Hyper not hypo

[Tina63]

My son has gone out to his school prom tonight. He has refused to take his insulin with him. I have found his monitor which he has left at home too and his level was already at 13 before leaving home. I know he didn't want to have a hypo whilst out, hence why he has let himself run high, but what I am wanting to know is should I expect him to be ill later if he eats a 3 course meal without any insulin, having started at 13, and also his Lantus is due at 9 (it's now 10.30) but he hasn't taken that out either. He will not be home for another hour yet and does plan to then get changed and go to a mates for the night with a group of lads. It's so hard. I wonder if they will drink when at his mates, he hasn't yet tried alcohol since being diabetic but I can see tonight possibly being the night. I tried telling him earlier today that if he does try any alcohol he needs to eat along with the drink, but I am just accused of nagging. Oh it's so hard being a mum sometimes ........!

 

[gail2]

its going to ne a case of wait and see im sorry to say. He sounds as if hes not accepted being diabetic. How long has he been dx ed. Hunnie i wish you luck

 

[Blythespirit]

Hi Tina,

Poor you. Teenagers are hard enough work without throwing D into the equation. No wonder you are worried. I don't know what to advise or what you can expect. Just wanted to say I hope the D doesn't spoil his special night and that he's okay when he gets home in an hour. Maybe he will test when he gets in and either be okay or learn from the experience. Sorry if that's not much help. Fingers crossed and good luck. XXXXX

 

[Northerner]

There are a couple of things that might work in his favour - alcohol will elevate blood sugar levels initially, but whilst the alcohol is being processed by the liver it will stop releasing glucose so this lessens the effect. It would depend on what he eats at the meal - hopefully not too carby and if it contains a lot of fat then it will digest slowly. Also, I often take my lantus late and haven't suffered any consequences, but obviously we are all different so I couldn't say how it might affect him.

It's really not worth it though. It is something that can't be ignored however much he wishes it could. Short-term it could mean dangerously high levels, possibly DKA, and long term if he continues to run high - well, we all know how things might be 5-10 years down the road. He needs to ask himself whether acting like this in order to fit in now is worth sacrificing the real prime of his life not too many years hence.

I would like to say I hope he gets home and is fine, but there's a part of me that thinks maybe if he is fine on this occasion he'll think it's fine to do it again, and again - perhaps he needs a rotten high from the experience that makes him feel very sick and start to treat it with the respect it needs.

Apologies if any of this sounds harsh, I know you must be very concerned for him.

 

[Tina63]

No, Northerner it's not harsh, my thoughts exactly. He has been intentionally running a bit on the high side this past couple of months with his GCSEs, but we were more than a bit surprised when his HbA1c 2 weeks ago came in at his lowest yet - 6.1. He was scared of hypoing during an exam and having to draw attention to himself, so opted to not use novorapid at breakfast on those days, but seemed to always wake within range (normally in the 5's). His consultant was totally fine with it looking at his diary. Whether that has now given him licence to not bother so much I don't know, but he is some days only testing once a day. I can't talk to him about it, at 16 he gets fed up with mum 'nagging' and says it's his problem, not mine! Rightly so I know, but I just want everything to be as steady and 'right' as it can be, but he sees that as controlling behaviour on my part. Ho hum!

I am really pleased he has gone to the prom, it's good to see him going out and about more, but I am also concerned about this sleepover with other lads as the one hosting it is a bit reckless in my opinion and my lad won't give me any phone numbers or anything. I know where he will be, but if they all get drunk no-one would answer the phone anyway. When I mentioned alcohol earlier he did say it would be diet Coke for him - lets just hope it is.

We have just hit our 6 month mark, with as yet no major upsets. Until we do have some sort of crisis I think we are almost lulled into a false sense of security. Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see what the next 24 hours has in store for us.

On the Lantus note, he did once forget it altogether (about 3 months in) and I in a panic called the 24 hour emergency number (it was a Sunday) and despite being given all sorts of advice and correction doses to use, he never went above 8 all day, jammy devil!

I guess tonight I just have to sit tight and see.

 

[Tina63]

If he does go very high, do we just give him novorapid without food? We have never done anything like that before. Thanks

 

[Tina63]

How long has he been dx ed. Hunnie i wish you luck

He was diagnosed 6 months ago so though I think we are pretty well clued up on it all now, we haven't yet faced any sort of crisis. He is on the whole pretty good with it all, he just doesn't like it being discussed or me giving what I see as good valid advice, he just calls it interfering. 16 year olds eh? Thanks for your good wishes.

 

[Northerner]

If he does go very high, do we just give him novorapid without food? We have never done anything like that before. Thanks

It sounds like he may still be in his honeymoon period if he is managing to miss doses and stay close of within range, which is good, but possibly a problem if he feels it doesn't really matter if he misses the odd dose or three.

Has your DSN not discussed correction doses with you? Normally, if your levels are too high and you don''t have any fast acting insulin circulating (i.e. it is 4-5 hours since last injection) then levels can be brought down using a correction ratio. As this differs from person to person it's not possible to say what this would be for someone else. Personally, I find that one unit of novorapid would bring my BG levels down by about 3 mmol/l so in theory I would inject 3 units to bring my levels down from 15 to 6. You have to be careful if alcohol has been drunk though - as I said earlier, levels can go high initially and then drop dramatically, so if I'm high and have been drinking I wouldn't correct.

