We travel a lot over the summer, and while staying with family this summer our kids saw real live commercials for the first time. And they wanted Airheads, Fruit Loops, Num Noms, and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.

Thanks to a talk, “Hypoglycemia Prevention and Treatment” given by Gary Scheiner at Friends for Life 2016 we learned about candies that have dextrose, which are a quick rescue for lows, and Airheads just happen to be on the list. We jumped at the chance to hand over candy without consequence instead of chalky glucose tabs to treat our son’s low blood sugars.

It’s true that people with type 1 diabetes can eat anything they want to, and we don’t make foods off limits in our house. Instead we practice a little bit of all things. However, bolusing for extemporaneous juice or candy is an exercise in certain failure. Often, the carb will peak before the insulin starts to act, and the sugar burns off while the insulin is still acting, so there’s a high high, then a low.

Due to summer activity, we’ve often had to dial back basal and bolus settings. We know certain activities like the beach, swimming, or playing outside when it’s hot are likely to drive Henry’s blood sugar low. In fact, for Henry, lows can come 12 hours after activity.

With a summer of beach trips ahead, I rigged up a pretty neat way to keep Henry’s insulin and pump in good working order, and my husband bought lots of Airheads. In fact, he bought every flavor of Airhead, and even doubled up on the White Mystery flavor.

When Matt showed Henry all the Airheads ready to treat his lows, Henry said, “Give me some insulin so I can go low and try one.”

Sure enough, our second day at the beach caused a low of 62, which he felt, and uncharacteristically needed a little time from which to recover.

 

With each low, he bounced back, declaring what flavor of Airhead he’d try next. So far,  we’ve visited Edisto Beach, SC, and St. Augustine Beach, FL, and tried an orange, cherry, and blue raspberry Airhead. Lots of summer and sugar stretches joyously ahead.