8yr old with mood swings and blood swings

Hi, How many units are you using to correct a reading in the 20's? If your son is in the honeymoon period it may only take a small amount of insulin to get his reading down to an acceptable level. I find that 1 unit will reduce my son's bg by around 8mmol so if he was in the 20's I would give him about 2 units and then be testing every hour or so to check that I hadn't over corrected. Once you've learnt to carb count it will be easier to get better control and you can work out how much insulin he needs depending on what he eats. Leggott

Hi, I know it is very difficult at times and can be soul destroying. What works one day doesn't necessarily work the next and that is the beast that diabetes is. Two of my kids are diabetic and I must admit I find it much harder to control my little boy who is 5. Not sure if that's down to his age or that he is just so active and unpredictable, whereas my daughter who is 7 is much easier to control and her bs doesn't seem to bounce around as much.
I would probably try giving half a unit less when you work out a correct dose as it is probably best to slightly under correct than to over. Keep a diary of what his bloods are and what activities and foods he has and this may help you work things out. Hope this helps - Leggott.

Hi, I'm sure you will get there. It sounds like he needs some tests so you can deal with the coeliac issue first and I'm sure that when you have learnt to carb count you will get better control. Good luck Leggott

I really feel for you trying to balance things out. It is easy for things to get worse before they get better. Khaleb had a much higher a1c for his 1st year as a diabetic and it was only when I really studied his diet and insulin that I found a way to keep him in a better pattern. I found if he was still high after meals I would increase his Novorapid but if he was rising high after meals I would increase his Levemir. I found it very important that only the one snack be given between meals (unless hypo) as continual grazing just didn't work. I have Khaleb on a fairly strict routine of when he has meals/insulin and how many carbs per meal/snack. Things still go awry but that's just diabetes.

Carb counting courses are not offered here but it is fairly easy to start doing it yourself. You'll soon form a good picture of how much insulin for food and how long the insulin takes to work and how long it lasts. You also get a picture of when the background (long acting) insulin is having little peaks of its own. Once you have better control for the majority of the time it isn't a big issue to relax the rules for special occasions or treats. Being ill or having some sort of inflammation will also cause high sugar levels so maybe by cutting out gluten you'll see better results if Coeliac is the case.

All the best getting your son's levels down a bit (without the hypo's of course).

I know those awful high levels are serious but I have the attitude that the mistake was made about 3 hours ago and there is no use beating myself up over it. Sadly for us parents we contend with more massive changes than adults. Kids are forever growing/doing varying activities/getting fussy with food/sleeping too long .... I could go on and on. I think as the years have rolled on I've kept up with Khaleb's changes reasonably well and can predict a lot more, and, avoid a good portion of the really out of range levels. If he's done heaps of activity I can give him the extra carbs before he goes low (without giving him too much) and when he's sick or eaten extra food I can have the insulin going before he gets too high. I'm sure I've got a mental graph in my head with a line going up and down with his blood sugar.

I gather the mood swings are most likely blood sugar related and there isn't some other issue. Does Dylan feel like he's letting you down or upsetting you that his blood sugars are out of whack? Khaleb is too young to understand but whenever I do his blood sugar I look at it and say "lovely" and give him a kiss (even if it says 3 or 14). If he's low I'll come back with food and tell him he's low but I'm hoping one day he might be able to tell me that. Are you and Dylan finding things really hard at school and worrying about a hypo is making him have snacks? This is one of my fears and I often feel tempted to give Khaleb something extra before I leave him at daycare.

Anyway, I don't think you will find too many kids with perfect blood sugar all the time. Every day is a battle to get it right and try to have a somewhat normal life at the same time. I'm certainly having some night time problems at the moment. Khaleb isn't sleeping in the day all the time so the days he doesn't he needs a bigger afternoon snack and then I have to try and find a way for him to go from dinner to morning without his supper and not send him too high??? ummm - it's very hit and miss. :roll:

Hi ams162,
I'm mum to Andrew who is now 11yrs old, diagnosed 4yrs ago with diabetes and 3yrs ago with Coeliac disease. What a mixture!! Andrews hbac1 has gradually increased over the past 3yrs (result on last one being 9.0,down from 10.4)despite every effort in the book to control it, i for one think the coeliac plays a big part in cancelling out all my best efforts. As for his mood swings, which are normal when his bs is all over the place, we found when Andrew was on Lantus he was an ogre, now on Levemir and a different boy, almost normal!!
Last coeliac count was below 7, which considering on diagnosis was over 300, his gluten free diet is working, though its not easy, especially when eating out as a family.
Sending (((hugs))) we all know how frustrating it is,
Suzi x

ams, Andrew has said after 4yrs, if he could get rid of either coeliac or diabetes, it would be the coeliac everytime, it does make them more isolated in what and where they can eat. I remember those months waiting for him to have an endoscopy (Dr went inconveniently on holiday) and we spent what seemed like forever making him ill, by making him eat the gluten, which along with all the physical side effects also showed a lot of emotional effects, so i do sympathise.
Plus its expensive having a coeliac in the family!! and my baking skills aren't always edible, even the ducks refuse to eat some of my concoctions lol But it does become a way of life and does get easier.
Once the coeliac is dealt with and you've learnt the carb counting, things will get easier and balance out a bit. Andrew being 11yrs, were kinda hitting the puberty stage and its a whole new ball game.
Take care and welcome to the very exclusive club of D&C.
Suzi x

Hi ams,
Glad you can bake, i'm a good baker in general, but the gluten free has me flumoxed. No two ever turn out the same, gluten binds the mixture together and science is beyond me. There is a very tasty gluten free bread on the market, delivered through the chemist free, called glutafin select fresh bread, Andrew enjoys it. Plus when i make spag bol, i also eat the gluten free pasta (one less hob to use) and i can't tell the difference, just needs rinsed loads to get rid of the extra starch.
Good luck with Thurs, let us know how Dylan gets on, and i'm here for any questions,
Take care,
Suzi x

Hi suzi,
Have you tried adding xanthan gum to your flour. It makes the dough easier to manipulate and stops the bread/pastry crumbling. Costs about £2.50 and you only need a small amount. I found it in Asda when I needed to cater for a relative.
Just a thought.
Catherine.

Yes thanks Catherine,
Have used the xanthan gum with some good results and some horrendous ones!! maybe its just my cooking skills :lol:
Suzi x