Neurotic Blood Sugar Checking

My son who is 7 was diagnosed in February. He refuses to even try a CGM.
Since the new school year has started he has begun checking his blood sugar ALL the Time... saying he feels low. Sometimes he's high sometimes normal and sometimes he actually is low. Sometimes he'll check 45 minutes after getting a reading of 160 and it has dropped to mid 50s!
We're working on adjusting his insulin right now to avoid lows but with the activity changes at school things are completely upside down... again.

Has anyone else experienced this? How do you work through it?

 

We got a cgm when we began testing that much. My daughter now doesn't like to be without it. Does he realize one poke that is about equal to a finger prick replaces most of the testing for TWO weeks?

If I were you, I'd go ahead an order a (Dexcom). In my experience, I'm usually ready for something new before my daughter is, but once she tries something, she usually likes it. I've ordered things and then within a couple weeks, she's usually ready to try them.

And there's times a bribe isn't a bad thing....

Things I've seen resistance on:
Pump....but I didn't push that one at all. She decided on her own after I decided I wanted a cgm.
Infusion sets - contach detach metal that don't kink
Opsite flexifix - for cgm, but she still prefers Hypafix for sites as the Opsite sticks too tight for 3 days.
cgm location

She now appreciates what I learn here...and told me I'm to continue to read the forums, even as my involvement is lessening, so that I can pass on tips that might benefit her. irate:

 

thanks...

 

Alternative is to see about tracking down a Freestyle Libre, which is like CGM-lite..

We never experienced what you're talking about. DD generally measured when needed, sometimes needed encouragement.

 

I may be in the minority here, but some things are just non-negotiable and Dexcom is one of them. Luckily, my daughter doesn't mind it and when she got her Dexcom at 7, she just thought it was cool, but it really wasn't up for discussion.

I suspect if you could get him to try it, by bribe or whatever means necessary, he would probably prefer that over excessive finger pricking. We really only prick twice a day to calibrate. The school wants her to prick at lunch and that's fine. We do it. On the weekends though, usually just breakfast and before bed.

 

My son sort of had this in his teen years. After he had been diagnosed for many years. he could not go to bed without checking several times before bed. Sometimes he drops , sometimes he does not. He can't feel his lows in his sleep and sometimes very low before he feels them when he is awake. He started wearing the CGM and it helped tremendously. He has now been wearing CGM since 2008. He sometimes gets tired of wearing it . but knows without he would have to check more and he would set alarms at night.

 

As a long time T1 and also Mom of 3, I found your comment worth some thought. It may depend in part on the age of the kid. One thing that has always resonated with me over the years, I tend to be big on giving kids choices, but I never gave them a seat belt choice. It never occurred to me that they would not wear a seat belt. And frankly for some families and kids a CGMS is like a seat belt, it is a potential life saving device as well as keeping one healthier with fewer long standing highs or lows etc. It is tricky

 

It is a pain to wear and deal with but as soon as I go for more than about 12 hours without I am suddenly reminded of how much work it is to not wear it. I do hope for vast improvements on the sensor side of things. An implantable device that you could implant under the skin and ignore for a year or two, or a device that can truly get good results being worn anyplace on the body. Or something that can sense from the skin and not be inserted but you could wear as a watch, (Hello Apple, any progress yet. FWIW I have had T1 since 16 and now an adult.

 

When my daughter was 13 and getting really tired of the harpoon of the Medtronic Sof-sensors (for those who currently refer to the Dexcom as a torture device, you have no idea of how bad earlier options were!), I remember our discussing how if she didn't wear it, we would need to raise her target quite a bit higher at night for safety. She didn't want that, so she decided to continue wearing it. But both of us dreaded those insertions all week long. We ordered g4 the day it was released or the next.

