is snacking causing high levels?

[happymum]

Hi all. I was wondering if anybody had any advice. My son has been Type ! for 2 years now. He is 13 and in yr 8 at secondry school.The last few weeks my son has been feelig unwell. We have been putting this done to so many different things over the past couple of weeks. Firstly it was due to his flu jab, then it was that he was figting some sort of virus. Three weeks on flu jab out of his system and as yet not a cold in site we have decided that his iratic sugar levels must be due to his snacking habits.

His levels are mainly high. In the morning they are single figures, by the end of the day they are in high teens low 20s. This is whilst we are adjusting by carb counting and adding any extra at meal times. These high levels are now making him unwell. He feels sick, has tummy aches and pains. Not all the time might i add, these do just suddenly come on. One minute is happy and larking around the next he is feeling unwell, and right now has lost his apetite. I am none the less getting very concerned. I can now only put this done to his snacking. he is a growing boy and I have always been very lucky in the fact that he loves his fruit, but thsi may now be his downfall as he is eating a fair sized apple maybe an orange then he may have a packet of crisps or a quakers chewy bar. This is not all at once so he doesnt seem to realise what he is doing, but it is all between one meal. I really dont want to ask him to do insulin for fruit as he will just stop eating fruit altogther.


Any advice would be great

xxx

 

[noblehead]

happymum,

Running high numbers will undoubtedly make your son ill. Modern synthetic insulins are really not designed for snacking. The insulins taken with food usually peak after 1-2 hours, then are finished after about 4-5hrs. Therefore, looks like the fruit/crisps and chewy bars are to blame. He could take insulin with his snack, but then its another injection to contend with.

Maybe best to ask him to eat fruit after his meals, and adjust insulin to cover. Could also mean he may need to be seen by his diabetes care team, who may offer better advice on adjusting his insulin.

Regards

Nigel

 

[SophiaW]

If Jess ate fruit, crisps and cereal bars between meals I'm sure her BS levels would be high like that too. This is the one thing that was a challenge for us, before diabetes Jess was a grazer, she liked to snack her way through the day and we never really worried because she didn't have a weight problem so we saw no harm in it. But now with diabetes if we want good BS control then she can't snack like she used to. Have you considered low-carb foods as snacks? We don't do low carbing but if Jess want's a snack between meals then we try to make it something low carb to save having an extra injection. If she really wants something that is not low carb as a snack then she has an injection to cover it. We try to make Jess' three meals of the day substantial so that she doesn't feel the need to snack too much between meals, perhaps consider giving your son a larger portion at meal times. We've found that exercise lowers Jess' BS levels, so the days that she plays sport means that she can have a fruit snack without the need for an extra injection because her BS will lower as a result of the physical activity. Perhaps try to encourage your son to do more exercise if he's not very active already. These are just some suggestions and I'm not sure if they would work for your son, I would talk to your diabetes nurse for further advice. I know that when children are growing it's difficult for them to go very long at all without having something to eat, they seem to be ravenous all the time!

 

[suzi]

Hi Happymum,
Another reason for high bs most certainly could be puberty, I have a Non diabetic 13yr old, whos voice is gettting deeper (much to the amusement of his younger brother). Hair growing in all the sorts of places, (but won't let on), is moody and grazes all day long.
You may find another reason, as we found with Andrew, is that his basal runs out, when his grazing habit becomes frantic like a wild animal! We combat that by giving a 4th dose of Humalog (rather than splitting his Levemir) and so far its working. Of course its all trial and error, but if he continues to graze, he will need to bolus for it.
Suzi x

 

[cm1976]

cld it be he just needs more insulin due to the fact he's older, eating more and growing, puberty etc???? I know my son is much younger but he tends to get those symptoms when he needs to increase his insulin dosage... He is only on 2 injections a day tho of a mixed analogue insulin so may b a different story here!

x

 

[leggott]

Hi, It's always difficult where snacks are concerned as small kids and ones going through puberty get hungry and like to have a small snack in between meals. I often keep a stash of babybell cheeses in my fridge and cold meats/fish so my kids can have if they feel a bit pekish between meals but don't need anything with carbs in. I sometimes buy a joint of ham and cook it - it works out much cheaper than buying already prepared/sliced meat and doesn't then have all the added salt and preservatives that processed meat has. I know how worrying it can be when their levels are high and I hope you can work out the cause and solution. Leggott

 

[pafandral]

Hi!
2 things about late afternoon snacking....
My 12 year old desperately needs to eat after school. His bgl is very variable at this time. He tests on the bus and may be hypo, may be borderline needing a small snack (cereal bar) or may be rampantly high.

He is so good at managing his diabetes at school - testing his bgl, carb counting and adjusting his insulin doses. As soon as he comes in the door, come what may, he gathers up sugar free 'pop', mini Babybel lights, canned tuna in spring water, sugarfree jelly (as many as he can get away with) and maybe cooked ham or chicken. Up to his bedroom for a computer based feast. And it does him the world of good, frankly! Before diagnosis neither of my children ever had artificial sweetened coloured anything but he needs some quality of life and this is his brief escape.

Secondly, our consultant Paed. End. noticed his bgl was rising towards the end of the day as the basal insulin ran out. He has only small doses of basal - typically 5u daily - and bolus (sports mad you see). We'd have huge rows about what he'd eaten secretly on the way home when he was adamant he'd eaten nothing at all and yet his bgl would rise between end of school and dinner. Basically, his basal was not 'covering' the glucose released from the liver at that time of day.

She switched him from Lantus(Glargine) once daily to Levemir twice daily. The extra jab at breakfast time is not good but we remain stoical about that. We haven't had a long term blood profile since the change but my gut feeling is that it will be a better result. Her's hoping anyway :?

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

When I see what my 15 year old (non diabetic) needs to eat I think if he was diabetic I would have to resort to giving a 4th Novorapid injection in the day. I've even had daycare give Khaleb (diabetic) 2 lots of afternoon tea and I've had to give insulin to cover the mistake. It might be a pain doing more injections but if the meter goes up there really isn't any choice. Khaleb can really only have the one snack between meals (10-15gm carb) without levels being affected.

I think the hormones would be playing havoc at 13 and you hear most parents having to nearly double insulin doses at times to keep levels down. You might have to sit down with the dr's/nurses and plan for testing times ahead. I'm sure they will support you for some rough years.