So yesterday she forgot to have a morning snack and was 65 at lunch. She at 64 grams of carbs and bolused correctly. Her teacher called me around 1:45 saying she didn't feel well and looked a little glassy-eyed. Her bloodsugar was 137. I picked her up a little early, she seemed fine, maybe a little tired.
At home she decided she was hungry and at 2:56 tested at 140 and ate 15 grams, bolused correctly.
She and I went to watch some animal planet so she could just rest. She started complaining that her tummy hurt at about 5pm. Checked her sugar at 5:12 - she was 49!
1. I really don't understand how her sugar dropped nearly 100 in just over an hour with no physical activity or anything that should have caused it (aren't tummy issues supposed to make kids end up high, not low)
2. I asked her if she felt "low" and she said she didn't, I was right there with her, and she looked fine, wasn't "clammy", wasn't breathing hard or funny. Other than complaining her tummy hurt, she seemed perfectly normal!
3. So how the heck are we supposed to know when she's going low? This is the third time in a month she's dipped into the 40's without feeling weird - each time the only reason I caught the low was because I preemptively checked - the first time we were at the dentist office and I wanted a starting point before dental work, the second time was after bedtime and she'd been 90 after snack so I decided to check just to be safe, and now this one. Arrggggggg....
Thanks for listening. I'd love to hear any suggestions or experiences that help this make sense...
She dropped from 140 to that low in about 2 hours. I do not feel a low if it drops slowly, but I feel them big time if the drop is fast. I don't know if it would work the same way with a child. It may be that way with her though. I wish she could wear a CGM. That would enable you to see her numbers every minute, or as frequently as you wish. I am sorry I don't have any other suggestion at the moment. I hope she has a better day today.
Hi Michelle. Sometimes these things just happen and all the analyzing in the world can't come up with the answer as to why . Best thing to do is keep everything logged and look for patterns over time. It's not always easy to feel a low - I've been in the low 40's before and felt perfectly fine. And as a diabetic ages, it gets harder and harder to feel them. But she's still newly diagnosed so it could have been that she didn't feel well in general and it masked the feeling of the low. Try not to worry too much - remember: if her numbers were perfect/predictable all the time, she wouldn't be diabetic!
Sometimes when I have had multiple lows in a day I don't feel them as much as a usually would, my doctor also says if I go to low too often then I will not feel my lows. I hope her sugar improves!
Hi Michelle. Sometimes these things just happen and all the analyzing in the world can't come up with the answer as to why . Best thing to do is keep everything logged and look for patterns over time. It's not always easy to feel a low - I've been in the low 40's before and felt perfectly fine. And as a diabetic ages, it gets harder and harder to feel them. But she's still newly diagnosed so it could have been that she didn't feel well in general and it masked the feeling of the low. Try not to worry too much - remember: if her numbers were perfect/predictable all the time, she wouldn't be diabetic!
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I agree with Spaghettio (love the name, by the way). Yesterday, I had one of those days where I ran low all day and for the most part, couldn't figure out why. I whined about it in my d-blog to help myself feel better (hehe). Also, like Katie said, if you have multiple lows in a day you can't always feel them.
That's one of the joys of diabetes - it just doesn't always make sense. You just do what you can and keep moving forward. I'm going to steal a line from Kim because she's awesome, "Your best is all you can give."
Thanks everyone. I'm just frustrated I guess, and it's making me nuts that I can't fix this for her. I know all I can do is my best, but this is my baby and it just feels like my best isn't always good enough. I can't stand the idea that her health is so precarious. The idea that she could go dangerously low without me knowing it is just making me a little crazy!
I appreciate the support and your willingness to listen to me whine once in awhile. Diabetes is really playing havoc with my control-freak tendencies!
Today was better. She dipped into the 70's a couple of times, but that was the worst. Mostly she's been a little higher than usual. I made a potroast and underestimated the carbs a bit, so she ended up at 202 a bit after dinner. Then I think I slightly overestimated pumpkin pie, and she was back down to 90 an hour before bed. I let her have some popcorn, and that brought her up to about 170. I decided to call it good and not correct that. We'll see how she is in the am.
We're heading out to Gilroy Gardens theme park tomorrow to hang out with my sister and her kids. Of goodie... nothing better than theme park food...
You are doing a great job, and she hasn't even had T1D for a year yet! I've heard many people say that this is an art, not a science. You will get better and better at estimating carbs, and she will get better at sensing lows as time goes on. Sometimes my blood sugar goes low because the wind blew too hard that day. ;) Kidding, but it might as well be true with all of the things that can impact blood sugar.
Michelle I have had the same problems with Ri. She can drop fast and not feel it one but will the next. Over night last night even she went from 211 at 9:30 down to 86 at 5 a.m. She played a lot yesterday so I let her stay at 211 still she can drop like that over night without playing hard during the day. Thankfully ok not but yes she tends to have I guess the dawn phenomenon and she be rising now. Going to go test her here in a few to make sure she is going up and not down more. D is a pain and while there are a few rules on how this works there are more reasons for them to be broken!!
Just remember we are moms not a pancreas we can only do so much in trying to figure this all out.
Just keep track of everything.... when her recess is at school and PE and try to find out if she is running around the whole time or just giggling with her girlfriends during recess. The exercise can have effects several hours later and it can make her go high or low depending on the intensity/stress of it. Also tests/ class presentations where she gets nervous could affect her sugar and not necessarily immediately.
There are bad days. You just have to learn to accept that fact and resolve to make the next day better. And you can look and look for reasons that everything is fine for weeks and then 1-3 days are crazy and then everything goes back to 'D-normal', and there seems to be no explanation.
As you track, you will probably want to consult with your endo clinic. Maybe she needs adjustment in her basal insulin?