 

I think your comparison to the seat belt is a good one. Don't get me wrong, I give my daughter plenty of choices in all aspects of her diabetes care. If there is a choice to be made, I let her make it. I buy her every little gidget and gadget and colored thing on the market. I let her pick out her low treatments. I let her buy whatever bag she wants to carry around her things. She can pump if she wants to and can choose her pump or she can take shots. She can even choose whether she wants to use Lantus or Tresiba based on her passed experience. The exception is the Dexcom. It could, quite literally, save her life. It also gives her freedoms that she would not have otherwise and she knows that.

 

FreeStyle Libre just got FDA approval today. For 18 and over right now, but it will be for sale soon. :cwds:

 

Do you know if we need a prescription? How do I get one for my 14 year-old?

 

We fought & fought & for whatever reason, it was much easier to get the cgm approved as an adult. She now is using the minimed system since may, on track to change to the 670 as soon as we receive the sensors. I had to laugh when she told me the other day how stressed out she was when she didn't have the sensor on

I forget why she didn't have it on...she is away at college, so time may have been the issue. But she said, it was so stressful, Mom!! I just kept wanting to test my blood, cuz I didn't know my number, lol. She said, I can't believe I didn't have this technology for all that time & survived; but to be without it, OMG I need to have the information!! She said being at work was particularly stressful. Knowing if her number is dropping or holding steady makes a difference; the trends.

The difference this would have made when my child was small!! I am grateful that we survived the early years without it, but I would definitely encourage people to get it if they are able.

 

My son was dx at age 7. He was extremely sensitive to insulin and carbs and his body was still making some insulin on its own. The smallest amounts would affect his bg either direction. He would be in range one minute and drop suddenly the next without anything obvious like exercise affecting his bg. The cgm was wonderful during that period. I would give it a try especially now that the sensors are better. We did take a break from the old sensors because he begged me to get off of them - the insertion was brutal. We just upgraded to the new medtronic 670 G and are waiting for the sensors that are backordered.

 

Oh yes ! That soft sensor was a torture device! Nothing soft about it lol. Abbott Navigator was rough too in respects to size, weight and keeping it taped on.

 

Agree that the old soft sensor was awful!! The newer one is much much better & I hear from those already using the newest sensors for the 670, that they are improved as well.

 

I'll definitely look into this one... Does it attach to the body like CGMs?

 

Unfortunately my son simply refused to even go to the appointment we made for him to trial the CGM. Attaching something semi-permanent to a child who doesn't want it attached... well, with my son it really wouldn't be possible and through force could be traumatizing. WE'll keep encouraging though and maybe someday he'll be ok with it.

I think the seat belt analogy probably works for a toddler who has been wearing a one for as long as they can remember.

 

A sensor about the size and shape of a silver dollar (maybe a little smaller?) is attached to your arm. It hurts a little when it goes in - for me, less than a finger poke. It stays attached (it has good adhesive). It takes an hour to self-calibrate, and then you're good for 10 days. It measures blood sugars constantly. and stores the data internally.

You can then take a blood sugar reading any time you want by holding a reader device (looks like a little cell phone) up to it. It gives you a real-time reading, and also downloads the stored data from the sensor and gives you a chart of blood sugar levels since the last measurement/download. Pressing a button a couple of times gives you blood sugar chart for the last day, and then you can go all the way back to when a sensor was put on.

 

you could bribe him if you have to. I know it sounds horrible, but maybe there is a game or ? that he is dying to have. I remember with my daughter, she refused to put pump site on her stomach & she was small & limited real estate for attaching things. I offered her $5(I think this was age 6?) and she was wavering, but her 8 year old brother was like, "no fair!" so we told him, "well, if YOU put a pump site on your belly, we will give you $5 too." Within a day, I had 2 kids, one type 1, one not, but both had pump sites on their belly. After that, she was all, "what's the big deal?" It was just a little fear of the unknown & once she did it, she found it wasn't so scary. And my older child, well, he didn't feel "cheated" by being the kid without diabetes, lol. Only cost us $10.