Yeah right. If i’m lucky. When i drop any lower than about 60, it takes 30 or 40 carbs to get my BG back up. 15 MIGHT get it to stop falling. Usually it won’t. I just dropped to 42 (pretty fast too, as i felt fine, and then next thing i knew i was shaking… that’s what i get for yard work), and it took a bag of cookies, a bag of chips, and a sandwich to get my BG back up…
Hi Stephen,
I was always taught by my endo that the 15 rule is that if the first 15g of fast acting carbs doesnt bring ur BG back to normal, u wait 15 minutes and test ur BG, then if its not above 3.9 mmol/l take another 15g and repeat until you get a result above 3.9 mmol/l. the amount of carbs you will need to bring your BG back up to normal will vary depending on the extent of the over-bolus or exercise that caused the hypoglcemia in the first place (as you probably know). For me it normally only takes 15 grams, then a 15 gram complex carb snack, but sometimes i take 45 grams of sugar etc to bring it back up especially if its in the 1-2 mmol/l range (i think thats about 20-30mg/dl).
15 grams of sugar etc is supposed to raise BG by at least 2.1 mmol/l, so if you’re at 1.5 mmol/l even if you’re BG is no longer falling it will take about 30 grams at least to bring your BG back up to a safe level.
Hope that helped
You must be taking too high a dose of insulin, if this happens when you’re not physically active. Yard work really drops mine also.
The best way to raise BG is with fast-acting glucose (glucose tabs, candy, juice,) not food. Food takes too long to digest & that’s how to end up too high. After BG starts to come up from eating glucose, a small protein snack helps keep it level.
It can take up to an hour to see the effect from correcting, so the 15/15 rule isn’t all that helpful.
tru dat
Stephen, yes 15 grams carb when gardening may not be enough. Yard work needs some glucose every 10-15 minutes.
I kid you not, when I do yard work, I do some pre-planning.
I test. If I’m below 100, and I usually am, I chew 6-8 grams of glucose tabs.
You may not like them, but they’re medicine in this case. I take that much because I know, for my weight, that puts me at 140, the highest I tolerate well. Then I work for 20 min- half hour and go in and test again. If I’m at 80, and I sometimes am, I take 8 grams of glucose to put me up at 140. I do not work more more than a half hour at a time, EVER, at yard work. It runs me down in glucose faster than a treadmill, faster than a bike ride, faster than almost anything else I can do.
But note, I don’t depend on food, an unreliable source of fast glucose: it has to be digested, and my digestive system is too slow to keep up.
I start shaking at 70. But shaking I do not want to do.
Use exactness in treating yourself and you will not over-treat. Know precisely what one gram glucose does to yourself. And know precisely how far down 1 unit of fast acting insulin does to you, too.
I agree. I am on a pump, and I do two things before yard work 1):lower my basals by 10% ); 2)make sure I have glucose tabs ( in the plastic tube) in my yard work container. I know if I DO get a low, that it takes 3 4gm tabs ( 12 gm)to bring me up from ther 55-69; but 4 to bring me up from below 55 or when in the 40’s.( 16 gm). I will go inside and eat a couple of teaspoons of peanut butter, .
Remember, Stepehen Low blood glucose will sometimes take a while to come up, longer than 15 minutes, usually 25-30 sometimes. It is hard to keep patient and to have to wait and test.; and not keep eating…However , for me after a treatment , I never keep falling: It is just a slow rise. My CGMS confirms this slow rise, but I am not wearing it at all right now ( More on that later) . Food as a treatment is not quick enough for me, so I keep glucose tabs around or ON me in a fanny pack whenever doing extra work or exercising.
t
And Gerri, I tried the jelly beans you have mentioned as a low glucose treatment in other posts…T he cheap CVS brand I bought took 7 total to bring me up. Jelly beans and Skittles candy and the like taste too good for me to stop eating.; particularly if I am low and confused and antsy. I tried to pack them in little snack-size zip-lock bags to limit over treating: Still, Jelly beans taste good and glucose tabs are not as appealing, so I view them solely as medicine, unlike any type of candy: I will just keep on eating candy. I can easily stop at 4 glucose tabs, even the flavored kind.
God BLess
I like glucose tabs myself for some reason. Haha
Usually i can mow the grass for about 20 minutes, then come inside, drink a cup of apple juice, and repeat… i was just amazed that just doing a little cleaning up at the side of the house drove my sugar so far down when i was already at a 60% basal reduction… i was only outside for about a half hour total, and it drove me that far into the ground 
Oh well, lesson learned. Usually for me it takes 20-40 carbs of normal food to get me up. Glucose tabs do usually bring me up after 4 or 5 of them. Guess i’ll just start using them more now.
Hi Stephen,
When you get really low like you do, it’s hard to wait and let your sugar come up and I also need usually more than 12-15 grams of carbs to get my sugars up when they are in the below 50 range. I have found a glass of milk, any type but I drink skim milk does the best job of getting my sugars up than almost anything else and does not give the rebound high’s afterwards. For severe lows, my husband and I keep packets of a sport gel called “GU”, found in most sporting goods stores, it’s 24 grams of carbs, easy to take and digest but you need to follow this with protein to keep your sugar up. The simple sugars will get it up but the protein keeps it up, hard not to panic when you are in the 40’s and I know, I don’t even feel mine until I am in the 20’s so I have been there and have been a type 1 for 48 years now and am still kicking. Do what is best for you dispite what your doctor’s say, you know your own body and if you need more than 15 grams, go for it!
All the best,
Laura
I think it really depends on why you are low… too much basal and 15g is usually fine. A grossly miscalculated meal dose and I might need 60-75g to bring me back up.
Often my problem is not how many carbs I need but will I empty the fridge this time ? :-/
Seriously, I discovered that I need less carbs for my hypos since I’m in a low carbs diet. As I need less insulin with that diet, there is less insulin in my body and my insulin reactions are smaller now.
Thanks. I had set the pump to -60% beforehand, but apparently that wasn’t enough… the low hit me after i was done in the yard though, so i wast really surprised by it. I haven’t had any problems with my line clogging when i suspend as it’s usually only for a half hour or so. Thanks for that tip though, never thought about it causing clogging!