Let me pick your brain

Hello!  I'm pretty new to this since my four year old was dx almost five months ago and I was hoping you all would help me shortcut the learning curve by sharing your experience.  What helps to make life easier for you?  For example what's your favorite products, snacks, traveling kit..... 

This is a good one...I am curious to learn what others say even 3 years into this journey.

 

supply kit:  we just use a small insulated lunch box with a long over shoulder strap - it goes EVERYWHERE he goes.  He carries glucometer, glucagen, gel, skittles and spare syringe (in case pump has a prob), drs. business card.  There is room for extra snack / juice or pump change on day long trips.

fast acting snacks:  we use skittles - 1 carb each by day, juice boxes by night - can drink from straw in sleep and does not stick to teeth (harder to measure how many carbs he is taking - a full 15g shoots him up too high)

low carb snacks when high:  celery w/ peanut butter, honey roasted peanuts (alternate desert), cheese sticks, roly poly - meat and cheese rolls.  Even when he is med. high (200's) I let him eat a regular healthy snack ...i.e. fruit etc. I find it does not affect his sugars from going down as long as both the high and snack are covered.

snacks to keep his sugars from dropping after exercise:  ice cream, glass of milk and graham crackers

favorite products:  his pump, dreamfields pasta  - only mac and cheese he can have, measuring cups/digital scale  - I measure/weigh all his food

foods I just can't get good numbers on: bagels and pizza

 

Christine

 

 

 

Thanks for the information!  It is so helpful when people share their ideas or experiences!

Mucho appreciated!

For my son's travel kit he uses the small Jansport backpack. It carries his OmniPod PDM, an extra meter, insulin (put in a small sandwich cooler on hot days), juice, glucagon, extra pump supplies, syringes, glucose tablets, carb counter book, low carb snack, his cell phone, Dr number and both parents cell phone numbers. This bag goes everywhere with him.

Low carb snacks - He loves the cocoa almonds, cheese, summer sausage, celery w/peanut butter and sugar free 6 carb fruit cups.

Low blood sugar carbs - juice and milk w/chocolate syrup (this works good for him since it also has protein)

When he exercises we change his basal rate and he is able to take in about 20 carbs he doesn't deliver for.

Favorite product - so far I would have to say his pump, it has really given him alot of freedom and given him back some independence.

We also use a small packback for our son's "stuff".  In the bag we have a few favorite 15gr snacks.  He loves the 100 cal packs of cookies and snacks.  These seem to work well as a snack if he is heading low.  I also have a juice box if he is already low.  I do not always carry an extra meter.  If we are going to be far from home I will grab one but I don't take an extra with me to run to Target. We also have the glucagon and a tube of frosting for lows. 

Collin loves the Blue Bunny ice cream as a bedtime snack.  It comes in yummy flavors and is 15-20 carbs a serving.

I still struggle with no carb snacks-He loves cheese and peanut butter but that is it.

I finally found a med. alert necklace that he will wear.  It is a guitar pic (from Lauren's Hope)

We also love our pump (Animas Ping)!!

 

My son is 4, dx 5-28-09

Favorite low-carb snacks: pickles, cottage cheese, string cheese, grape tomatoes, carrots w/ a little ranch dressing

Favorite for lows: fruit snacks (I find these are easy to pack, so I have them stashed everywhere: purse, etc.).  

When we travel, we have a diabetes bag that I got from Fifty-50.com, however, I don't recommend it. It is really cute and John picked it out because it has dinosaurs all over it, and it does have all sorts of little pockets and things to keep things organized, but It zips all the way around so it can open up flat, like a book - however I find this makes it kind of difficult to use in the car or when I just need to grab one thing out of it.  I haven't bothered to get a different one, but just an FYI if you see that one. Most of the time if we are out of the house for just a few hours I just stick his insulin and a couple syringes in his meter case and throw that in my purse.

My son was dx of this year. He is 9. I had such a hard time getting him to wear the med ID. I ordered a couple of bracelets form 50/50-the cloth type and the livestrong type. He kept taking them off and losing them. Then I found Lauren's Hope. I got him a necklace with a baseball (his favorite sport). I had his name and all info engraved on the back. He wear s it all the time. They have the cutest bracelets for girls too.

I also struggle with no carb snacks. A cup of popcorn is what I usually give him.

Hello,

My daughter was just diagnosed in October.  We went out and bought her a purse to keep all her things in.

At all times, her meter, her insulin pens, alcohol swabs, her needles, carb counter book, ketostix, glucagon, extra batteries for her meter, instant drink packets for water, several pieces of hard candy, small tube of icing, sugarfree gum, equal tablets (if she wants iced tea)  and chapstick are what is in her purse. Also, a small book with her glucose numbers and the all the doctor information is in there too.

We just got from ebay a cute Italian bracelet with diabetic on it and she picked out several other charms that we had her name put on them and that she was also diabetic.  She loves it and it kind of blends in with her other Italian bracelets but noticeable enough for emergency cases.

For low carb snacks - she loves lebanon bologna and cream cheese wraps, carrots with ranch dressing/dip,

Bedtime - she loves peanut butter graham crackers

We are still figuring things things out, but these are some constants we have found

Mickie