Dropping too fast

[ROVERT81402]

I just seen the other thread "irreversable damage" and it made me think about something. When my son was in the hospital last week, his bg level was 600, an hour later it was 571, an hour later it was 400, and then all of a sudden it was at 49! The nurses rushed in, and injected him with a huge syringe full of some gel/sugar. They kept telling us that he was ok because it wasn't low for very long, but doesn't it seem like something could've been damaged since it dropped so fast?

[kel4han]

I wouldn't worry about that one fast drop, although I have heard stories where they drop your BS too fast and you can have serious, life threatning results (besides the low)

I have been hearing a lot in research that now suggests that dramatic fluctuations in Blood sugar from highs to lows, or lows to highs is a huge determining factor in future complications, meaning you really need to keep things steady, and eliminate huge spikes in blood sugar. (pre-bolus?)

What you explain is the SCARY part in starting insulin, you have no idea how your childs blood sugar will react. This was my biggest fear, and I insisted they start Maddison on a sensitivity factor of 400. It turned out my motherly intuition was right, had they given her what they wanted she would have had serious lows.

He is okay from just that once I am sure. ;)

[ROVERT81402]

Thanks :cwds:

[wilf]

Where serious medical issues can arise, is when children are just diagnosed for the first time and are dehydrated and have ketoacidosis. At that point the doctors have to bring them down very slowly and gently and give electrolytes and glucose and it's a tricky business to be sure.

If there's no dehydration or ketoacidosis involved, it's not nearly as big a deal. Of course we all want our kids to be tripping along at a perfect 100 mg/dl, but that's not how a life with diabetes works.

Given the choice between leaving my daughter up at 400 or actively correcting to bring her down, I will always correct - immediately. The complications arising from prolonged high BG are well known and documented. There may be issues arising from bringing down BG quickly, but until they are well researched and documented I'm proceeding on the assumption that better to correct than leave her hanging high..

[Mama2H]

Where serious medical issues can arise, is when children are just diagnosed for the first time and are dehydrated and have ketoacidosis. At that point the doctors have to bring them down very slowly and gently and give electrolytes and glucose and it's a tricky business to be sure.


This is what we were told at dx. We were told that if they brought her down to fast it would cause brain swelling and vital organ damage. Of coarse Hailey was VERY sick at dx and in a coma :(

[momofsingingdiabetic]

We just went through this with Danielle a few weeks ago. We think it all started from a stomach virus..... but they told us they had to bring her down slowly to make sure not to cause any complications.

[MelissaC]

Oh just great - I am alrady a freak about lows and now I have to read this?:mad: I swear if they dont find a cure soon.......

I have never heard of these complications - Some night we have to correct Avery and she drops from like a 400 down to 150 in about two hours - please tell me that is not what ya'll mean....

[momofphoenix]

They told us at diagnosis that if they dropped Phoenix's bs to fast he would most certainly have serious complications. He was very sick, DKA, in a coma and dehydrated, with a bs of 1295. It took them over 4 days to get him into the 300 range but they said since they dropped him so slowly that there hadn't been any damage done. Lows are scary, I remember after we got home from the hospital Phoenix's first low was 42 I freaked out I wasn't sure what to do it was like everything they taught me in the hospital went right out the window when it was me doing the correcting... It gets easier. Don't worry about that one low, it sounds like the nurses took care of it fast and he wasn't in the low range for to very long.

[wilf]

Oh just great - I am alrady a freak about lows and now I have to read this?:mad: I swear if they dont find a cure soon.......

I have never heard of these complications - Some night we have to correct Avery and she drops from like a 400 down to 150 in about two hours - please tell me that is not what ya'll mean....

No, that is not what's meant.. You WANT to correct when your child is high.

Where it is actually dangerous is at the time of diagnosis, when sugars are sky high (and have been for some time), the body dehydrated, and ketones galore. The doctors need to very gently and carefully give fluids, electrolytes, glucose and insulin to get everything back into balance.

[sam1nat2]

I think what people are saying is that it is dangerous for blood to drop too fast when DKA. For a "normal" high, with no ketones, it is not unusual for my kid to drop dramatically.
For example, he was at a friends house and called and said he was HI, over 600. I had him give a correction .7 and my dh left go go pick him up. 20 min later he was 597 so dh gave him 2 unit injection, we thought set could have been bad. Got home, changed the set and he was 300, so he dropped 300 points in 30 min, another 150 points in another 1/2 hour.

My kid is just sensitive to insulin, at times, and he will come crashing down. Funny thing is that he doesn't show signs of being high and you would think he would feel horrible crashing so hard and fast, but he seems fine.

[momofphoenix]

My kid is just sensitive to insulin, at times, and he will come crashing down. Funny thing is that he doesn't show signs of being high and you would think he would feel horrible crashing so hard and fast, but he seems fine.

This is how Phoenix is too one minute he is 597 and within about an hour he will be in the 120 range... and he never acts weird while high..

I correct Phoenix's high bs only if his last injection has been 2 1/2-3 hours I cant stack insulin on him he drops way to fast and hard...