A 40 year old man with type 2 diabetes is having symptoms of hypoglycemia and his blood glucose level is 50 mg/dl. His current diabetes medicines include acarbose 50 mg 3 times/day and lantus insulin 40 units each morning. He is a visitor in your home and has none of his diabetes supplies with him. I have attached the current recommendations from the National diabetes clearing house. What is the most appropriate treatment for this man ?
Recommended amounts may be less for small children. The child's doctor can advise about the right amount to give a child.
The next step is to recheck blood glucose in 15 minutes to make sure it is 70 mg/dL or above. If it's still too low, another serving of a quick-fix food should be eaten. These steps should be repeated until the blood glucose level is 70 mg/dL or above. If the next meal is an hour or more away, a snack should be eaten once the quick-fix foods have raised the blood glucose level to 70 mg/dL or above.