Does anyone insulin AFTER eating?

General
21

When we were on MDI with our young son, we were instructed to bolus after because you could not reliably know what he would eat. Our clinic is big on not starting food battles (i think cuz it can lead to more mental health problems later: anorexia, diabulemia, etc.) But they did encourage that we try to get him to eat in a half hour. That made me laugh because my son can be a pokey eater, so it would have been a food battle to take away his plate that soon. So we just waited even if getting the shot was 1 hour after he first started eating. So for us, the pump has been quite helpful as we can give a bolus for what we know he will eat and then just give extra boluses as needed as he requests extra food. If you son is comfortable with 2 shots, he can do that, othewise, I probably wouldn't fight it right now. Use the endo to your advantage as others have suggested, maybe call/email ahead that you have this concern and have the endo ask your son the question "When are you bolusing?" if the endo is concerned. (Less accusatory than you sitting there going, "You know, Dr. He is bolusing after he eats, isn't that really bad?" If I was in his shoes, I'd be shooting daggers at you and be really pissed and it wouldn't matter what the dr. then said.

I do respect your son's choice not to pump right now. But I also agree, that maybe it would be good to at least have him try it. I think you might get up to 90 days to try it out and still send back if he doesn't like it. Might be something to discuss with him and see if he'd compromise. I do think the actual logistics are much easier to handle than what you anticipate them to be before you actually are pumping. (I was so worried about my son sleeping and getting caught on things, etc. and these really have not been a problem.) So a test run might convince him that the freedom a pump affords is really worth much more than the downsides of 'being connected 24/7'. (And having your insulin attached to you beats having to remember to CARRY it with you everywhere, IMO.)

Good luck, Angie. You are a great D-momma.

22

[quote user="JDVsMom"]

I do respect your son's choice not to pump right now. But I also agree, that maybe it would be good to at least have him try it. I think you might get up to 90 days to try it out and still send back if he doesn't like it. Might be something to discuss with him and see if he'd compromise. I do think the actual logistics are much easier to handle than what you anticipate them to be before you actually are pumping. (I was so worried about my son sleeping and getting caught on things, etc. and these really have not been a problem.) So a test run might convince him that the freedom a pump affords is really worth much more than the downsides of 'being connected 24/7'. (And having your insulin attached to you beats having to remember to CARRY it with you everywhere, IMO.)

[/quote]

I disagree with forcing him to try it now. I don't think you SHOULD force the pump on a child who is NOT interested in it.

I was the same way at his age, I wasn't interested in the pump. My endo and my mom wanted me to try it (though we couldn't afford it at the time, anything that might help me, my mom was willing to find a way to make it happen) but I refused. To the point that my endo stopped even bringing the topic up after only a couple of visits because I wouldn't even agree to take a pamphlet home to read and for every pro, I shot back with a con.

I'm very pro letting your child choose their method, whether the pump or shots. They are the one who has to live with it after all, not you.

If I had been forced on the pump,I probably would've done something I never did as a teenager: rebelled against taking insulin.

I'm not saying every kid will do that if you put them on the pump, but I do think that forcing them into a method they aren't comfortable with or aren't interested in dealing with, is a very BAD idea. This is something they need to decide on their own that they want to try.

 

(as for carrying less insulin supplies with you on the pump...that's such BULL. I had to carry WAY more stuff with me when I was on the pump, because my sites came out so much, sometimes even got RIPPED out, and if I was at work but needed a site change I couldn't just run home to do it.
with MDI, i carried ONE small bag with a bag of needles and two vials.
with the pump, i carried a HUGE bag with two replacement sites, a vial of insulin, the actual needle the insulin went into x 2, wipes to clean the skin, wipes to try and help the site stick better AND a bag of needles incase the site failed..and that was just for ONE day. when i went on trips, I had to carry 10x the amount of stuff..took up more room in my overnight bag than my make-up, shower stuff and socks/underwear did!)

23

Angie, 

I have a feeling they do that just to decrease the risk of lows in case there is some kind of problem with the food and they don't get is on time. I think out of that environment it is definitely best to bolus before meals 

24

No i dont bolus after eating because i guess my systems a lilttle weird. It doesnt make my glucose any better  it just makes me go higher and i really hate it even when im low.