fasting's low random's high!!!!!

[maryam123]

Hello everyone!

Come straight to the point without wasting ur time... My five year old son,t1,is on 3u lantus,from last few days his fasting levels r low btw 53 to 60 but randoms r going up btw 120 to 300!!!! Without any change in his diet r activity.

His levels were very stable with this dose. I cant increase the dose as bsf's r already low. Almost everyone suggested me it is honeymoon...ok if this is the end of honeymoon then why the fasting levels r not increasing?? I mean just 3u of lantus r not enough for managing a type 1
I m still very confused with this condition...
What is ur opinion abt this..

Thankyou very much.

 

[copepod]

Most users of this forum are UK based, where the units for home blood glucose testing are mmol/l, aiming for levels between 4.0 and 8.0 - 10.0 mmol/l. So, I'm assuming you are using different units? Conversion here http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-sugar-converter.html for mmol/l and mg/dl.
Surely you have a medical team looking after your son? Surely that's better than asking random stangers on a message board? Especially those who use different units.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

Hello everyone!
Come straight to the point without wasting ur time... My five year old son,t1,is on 3u lantus,from last few days his fasting levels r low btw 53 to 60 but randoms r going up btw 120 to 300!!!! Without any change in his diet r activity.

His levels were very stable with this dose. I cant increase the dose as bsf's r already low. Almost everyone suggested me it is honeymoon...ok if this is the end of honeymoon then why the fasting levels r not increasing?? I mean just 3u of lantus r not enough for managing a type 1
I m still very confused with this condition...
What is ur opinion abt this..

Thankyou very much.

Maryam, can you please elaborate exactly what you mean by "randoms?" Perhaps, tell us more about the last three times these spikes have happened.

Also, you never mentioned anything about his bolus insulin.

3units is very low, but in the honeymoon phase even that small of a dose could explain his hypos (2.94-3.33mmol/l for our friends across the pond). To put it into perspective, I had a hypo once after only 5 units of Levemir and I'm a 210 pound adult. That equates to roughly .05units/kg.

Also, I find that my levels can spike long after I eat which seems to be especially common for people in the honeymoon period. Apparently, I still have very good "Phase 1" natural insulin production which basically means I won't spike immediately after a meal. However, I can have issues as late as 4-5 hours after taking my last bite which can be particularly frustrating at night after I've gone to sleep.

 

[maryam123]

Thanks for the reply!
The doctor just prescribed lantus,in starting 5u,but then reduced to 3u bcz his levels were low.
Now he is only on 3u.
Randoms mean bg level after two hour of a meal. And his levels don't spike constantly just two times in a week.Otherwise his levels r btw120-150
Fasting levels r always down even with this low dose.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

Thanks for the reply!
The doctor just prescribed lantus,in starting 5u,but then reduced to 3u bcz his levels were low.
Now he is only on 3u.
Randoms mean bg level after two hour of a meal. And his levels don't spike constantly just two times in a week.Otherwise his levels r btw120-150
Fasting levels r always down even with this low dose.

So he's not on a bolus insulin like Novolog or Humalog? If not, that's EXACTLY why he's having problems. Lantus isn't designed to treat spikes. It's designed to keep his fasting blood glucose readings level. Bolus insulin is absorbed much faster and is used to correct for meals and abnormal readings.

The problem is, bolus insulin definitely complicates the equation and it's something you both need to discuss with a doctor. It's certainly not something you do on your own.

 

[maryam123]

Ok,I completely understand.
What do u think is he in honeymoon period? As u understands it more precisely

Thankyou very much

 

[TorqPenderloin]

Ok,I completely understand.
What do u think is he in honeymoon period? As u understands it more precisely

Thankyou very much

He is absolutely in the honeymoon phase. Otherwise, he couldn't survive without bolus insulin.

I'm guessing that your next question will be: how long with the honeymoon phase last? Unfortunately, it's impossible to know as each person is different. In children, it's usually much shorter and generally lasts several months to a year. In some cases, people lose nearly all of their natural insulin production before they're even diagnosed which often results in DKA. On the other hand, the honeymoon phase could last for decades, but that's more common in adults diagnosed later in life.. It's really a matter of how rapidly your son's body attacks his pancreas beta cells.

 

[maryam123]

How could I know that the honeymoon phase is over? I mean it ends slowly or just overnight.

Sorry for such stupid questions but I don't know much abt this as we don't have any history of diabetes.

Thanks alot!!!

 

[TorqPenderloin]

How could I know that the honeymoon phase is over? I mean it ends slowly or just overnight.

Sorry for such stupid questions but I don't know much abt this as we don't have any history of diabetes.

Thanks alot!!!

The "honeymoon phase" is more of a slang term among people with type 1 diabetes. It's not really something you can measure and not something you wake up one day and realize you're no longer in it. Basically, your son's pancreas will produce less and less insulin which must be replaced with more and more artificial insulin (basal and bolus) until the point that he will get all of his insulin from outside sources (insulin pens, pump, etc).

Side note:
6 months ago when I was diagnosed, I didn't even know the difference between type 1 and type 2, and that's not an exaggeration. That's honestly how little I understood about the disease.

You're not asking stupid questions, but the more you read the easier (and less stressful) everything becomes. You don't need to read for 5 hrs a day (that's a little extreme) like I first did when I was diagnosed (and I still read 1-2 hrs a day), but any little bit helps.

 

[maryam123]

So nice of u!!
I want to ask one more thing,my son was suffered with ITP last year which is also an auto immune disease but completely reversible.He was absolutely fine after that but now after one year he was diagnosed type 1(also an auto immune)
Is it possible that he is more vulnerable to other auto immune diseases too???
May be u have some knowledge abt this.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

So nice of u!!
I want to ask one more thing,my son was suffered with ITP last year which is also an auto immune disease but completely reversible.He was absolutely fine after that but now after one year he was diagnosed type 1(also an auto immune)
Is it possible that he is more vulnerable to other auto immune diseases too???
May be u have some knowledge abt this.

Yes. It's my understanding that people with at least one auto-immune disease are at a much greater risk of developing other auto-immune diseases.

 

[maryam123]

R u not scared of this auto immune phenomenon? There are many other disastrous auto immune diseases sometimes life threatening too....

May be I m over possessive but as a mother I cant help it.
I m so sorry for my son and for others too.

Anyways,thanks again...

 

[TorqPenderloin]

R u not scared of this auto immune phenomenon? There are many other disastrous auto immune diseases sometimes life threatening too....

May be I m over possessive but as a mother I cant help it.
I m so sorry for my son and for others too.

Anyways,thanks again...

I'm not a religious person, but these were the cards I was dealt in life, and I intend to make the most out of my time on this earth.

I get scared when I don't know something. That's why I spend so much time reading: so I can feel prepared for just about anything, and have a thorough understanding of the science that's occurring inside of my body.

I try not to worry about the things I can't change because that doesn't do me any good. Instead, I focus on the things I do have control over and try to improve them.

I'm also very hard on myself and while that's not always a good thing, it has been when it comes to my diagnosis and management of my condition.

 

[maryam123]

Well said and quite inspiring!!!!

Thanks for ur time.
Hoping for the best for all of us....