Frustrating numbers!

[dqmomof3]

OK, we are exactly 14 days into diagnosis and I am SO frustrated! Jayden's numbers are all over the map. For the last three mornings, she woke up with bg 120 or under. Then this morning, for no apparent reason, BAM, it's 235. Yesterday, bg was 106 when she woke up, I dosed Humalog for her breakfast, we checked her bg three hours later, right before lunch, and it was 435!!! Egads! Dosed for lunch plus correction, numbers were back down below 200 last night.

This is so aggravating - does it ever get easier?

[mph]

Easy, no! Easier, yes. Still aggravating, oh yes!;)

Are you checking at night (3am and/or 6am or so)? It's possible that the 225 was a rebound after a low. Waking up under 120 is wonderful, but a bit tight for newly diagnosed. She is most likely producing her own insulin at times and when added to the insulin you inject, may lead to hypoglycemia. Part of the honeymoon:(. Even yesterday's 106 followed by 435 may have been a rebound as well (from fast acting insulin). Her morning insulin's effect will be seen within 3-5 hrs after injection.

Perhaps try testing at least once more at night (early am) and 2hrs after breakfast. It may give you a better picture.

Most endos are pretty good at this. Always ask, that's what we pay them for;).

Best wishes. One day at a time.

[dqmomof3]

I am checking at night every other night - the nights right after she has gymnastics. That's another whole set of messy numbers - she drops, so far, about 100-150 during gymnastics, is back up at bedtime to around 200, then drops another 100 or so during the night. But I don't check every single night - just three nights a week. We are decreasing the Lantus on the evening doses on gymnastics nights. She's on 15 units of Lantus on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and 10 units on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, because of the effect the exercise is having.

I have an endo visit on Monday and I want to ask intelligent questions, but I can't yet figure out which ones those are!

Thanks for the good wishes! I'm a homeschooling mom too, of boys 13 and 11, and Jayden who is 9.

[Spook75]

mmm . sounds like our day yesterday.
Caedence was ok in the morning , then low at lunch , sky high at dinner and low again at nightime snack .. WTH!??

Like a YOYO. Lucky she was ok during the night ( although real high 1.5 hours after snack-+500) but better at 3.00 and in the mornign. But pfew.

I wonder though, when she needs a higher then normal correction ( done this twice now) it almost seems she react more sever to the insuline resulting in a low. I checked the calculations and they are correct. But it is just somethign I noticed.

[twicker1]

HaHa! I would be pleased with those numbers! Did the doctor tell you to increase/decrease the Lantus so frequently during the week? As far as Lantus goes, we were told that you only change it every 3 days because it takes that long to see a change.

Brandon also is in gymnastics on the pre-team, and I notice that he gets high after practice, then drops that evening. I just make adjustments to his NovoLog. He takes his Lantus in the morning - 6 units at the moment.

[DustinsDad]

HaHa! I would be pleased with those numbers! Did the doctor tell you to increase/decrease the Lantus so frequently during the week? As far as Lantus goes, we were told that you only change it every 3 days because it takes that long to see a change.

I would expect that the Lantus would stay the same and that the exercise be covered by extra carbs and possibly a revised I:C ratio. I've noticed on gym days that my ds's numbers will be affected for a good 8 to 10 hours after exercise. We compensate with extra checks, more small snacks, and some protein to try and keep things stable. Being on a pump lets us just disconnect for heavy activity to help more in keeping his numbers better.

It is not uncommon in early dx to be bouncing all over the place. The body is in a fair amount of turmoil and hasn't regained an equilibrium yet. As routine sets in, the numbers will most likely smooth out (hopefully). Another aspect is the honeymoon - it has a huge impact on BG and isn't necessarily consistent. This too will pass as the insulin producing cells vanish altogether. All we can do is try to manage as best we can, which means testing, treating, tweaking, and support.

[dqmomof3]

So it would make more sense, then, to keep the Lantus at 10 units, expect the higher bg numbers during the days she doesn't have gymnastics, and dose accordingly? I didn't know Lantus took three days to make any change. I assume it's safer to start with the lower dose of Lantus and stronger I:C ratios than to keep the 15 unit dose of Lantus and do larger ratios with the Humalog? We have an endo visit on Monday - I'll ask her about all of these things. We've been concerned with the disconnect and reconnect part on the pump - do you ever lose the site when you have to do this? With gymanstics, my daughter is in a leotard all the time and really can't keep a pump on while she does it. She didn't want one at first, but now she's communicating with other kids who have them and thinks it might be a good option for her.

[Hollyb]

I would check with your endo on the Lantus strategu. You aren't going to be able to guard against delayed lows at night just from extra snacking, and I don't really see why the change in Lantus dose wouldn't be effective immediately. I thought the "3-day rule" was more for long-term dosage changes, so you could see a repeated pattern.

