Throughout the past 6 years that my son and now my daughter has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, I have learned a lot. There is no right or wrong when it comes to treatment methods with diabetes. Yes, we’ve found things that don’t necessarily work for us, but that doesn’t mean they won’t work for someone else. I have found that there are many, many things that can help to raise your blood sugar when you are in need.
Because of our experience, I put together a ‘guide’ of sorts to help you to find some things that you might not have known worked for you, that now you may be able to try.
Some people use Juicy Juice, while others include glucose tabs, orange juice, crackers with peanut butter, ice cream, milk and GoGurts.
For us personally this is what we do (I am posting this not as a professional, but as a parent that has learned a few tricks along the way).
Juice treating methods
Kool-Aid Kool bursts – 9 grams of carbs (good for those “higher” lows 70s, and ones right before dinner)
Juicy Juice, or smaller juice boxes (as pictured) (14-15 grams of juice) helps for the majority of lows. (mid 50s-70s) As another type of juice Juicy Juice came out with Juicy Juice Fruitifuls. We like these or should I say Clifford likes these because they are 14 grams of carbs but in a much larger juice box size (6.75 fl oz) they have 35% less sugar is how they accomplish this. However, it lets him get more juice he feels then the teeny tiny ones.
Capri Suns – These are not much different than the juicy juice except they have 16 grams depending on which type you get. (again they are around 6 fl oz, so makes them feel like they are getting more)
Hi C –This is what I refer to has the “big guns”. Hi C is good for those must treat now “low” lows (lower 50s, 40s, scary freaking lows) because they have 25 grams of carbs, and can cause some rebound highs. They also sometimes help during the night to keep numbers up. I don’t like to do this during the night especially on the pump, because I like to get a feeling for how his basals are working overnight and where we need to make adjustments. Also helpful when calculating how much IOB when pumping and low.
Candy and other methods
Pixie Sticks – Pixie sticks (the small ones) come in handy if you have a sleeper who isn’t used to drinking in their sleep for a low. They are around 2.5 grams a carb per stick, and can help with finicky overnight lows, or ‘higher’ lows during the day.
Glucose Tabs – We use glucose tabs for school purposes and at home from time to time. My only argument on glucose tabs is the price. It can get pretty pricey using them for every single low. The alternative I have found are the giant smarties (I’ve gotten them at Dollar General for 0.65 cents for a thing of them). They are only 2grams a piece but can help in a pinch.
Icing – Honestly icing to me is one step before the dreaded Glucagon. It helps by absorbing quickly into the bloodstream and gets the job done, but again rebound highs can hit quickly afterwards. When you are in a pinch and don’t want to break out big red, icing is the way to go. You can read how it helped save Clifford from a scare here.
Apple Sauce and Fruit Pouches – Since the introduction of these amazing little low treatment tools, this has been one of our favorites. It helps to get a stubborn low in the 60s-70s up while making sure they are getting some nutritional value from it as well.
For more informative articles:
Diabetes is different for everyone just like everyone’s method of managing and treating it is very different too. There is no one right way or a wrong way, again unless of course you are not trained (just have to put that out there for personal reasons). I just wanted to give insight on how we work with treating low blood sugars and what has helped us now that Clifford is pumping. I know I have learned tons of great ideas from advice from members of the DOC, so I am hoping with this to help someone else out there at least once.
If you have any suggestions for future articles let us know.
TheDiabetesCouncil Article | Reviewed by Dr. Christine Traxler MD on June 05, 2020
