Hey guys, just wondering what kinds of glucose tabs everyone uses to correct lows. I've used juice and food (candy mostly) in the past to correct lows but I tend to over do it and make myself high. I would like to switch to the glucose tabs but they just taste so nasty. Does anyone have suggestions for tabs that are a little more palatable?
Smarties, while candy, have dextrose and the sleeves are a pretty nice treatment for all but the most hairy lows, and then you can have two? I used to use jelly beans all the time and am very partial to the Starburst ones but decided that the dextrose in Smarties was worth sacrificing the tasty fruit flavors. I'd put them in little "serving sized" baggies I get at Hobby Lobby to lug around with me:
The nasty taste is part of the charm. Bet you can eat just one.
Maurie
I like the grape flavor ones an there is also a "tropical fruit" mixed container and I like the green and the white ones.
Bottom line is I'm always perplexed when people talk about how "nasty" the glucose tablets are. I consider myself a foodie and have pretty refined taste buds. i think the problem is people expect them to taste like candy and when they don't they say they're "nasty". I don't eat sugar so I don't expect them to taste like candy. I think of them as "medicine" and for medicine they taste ok. When I hear people talk about overdoing "treats" when they're low and then going on the roller coaster which is so bad for us, I think that eating a couple tabs of "medicine" is a small price to pay.
That makes sense however w/ the glucose tabs it's specifically their tendency to be so dusty they get "fumey", in that when I bite them, a cloud of (ok, fruit flavored...) dust floats around in my mouth. I've found it pretty bothersome when I'm running (which I think may exacerbate the problem, bashing them around in the little tubes...) and, while I can see that not eating sugar other than "medicine" is probably good for you, I figure diabetes is enough of a PITA (low-carb..) that having something tasty when you need it is a reasonable compromise for me to make.
I prefer the reli on brand from Walmart. My favorite flavor is fruit blast.
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I think I've grown to accept the grainy sweetness of them. I greatly prefer the tropical mixed flavors that CVS offers. Juice is my other go-to though. I find candy is way too unpredictable for me with over-correcting.
I like DEX4 Tropical Fruit or Sour Berry, or Wild Berry Glucose Bits (1 gram carb each so you can adjust the dose). as others said I regard them as medicine & not a treat. I don't notice any dustiness, but I do drink water afterwards as I think it makes the glucose absorb faster.
I don't like the taste of glucose tabs, and think they are too expensive.
So I buy sweettarts in the 'theater' size boxes ($1 at walmart), and it fills up my empty glucose tab bottles about 3/4 full. I refill the glucose 'tubes' to carry in my pockets.
Approx 4 sweettarts is the same as 1 tablet, or 1 g per sweettart.
no doubt, I think potting soil would have a better flavor.
Where do you buy the DEX4 brand. Is it widely available?
No, they're just nasty. But I'm thankful because it's guaranteed I won't "overdose" on these.
I agree about the "dusty-ness" of the tabs. That's my main complaint, you just chew forever and they never go down. It's often inconvenient (or impossible as with running) to drink water afterwards. Do certain tabs hold their shape better, cutting down on the dust?
I get them from Diabetic Promotions www.diabeticpromotions.com they have the best selection I've found. If you get on their mailing list they are always having sales or free shipping offers.
Sheesh, I don't think we have the variety of flavours in Canada that I am seeing mentioned here! Or maybe we do and I'm just not looking hard enough. The only ones I've seen are orange, grape, raspberry, and apple, and compared to when I was a kid and there weren't any flavours, that seems like a lot to me! I've never heard of things like tropical fruit or wild berry flavours.
I personally like that the glucose tablets don't really taste like candy. As Zoe said, it stops me from eating them when I just feel like something sweet, which is what I used to do when I used Skittles (I still use Skittles sometimes, but they tend to melt in the heat, I've discovered ...).
I agree that there is some sort of "dustiness" going on with the glucose tablets. They've even caused me to go into coughing fits in the past ... I have mild asthma, and I think sometimes I breathe in a bit of the "glucose dust" when I'm eating them, and my lungs freak out ... Definitely unpleasant!
i think i must be the only person that likes glucose tabs, but i looove anything sweet really. in spain we just down packets of sugar, as they are about 10 grams each. when i saw the glucose tabs in cvs i thought, brilliant, i can dose out what i need! grape is the best by far. orange and watermelon are not very nice, though.
to me,Glucose tabs do not taste particularly good, they do not taste particularly bad: They Are glucose tabs!! I can treat with 2 or 3, 4 whatever is needed.. and stop. Cannot say the same for Skittles and Jelly beans: They work quickly for me; but they are delicious, I want to eat far more than I neeed . So I had to stop using them. I buy the CVs brands mentioned. They taste ok; and I am thankful for the flavors. the newer glucose tabs do not make me what to puke like those old-school 15 gram BD white sugar "pads" that were Heinously atrocious. I think they still make them, In fact I know they do.. Those are the kinds in the school nurses office in the district I worked. I saw little type one kids in the lows around 45, who cried when they were made to eat those disgusting tablets( I wanted to say, "Give the baby a little orange juice!! Don't make him/her cry!"). But that is all we had back in the day; so I started using peppermints or sugar packets dissolved in water in the 60' and 70's. Glucose tabs are too expensive, but they work and taste, as I said, just OK. Now I think those gels are expensive and nasty tasting.
god bless,
Brunetta
Give me Dex4 and I will not over eat ...but orange not my fav. flavour ; I just don't buy Orange ! I wonder , if Dex4 likes to donate to my Team Diabetes, Amsterdam run in Oct. 2013 fund raiser , just for getting free advertizing here ?? I shall ASK .
I'm like my friend Brunetta. I don't like them but I don't dislike them either. I believe they make them that way for a reason and that's so we will treat them for what they are... Medicine.
Gary S