User's Manual

Living with Diabetes
113
9
To avoid hypoglycemia (low blood glucose)
• Work with your healthcare provider to establish individual-
ized blood glucose targets and guidelines.
• Keep a fast-acting carbohydrate with you at all times to
respond quickly to low blood glucose. Examples of fast-
acting carbs are glucose tablets, hard candies, or juice.
• Teach your friends, family members, and colleagues to
recognize the signs of hypoglycemia, so they can help if you
develop hypoglycemia unawareness or a severe adverse
reaction.
• Keep a glucagon injection kit with your emergency supplies.
Teach friends and family members how to give a glucagon
injection in case you have severe hypoglycemia and become
unconscious.
Again, frequent blood glucose checks are the key to avoiding
potential problems. Detecting low blood glucose early lets you
treat it before it becomes a problem.
Check with your healthcare provider for guidance in any and all
areas listed above.
To treat hypoglycemia (low blood glucose)
Any time your blood glucose is low, treat it immediately. Check it
every 15 minutes while you are treating, to make sure you don’t
overtreat the condition and cause blood glucose levels to rise
too high.
Make sure your blood glucose is at least 100 mg/dL
before driving or working with dangerous machinery
or equipment. Hypoglycemia may cause you to lose
control of a car or dangerous equipment. Also, when
you focus intently on a task, you may miss the symp-
toms of hypoglycemia.
Periodically check the expiration date of your glucagon
kit to make sure it has not expired.
Always carry medical identification (emergency
wallet card) and wear an emergency medical neck-
lace or bracelet such as the Medic Alert tag. (See the
end of the Appendices for address, telephone, and
web site information for obtaining these items.)
Even if you cannot check your blood glucose, do NOT
wait to treat symptoms of hypoglycemia, especially
if you are alone. Waiting to treat symptoms could
lead to severe hypoglycemia, which can quickly lead
to shock, coma, or death.