How long do you wait to dose and eat after having a low right before a meal time? I use Humalog and Lantus and am new to Dexcom G6.
I just had a 60 BG right before lunch. I treated with 1 Smarties (6 g dextrose) and waited while it went to 56 with a down arrow so took another Smarties (6 g dextrose). (Maybe panic over treatment?) At 20 minutes later I’m 114 with an up arrow. At 35 minutes I’m 138 with a straight arrow. I know I probably shouldn’t dose and eat until the arrow is steady. But, do you wait a specific amount of time once the arrow is straight?
I actually don’t wait at all. If I am 60 at meal time, I’ll just dose and eat my meal immediately. 1 unit lowers me by about 30 points, so I would probably take one unit less of insulin than I would normally calculate. This assumes my meal has carb in it (which it usually does), and I’ll make sure to have some of that carb for my first bites.
I have found that Humalog and other fast insulins (Novolog, Apridra, Fiasp) take about 20 minutes to have any impact on my BG, so normally I will pre-bolus by about 15 minutes. If I am 60 going in, I won’t pre-bolus but go ahead and eat.
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@jag1 - Thank you, that’s very helpful advice.
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Yep, same thing. If I am low I just eat and take insulin right then, or wait a little bit. Or maybe take a little less. Eating when low is the best time, it helps prevent a spike from your meal.
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Me, too. 
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I‘m right there with the others that eat when low, dose accordingly but maybe hold back a bit of the regular Bolus if I the low was still dropping before I ate.
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I would have just eaten before, but lately food is being really variable for me in how long it takes to kick in (which is making prebolusing tricky and control worse…), so unless it’s something that’s almost all fast acting carbs (rarely the case), I would probably treat a little first (preferably with a liquid, though smarties or the like work ok too) and then take insulin and eat once I feel like whatever I treated has had a chance to get a head start.
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I just go ahead and eat also. I looked at a package of Smarties, and the label says 6 grams of carb for a serving of 2 candies, so each one is only 3 grams. Just something to be careful of.
@D1958 - The Smarties I use come in a cellophane roll that contains 15 individual little round flat disk candies made of dextrose. One roll is 6 g CHO (dextrose), so that’s 15 of the little candies.
I like Smarties because they work fast since they are dextrose=glucose, and 6 g is a good amount for me to raise a low but not spike too high. If I do the “recommended” 15 & 15, 15 g carbs sends me way high, and I have found I generally need to wait longer than 15 minutes before thinking about treating again. Otherwise I’ve got 30 g carbs, yikes!
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I haven’t noticed the small Smarties! Mine are 1 inch in diameter. Those Smarties manufacturers are “smarties”! Thank you for the information.
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