All over the internet, there are folks whining about their low blood sugar levels and how rough it feels.
My heart bleeds for them. As a type 1 diabetic, my gang likes to feel we have the monopoly on low blood sugar and the rough response we have to its horridness. Can the wanna-be diabetics go off and experience a hypo good and proper and then come back to us and start whingeing?!
What is a hypo? It’s where your blood sugar drops too low (generally below 3.9 mmol) and you start to feel ill. You might shake, start sweating, feel really hungry and your brain won’t work properly. Untreated, it can be very dangerous because you can faint, start fitting – or even fall into a coma, and eventually die, which is why it’s important to treat it quickly.
You can treat it with:
- Glucose tablets (about three or four)
- Jelly babies (about three or four)
- Lucozade, normal variety and about 50mls
- Normal coke or lemonade (not the diet stuff), about 100mls
- Glucogel
Anyway, type 1 diabetics and type 2 diabetics on blood sugar lowering medications can avoid hypos by:
Following a low-carb diet, such as the Diabetes Diet! Well, you knew I was going to say that didn’t you?! But why does following a low-carb diet make you less prone to hypos because you will need less insulin in general, and less insulin means less likelihood of hypos.
Doing regular blood tests, as this gives you a clear picture of what your blood sugar levels do during the day.
Knowing your insulin requirements for meals (and you can read about how to do this in the Diabetes Diet).
Taking carbohydrates before exercise – again, you will need to use trial and error to see how many carbs you need to eat before exercising (if indeed you do need them).
Eating at roughly the same time every day.
Not leaving it too long until you eat a meal after injecting rapid acting insulin.
What do you use to treat a hypo? We’d love to know! Leave us a comment below…
Diabetes Diet 