Sadly, I don’t think there IS anyone who understands what it’s like
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With gastrointestinal problems, I sometimes don’t seem to digest things well, so have tended toward the amylase-in-the-mouth route for a while. Some of my lows are from not having yet digested a meal for which I had bolused, so the gastro track doesn’t help, sometimes not even for liquids. Sucking can help (lifesavers!), sugar cubes in my cheeks, sugar packets poured under my tongue, honey, maple syrup, an then that bottle of Karo Syrup with the sides so often sticky – both the cheapest and the messiest, and maybe quickest. I have been buying the 8 g. carb Transcend glucose gel to keep in my purse, but too expensive to use at home. Glucose tablets (or smarties, but a little harder for me with sweetarts) can be chewed a little and semi-liquified and kept in the cheek or under the tongue for a few minutes. I was with a diabetic friend yesterday who was chewing a very chewy caramel-sort of candy, which seemed to work quickly – there are probably other candies like that.
1950s Clara Barton Camp used Coke Syrup, a thick liquid, which I guess could have been kept in one’s mouth for a while but I don’t remember any such direction. On field trips, I remember sugar cubes.
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Made me remember that Coke syrup was a staple in medicine cabinets in the 1950s for nausea.
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Would sometimes do double duty — I’m probably not the only one that can get some nausea from low blood sugar.
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Darn it’s working. Two lows this week treated with two Dex 4 tablets, 4g each, held completely in cheeks till dissolved. Went from low 3s to 6 in 10 minutes, peaked at 8 in 30 minutes, then leveled down to ~7. Previously I would have overtreated.
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Quick question on this. Would smartees (dextrose) work faster than honey? My wife says honey is faster, but seems to take longer. I do need to implement this “hold in mouth” routine as suffering through lows are getting tiresome. My CGI goes off at 93 so I have time to respond but if I am dropping fast, I hit the 60s before the smartees (chew and swallow) kick in.
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Dextrose is D glucose is faster than honey which is mostly fructose and glucose. The fructose can be turned into glucose by the liver but that takes some time.
I don’t want to get between you and your wife.
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Lol. And thanks for the confirmation on dextrose. Smartees are also much easier to carry around than honey. This awful condition of mine has been getting harder to manage so me and my wife both need to be on the same page. And this new routine should really be helpful going forward.
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This guy says only to hold the Dextrose in your mouth for a couple of minutes. Sooo I think honey has to be swallowed??
If you do not have Dextrose when your sugar is low (I’m administering a stern look of disapproval), then you have no choice but to eat something else. And yes, for anything other than dextrose, you have to swallow it. The oral mucosa will not absorb any other form of sugar because those molecules are too big to pass through the membrane. So, trying to keep sugary soda or juice in your mouth will not work.
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In my comment to @Marie above I wrote, “Saliva contains the enzyme, amylase” amylase will break down sucrose into fructose and glucose. I’m not sure about the fructose but the glucose can then be absorbed by the oral mucosa. This ia nor as good as glucose (dextrose) but still works.
With much candy and soda in the US sweetened with HFCS there is no need for amylase as this is a solution of about 40% fructose and 60% glucose, not a compound. This means the glucose is already in a state that can be absorbed.
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Oh? Im reading this as my numbers fall into the 60s and I swallowed a can of coke and held much of it in my mouth.
Which reminds me, my recovery time on lows has been much slower than usual. I do use Smartees and have a nasal shot just in case. But I’m more concerned about low recovery taking longer. Even my insulin is taking longer but it hits harder too. Like all at once. Hmmm.
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@arnolfo Hope everything turned out OK without having to resort to the nasal shot (presumably Baqsimi). I try not to overdo low treatments, but often overshoot anyway.
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Thanks. I survived for another day. And yea, overshoot is often. Taking 18gms of dextrose and still watching numbers drop to 60 something is damn scary. The time it takes to rebound should be shorter and makes it difficult to not keep shoveling down sugar.
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Yes, I find it takes forever to bring my blood sugars down too. It’s so weird to have it change so quickly. Usually I drink 1/3 cup apple juice with 9 gms of carbs but sometimes it just doesn’t work. So I have to drink another 1/4 cup juice (7 grams carbs) just to give it a bump.
And then - surprise surprise! - it goes screaming up to 12.0. It’s insanity at its finest!!!
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The hardest thing and I still am working on after 50 years is waiting while that adrenaline drum is banging. I’ve found the dextrose in mouth is quicker but also forget often the lag in time for the CGM readings.
also from same guy you wrote about the absorb in your mouth, a piece on how one’s ability to digest and process changes and more
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