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help with my son please!!!

J

jonesy

Well-Known Member
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Billy is type 1 and has been for 1 year exactly. he is 10 years old (just).

we have coped well, carb counting from the second month. his first 2 HbA1c's were 7 and 8. these were achieved on ratios of 1:30, 1:45 and 1:40 for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

however, the last few weeks everything has gone totally wrong. most of the time his BG levels are between 18 and 25!
when i give him some novorapid to bring him down, the amounts i used to give, have virtually no effect at all, or very little.

i've started working on a ratio of 1:25 for all meals, but he's still running high except dinner, which i'm having slightly more success with.

is it possible that a 10 year old's ratios could change so dramatically, or could it be possible that, after a year, he has reached the end of his honeymoon period?

is there any proven method, or is trial and error the only way?

any thoughts please?!?!?


jonesy
 
Hugs, it really is tough isn't it x

My first thought is perhaps he has been less active during summer hols?
It could be that his long acting insulin needs upping (consult DN first)
It could even be hormones stirring up.

Good luck
Emma
 
also, i meant to say, his usual levemir dose is just 5 clicks at night, which i have upped to 6.5 and am upping to 7.5 tonight.
 
Hi Jonsey

I would rule out kit problems first...

Are you using the same insulin vail, as the insulin may be off change to new batch number

Are the pens dosing correctly..

Once you've ruled out these problems....

Often the higher the blood glucose the more resistent to insulin it becomes, so this might explain why his usual dose correction dose may not brought it down as usual...

There can be quite a few reason why control has changed..

Could be that as Zacmum suggested school holiday meaning less active.. So might require a different carb-insulin ratio to school days..

He could be expericening a growth spourt, that's effecting his levels..

He may be coming down with a bug or infection of some sort...

And trying to work out which of these or if something else isn't easy.. And it's a case of trial and error to find out which one, except the latter which if bug/infection should show it self pretty soon...

If you only just increased his background, you need to give the change a couple of days to see what it's true effect on blood glucose is before making any other changes.. Also changing insulin-carb ratio's as if you change this and background at the same time, you won't know which did or didn't work...

Try to keep details of food intake, his exercise levels etc, as this might give an answer to were to look..
 
jonesy said:
Billy is type 1 and has been for 1 year exactly. he is 10 years old (just).

we have coped well, carb counting from the second month. his first 2 HbA1c's were 7 and 8. these were achieved on ratios of 1:30, 1:45 and 1:40 for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

however, the last few weeks everything has gone totally wrong. most of the time his BG levels are between 18 and 25!
when i give him some novorapid to bring him down, the amounts i used to give, have virtually no effect at all, or very little.

i've started working on a ratio of 1:25 for all meals, but he's still running high except dinner, which i'm having slightly more success with.

is it possible that a 10 year old's ratios could change so dramatically, or could it be possible that, after a year, he has reached the end of his honeymoon period?

is there any proven method, or is trial and error the only way?

any thoughts please?!?!?


jonesy
Click to expand...

Make sure you CALIBRATE the testing kit, and make sure you are getting accurate readings first of all.

Yeah, sounds more like his honeymoon period is coming to an end to me. I remember taking almost no insulin during this period, and almost thinking I was cured. You and he, will have to find a new regime that is accurate. I wish I'd have had someone would have known how to take so such care and effort, when I was his age…. Good luck Jonesy.
 
good advice above, also is he showing any signs of fever? any time I get an infection that happpens to me. Speak with your dsn as soon as you can

best of luck x
 
thanks all....

have changed both insulins and tested on various test kits.

this has been going on for four weeks and no sign of illness at all. surely that would have shown by now!

very active summer hols, as we took along his best mate.

i'm really leaning towards end of honeymoon.

oh well, i'll just keep on trying!

jonesy
 
Yes, do your your insulin changes gradually. At his age, 10, a few months of high sugars until you find the balance, probably isn't going to him as much harm as unexpected hypo's. Just my opinion
 
It does sound like you are at the end of the honeymoon. One way to have a guess if this is the case would be to work out how many units of insulin per kilo your son is having. Most kids here are recommended to have somewhere between 0.8 and 1.2 units per kilo. Mind you, this would only be a guide.

My son is currently on 1.1 units/kilo but that tends to go down in summer. He has never had a honeymoon.
 
I would also guess the end of a honeymoon period for your son. 1:45 is a very small (or do we call it big?) ratio. My daughter who is 9 (similar age) is on 1:13 at best and 1:8 in the mornings.

If you're going to make adjustments I strongly advise you to get your diabetes nurse to help you get the doses correct. You'll want to get the background insulin worked out correctly by doing some fasting tests.
 
hi, I agree with the above posts. I know all kids are different, but my daughter like Jess also has ratios which range from 1: 9 to 1:12 and she is almost 8 years. Some people seem to come of the honeymoon very slowly needing small increases in insulin over several months whereas others come out more suddenly.

I found that with my two children it can sometimes take a few weeks to work out changes in insulin. By increasing doses on a gradual basis avoids hypo's and by having a few more blood checks in between meals will allow you to correct any high numbers. leggott
 
leggot

exactly what i'm doing, and seem to be having some kind of success too!

looks like his ratios are gonna be around 1:15 ish at the mo, got bloods down to, generally, between 8 and 14 at the mo, so moving in the right direction.

thanks again all!

jonesy
 
Hi,
can I just add a suggestion. Although your son is young my son has friends who have started puberty at this age and younger. This can also affect the insulin dosage. It is probably not that but still something to think about.



steph
 
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