What is a Mild Hypo?

A mild hypo is one that sends your blood sugar no lower than 70 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/L). It is not life threatening, but it can be very unpleasant, especially if you have been running much higher blood sugars and have just started a new medication that lowers them.

With a mild hypo, you are likely to feel shakey, nervous, and, sometimes, ravenously hungry.

If your blood sugar has been abnormally high for a long time you may feel the symptoms of a hypo at levels that are actually normal or even high. That is because it takes your body time to adjust when blood sugar levels descend.

The advice on this page is intended for people with Type 2 diabetes or hypoglycemia who would like to be able to correct mild hypoglycemia without causing a large blood sugar spike that puts them on a blood sugar roller coaster where they suffer alternating highs and lows.

This advice is not meant for people with Type 1 diabetes who should follow their doctor's advice in dealing with serious hypos.

Learn How Much Glucose Raises you 10 mg/dl (5 mmol/l)

The amount of glucose that raises your blood sugar a given amount depends on your body weight. For a person who weighs 140 lbs, two grams of glucose will do it. The table below shows the amount of glucose you need to eat to raise your blood sugar ten mg/dl (.56 mmol/L)

Your Weight	Grams of Glucose Needed
140 lb	2 gm
175	2.5 gm
210 lb	3 gm
245 lb	3.5 gm
280 lb	4 gm
315 lb	4.5 gm

How To Get Your Glucose

Two Grams can be found in five "Smarties" candy discs (of th type shown in the picture above) or one "Sweetart" candy wafer. Check the nutritional information on the wrapper when you buy these candies to make sure they haven't been changed. Sweetarts come in several varieties, now. You want the hard tangy ones in the small roll.

You can also buy glucose tablets at the drug store which will also work. However, the good thing about Smarties and Sweetarts is that you can buy them at gas stations and convenience stores in emergencies.

Practical Examples

When your blood sugar meter shows that you are under your target blood sugar, take just enough glucose to raise you back to where you want to be plus another 10 mg/dl (.5 mmol/l) in case your meter is reading high.

For example, if your blood sugar meter shows that are at 75 mg/dl and want to be at least at 85, and you weigh 140 lbs, you would want to raise your blood sugar 10 mg/dl to target and another 10 mg/dl for a safety margin. This would require 4 grams of glucose (2 grams per each 10 mg/dl rise.).

If you were 280 lbs and your blood sugar meter measured your blood sugar at 70 mg/dl your target was 90, you'd want to raise your blood sugar 30 mg/dl (20 mg/dl to target and 10
for the safety margin.) This would require 12 grams of glucose (4 grams per each 10 mg/dl rise).

After You've Taken the Glucose

After you've taken the glucose, wait fifteen minutes and measure your blood sugar again. It should be where you wanted it to be unless your medication is dropping you even lower. If this is the case, take the amount of glucose you need to raise you back up further.

Why Not Just Eat Two Grams of Any Carbohydrate-containing Food?

This hypo cure recommends that you use pure glucose (also called dextrose on labels) because glucose is the only sugar that goes directly into your blood stream within minutes and does not require time-consuming digestion. Sucrose, lactose, fructose, or starch require enzymes to be digested. Glucose is already in the form that the body uses.

Also, if you eat your two grams of carbs in a food where they are bound up with proteins or fats the digestion time is also prolonged because the presence of fat and protein in the stomach delays the processing of carbs.

Drinking milk to raise blood sugar is a problem because the lactose in milk needs digestion. The problem with using orange juice which many doctors recommend is that unless you are severely hypo, you are likely to get far too much carbohydrate and end up with a nasty spike.

Eating food to raise your blood sugar has another serious negative side effect: weight gain. There are only 4 calories in a gram of glucose. So even if you take 12 grams, you are only going to get 48 calories. But if you start eating food to correct a low, you are likely to eat far more calories, and over time those calories add up. This may be one reason why drugs that cause hypos, like insulin and sulfonylureas are associated with weight gain.