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How to manage bad behaviour/moods caused by high/low BG?

Allaboutbg

Member
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere but I cannot find a thread that has much info on how to handle this. Also talking to friends who have children with T1 I seem to be the only one with this problem so perhaps it isn't very common.

My child is an absolute monster when blood sugars are high (and low but low is less frequent and lasts for less time). I actually could get away with not testing BG as her behaviour changes when her BG is over 12 and becomes extreme with BG over 18 (I hasten to add we do test around 5 times daily). Even with perfect control I actually dread meal times as inevitably there are sugar spikes after eating and my nice calm child (7.2 say) disappears and the hyperactive, rude, angry child appears once more until the sugars go down again. Of course getting better control would make these incidents less frequent but what do others do about the behaviour when it happens? I have always felt so sorry for her, knowing it isn't her fault, and that she must feel terrible so perhaps let her get away with more than is reasonable.

My question to other parents is what do you do about the bad behaviour associated with being high or low? I spoke to someone once who said by letting her get away with it you are doing no favours for when she becomes an adult and has to have close relationships with friends and partners they won't be able to put up with it (see a very sad post on adult forum) and yet I also had a consultant say that she has to hold it together at school which will be hard for her if she has high BG and so its only natural for her to let rip once she is at home and I just have to suck it up.

Does anyone else have these problems or is it just me?
 
Why dont you reduce her carb intake a bit to reduce the spikes. From her point of view she feels fairly horrible so its understandable.

You could reduce carbs for the whole family to make everyone a bit healthier and not single your daughter out too?
 
If your daughter is spiking after meals then look at her carb ratio and or look at the timing of her insulin dose before meals.
 
I'm an adult but I feel very irritable with high sugars so it's more than likely outside your daughter's control.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, Woukd be to try to get the spikes down. Check with your daughter's team, but it may be that her injection timing needs looking at. I find I spike after breakfast, but I solved this by having my insulin more in advance of my meal. That worked very well for me.

As for controlling her behaviour, when I feel high and irritable I tend to do something like rushing about tidying. I find this helps reduce the 'on edge' feeling. I don't know if that's practical for your daughter, but it's something that helps me.
 
If you've never been in hypo hell, then your experience should be through your daughter.
I can't describe in words, what it was like, but is was not nice!
Your daughter is on an emotional rollercoaster, her body is experiencing something that I wouldn't wish on anybody, how she copes and it will be with your help, is to try and understand how bad it really is!
Don't try and stop her being the way she is, she can't help it, the entire world is against her, she is terrified about the future and really scared about what happens next, and what people and family are doing and saying about her, she is anxious about everything and why this is happening to her, why her? Then the anger and pain and the worry of if she is going to be here!
The only thing you can do is be her friend and be there when she needs you.
And she will! Bide your time and be patient. She will want your understanding and your support. You have to be really strong for her and reassure her at every turn.
If her school work suffers or does something that that you can't control, give her room and try and let her resolve it. If she has any sense, she will come to you anyway for guidance, let her get her head around this. It is all symptomatic and she will go through phases, just like anything that happens in life.
Getting her to where she needs to be is your job, and anyway you do this even if rules are broken is worth it in the end.
Hope this helps.

She is in hell, help her!
 
Hi. I haven't got any answers here. My daughter is exactly the same as you describe. Sometimes I just dread seeing her not knowing which person I'm going to find the nice one or mean one. I've been adjusting ratios and increasing insulin doses but always seems to be creeping high. She says its because she's eating so regularly that the blood tests are always done on a meal rise. Just nice to know that other mums are in the same boat. I wondered if it is also because she's a teenager but haven't had this problem with my other two, so this must be related to the type 1. Interested by one of the posts here which says to take insulin longer before food, rather than just before, might help spikes. I'm going to try and get her to try this.
 
Hi This is my experience of having 1 for over 30 years. It took me years to untangle my mood changes which are effected by going high. I rememmber talking to diabetic nurses about the fact that I feel very different if my sugars are over about 12. It was disregarded and I was told that there is no evidence of this being related. I think there is much more around now about the physiological impact of high sugars. I now know that if I am feeling negative,sad and socialy awkward-my sugars will be high. Accepting this has helped as I can(mostly) tell myself that I will think differently when my sugars come down. I also have found that my thinking processes are very much effected when high.
Maybe it would help your daughter to find out more about this side of diabetes? Is she too young to do this -maybe when she's older. But aknowledging this,instaed of puzzling about it does help a a bit.I would,t fiddle about with food too much-that can be counter productive. Too much focus on food,anxiety about not getting it right,etc. I believe that self esteem is pramount for kids,and especially for those with chronic conditions. Just wish I had know this earlier!!
 

Thank you. I will broach the subject gradually with her and try talk about it when I gage the time is right. Thanks this is helpful. x
 
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