My 10 year old daughter is not consistently eating her lunch at school, yet is taking insulin to account for the carbs she should have eaten. The problem is that rather than being low, she is high. I don't get it!
Hm. That is weird. She isn't eating her lunch, hm? Is she eating anything else? Like if friends bring treats, or share their lunches..? I would consider asking her, if you haven't already done that.
I have asked her and she says no.
This must sound extremely terrible, and I'm super, super sorry for hinting at any sort of accusations or whatever, but I know that even at 15 (I was diagnosed at 11... same situation as now) I don't always tell the exact truth to my parents. Some things make me feel bad. So I don't explain it just as it happened to my parents - even though I try to then take the right measures anyway on my own. The thing is, if she is eating stuff and saying it isn't so, she can't sneak it because it reflects in her blood sugars.
My question then becomes is she honestly not eating anything? Honestly taking insulin? (because then I question if she's taking insulin, why is she high?) --> Or is she eating more than the insulin allows?
Do you pack her lunches? If they're relatively low in carb that may explain it because if she was eating other foods, like treats and whatnot, at least I know when I was 11 I was into all the carby stuff - who wasn't? But that would explain if she was taking insulin it just may not be enough.
One thing I'd suggest is seeing what her blood sugar does on a day you can sit there, watch what she eats, her activities, and see if she goes high while you can see what she's doing, eliminating all those questions (I apologize again :P I feel bad questioning people like that, especially someone's child!) If she doesn't, then it's probably something about what she's doing. But if she does, it could be as simple as a case of ratios that need adjusting.
I assume she's on shots?
I agree with alyssa-- sometimes the "snack" (i.e. junk food) line is really tempting. I used to try and sub out carbs-- like, instead of eating peanut butter crackers in my lunch, I'd bring them back home and buy something I figured was about equivalent instead...
I don't mind you questioning her "honesty" at all - don't think I haven't thought the same thing!!! I really kind of flipped out on her tonight because, well because of obvious reasons, right? She needs to eat and she needs to take her insulin, end of story. She does get shots, and she doesn't give them to herself, so I know she is getting the right dosage. It definitely could be that she is snackign mroe than she is telling me, but I'm honestly more concerned that she isn't snacking and her levels are just messed up.
I am also worried that she is experiencing this whole "dawn phenomenon" thing in which she is going low in the night but no one knows and she wakes up kind of high. I hate to begin going back to waking her up in the night to have her test....
She's also got the puberty/hormone thing going on - I guess I just need to monitor her more closely
Why would she take insulin to cover what she didn't eat? Is your daughter on a pump? If so, her daily insulin may need to be higher at that time of the day. You should talk to your doctor or CDE to figure out what is going on.
[quote user="KEFs Mom"]
I don't mind you questioning her "honesty" at all - don't think I haven't thought the same thing!!! I really kind of flipped out on her tonight because, well because of obvious reasons, right? She needs to eat and she needs to take her insulin, end of story. She does get shots, and she doesn't give them to herself, so I know she is getting the right dosage. It definitely could be that she is snackign mroe than she is telling me, but I'm honestly more concerned that she isn't snacking and her levels are just messed up.
I am also worried that she is experiencing this whole "dawn phenomenon" thing in which she is going low in the night but no one knows and she wakes up kind of high. I hate to begin going back to waking her up in the night to have her test....
She's also got the puberty/hormone thing going on - I guess I just need to monitor her more closely
[/quote]
If your daughter has dawn phenomenon it will usually occur only in the early morning hours. Like between 3-7am'ish and it happens all of the time consistently. It will not go into the lunch hours.
I noticed that my daughters blood sugar goes high when she drinks milk. I measure out her milk (or a carton at school) but she still goes high. Her endo said that some foods just react with her differently and I will just need to adjust. Maybe look at what she is eating and see if you change something if it gets better.
[quote user="KEFs Mom"]She's also got the puberty/hormone thing going on - I guess I just need to monitor her more closely [/quote]
When I was going through puberty, my blood sugars were completely messed up and my insulin doses skyrocketed, so this could definitely be a reason for her highs. From what I've heard on Juvenation, I think most girls went through that stage too. If she is honestly not sneaking any snacks and there is no other explanation for her highs, then I would suggest talking with her endocrinologist about adjusting her doses. Hope this helps. (=
yep, such was the case with me. my sugars went haywire around age 11 due to puberty and then i went on the pump right about that time and my numbers became much easier to control..my a1c went down to 6.4! also, does your daughter drink enough water? even if she isn't eating her lunch, she should try drinking a bottle or two throughout the day. so hopefully her numbers will stay good!
My blood sugar usually starts to fall between 10:30 to 11:00. I have a reactive liver and if I don't notice the low it kicks out glucagon which ends up making me come into lunch high.
I'm suggesting she may be missing a mid morning low. Think about it sitting in class being bored and zoning out it is entirely possible to not notice a low and have the body make recovery attempts that you don't notice until checking before lunch.