12yr Type 1 daughter recently moved onto a pump - BG constantly high. Any advice?

[Type1Dad]

Hi there,

I hope you are all well.

After being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last August (a week before starting High School) my 12yr old daughter finally moved onto a pump two weeks ago. She chose the Omnipod 5 as two of her type 1 friends at school also had the same pump and she liked the look and feel of it.

Her Blood Glucose (BG) levels were slightly high before moving onto the pump; however, since the transition we haven't been able to get her BG down into range. Often with her BG being above 14. We have been checking her keytones and they have never been above 0.1. Obviously, we have in in contact with her Diabetes Team who have been very supportive and with their help we have been increasing her background insulin levels and have also adjusted her mealtime Bolus ratios. However, we still can't seem to get her down into range.

To make matters worse, she has recently, started her period which is all new for her and she has also got a cough/cold. Her hormones are all over the place. Since her diagnose she has had to cope with a lot of change in a short amount of time.

We worried about further increasing her insulin whilst she is on her period as she's went through her last pod within 2 days. Her body seems to be eating up the insulin so quickly yet the BG does not come down significantly.

We will of course get in touch with her Diabetes Team again, as there have been brilliant but I thought I would come on here in case other parents who have gone through similar situations can offer some friendly advice.

Many thanks,

Type1Dad

 

[Thebearcametoo]

It’s very common for insulin needs to increase while puberty is happening and for needs to fluctuate during the month. Keep checking in with your team and they’ll help you make adjustments until it’s more in range. It’s better to make changes slowly than go too low.

We found that more insulin was needed for corrections. It does all ease after a couple of years though.

If she has huge variations during her cycle or struggles emotionally with the diabetes on top of her period then going on the pill is an option

 

[Sally71]

My daughter’s insulin requirements pretty much doubled almost overnight when she started going through puberty, and they are only just starting to drop down a bit now. If she’s got a cold as well that probably makes it even worse. Hang in there, it will get better. It sounds like you’ve got a good diabetes team so keep in touch with them and she will get there. And if she’s going through ridiculous amounts of insulin, well so be it, she needs however much she needs to get the numbers down. I was having a bit of a panic about high readings once and our DSN calmly said “just keep increasing the doses until the BGs come down.” Good advice, as long as you increase it gradually and don’t just bung it up a massive amount all at once, it’s a real balancing act and just a tiny bit too much can send you from one extreme to the other very quickly. It’s still early days for your daughter on her pump so hopefully things will settle down soon.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Type1Dad

Sorry to hear your little one is having a bit of a tricky time transitioning to pump therapy.

Glad you’ve already had some wise words from two of our experienced parents.

I just wanted to say, “Hang in there!”. It will get easier in time. you aren't the first person /family to want to chuck your fancy new gadget out if the nearest window. And i don’t suppose you’ll be the last either!

I think it took me the best part of 6 months to get used to the basics, and probably more like a year before I really felt I was getting into my stride with an insulin pump. And during that time I saw numbers that I would never see on MDI.

But now I’m almost 12 years and 3 different pumps into the experience, and I have a hard time switching back to jabs for a few days here and there as it seems such a comparatively crude and untweakable system.