Very Frazzled!!

[R Angel12]

My 4 year old daughter Riley Angeleen was diagnosed 2/24/08. Everything has been going smoothly until the last few days. We are going to learn the carb counting scale today- but she has been on the sliding scale. The problem is now- she has decided she is not going to eat as much as she was- so in turn she is getting too much insulin for what she is eating. Does anyone have any suggestions?? I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster with no way to ever get off!!!!

[payam7777777]

Riley,
you didnt mention what kind insulin you are using. for the time being here's my suggestions to the parents of newly diagnosed kids:
- please, dont hesitate to test often.
- be ware of hypos
- get a pump as soon as possible.
- get an aviva/FreeStyle meter to be able to use base of thumb for testing instead of finger tips.
- read as much as you can. the more you know the better you'll manage.
- pray to the Lord. this is what i found THE most helpful.
- read, read and read. when you finished reading, then read more.
good luck!

[R Angel12]

Riley is my daughter- I should have mentioned my name is Kim. Riley is on humalog and lantus for overnight.

[shekov]

My daughter was dx'd around the same time.
We are using Novolog and give her a shot to cover whatever she eats and we give it to her AFTER she eats. That way when she eats nothing (which happens) she gets no insulin and we just test later to make sure she's in range.
Our Endo is great about having us adjust her Insulin:Carb ratios if we notice a trend of highs or lows (I often run it by the nurse).
We've recently been doing A LOT of adjusting with her Lantus since she seems to need way less all of a sudden.
I know how frustrating it is when you feel like you finally get things figured out then it all changes overnight! I'm looking forword to this honeymoon period being OVER!

[Skyefire]

Hi kim I just sent you a PM
I am dealing with the same thing, only mine is younger we just hit our month today :(

[Lee]

It IS common for newly diagnosed kids to all of a sudden need less insulin a few weeks to a month into it! So - don't let that stress you.

AS for help if she won't eat after taking insulin - well, she has to - eat or drink something, no ifs ands or buts about it - unfortunately! I know with little ones, the doc's are generally supportive of them eating first, then getting insulin after.

So, your doc is going to set you up in an Insulin to Carb (I:C) Ratio - so you count how many carbs are in a meal, and then you use that ratio to figure out insulin.

So a meal is 30 carbs, and your insulin to carb ration is 1:15 (1 unit of insulin for every 15 carbs) then, your child will get 2 units.

For this, make sure your syringes have 1/2 unit marks, and buy a scale; at the very least, measuring cups - until you get good at guessing!

With carb counting and dosing after for a bit, you should see less lows from not eating everything!

[MrsBadshoe]

Post bolus. give the insulin after they are finished. Both my kids 10 and 14 bolus almost 90% of the time after they eat or if they decide they are really hungry they'll bolus about half way through. My kids both have really good A1C's they are health and we don't make food an issue.

I realize that lots of Dr put people on a pre food bolus but in my opinion that doesn't make sense for most of us that live with kids. I would post bolus until your kids chooses not too..

[payam7777777]

Riley is my daughter- I should have mentioned my name is Kim. Riley is on humalog and lantus for overnight.

oh sorry Kim, my bad.

[hawkeyegirl]

My son is 4, and unpredictable with what he eats. We bolus him after he is through with his meal. It's not optimal, but it's better than trying to make him eat after he's already full to feed the insulin.

We're going on the pump in April, and one of the reasons why is that we can then prebolus a small amount of carbs (he'll always eat at least 15 carbs) and then bolus the rest when he's done. We could do that now, but it would mean two shots, and he would NOT be impressed with that.