Certainly on a pump, after a high exercise day you would reduce the nighttime basal.

Sorry about the frustrating bouncing around. It does take a while for things to fall into a pattern... and then they fall out again!

P.S. Re: the pump. It's simple to disconnect, doesn't stress the site at all. Just a little click/unclick mechanism.

[alismom]

For our gymnast daughter, we always keep the lantus the same. We found that we have to give her a 25 carb snack before practice(4 hours long). She also has dinner at the gym, no Novolog needed due to the exercise. She usually has to have a protein snack before bed and then stays stable at night. This took one month of trial and error for us (mostly error). We are looking at the Omnipod for pumping and have an appointment next week. We are hoping this will work for her. Good luck, gymnastics is a trying sport.

[dqmomof3]

Please keep me posted on the Omnipod...I would love to hear your thoughts on that. Thank you for replying...this is certainly a trying sport, but she adores it, so we go for it! What do you give for a 25 carb snack? I've not really counted, per se - our DE just said give her a PB&J and a glass of milk, so that's what I do. I may try what you're doing and see if it works for us, including keeping the Lantus the same.

I see Allison was diagnosed just three weeks before Jayden...what a life change, isn't it?

[alismom]

This has been a total life change for us. Allison is adjusting well and I hope your daughter is also. We are trying to keep her life as it was before with a few little adjustments. We have contacted our Omni rep and they are sending us a sample. Allison wants to look at the size. I will keep you updated on this. Allison has a 6 pack of ritz crackers with peanut butter before working out. It works well for her. Our first meet since diagnosis is Sunday. We are very worried as we don't know whether the "pre-meet jitters" will bring her up or the exercise will bring her down. Any experience with this yet?

[Mary Lou]

OK, we are exactly 14 days into diagnosis and I am SO frustrated! Jayden's numbers are all over the map. For the last three mornings, she woke up with bg 120 or under. Then this morning, for no apparent reason, BAM, it's 235. Yesterday, bg was 106 when she woke up, I dosed Humalog for her breakfast, we checked her bg three hours later, right before lunch, and it was 435!!! Egads! Dosed for lunch plus correction, numbers were back down below 200 last night.

This is so aggravating - does it ever get easier?

Hello again :D

Was last night a gymnastics night? If so, I'd suspect that she went low during the night from the exercise and then bounced up to cause the high this morning. You might want to consider checking at midnight, 3 am and 5 am after the gym a few times to better understand what her body is doing.

Regarding yesterday's lunch number, what did Jayden have for breakfast? Was it something new or higher carb? Sometimes the carb load in the am can be difficult.

This will get easier, but it will never be easy :cwds:

I have a younger son that is currently in his "honeymoon" phase and his numbers can be quiet jumpy as his pancreas sputters and spurts (as my CDE likes to describe it).

As for the pump and gym, Brian's site has never fallen off during gymnastics, he wears both a pump site and a CGMS. He does have it on up upper buttocks though, and not his stomach on gym days.

Hang in there... And kudos to you for working so hard for Jayden to keep her regular sports. We were snowboarding the week after diagnosis and it was very stressful for me, but worth every bit.

[dqmomof3]

We have our first meet since dx the weekend of February 15th - I guess we'll see how it goes. Last night was wacky at the gym - her sugar numbers went UP instead of down. Grrrr. She had pizza for lunch, which I understand is evil to dose. Here was our mess yesterday:

Wake up - 249 (highest wake-up number all week!)
dosed 5 for breakfast - 2 correction plus 45g of carb for breakfast
12:54pm - Lunch - 135. Dosed 4 for 60g carb (1/4 of a pizza)
Ate PB&J at 2pm to prepare for gymnastics - which was right after the pizza, so maybe just too much food?

3:24 - 154 - looked good
3:54 (gymnastics starts at 4) - 203
5:06 - 216
6:01 - 263
6:40 - 253 - SB diet bar for snack at gym (didn't dose)
8:02 (end of gymnastics) - 185

At 9:10, she was 257. Dosed for 25g dinner plus two for correction. At 10:51 she was 191. Dosed 10u Lantus and put her to bed. Did a 4am check - 184. At wake-up this morning she was 147.

On Monday and Wednesday,

[dqmomof3]

Hit send before I was ready! Anyway, on Monday and Wednesday she dropped 100-150 bg during gymnastics, so I was all ready for that and then she went up!!

My best guess is that she had a high carb food day (didn't realize that until I just typed it in), she ate a late lunch followed by the sandwich to prepare for the gym, and the lunch was pizza which the endo warned me about!

Any suggestions other than to try to get an earlier breakfast and lunch on gymnastics days so that the snack isn't so close to the lunch?

[wilf]

When DD has pizza, we count the carbs and then as much again for the fats. So the thing you know now in hindsight to do differently is to give less food before gym on pizza days. If she'd done without the PB&J she probably would have been about perfect..