What is going on?!

[Laura]

Over the last 2 weeks we have lowered Jonah's basal rate from noon - 7 pm 3 times. We have almost cut it in half. He is still going low. One day last week he went through 7 juices from noon to 4. He has had the same basals for almost a year with really good numbers. I know when they grow they sometimes need an increase in insulin but what could cause a decrease?

[Mama2H]

(((hugs))) that has to be rough, I am sorry that he is going through this :(

[Amy C.]

Have you also lowered the bolus? Boluses bring the sugar down quicker than a basal. will.

[kel4han]

Laura, I am at the same place as you right now and at the end of my rope! I have watched ratio's however, it doesn't seem for us to be basal. Its so frustrating because you have to make small changes, watch that 3 days or so, then adjust again if not better, then watch another 3 days or so! Man! I know what you mean, it quickly turns into a month of crazy numbers:mad: Just today I sat down to review basals again, they look good, gotta adjust ratios! ERRR Are you certain it is your basals?

[zimbie45]

ITS rough, hang in there.. be glad to know we are all in the same boat with you right now..... Weather, growthspurt, BOTH.. that our problem right now.. We have been ghaving issues wiht low's too.. NOt bad .. Im able to head them off easy... but to know what if i had not done this or that is scarry.. just today charlize had a diabetes walk at school. it was at the end of the day.. SHe goes in for her 9:30am check.. she is 215, nurse does NOTHING.. ( she knows charlize ) rechecked again at lunch 11 am and charlize is 110 , eats lunch and gets insulin for lunch.. at 1 pm rechecks she is 150, per my instructions I had her turn her pump off for 1.5 hours due to her walk coming up.. to be safe.. no snack, no insulin.. NOTHING.. at 2 pm right befor her Walk, she is rechecked again... 101... YES 101 after having pump turned off for the last hour.. I load her with 32 carbs, no insuin.. let her walk.. by end of walk she was at 190, we carb out for only 15 and she stays...

[Laura]

I'm not sure it's the basals but he eats at noon and then nothing until he gets home at 4 but around 3 he starts going low and staying low until dinner, even with juices. I could see the 3:00 low being from the end of the lunch insulin but I would think after a couple of juices he would stabalize. His lowest insulin:carb ratio is lunch at 1:22 while breakfast and dinner are 1:18. I'll try lowering his ratio more. Thanks, it's nice to know we all have each other. :)

[Heather(CA)]

If he's going low within 3 hours of lunch bolus, I would lower THAT too. Some things that I have noticed can lower the needs for insulin are...Exercise, heat, and extreem cold.:confused:

[Heather(CA)]

I'm not sure it's the basals but he eats at noon and then nothing until he gets home at 4 but around 3 he starts going low and staying low until dinner, even with juices. I could see the 3:00 low being from the end of the lunch insulin but I would think after a couple of juices he would stabalize. His lowest insulin:carb ratio is lunch at 1:22 while breakfast and dinner are 1:18. I'll try lowering his ratio more. Thanks, it's nice to know we all have each other. :)

If it's not until 3, I agree...basils.

[Lee]

Its so frustrating because you have to make small changes, watch that 3 days or so, then adjust again if not better, then watch another 3 days or so! Man! I know what you mean, it quickly turns into a month of crazy numbers:mad:

We now have 'permission' from the diabetes ed to wait two days since she is pumping. Since there is no long acting, you see the affects much quicker. This has been great!

[twodoor2]

I'm not sure it's the basals but he eats at noon and then nothing until he gets home at 4 but around 3 he starts going low and staying low until dinner, even with juices. I could see the 3:00 low being from the end of the lunch insulin but I would think after a couple of juices he would stabalize. His lowest insulin:carb ratio is lunch at 1:22 while breakfast and dinner are 1:18. I'll try lowering his ratio more. Thanks, it's nice to know we all have each other. :)


Are his numbers steady at nighttime, when he's not eating? If so, I don't think it's his basal, but his bolus.

[Val]

We went through two periods of time when Simon used NO insulin for 2-3 days. It was the weirdest thing. We kept giving him sugar & he kept going low. Finally we just turned it off & he was fine, but then started back slowly. :confused:

[Mama Belle]

Are his numbers steady at nighttime, when he's not eating? If so, I don't think it's his basal, but his bolus.

I'm not sure I am following you? When you say nighttime do you mean while sleeping? This would mean nothing with respect to his daytime numbers since basal rates can be set differently for different times of the day. If you mean in the early evening than I can see the relationship since his 3 pm basal rate can affect his 5 pm BG.

Here's my experience with low basal rates in the afternoon. My daughter is also nine years old and her lowest basal of the day is at 1:00 pm, when it is .25 u/hour. By 10 pm she is back up to 1.35 u/hour. We had the same experience. We noticed she was going low every single day, several times. So we started lowering and lowering until we finally found the perfect spot. One drawback to that was that we weren't ramping her basals back up soon enough so in the evening she was running high. Her basals change a lot between the hours of 11 am and 8 pm.

A bit of advice, don't forget to make the changes to the basals about 2 hours before you notice the low. Once you get the lows stabilized you may need to do some tweaking of the basals after the "low period" so that he doesn't go high later. Don't know if that makes sense at all. I have no clue why my daughter needs such little insulin during that time of the day. But for us, it was very obviously a basal issue.

[Laura]

AAckk ok so it was just noon to 7. Last night he he needed juice at 9 then he was fine overnight. He woke up and was 140, not bad. Usually, after breakfast he has his highest numbers and we have been unable to really control those. He ate at 7:30. It is 10:18 and his teacher just called to say he's on his 4th juice and hasn't been above 67 for an hour. !!! He has been diabetic for 7 years and this has never happened to this extent. Yeah we have had lows and needed juice. Every now and then he has needed 2 but very rarely does he need more than one. I am so confused. The stupid schools in this state don't have nurses and I'm relying on his teacher who has 33 other students. UGH!