at 50 (I know that that is not low for you, Eric), 5 grams will bring me up over a BG of 70. Why would I need more than that?
Because you know, averages, and conservative averages at that. Often medical advice is overly simplified and made more conservative so it “always” works. In this case, we are in the same boat. My son usually treats with 5 grams of sugar and delivers insulin if the low requires any additional carbs because his blood sugar will soar like an eagle if he doesn’t.
Though it takes a bit of review for a non-geek, that’s the best explanation I’ve read/heard from anyone on the process(es) involved and reasoning of what to use. Particularly the “concentration” angle! Thanks, helps me with my “logic” seeking attitude!
I’ve very limited experience, but when going low and treating it, I tend to pull out my BG meter and test a few times over 15-45 minutes, vice relying on the CGM. I find what I’ve read is true: the CGM takes at least 10-20 minutes to acknowledge the treatment (be it tabs, orange, or apple juice), while the meter sees it in the blood MUCH sooner and offers psychological relief. I take the “Pirates of Caribbean” approach on the 15 minute rule…it’s more a set of “guidelines” and people with the problem probably know more about their own reactions than the “guidelines.”
, currently in Portland, Maine. Everybody says, “Got to buy some of the Holy Donuts!” We bought an off the boat round robin bus to see the town. Think we walked more than we rode! I’ve had two donuts just to keep my BG from going low! In reality, they’re good, would be better warm, but wouldn’t call them great…but beats the heck out of glucose tabs!
Looks great! 
I like the idea of just taking a bite out of each, instead of eating all of one! 
I think most things do!
For a great many years I refused to eat glucose tablets to treat low blood glucose. I had been force fed those things my entire life and I wouldn’t eat them even if I had a choice.
These days my mother is dead so I have my choice back, finally, and I do sometimes eat them. They are a quick fix but they really don’t work for serious over-insulin. That’s because of what I said before.
Sucrose (not glucose) is the go-to for situations where we over-insulin. Pumps are great and AIDs are better but the AIDs we have today don’t consider how much exercise we had yesterday so they inevitably OD us when our exercise levels go up. That can, and will, be fixed in the future but today we just live with what we have, not what we want.
But as has been pointed out very frequently here; a serious low from serious exercise is an opportunity to do something we aren’t normally afforded a right to do: PIG OUT!
It’s a common thought that taking more carbs might work faster during a hypo, but in reality, the speed of absorption doesn’t change much based on the quantity of carbs you consume. The key factor in how quickly your blood sugar rises is the type of carbs rather than the amount. Fast-acting carbs like glucose tablets, sugary drinks, or candies are designed to be absorbed quickly into the bloodstream, and 15-20 grams of those will usually work as effectively as larger amounts in terms of speed.
When you consume more than the necessary amount, the body doesn’t process it faster, it just has more to work with, which can lead to a spike after the hypo is corrected. That’s why a typical recommendation is around 15-20 grams of fast-acting carbs, then waiting 15 minutes to check your levels. It’s more about giving your body time to process what it has, rather than flooding it with extra.
Someone else (@eric maybe) should comment. The statement is misleading; “[It] doesn’t process [the consumed sugar] faster.” is not inconsistent with the fact that if the consumed sugar is moved to the blood stream at the same rate more sugar is available in the same period of time. I.e. eating more sugar even though it gets to the bloodstream at the same rate means that a low BG is fixed faster.
My point remains; there is a rate limit on the transit of glucose (and maybe fructose) to the blood stream, so if it is a big low PIG OUT.
You stated it well, @jbowler.
This topic is debated frequently, and it is hard to convince people of this simple fact.
You body has a certain amount of blood. It varies by person, but we can say 5 liters is a good average approximation.
Dumping more in your blood allows the glucose to get evenly dispersed throughout your entire bloodstream faster in your 5 liters of blood, than simply putting a small amount in there, and waiting for that small amount to get evenly distributed.
