The best treatment for hypoglycemia

My mood is the worst when my blood sugar swings. The vicious circle to be avoided is to go low, overtreat the hypo, and be forced to inject insulin again to get your blood sugar into range. This is best done by treating hypoglycemia as a medical emergency, and not an opportunity to eat the fridge (although this is always a tempting option).

When you’re low you’re not looking for a healthy snack – you’re looking for the fastest way to get your blood sugar back to target level. Your best bet for this is glucose tablets. As they contain sugar in the same form as what is in your blood they don’t need to be converted before absorption. They start to take effect within a few minutes. Another great thing about them is that they can be dosed with accuracy. If you’re dealing with small insulin doses on the Bernstein protocol, 2-5g of glucose is often enough to take care of hypoglycemia.

The second best hyposnack is a sweet drink or candy. These work almost as fast as glucose tablets but can be trickier to dose. Many people like jelly babies, as they are easy to carry with you and have 5g of carbs per baby. I like to bite the head off first.

An option that’s not so good is cookies, chocolate, and sandwiches. Anything that contains sugar with fat will take longer to hit your bloodstream. Also, they’re more difficult to dose and increases the risk of overtreating the hypo.

A lot of diabetics get hungry from hypoglycemia. If this happens to you it’s best to treat the low blood sugar, and once you’re back in range eat something and dose insulin for it.