Confused by such big blood sugar swings!

[Helz80]

Hi all,
I'm a newbie as my son was only diagnosed this week! The doctor has said his bloods are high, but not to expect to achieve a 'normal' range for a week or so! But I find it so confusing / concerning the massive spikes he's having! yesterday his before lunch was 8.7, then 14 at +2 hours, and 15.8 at +4!! Today, same meal, was 11.7 before, then +19.6 at +2. All he had was 2 x whole meal tortilla wraps with roast chicken/cheese. It's all so confusing and stressful - I'm feeling so overwhelmed by it all!

 

[Barfly]

@Helz80
Welcome.
Don't stress, I'm in the same boat, massive swings at first then gradually easing downwards. Don't do anything in a hurry, just small incremental changes to his diet and regime.
Exercise helps with spike, too, so gently doing a bit of walking (depending on his age-young kids never walk they always run) or cycling is good too. I have attached a screenshot of my bloods over the last 30 days. You can see it's spiking all over the place. I'm not concerned, many much more knowledgeable people on here have said it's ok.

 

[helli]

Bringing blood sugars down fast can damage small blood cells such as those in the eye which is why your doc isvsay they will take some time to come down.
How is your son treating his diabetes? Does he have two different types of insulin - one taken with food and one taken once or twice a day? This is called basal - bolus. The basal is a background insulin which should keep levels stable in the absence of food. Bolus deals with the carbs in food.
If this is the regime your son is taking, he may need to increase his basal. i know it is usual to start on a low level and build it up slowly to minmise the risk of hypos.
Talk to your doc/diabetes nurse about his blood sugar levels. They will probably suggest increasing his insulin doses.
If your son feels ok, it is likely to be ok because his body is used to the higher levels.

 

[Helz80]

Thank you for the reply- yes he takes 8 units of basal insulin at night, then novorapid with each meal… guesstimated at 4.5 or 5 units per meal by his diabetes nurse until they teach carb counting next week. If he tops 20 I have to give 1.5 unit correction dose too. This is all so new though… I’m feeling so terrified by it all

 

[Helz80]

@Helz80
Welcome.
Don't stress, I'm in the same boat, massive swings at first then gradually easing downwards. Don't do anything in a hurry, just small incremental changes to his diet and regime.
Exercise helps with spike, too, so gently doing a bit of walking (depending on his age-young kids never walk they always run) or cycling is good too. I have attached a screenshot of my bloods over the last 30 days. You can see it's spiking all over the place. I'm not concerned, many much more knowledgeable people on here have said it's ok.

Thank you for sharing… it’s always reassuring to hear others are experiencing similar! Exercise sounds like good advice… yelling at people via Xbox probably doesn’t count!!

 

[Inka]

It is a horrible shock to start with @Helz80 but it does gradually get easier. Carb counting is crucial. @helli is completely right about the danger of bringing sugars down too fast. Do not judge your son by the numbers ‘established’ Type 1s are aiming for. His numbers are pretty normal for early on.

 

[Inka]

There’s an excellent book that many here have found useful:

Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas

.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Thank you for the reply- yes he takes 8 units of basal insulin at night, then novorapid with each meal… guesstimated at 4.5 or 5 units per meal by his diabetes nurse until they teach carb counting next week. If he tops 20 I have to give 1.5 unit correction dose too. This is all so new though… I’m feeling so terrified by it all

Hello Helz and welcome to the forum.
May sound like a daft question but when is your son injecting his novo? It needs to be injected 15 - 30 mins before he eats to give it a chance to start working.
At the moment your son will be all over the place blood sugar wise.
This is due to being newly diagnosed
Very hard I know but try not to stress and take one day at a time.
Even after 56 years on insulin I still learn new things, so you can not be expected to know very much if anything to start with.
It's all a learning curve.
My favourite saying of Rome wasn't built in a day, sums up sorting out blood sugars 🙂

 

[Helz80]

Thank you everyone - the support of knowing you're not alone really helps! I'll try injecting a little earlier - this wasn't something that was mentioned at the hospital - but I'm seeing lots of advice to do it 15-30 minutes before, and we've been doing it literally as I serve up!

Thank you 🙂

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

The timing for injecting in advance (pre-bolusing) does vary quite a lot from person to person and also may be different at different times of day, so I'd suggest trying five minutes earlier and making very gradual changes rather than starting at 15 minutes in advance. As your son is newly diagnosed it's safer for him to stay a bit high than risk going too low too fast, and injecting too early may result in hypos during the meal.

My diabetes is unusual, but I inject for my breakfast about half an hour in advance (though if I get it slightly wrong I tend to hypo mid-breakfast); I can't inject for my lunch more than about ten minutes in advance, but in order to avoid high spikes in the early afternoon I have to inject for all of my lunch, eat half of it within a few minutes, and the second half of it an hour or more after finishing the first half; and if I inject for my evening meal anything other than as it's being served up I will very quickly be very hypo indeed. The point being, we are all a bit different, you just have to work out what works for you.

Try not to worry, it does get easier - as people on here often say, diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint. The hospital team should be able to help you work out what is best for your son in time, but during the first few weeks the insulin doses are always going to be a "best guess". If you don't already have a phone number or email address for a diabetes specialist nurse it's worth asking for one when you see them next week, that way you will be able to get expert advice whenever you need it.