My daughter turned 10 on Oct 8, over the next week we noticed she was urinating more then normal and then began an unquenchable thirst. Took her to the walk in clinic where they found glucose in her urine and told me to 'follow up with her doctor". Two calls to the doctor later we could only get her in a week later, so took her to my MIL’s and checked her blood sugar, it was well over 300. Next morning called the doctor and they got us right in. Sent to the Er from there and admitted to the hospital for the weekend with T1D. To say our lives changed was an understatement.
My daughter is VERY active. She rides her pony and shows, plays outdoor and indoor soccer and does irish dance. Our biggest struggle right now are lows. Any advice from parents of active kids? We do 25 free grams of carbs before exercise and her doses now are 1 unit for every 25 carbs of Novolog and 8 units of Lantus.
I’m sorry your daughter is having to deal with diabetes. It is a big transition for anybody and exercise is definitely one of the toughest variables. It usually takes trial and error to find the right balance.
There’s a great book by type 1 diabetic and exercise physiologist, Sheri Colberg, called “The Diabetic Athlete” that gives recommendations for adjusting insulin and carbs for specific sports.
I couldn’t deal well with exercise lows until I started using an insulin pump. It might be something for you to consider in the future (most doctors won’t let you get a pump until a year or so after diagnosis).
For now you might talk to your doctor about having a higher target blood sugar, like aim for 150 instead of 100 so you have a cushion. Exercise uses glucose from the blood and also takes stored glucose from the muscles. This can cause a blood sugar drop at the time of workout and make your daughter more sensitive to insulin for up to 12 hours after. Sports that take a lot of muscle can also raise blood sugar because they release large amounts of stored glucose, so be aware that can happen.
I’ve had type 1 since I was 4 and I danced for years (ballet, jazz and tap), often rode my bike the 7 miles to my high school job, and later got into hiking and took extended backpacking trips. My diabetes didn’t keep me from doing these things, but I always had to be aware of lows.
My daughter was also diagnosed at 10, and is now 14. I would strongly suggest getting your daughter on an insulin pump as quickly as possible. What happened with my daughter (who is very active in theater which often means 3-5 hours of dance in a day), is that the amount of lantus she needed at night was FAR greater than what she needed during the day. In fact, for the first couple of years she needed almost no background insulin during the day. So when she was on injections we were constantly feeding lows during the day. With an insulin pump you don’t use lantus, and can set various rates for that “background” insulin during the day. For example, if your daughter is taking 6 units of lantus, that would be the equivalent of 0.25 units of fast acting per hour. When my daughter switched to the pump, I think we were giving her something like .25 units per hour at night, and .02 units per hour during the day. And suddenly activities weren’t an issue any longer.
Also, it really does get easier with time and just figuring out how different activities and food affect the body.