July 12,2017 my son was diagnosed at 18 months old. Since that day our life has been a roller coaster ride, his sugar is either high or low, never constant. I am looking for advice or tips on how to help a 2 1/2 year old get better blood sugar readings.
Thank you,
Sabra
@DrakesMomma hi Sabra, 52 and a half years old here, and I’d take some tips on how to keep blood sugar constant!
the truth is, diabetes is a self-managed disease where YOU have to make the hourly and sometimes minute-by-minute decisions on food, exercise, and insulin injections. the only feedback is a painful finger stick and the value you read is only what’s happening right now.
you have to work closely with your pediatric endocrinologist and certified diabetes educator for your daily strategy, most of the time, for kids, they give you a higher blood sugar target… probably higher than normal and maybe 140mg/dl to 200 mg/dl and even with that wide a target, you’ll see blood sugar all over the place. I do and I’ve been treating type 1 longer than my doctor has.
lows are more dangerous than highs - so that’s why they will have your targets higher especially at night. I have a controls background and so I say the only way to control something is to measure it. I am not sure if your son is old enough for a CGM but that’s a device that can give you many more measurements than a finger stick every couple hours.
there’s a book “Think like a pancreas” which is a great reference for all things type 1.
There are JDRF local chapters which is a good way to meet other parents and get a more live and local scoop on things like endocrinologists, school plans, day and night time strategies. The point is you have to enlist more help into your diabetes team, I hope you can find additional general help here as well.
Thank you for replying so quickly. We have a wonderful diabetes team that helps so much.
Hi Sabre @DrakesMomma there is much that you will be learning over the next few years and much that you learn and put into practice will be unique to Drake. Yes, we are all different and what is just perfect for me may not work for for your son - there is much hit or miss. First off, have the best available [pediatric] endocrinologist for your son and listen carefully to, and ask any and every question that comes to mind. I expect that his diabetes care team will ask you many questions about what is happening so keep a simple diary noting especially anything unusual before either an unusual high or low. I know that my doctors ask lots of questions - I’ve been living with diabetes since any of them were born.
I endorse the advice offered by @Joe especially the suggested range for Drake’s BG - but don’t get too alarmed for occasional readings higher or lower - have plenty that travel out of range but I use those points for reference to either administer a correction dose for a high as long as it has been more than 4 hours since I last took insulin, and when I’, out of range the other way, I eat something.
Do take a look under the tabs at the top of this page, or at jdrf.org , to find gatherings in your area for families with diabetes - you will be able to listen to others who have been just where you are now.