Hello,
For those of you who use glucose tablets to treat blood sugar lows, did you know that BD has gotten out of the business?
Currently the main & only provider of glucose tablet products is Dex4 – not bad news, since their tabs come in lots of nice flavors.
Note that Dex4 tabs are only 4 grams of carbohydrate each, rather that 5 grams (as BD’s were). More info here: www.dex4.com/4grams
(Disclosure: I’m on Dex4’s Patient Advisory Board, and also happen to think this development is newsworthy 
This is disappointing to me because the BD tabs were the only ones that I actually liked. I guess it’ll be juice or these (which I actually like, too) from now on.
I think that there was an actual design intent that tabs not be very appetizing. If they tasted too good, it might encourage the overuse of the tabs. I mean they are after all like a candy.
On the other hand, when I was in college I had a friend who would only drink his cheap beer out of a can (a steel can in those days), because “He Liked the Metal Taste!”
ps. A cheap alternative for minor correction is of course smarties, primarily dextrose, with 6g carbs per roll (15 pieces in a roll).
I am not too surprised to read this …I so disliked the orange flavour . Have been using Dex4 for quite a number of years. Sometimes need help with opening the bottle of 50 …the fingers are not as nimble as they used to be .
I have sent the Canadian office an e-mail with the request of the sour apple flavour to be made available in the 50 container …no response so far ( will follow up one day soon ) .
I received a sample of the Liquiblast , 16 g in a 2 oz bottle some time ago …there is a BEST BY date on the bottom …I may have missed out . I did remove the taping around the top on a day , that I did not have a low …I don’t know , if I would have succeeded too well with a low BG .
Maybe Amy ( as a member of the Patient Advisory Board ) can advise ??
I prefer liquid glucose (juice) anyway. I find that it works faster than solid forms of glucose.
Bummer! I liked that they were 15 g of carbs. Nice and easy for me. I will have to stock up!
I really liked the taste, too. I also preferred the texture of the BD tabs to others.
I have seen them at my local Costco for a buck a box. If I don’t see them, I ask and the can order them (or used to be able to). But, at Walgreen’s they are like 2.39!
The sour apple flavor is available in 50s. You can get them mail order at Diabetic Promotions, www.diabeticpromotions.com.
Has anyone else tried the Dex4 Bits, mixed sour berry flavors. They are only 1gm carb each so you can really fine tune the amount of carbs you need to correct a low. They also taste good & dissolve easily in your mouth. I always found the BD tablets so difficult to ingest, like chalk.
OMG - was totally thinking the same thing about Elaine!
Which one? There are 14 Elaines on this site. Any link to that discussion?
Dextrotabs are 1.6 grams of dextrose per tablet & aren’t expensive.
I found numerous brands of glucose tabs on-line. They’re not marketed solely to people with diabetes. Not sure what you mean by Dex4 being the only provider.
Give me jelly beans, smarties & lifesavers over glucose tabs. They’re cheaper, more portable, fast acting & taste better.
It was a reference to a Seinfeld episode.
Oh. No wonder it flew over my head - I never had time to watch it regularly enough to understand the reference.
I quit wasting money on glucose tabs about a year ago. I’ve gone over to Smarties. I think I figured the cost was about 1/2 of sale priced glucose tabs. One roll is 6 grams, and easily divided into smaller doses if needed. And a roll goes in your pocket easier than a big tube of tabs.
Flavor isn’t a big issue for me. It’s almost like taking medicine, eh? Just slam 'em down and get it over with!
Also - If you want flavor overload, Jelly Bellies calculate out at almost exactly 1 gram per jelly bean. I make little 25 packs to take on cycling trips. I put them in teensie ziplock bags. This is my substitute for “Sport Beans” sold at about $2.00 a whack.
Trivia - Jelly Belly is currently the longest running sponsor of a pro level cycling team in the USA. And they make “Sports Beans”. I can hardly write that without snickering at the gullibility of some consumers. But they probabaly do make you runn/swim/cycle faster 
You’d have to decide which lows were tab worthy.
What Guys? I actually thought the BD tabs tasted disgusting – like schoolroom paste full of powdered sugar. Blech! 
Not in my community in BC, Canada are they available todate , where I always purchase other flavours at Safeway Pharmacy
Love Jelly Bellies. They’e got some great flavors. Perfect for correcting lows. I’ve got baggies full of Jelly Bellies everywhere.
I was never a fan of the BD stuff, but I do feel better when there is more than one manufacturer in the market place. That being said, Dex is a great product.
rick phillips