Child often feels sick

[Alec]

Our son, 11, was diagnosed a month ago. He's on Lantus and Novorapid and we (all together) have slowly been getting the hang of diet, carb counting and insulin so his bm is mostly between 5 and 8. However, he frequently, almost constantly, complains of feeling sick. He's had a cold/virus recently so that cold be it but it has been going on a bit too long. Has anyone come across this?

 

[Northerner]

Hi Alec, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your son's diagnosis. It sounds as though you are coping well so far given his levels. I experienced a lot of nausea in the first few months after diagnosis - it can be a big shock to the system. Are you measuring his post meal levels at around 1 and 2 hours? If his levels are going high this might account for some of the problems.

I would highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas - a really excellent reference for all things Type 1. 🙂

 

[Redkite]

Hi and welcome to the forum 🙂. Sorry to hear of your son's diagnosis - my own son was diagnosed aged 4 and is 12 now, but I well remember how it turned our lives upside down. Sounds like you are achieving great BG levels 🙂. What times of day are you doing the tests? I was just wondering if these are all pre-meal tests, perhaps his levels are spiking up quite high in between meals and then dropping back to normal after 3-4 hours. The roller-coaster feeling of BG levels rising and falling sharply could be a possible reason for him feeling a bit queasy. It might be an idea to test occasionally mid morning and mid afternoon, just to see what his levels are doing. However since he's only been diagnosed a month (and there might be some residual insulin production in his pancreas, aka a honeymoon period), your team may be reluctant to make any changes to his insulin ratios just yet.

 

[Alec]

Thanks for your reply. Yes we do test, probably too much (!) and he doesn't seem to go too high most of the time. There's certainly no relationship with the nausea I can see. We do have Hanas' book too but I couldn't find reference to general nausea in there.

I think the main thing he needs to know is that it will pass as the whole thing is weighing pretty heavy on him right now. So your feedback is really appreciated.

 

[Alec]

Thanks Redkite. We're struggling a bit at the moment with this honeymoon period thing. His sensitivity to insulin, certainly the novorapid, keeps increasing and (working with the diabetic team) we've been cutting back the dose over the past week. Rather than going high he dips an hour or so after meals which we think is the insulin kicking in before the food. You may be right that it is the changing levels tht make him feel queasy but we're trying to be as 'on it' as we can.

 

[Redkite]

If he's getting hypos and you're having to top him up with sugary hypo remedies (or even snacks to prevent lows), maybe these are contributing to the nausea? Hope he feels more like his old self soon. How supportive are his school being? Is he in Y6 or Y7?

 

[Alec]

Don't think so. we try to avoid anything too sugary, milk, OJ, digestives in small quantities (well OK jelly babies have become something of an anchor when he does have a hypo). Used to eat far more without trouble though. He's just started Y7, so new school to top it off. They have been great though, although its a small school so little experience of diabetics.

 

[bev]

Hi Alec,


If levels are dropping an hour after eating I would say the ratio's are out. But would need to know more about what sorts of foods this is happening with as it could be delayed absorption if the food is fatty like pizza or other fatty foods. It is really early days so a lot of this will be trial and error and to be honest that never stops when they are growing as hormones alter everything every few weeks. My son is 15 and growing a lot so levels are crazy sometimes! As for the feeling sick - Alex used to feel sick a lot in the first few months and he also had a lot of wind! We never found out what it was but think it was just the huge change to his body and digestion perhaps was affected for a while. The other possibility is coeliac - not wanting to worry you so soon but there is a link with Type 1 and sadly some children get both conditions. I worried my son had this but the tests came back clear and he is tested every year so that is reassuring. Have you asked your team for any advice on this.🙂Bev

 

[Redkite]

Good to hear that his school has been supportive. What an upheaval for him at the same time as starting secondary. Not that there's a "good" time of life to be diagnosed!

 

[Alec]

Thanks Bev, coeliac tests came back clear fortunately (for now). Good to know about your son, ours has a lot of wind also. Sounds very similar.

 

[fencesitter]

The other thing to consider, when all else is ruled out of course, that he might be feeling very anxious about everything. Kids often do feel nauseous when they're upset, I think symptomatic stomach ache is quite well documented?