 

[Tina63]

Round one over with! I have collected him from the prom and he seems fine. We have had a very short talk, me admitting I knew he hadn't taken his monitor or insulin and I know what level he was at before leaving. I asked if he has checked it since coming home, he said 'No'. Driving him round to his mates for the night (sleeping in the garden I gather!!) I broached the subject of alcohol, but he cut in saying he doesn't drink and won't drink, only diet Coke, then went on to admit he has had a drink or two with them before diagnosis, but not since. I did start explaining that if he does feel like a beer or two he must eat some carbs both before and after ideally, but he just cut in and said 'I said I won't' so hopefully he will be true to his word. I did just add that letting his levels run too high could make him sick and very ill, but that was one comment too far and he terminated the conversation! Oh well, I guess I got most of what I wanted to say across. He is generally a good and sensible lad, just a bit verbal at times when I say too much! He knows I sleep with my mobile under my pillow, but hopefully he will have a good night and will just reappear tomorrow afternoon sometime!
Thanks for listening.

 

[Northerner]

I'm glad to hear he was OK Tina, hope his night in the Night Garden wasn't too uncomfortable! 😉 I have to admit having a similar response to my mother's 'fussing' at his age, and I was pretty sensible too. It's hard to know where to draw the line between concern and (perceived) control - I don't envy you! A shame you couldn't get him to test - I presume you gave him his meter and he had his lantus, perhaps he did a sneaky test for his own piece of mind later.

It's hard for me to imagine diabetes from his point of view as I was diagnosed aged 49. My attitude right from the start has been, 'Well, I have to do it so just get on with it and make it no big deal' - that way it doesn't dominate my life, I'm not ashamed of it (why would I be?), and I stay healthy. I don't have the peer pressures and needing to fit in like he probably does though - I think anything that makes me different makes me more interesting so I embrace it!

I hope YOU managed to get a good night's sleep, without too much worrying!

 

[Tina63]

Well..... it was an interesting night, but not particularly from a diabetes point of view. Duly dropped him and a friend at the 'garden party' sometime before midnight. Got home to find my daughter still out so sat up waiting for her. She came in around 12.45, we sat up talking until 1.30am. Fell asleep immediately I hit the pillow, only for my mobile to go off at 2.10am - my son texting saying he was walking home (about 2 miles).
I texted and told him I would be on my way in 2 mins, where should I meet him, for him to say it was ok he was walking with friends. I went and camped out on the sofa half dressed with a blanket! 15 mins later another text "I'm not coming home just yet!" Then a few minutes later "Can you come and pick me up from Sam's". When I replied "Give me 2 mins to get shoes and fleece on" he replied "Well don't worry then!" Oh what a farce. Then he sent another saying he had found another couple of friends to walk with so would be home a bit later! I then dozed off on the sofa, to be woken by footsteps in his room above just after 4am!
I went up to check he was ok, he seemed fine and was just getting into bed. Not the time to start a conversation/lecture so I left him to it and went to catch the last couple of hours in bed before I had to get up this morning.
The rest of the night has been uneventful, but I have to admit I popped in his room at 10.30 this morning just to poke him and make sure I got a response, then told him to go back to sleep. I will leave him a couple of hours then do the same again. I know it's mean on my part, but until I know his readings are back in range I will worry a bit about it. I will have to sneak a look on his meter when he's in the shower and find out how things have been over the past 18 hours. Oh, the joys of motherhood!

 

[Northerner]

Goodness! See, when I was his age there was no such thing as mobile phones so couldn't have got away with all that texting/messing about! I hope he appreciates all you do for him! (He will do one day, even if he doesn't show it now! 😉)

I hope the numbers on his meter aren't too shocking, glad to hear he made it through the evening/night unscathed! 🙂

 

[AJLang]

I know that it must be difficult for you. I remember that from the first time that I could test blood sugars if my mum asked what it was I told her not to ask and she's still not allowed to. We love each other very much and the diabetes has been with us for 40 years but I just hate her getting involved with it. I guess that I'm just saying this to show that you don't need to worry too much about your son....although I do understand that it's easier said than done

 

[fencesitter]

Crumbs ... I think you are an A1 mum 🙂 All that still to come as my boy is only 14 and has not yet faced these temptations!! Hope he is fine today. I bet that deep down he does appreciate that you're concerned - those middle of the night texts prove it really lol

 

[Tina63]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. As I suspected, he didn't test at all again last night after the prom or his 'garden party', but amazingly his 'morning' (12 noon) reading as he woke up was a very acceptable 6.3. A tad higher than normal (normally in the 5's) but nothing too damaging. So I don't know what he did during the late evening/night, but it seems to have worked. Phew, well that's another event over with. He is avoiding testing more than about twice a day a the moment, odd days only once, but it really does become a big issue if I go on about it. As and when his HbA1c starts to rise then I know our GP will be on his back, so I guess as and when that happens he may take things a bit more seriously, but until that he carries on getting away with it. We are a close family and I know for all his mouthing off at me he does know I really love him and care what happens to him, so we will just carry on until the next big event!

 

[KateXXXXXX]

Sounds like our two are much the same age. Mine hasn't broken out in rebellion yet, but he has the example of a T1 dad to follow, and has helped with some horrenous hypos, so he might just be a tad more clued in on that score. He's been diagnosed a month now, so there's still time!

Best of luck.