Way to avoid bringing a low up way to high?

[Sarbaby]

When I have a low, I take the necessary steps to bring it up, but it seems that it always goes from low to really high. Even if I have a 55 and have a yogurt with 16 carbs....which should bring my glucose up to about 80 - 90, it will skyrocket to 200+. Is there a way to stop this from happening and just have my low go to a normal range?

[JDRF Volunteer RL]

Hi, I'm not a medical professional, just the parent of a kid with diabetes.  It sounds like you need to look at the number of carbs it does actually take to raise your blood sugars, and even what you use to treat a low.  One thing we do for lows is to have our daughter take glucose tablets.  They are 4 grams each, and raise blood sugars about 20 points for her.  16 carbs of yogurt would raise blood sugars into the 200s for our daughter, so you are likely just consuming too many carbs.

[Sarbaby]

Thanks. How can I tell how much carbs will raise my BG? Trial and error, or is it pretty standard for 4 grams to raise it 20 points??

[JDRF Volunteer SG]

Each person is different. What most doctors suggest is that the person take 15 carbs, wait 15 minutes, and test again to see how much it raised the levels. The reason that glucose tablets are so good for testing this kind of thing is that they are absorbed extremely quickly, so you have a very real answer in 15 minutes. Many foods and drinks are slower being digested, so the 15 minute test can be misleading... the carbs may still be working but the numbers not raised enough yet. So the person takes more carbs when they really don't need them. Glucose tablets and also Gatorade are two items that are very quickly absorbed and may give a more accurate answer when testing to find out how much you need.

[zhongy2]

other product that you could takes for low blood sugar which also equals to 15 grams are 3/4 cup of juice/regular pop; 1 tablespoon of honey; 6 lifesavers; 3 packets/teaspoon of sugar.  when you retest after 15 minutes of consuming any one of these following, you should have a snack (15 grams--crackers with cheese; half a sandwich with cheese/peanut butter) if your next meal is more than 1/2 hour away.  The purpose of this is to maintain your blood sugar.

[venustiana]

I have that problem also and it took me a while to figure it out. When I eat mexican or chinese food those carbs take a long time to get in your blood. So the insulin was getting in my blood before the carbs and caused me lows. Then I would eat something or drink juice and later on my sugar would be high because of those slow carbs that finally made it to my blood. What I do know is take some insulin and 2 hours later take some more.

[marci65]

We are going through this now with my teen DS.  4 glucose tabs is not enough, usually, to raise his bg in 15 minutes.  We are thinking we may need to start treating with 5 or wait maybe 20 minutes instead.  This is with his basals and boluses well adjusted.   4 tabs/15 minutes just doesn't seem to do it consistently for him anymore.