skittles for lows?

[lisalotsamom]

Does anyone use skittles to treat low blood glucoses? Marisa (Mia's mom) told me that at the FFL conference, a speaker said that dextrose was better for treating lows than fructose. Tessa has always used a 15g Juicy Juice for lows, but she loves skittles, and we thought we'd give it a try.
The only problem is that I'm having trouble figuring out how many skittles it would take for a 5g, 10g, and 15g carb boost.
Any other candy suggestions appreciated--this is pretty new territory for us. I practically have stock in Libby's Juicy juice since I've bought so many over the last 3 1/2 years :)

[hughsfan30]

Does anyone use skittles to treat low blood glucoses? Marisa (Mia's mom) told me that at the FFL conference, a speaker said that dextrose was better for treating lows than fructose. Tessa has always used a 15g Juicy Juice for lows, but she loves skittles, and we thought we'd give it a try.
The only problem is that I'm having trouble figuring out how many skittles it would take for a 5g, 10g, and 15g carb boost.
Any other candy suggestions appreciated--this is pretty new territory for us. I practically have stock in Libby's Juicy juice since I've bought so many over the last 3 1/2 years :)

My brother actually uses skittles when he feels low, also m & m's, he says they work pretty good.

[KeltonsMom]

I got Kelton the mini sized ones for Halloween, they are about 15 carbs for each little bag..They are the only candy so far that brings his glucose up other than Starburst, and I believe 4 Starbursts are 15 carbs too..

[bkfkmc]

We have used skittles before, I think they are about 1 carb each. I wouldn't feel comfortable that any kind of chocolate would work quickly enough.

[Ella's mom]

Ella will eat 1 to 2 rolls of smarties deeping upon how low the low is. I roll is 6g-- they bring her back up quickly!

[lilwitte]

I use skittles, each skittle is 1g and the little packs from halloween usually have around 19-21 pieces in them. So when I am low I usually eat about 3/4 of a pack. They work vey well for me.

~Liz

[twodoor2]

Dextrose is just another name for glucose, and anything with dextrose will bring the blood sugars up much faster than any other kind of sugar. Fructose tends to bring it up and then drop it right away. Just check the ingredients, a lot of candy manufacturers sometimes use dextrose, and sometimes they use corn syrup or regular sugar. As for me, if it's an extreme low, and I need to dose her real quick, I use pure 15 gram tubes of glucose gel - it's particularly helpful in the middle of the night when she's half asleep, and I need to get something down her quick.

My daughter hates skittles or sweet tarts, so I don't know the effects, but I've heard that they're good for bringing up lows. I just think you have to eat a lot of them, and they take longer to chew.

[twbeckman]

We use skittles all the time--1g/skittle. We also use starbursts (4g), smarties (6g/roll), and gummy crabby patties (8g). Oh, we do use glucose tabs too--depends on his preference. If he is REALLY low I do favor sugar tabs just in case his chewing ability becomes impaired suddenly. He is really sensitive, 1 g will boost him 10 mg/dl, so he takes the # of grams to get him back up to 100 from whatever his BG is.

[BCot]

We use Skittles when we are away from home. We carry them in his Diabetes bag. Our Doc said that 17 Skittles = 15 grams of carbs, and that the mini bags contain about 17. I stock up on them at halloween time.

[KTurner52]

Never tried Skittles but we do use the little packs of Swedish Fish which are 15g per pack. They are great to send in the school D kit.

[funnygrl]

I love using skittles for lows.

[twodoor2]

We use skittles all the time--1g/skittle. We also use starbursts (4g), smarties (6g/roll), and gummy crabby patties (8g). Oh, we do use glucose tabs too--depends on his preference. If he is REALLY low I do favor sugar tabs just in case his chewing ability becomes impaired suddenly. He is really sensitive, 1 g will boost him 10 mg/dl, so he takes the # of grams to get him back up to 100 from whatever his BG is.

Gummy crabby patties!! Where do you get those??? My daughter loves Spongebob, and she hates every kind of smartie, sweet tart, starburst, etc. . . Maybe she'll eat those.

[Mama Belle]

My daughter has too much of a spike later with skittles. Same thing happens with juice. I think it depends upon the person. We used the 1 g per skittle guideline too. So give her 5 skittles if you want to give 5 g of carbs. We use sweettart squeeze with much success.

[Charmed7]

I've used fruit snacks too, like a fruit roll up and that has brought my son's sugars up. I don't use it for the extreme lows like 50 and under, but if he's at 65-69, I give it as a treat that will just raise him the little bit he needs.

Charmed

[MamaChrissa]

Gummy crabby patties!! Where do you get those??? My daughter loves Spongebob, and she hates every kind of smartie, sweet tart, starburst, etc. . . Maybe she'll eat those.

LMAO! We use those! J LOVES SpongeBob too. We get them in a huge bag at Rite-Aid. :)

[Tori's Mom]

We have used skittles before, I think they are about 1 carb each. I wouldn't feel comfortable that any kind of chocolate would work quickly enough.

Yep, skittles are about 1 carb per skittle.

[Andrelaplume]

Skittles were reccomeded to us by our nurse practitioner. 7 at a time. I assumed that equaled 15 carbs but now I better check! They do not melt like chocolate but can get squished together in the heat.

[shirley83006]

we use skittles too. it is one of our choices. we like to switch around so they shannon does not get bored of them. we also use starbursts, and we use fruit roll up mini's candy corn, etc. if you have a copy of the pink panther book. it mentions the skittles and the recommended amount.

[Heather(CA)]

I bought skittles at Halloween thinking I could keep them in different places for lows...Apparently Seth doesn't like them:rolleyes: I guess I will keep investing in the juicy juice...At least it's 100% juice

[munsonklein]

Nerds, Airheads, Welch's Fruit Snacks, and Fruit Leather all work really well for us too. I use the Fruit Leather when she's in the 70's or 80's.

Cathy

[twbeckman]

Gummy crabby patties!! Where do you get those??? My daughter loves Spongebob, and she hates every kind of smartie, sweet tart, starburst, etc. . . Maybe she'll eat those.

I usually find them at Walmart, sometimes even the Dollar Tree--also use gummy hot dogs and burgers from the bagged candy aisle at Giant Eagle if I am out of Crabby Patties. My 3 year old sneaks off w/ my son's emergency bag any time we aren't looking, comes back w/ a guilty look on her face and sticky face and hands!

[Livi'smom]

We became Skittles people fast!!! Livi will start with 5 and and then add 2-3 at a x. We had to cut out so much juice due to weight gain (our choice) and this is for my girl who has a BMI on the low side of average. She is 10 and starting to hit that "age".

She had a crying jag in a dressing room while trying on swimsuits this summer. She looked completely difflerent plus you could see some bruises on legs and tummy from shots. Of course she said she hates diabetes! I just calmly told her "Sweetie, you are not the first lady to cry in a dressing room over a swimsuit and you won't be the last and it has nothing to do with diabetes so get over it." I was the one crying inside. Then, I find out through much reading and FFL that insulin and diet is a combo that CAN in some kids cause weight gain. I wanted someone to run me over with a truck:(

Don't get me wrong, Livi does not have body issues. She has an athletic build. She plays tennis and just this year she ran Xcountry for her school.

Sorry to hijack but I wanted to explain why we like Skittles better than juice.