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confused!

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bev

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Hi all!

Today we went to ikea and had lunch - i had got the nutritional info off google before we went - Alexs meal came to 67.5 so we rounded it up to 70 and gave him 3.5 units for the meal and 1.5 units because he was 14.5 before the meal. This is what we have been told to do - however less than 1 hour later Alex felt odd so tested himself and he was 3.2!
2 nights ago we increased his levermere by half a unit to 8.5 to bring his daytime levels down - would anyone like to hazard a guess as to what has gone wrong? I am certain that we calculated his meal correctly - so i am wondering whether the leverere is the culprit? I am still waiting for the DN to ring back from this morning so i am wondering whether to give him less levermere tonight? Any ideas? Thanks. Bev
 
one possibility is the food he ate was slow releasing meaning that the insulin got going before the carbs and the reason his bg dropped. but also like you say his night time does could have been too much. im guessing he is still in the 'honeymoon' period and so his pancreas could be helping out too.

Its alot to think about, and his DN should be able to give some structured adivice on whats best. Unfortunately i think your finding out just how trial and error the condition is.
 
what did you give him for his meal? Was it from Ikea? Maybe the carb content wasn't the same as you used from google. But it could be his leverere
 
Hi!
Alex had 10 meatballs and some chips with the creamy sauce. I checked both google and ikeas own website for the carb count and they came out the same at 67.5. The chips came to 50, the meatballs came to 15 and the rest was the sauce. It is driving us crazy that even when we have worked out his carbs and tried to give him the right insulin -things can still go wrong! I dont actually know if he is still in the honeymoon period - he is 11 weeks diagnosed and i believe that everyone is different -but i dont know how to determine whether he is 'honeymooning ' or not? Perhaps it is the change of levermere - he seems really sensitive to larger doses of both rapid and slow release. Very frustrating! I am now understanding just how some of you have said you feel like you have failed somehow - even though its not your fault! It can be very draining and my heart goes out to all of you who have to deal with this every day of your life! Hopefully things will be better tomorrow. Bev
 
I reckon the assumption should be that Alex is in the honeymoon phase - until you and his diabetes team know otherwise. And during honeymoon phase, achieving good blood sugar control is very difficult - things will settle down, and yoru diabetes team are best placed to advised when / how long. But, your diabetes team can give you the most specific advice. Chips are relatively high fat, so they will release carbohydrate relatively late, compared to a lower fat meal. That doesn't mean no chips, just something to think about when deciding on dose of short acting. As long as you had something for him to eat - or he had something in his own pocket - then that's OK, that's how you deal with a low blood sugar.

Another point to remember, thinking about the IKEA shops that I have visited - they're huge, and it's easy to cover a huge amount of distance walking around, using stairs etc. Also, it's warmer today than recently, at least in East Anglia, so it's alos possible that Alex was experiencing the effects of higher temperatures - especially if he was wearing the same amount of clothing as in previous days.
 
Thanks copepod,

We went straight to the cafe as soon as we got there - not a lot of exercise this morning! Alex was feeling a little cold but insisted on wearing just his sweatshirt - no coat - so i have no idea whats going on. I do understand about the chips and fat release - but he has them about once a week and hasnt suffered a low after them. Maybe its 'growing' hormones? Thanks anyway. Bev
 
But he could have covered quite a bit of ground in the hour after eating, when he had high levels of insulin in his system - you'll know what you and he did. Using energy to maintain body temperature when wearing only a sweatshirt could also reduce blood sugar levels lower than expected. Creamy sauce usually indicates a high fat meal, not just the chips. Hope your diabetes team can help more.
 
Bev, Alex's numbers will go up and down like a yoyo for a while yet.
You are not doing anything wrong. When people honeymoon it's very hit and miss.
Also you say Alex didn't have a coat on and was cold. This would make him burn of energy/calories/carbs as well hence the bs drop I would suspect.
 
Dont worry bev your doing the right things, you just have to stick at it, youl get there in the end! over time things will settle down, youl get to know how his blood sugars react to all the different things in life, the foods he eats, playing ete just like how you know what he likes to eat, or his favourite activities or tv show. whats happening with his blood sugars is perfectly normal for someone in his situation (newly diagnosed).
your doing fine 🙂
 
Thankyou Anthony!

I honestly dont mean to moan - its just very frustrating - but you know that already dont you! It really is very reassuring when someone with experience tells us we are not doing anything wrong -that is why i love this site - everyone is just so kind and makes us feel included. Alex loves reading all the replies and i hope that in future he will become more involved on the site as all of you seem like such sensible and lovely people!Thanks. Bev x
 
bev said:
Hi all!

