Advice on high blood sugars

[shardlow4]

My son has been diagnosed for 7 months now and seems to be coping well. However over the last 3 days his sugars have ranged from about 11 to 19. We are still only on tiny doses of insulin which has been set by the nurses. We have been having our usual meals. He has got a cough and seems alittle run down but not sure whether to ring the nurses or not. He is getting a little stressed about it as he knows that he is high plus he is very grumpy which seems to the norm now. Anyway I would be grateful of any advice going. Thanks. My son is 10

 

[donnellysdogs]

I would suggest that you phone your diabetes team.
To be honest, I would ask your team to tell you how to adjust doses...is there any reason why the dose has been fixed at a set level by them?

 

[shardlow4]

Well this is just how it has been since diagnosis. I think it is because he is still classed as being in the honeymoon stage. The last time we saw the doctor was December and she said we could start being a little more flexible by altering the insulin by half a unit if he was going to do sport or if we were having a lazy afternoon. That is it. We were not told what to do if his blood sugars are high only to test for ketones.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Have you been told about carb counting etc or anything at all on how to eat different qty of carbs and how to adjust the insulin?
I take it that you not had any mention of how to work out any correction doses at all then for when his levels go up?
Does your son do injections or you? What happens at school- does he get supervised?
Is he on school holidays at the moment? Know a friend of mine has difficulty with her 9 year old readings over school holidays being so different to when she goes to school?
I really do advise you to speak to your dsn or consultant to get more information from them on dealing with highs...

 

[shardlow4]

I spoke to the nurse yesterday and she told me how to do correction dosages. We tried this yesterday buthe is still high. She says may be due to him being run down or could be end of the honeymoon period. She says just have to see how we go. We have just been told to make sure he has carbs with every meal and no carbs in between. We have not been shown how to carb count yet. We presumed that this would happen when my son's pancreas packed in completely. He is off school as he us unwell but when he has been off he has had simular bloods as he has different insulin dosages for school as to when he is at school. It is not simple by any means and very worrying at the same time

 

[Wocko]

Hi there.

I have been a Type 1 for 22 years and I still find it very difficult to lower blood sugar levels when I have a cold or chest infection (as I have currently). It is easy for me though as I can alter my doses accordingly. My sister has just become a diabetic a few weeks ago now and she is also on set doses due to still producing amounts of insulin herself.

My advice would be that seen's you cannot adjust your doses at this stage, to call your diabetes specialist nurse for advice. Failing that, diabetes UK on Twitter have an instant message chat line that you can post messages to if you are on Twitter.

Hope all is well soon x

 

[shardlow4]

Thanks. Our nurse helped me out and his bloods came down (thank goodness). I am sorry to hear that your sister had been diagnosed aswell. I have a younger child and pray that he escapes it. Thanks again for the Twitter info. My husband is on Twitter so will get him to look.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Thank goodness your sons levels come down

My advice would be to find out online about carb counting courses.. Think others will come along with advice on this...

Majority of us eat pretty much the same things, week in, week out....I myself am within that 80% bracket... And 20% of time I may change....

My advice would be for 3 weeks to have certain foods on certain days.. For main meals...
Eg Mon have spag bol... Cook enough for Tues..
Weds have a roast dinner without roasties...
Thurs have a good soup, salad and a puddding...

Choose whatever you would have on a normal basis until you have done a course etc.... Or had time to research
Write downthe meals.... Write down bg b4
Write down Insulin given
Write down bg results 2 hrs later...

It is hard... I so know it is.. But you need to find out out how in the next few months... How foodsnd insulin affects your son...

It will seem a huge, mammoth feat to conquer, but you will, and you will see your Son into a great, good, well informed future... So much more thsn the rest of the kids around him....

Honest.... You, your son amd family will come through this ok... It is a life learning process that you will never forget... But diabetes help is peogressing emormously. Thnx to int'net you're not alone...
DDX

 

[shardlow4]

Thanks for your reply. We do monitor what he eats and there were patterns forming. However of late his bloods have been very random. His bloods did come down but now all over the place. For example. He had two toast (brown) for breakfast, an 1.5 hours after we walked the dog for an hour or so where he was running around. By lunch his bloods were 18. Then by tea he was 2.6 going to 5.2. Then bed he was 20.3. All the patterns we had have gone out the window. His dosages have increased so we will see what happens

 

[shardlow4]

I know it can be trial and error and as he grows things will change. I am not panicking as I know we are doing our best by him and he is very good dealing with it all. One week at a time.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Levels 2-20 are too much of a fluctuation.

Is your son high at bedtime and during the night too?
Looking at those levels I would have been giving extra units of basal insulin, and if dropping at tea time is a regular occurence, i would have dropped lunch time bolus a little.

Sorry to say, but I dont personally think you have had all the advice you need to manage your son's diabetes.
Has he got a care plan for school arranged?

How often are you testing? What level does your son get corrected on.. Do the corrections work or bring him down to far and into hypoland?

 

[carandol]

I've been type 2 for a while, controlling first with diet, then with drugs, but my sugar levels suddenly shot up over a couple of weeks and my diabetes team decided my pancreas had more or less packed up and I needed insulin. But they said they could only start me on a low dose and work up to what I needed, otherwise it could be harmful (too much insulin leads to serious hypos). This could be why they're giving your son tiny doses. My sugar was around 14-18, and I was on around 5 units of Novorapid (fast-acting) insulin at meal-times and 10 Lantus (slow-acting) insulin at bed-time. I was only allowed to put up my Lantus by 2 units every 3 days and it was a whole month before we got things under control, during which time I felt absolutely awful - I'm now on 9-11 Novorapid per meal and 42(!) Lantus every night. It took a *long* time to get me sorted out, but now the dosage is right I feel so much better. There were times when I thought I'd never be well again, but I got there in the end. I guess patience is the key...

 

[donnellysdogs]

The highs for a young lad is what worries me for OP, I know I would be eeling like **** to be honest with the swings that he is experiencing added in.
I agree that I was also told 30 years ago to alter by 2 units for large highs or 1 unit for tweaking.

 

[shardlow4]

I am speaking to the nurse Friday to go over his figures. As they increased the insulin and we are doing correction dosages after a week they are going to see if any change. We also have to be careful as he is back at school so this could alter things aswell.just see how he gets on. It is his birthday on Friday so he has some distraction from his bloods