Woman's Hour misleading example of diabetes

[Northerner]

I'm doing an Open University course 'Diabetes Care', and on the forums there someone mentioned the Woman's Hour report (this Tuesday, Radio 4) which had a discussion about the lack of support in some schools for diabetic children. They interviewed a 12-year old child who said he tested up to 30 times a day and injected up to 7 times a day.

I caught the end of this, so hadn't realised that the boy did so many tests and injections a day - just listened to it again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/04/2008_50_tue.shtml

As a Type 1 diabetic of 6 months standing I'm finding it very difficult to imagine how you could do so many tests, and why you would need so many injections. I have 1 basal and three bolus injections per day and test before each one. Additional tests might be when undertaking activity, trying new foods, suspecting hypos etc. I imagined a theoretical day of 'extra' tests and still only came up with 12, so I must say that this example was far from representative and surely misleading regarding the difficulties encountered by children in school. The boy said he couldn't be left for more than 10 minutes without supervision, so it is understandable that schools might balk at having to provide such a level of attention.

Given all the discussion here on restriction of test strips strips due to cost - I think said GPs would be apopleptic at the thought of 30 tests a day!

Does anyone here with children test them this often?

 

[Daisy]

That is absolutely ludicrous! Poor child! As a Type 1 child - 30 years ago I did 1 or two urine tests a day which involved peeing into a test tube and a fizzy tablet! I am still here and fit and healthy. I almost think it is child abuse - what a complex he will have - are there exceptional circumstances? (I haven't had chance to listen to the programme - and to be quite honest from what you have written I don't want to up my stress levels that much!) I follow the same regime as you - but occasionally do extra shots if I need to bring down bs. But I would have to have high bs high every day to warrant 7 on average. Like I say - there may be exceptional circumstances - but his care sounds completely out of control to me - and he is a prime candidate for a pump - a lot of T1 children are put straight on them nowadays - lucky things!
I really am quite gobsmacked.

 

[sunflower_harvester]

Wow! Thats pretty much 3 tests an hour every single hour day and night! I know everyones different but I'm pretty suprised at that level of testing. Also can't work out why he'd need 7 injections a day even if he's correcting (and lets face it if you are needing that many corrections daily somethings wrong with your insulin regieme).

Like Daisy I haven't listened to it-not sure my blood pressure could take it- but what was the reason he couldn't be left unsupervised for more than 10 minutes? Was it hypos? (anyone see a link with that and doing lots of corrections...?)

Feel sorry for the poor kid but being a sceptic-do you think he/parent was putting it on for the interview and exaggerating a wee bit?

 

[Lizzie]

Quite apart from anything else I would have thought all that tesing and injecting was counterproductive. I went through a phase a few years back when I tested loads (but still not as much as 30x a day!) and that was bad because I ended up micromanaging things and correcting for sugar levels which would have sorted themselves out anyway, and by correcting I caused a hypo or hyper which I then overtreated again...my blood sugars were swinging about all over the shop and my moods were seriously affected too, felt lousy all the time. I know it is important to test, but I think it can get excessive, and it is also important to have a life as well.

 

[Northerner]

Quite apart from anything else I would have thought all that tesing and injecting was counterproductive. I went through a phase a few years back when I tested loads (but still not as much as 30x a day!) and that was bad because I ended up micromanaging things and correcting for sugar levels which would have sorted themselves out anyway, and by correcting I caused a hypo or hyper which I then overtreated again...my blood sugars were swinging about all over the shop and my moods were seriously affected too, felt lousy all the time. I know it is important to test, but I think it can get excessive, and it is also important to have a life as well.

It does make you wonder if perhaps the parent is being a little over-anxious and testing before/after every morsel of food and administering corrections that are resulting in a worse-case scenario. He actually has between 7 and 11 injections per day!

What is also surprising is that they interview a DSN who doesn't make any comment about the fact that the boy is an extreme example.

By the way, I'm not having a go at the boy or his mum - they may be reading this! If so, please realise that I just found his experience extraordinary and something I hadn't encountered amongst all the literature I've read since diagnosis.

 

[Jules A]

I do think 30 tests a day is rather excessive - I'd have thought this child would be better of using a continuous monitor with fewer finger prick tests.

Seven injections a day, however, I can understand. If he is on MDI and splits his basal that's two basal and bolus for breakfast, lunch, pudding (with stodgy school puddings it's probably better to have a split bolus at lunchtime), tea, and I have to inject if I have a bedtime snack - that's seven. If he injects for a snack or two it could easily add up to more than seven. It's surprising how much food a growing child can put away.

 

[Copepod]

I heard this report, too. I wondered if by "injection", they meant a bolus by pump? Even so, it did seem there was something odd going on, as the child had moved schools twice and is nowbeing home educated.

 

[Lizzzie]

This is his experience of his condition and if he feels he has to do this to keep on an even keel, no-one can take that experience away from him. Hormones raging, anxiety, sport, a need for control etc can make it difficult for teenagers.

I hope he eventually finds a way to feel suitably confident about his levels without needing to test so often though, because it sounds hard.

 

[Northerner]

This is his experience of his condition and if he feels he has to do this to keep on an even keel, no-one can take that experience away from him. Hormones raging, anxiety, sport, a need for control etc can make it difficult for teenagers.

I hope he eventually finds a way to feel suitably confident about his levels without needing to test so often though, because it sounds hard.

Well, I hope so @Lizzzie - this thread was started over 10 years ago now so he'll be 22 🙂 I hope he has managed to find more stability in his levels over the years. Of course, now that we have the Libre, 30 tests a day wouldn't seem as unusual to me as it did when I was only 6 months into my diagnosis.