Today we went to ikea and had lunch - i had got the nutritional info off google before we went - Alexs meal came to 67.5 so we rounded it up to 70 and gave him 3.5 units for the meal and 1.5 units because he was 14.5 before the meal. This is what we have been told to do - however less than 1 hour later Alex felt odd so tested himself and he was 3.2!
2 nights ago we increased his levermere by half a unit to 8.5 to bring his daytime levels down - would anyone like to hazard a guess as to what has gone wrong? I am certain that we calculated his meal correctly - so i am wondering whether the leverere is the culprit? I am still waiting for the DN to ring back from this morning so i am wondering whether to give him less levermere tonight? Any ideas? Thanks. Bev
Click to expand...

My guess, and really only a guess, would be that it it was something other than a miscalcuation that caused him to go low. If it was in less than an hour the insulin would most likely have only just been reaching it's peak so I'd be surprised if it was that causing a hypo unless you struggled to get it to go up in the next few hours. too. There's plenty of other things it may of been many of which have been suggested, such as delayed food absoption, exercise etc. The most important thing is that you're able to treat the hypos, we all have to expect that with good control we will experience some hypos so confidence in treating them is key. It sounds like you and Alex are doing a great job and I'm glad you're getting a lot out of this site.
 
Hi Bev

Sounds like you are doing fine and unfortunately this was just a blip. Did Alex do exercise the day before, this could have had an effect perhaps.

Take a look at www.childrenwithdiabetesuk.org It is a site written by parents of type 1 children for parents of type 1 children. I also urge any parent to join the mailing list which you can from the home page. Don't be scared but it is a very active site but you will learn so much from everyone who are all parents. One of those parents will no doubt hit the nail on the head with this one.

Some children can be extremely sensitive to insulins, especially in honeymoon which I would probably assume Alex is. Luckily with levemir you can alter it in half units.

It may be time to change the lunch time ratio, you never know. Maybe he needs a bit less. The only way to work this one out is wait and see what happens tomorrow and the next day and if the same sort of pattern then change it slightly.

Good luck.

Adrienne 🙂
 
Hello Bev,

What happens with me is when I increase my night time levemir I will have to reduce the morning levemir and from time to time the morning novorapid. Perhaps a slight reduction in his daytime novorapid would help? I only say this because this is what works for me. I'm not sure if this would apply during the honeymoon period (mine was many moons ago - 1996 and I was on two injections per day) but it seems to work reasonably well for me now.

Tom H
 
Hi Bev - unfortunately diabetes is not an accurate ailment to control - after 35 years I still have blips like this. It suggests to me he had something in the am which make your blood sugar peak and then fall rapidly (a lot of brakfast cereals do it for me). When you tested it must have been at it's peak and then fell rapidly. Like you, I have injected for such readings only to go hypo an hour later because of a rapid fall. There is no rationale and it is a case of noting what eaten/insulin and effect.
 
Daisy said:
Hi Bev - unfortunately diabetes is not an accurate ailment to control - after 35 years I still have blips like this. It suggests to me he had something in the am which make your blood sugar peak and then fall rapidly (a lot of brakfast cereals do it for me). When you tested it must have been at it's peak and then fell rapidly. Like you, I have injected for such readings only to go hypo an hour later because of a rapid fall. There is no rationale and it is a case of noting what eaten/insulin and effect.
Click to expand...

Don't we all. A perfect example of one such moment would be this morning. Normal dose of insulin which works just right with my breakfast nearly every day. Yet half an hour ago I was obliged to have a biscuit as my blood sugar had dropped to 4.0 mmol/L. Something I haven't had to do for a while. Oh well, time to get on with life.

Oh, a quick query. Would having a cold played a part in that possibly? I only found out I had the bloody thing yesterday and was not best pleased. Damn cold make me feel hypo when I'm not.

Tom H
 
Hi all!

Thanks so much for all the replies - i have spoken with his DN this morning and she has reassured me that it was nothing that we had done - it could simply have been a 'blip' and something we couldnt have known about. But i have learnt so much from all your replies so thanks again. Bev x
 
Hi Bev,

That's good news! My best wishes for your control of your son's diabetes in the future.

Tom H
 
Thanks Tom - hope your cold gets better soon too! Bev
 
Hi Adrienne,

I joined the group you mentioned - but most of the posts are old ones! Is there a page i havent found yet? Tanks. Bev
 
I'm getting there with the cold Bev. Just a few days left of it now I reckon. Only problem it's stopped my going running :( found out the hard way that I wouldn't be able to run distances properly with it yesterday. Halfway through an long run that was. I was not amused.
Oh well, time to get on with life I think.

Tom H
 
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