In Memoriam: BD Glucose Tablets
On September 30 BD discontinued making its glucose tablets. I haven't been this pissed since Lilly discontinued Lente insulin.
How do I love thee, BD Glucose Tablets? Let me count the ways.
The packaging. BD Glucose Tablets are easy to carry around without any fear of them melting or going stale. They are easy to take even mid-exercise. The foil packaging is more compact than plastic tubes. They are also harder for my young daughter to get out of the foil and eat them when I'm not around.
The taste. I know many of you will say that all glucose tablets taste like chalk. I happen to like the mild orange flavor of the BD Glucose Tablets. The Dex and Wal-Mart flavored ones are too sour.
The greater amount of carbs per tablet. BD Glucose Tablets have 5g of carbs per tablet; the Dex tablets have only 4. Which means more tablets to consume during tennis match changeovers or in the middle of the night when you just want to get back to sleep.
I just went to Drugstore.com and bought 96 packages of BD Glucose Tablets (the maximum they would permit). I'm going to need to switch over to something else once those run out.
As an Old Schooler, I had T1 in the 1970's before glucose tablets, glucose gels, or even Skittles. My parents would make me carry sugar cubes in a baggie to school or sometimes Life Savers (which I despise to this day). As an adult, I never carried any glucose with me until I passed out in 1992 and had to have the paramedics come. My boyfriend (now husband) went to Walgreens and bought a case of glucose tablets on the advice of the pharmacist. I never went anywhere without them since that date. Right now if you look in my handbag there are about 15 foil packs.
Last year, in the interest of saving money, I tried to switch over to Smarties in lieu of glucose tablets. Smarties are a pain to eat on the go, and they get smashed easily. Additionally, it seemed like it took a lot longer for Smarties to work. 20
minutes later after consuming the same carbs as I would take in glucose tablets, I would still have heart palpitations and other symptoms after taking Smarties.
BD Glucose Tablets, I am sad to see you go.
How do I love thee, BD Glucose Tablets? Let me count the ways.
The packaging. BD Glucose Tablets are easy to carry around without any fear of them melting or going stale. They are easy to take even mid-exercise. The foil packaging is more compact than plastic tubes. They are also harder for my young daughter to get out of the foil and eat them when I'm not around.
The taste. I know many of you will say that all glucose tablets taste like chalk. I happen to like the mild orange flavor of the BD Glucose Tablets. The Dex and Wal-Mart flavored ones are too sour.
The greater amount of carbs per tablet. BD Glucose Tablets have 5g of carbs per tablet; the Dex tablets have only 4. Which means more tablets to consume during tennis match changeovers or in the middle of the night when you just want to get back to sleep.
I just went to Drugstore.com and bought 96 packages of BD Glucose Tablets (the maximum they would permit). I'm going to need to switch over to something else once those run out.
As an Old Schooler, I had T1 in the 1970's before glucose tablets, glucose gels, or even Skittles. My parents would make me carry sugar cubes in a baggie to school or sometimes Life Savers (which I despise to this day). As an adult, I never carried any glucose with me until I passed out in 1992 and had to have the paramedics come. My boyfriend (now husband) went to Walgreens and bought a case of glucose tablets on the advice of the pharmacist. I never went anywhere without them since that date. Right now if you look in my handbag there are about 15 foil packs.
Last year, in the interest of saving money, I tried to switch over to Smarties in lieu of glucose tablets. Smarties are a pain to eat on the go, and they get smashed easily. Additionally, it seemed like it took a lot longer for Smarties to work. 20
minutes later after consuming the same carbs as I would take in glucose tablets, I would still have heart palpitations and other symptoms after taking Smarties.
BD Glucose Tablets, I am sad to see you go.
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Comment by FatCatAnna on December 10, 2009 at 2:52pm -
I am one of those that hated BD glucose tablets. As soon as I discovered Dextrosol tablets (still abit dry), and then salvia producing Dex 4 (my fav - and only 4 of them give me what I need to boost up my BG's), I never went back to them. Maybe because I associated them with childhood, with my Mum having to force me to crunch down on them, not sure. Funny that you hate Life Savers, I would have loved having those instead of BD tablets anyday (I also used to like jelly beans - carefully counted out - I think it was 9 for a fruit exchange in the old CDA/ADA days of diabetic dieting). Anyway, I always managed to choke on the BD tablets because of their dryness for some reason or another (I claim eating these is why I have so many cavities today ). Everyone knew at that point that Anna the diabetic was having a hypo, how obvious can you make yourself look. Thank goodness now kids can use juice boxes, or other yummy things to take care of hypos!
RIP BD Glucose Tablets you served many of us well!
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Comment by Shannon on December 10, 2009 at 3:57pm -
I love them, too. I've got two foil packs in my emergency stash, but I plan on buying out my local pharmacy's stock. They're so much smoother than the other tabs, and the taste is great.
I'm very sad, and will likely stick to juice boxes once they're all gone.
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Comment by brandi on December 10, 2009 at 5:19pm -
awww, i didnt know they were quitting! this makes me sad :(
lol they were a rare treat for me. i never saw them at my wal mart or any other pharmacies around here...so whenever i did find them it was a huge treat! :)
i am sad to see them go....
b
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Comment by priscilla on December 10, 2009 at 7:02pm -
Sorry to hear they discontinued them I was never a fan of them, for me they didnt work well to treat my lows, I guess everyone is different, some other suggestions to use that seem to work for me are gummy bears (half a handful), or I carry a little juice box in my bag. Let me ask because it drives me nuts when Im low is that I get so hungry that if I am home and have the food around I tend to overeat and overtreat and then end up going too high later on.
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Comment by Xanthasun on December 11, 2009 at 11:06am -
I loved them too when I little.. then stopped carrying glucose...and now I haven't seen any for a long time.. .I wonder if they stopped their distribution to certain areas before they stopped completely? I'm glad to see that someone else thinks glucose tabs work better overall compared with candy...
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Comment by Bug74 on August 8, 2010 at 7:01pm -
I'm laughing because I'm trying to figure out how drugstore.com decided on 96 as a cutoff for ordering these things. I mean if they are going to randomly pick a number.....why not kick it up a few and let you order an even 100. Just sayin.......
Still laughing.
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