Daughter just diagnosed

[Isla1234]

Hello

My daughter has just been diagnosed. Obviously we are still in shock but we have to adapt quickly and this has been our first night back at home from hospital. We talked to a dietician before leaving but as u can imagine all the questions arrive once ur put in the real life situation.

So basically we arrived home at 18.00 she had her dinner at hospital with her last quick acting insulin shot. She asked for a snack so she ate under 10g carb snack at 19.00 then wanted supper at 20.00. So we give her supper plus additional insulin to cover it. My question is since she had the additional insulin at 20.00 if she was hungry again at say 21.00 would she be allowed another snack under 10g?

She then had her long lasting night insulin at 22.00 then went to sleep and so again my second question is would she be allowed if she asked to have a snack after the long lasting insulin if she was still hungry? Or is it strictly no food after the night insulin?

Also at the night time insulin her BG reading was 16.8 so we corrected her levels first with the quick acting insulin to bring her levels back to 6 then administered the night time insulin after. Is this the correct process if her readings are high at night? We did check with the childrens ward before hand but looking for more advice.

Thanks

Chris

 

[Antje77]

Hello

My daughter has just been diagnosed. Obviously we are still in shock but we have to adapt quickly and this has been our first night back at home from hospital. We talked to a dietician before leaving but as u can imagine all the questions arrive once ur put in the real life situation.

So basically we arrived home at 18.00 she had her dinner at hospital with her last quick acting insulin shot. She asked for a snack so she ate under 10g carb snack at 19.00 then wanted supper at 20.00. So we give her supper plus additional insulin to cover it. My question is since she had the additional insulin at 20.00 if she was hungry again at say 21.00 would she be allowed another snack under 10g?

She then had her long lasting night insulin at 22.00 then went to sleep and so again my second question is would she be allowed if she asked to have a snack after the long lasting insulin if she was still hungry? Or is it strictly no food after the night insulin?

Also at the night time insulin her BG reading was 16.8 so we corrected her levels first with the quick acting insulin to bring her levels back to 6 then administered the night time insulin after. Is this the correct process if her readings are high at night? We did check with the childrens ward before hand but looking for more advice.

Thanks

Chris

Hi Chris,
It must be a very confusing time having a newly diagnosed daughter, and pretty scary to be home for the first nigh after hospital.

There are a lot of things possible with insulin dosing, timing, and food, but it does need practice, training, and knowledge. And all three of those take time.
This is a marathon, not a sprint, and please don't expect yourself to do it right all the time!

As for dosing advice, we really can't give it even if we wanted to, it's against forum rules for good reasons.
For now, I'd try to follow the guidance the hospital gave you as well as you can.

She then had her long lasting night insulin at 22.00 then went to sleep and so again my second question is would she be allowed if she asked to have a snack after the long lasting insulin if she was still hungry? Or is it strictly no food after the night insulin?

Yes, you can have food after nighttime insulin.
But if she's on the high side, what about going with a piece of cheese and cucumber or such, so much less then 10 grams of carbs?

Extra carbs and possibly extra insulin right before bed can make things more complicated.

I wish you and your daughter all the best, and hopefully a good night's sleep, things will become easier in time!

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and welcome,

I'm afraid as a diet controlled type 2 I really have no useful advice. I'm going to tag in @EllieM who is also a type 1 (was going to also tag @Antje77 but I see she has commented)

Virtual hugs from me and a warm welcome.

Good luck. edited to fix a number of typos

 

[EllieM]

Hi @Isla1234 and welcome to the forums.

I'm so sorry your daughter has been diagnosed. I know when I was diagnosed (aged 8) it was much harder for my parents than me, I was young enough to just accept it as the new normal. (And I had my blue book of carb values in proprietary food memorised very quickly, as in those days I was on fixed amounts of food per meal )

As @Antje77 said, we have to be careful not to give specific dosing advice, forum rules don't allow it and even if they did most of us know about insulin for adults rather than for children. (Plus everyone is a bit different in how their bodies react to insulin anyway, which is one reason for the forum rules.)

Your hospital team will be very used to giving insulin to newly diagnosed children, and best able to give that advice.

However I can confirm that the short and long acting insulins are completely different. The long acting insulin is meant to keep you level when you aren't eating (eg overnight) while the short acting insulin is meant to cover meals and correction doses. Some people take their long acting insulin in the morning, others at night, and some people do both morning and night (depending on the insulin and the person).

Be aware that most short acting insulins, at least in adults, go on acting for up to 5 hours, so it can be risky to "stack" correction doses if the previous dose isn't yet out of your system.

Can I ask how old your daughter is and whether she has a sensor (eg libre or dexcom) for testing her blood sugar without finger pricking?

Good luck.

 

[Circuspony]

One of the best ways of tracking how your daughter responds to meals / snacks / dosages etc is to keep a diary. It's hard work but really helpful for the diabetes teams in adjusting dosages.

Does she have a glucose monitor or are you doing finger pricks?