That's the question for today. The doctors say maybe, we say maybe, diabetes says "I don't give a rats * what you think, honeymoon schmoneymoon - I'm just doing my thing".
For those unversed in the diabetic lingo (as I blissfully was 5 months ago) - the term 'honeymooning' is used typically for newly diagnosed diabetics who still have a partially functioning pancreas. Like 10-15%. In the beginning when you're trying to figure things out after getting home from the hospital, this is a bit of a joke. Ok, it's still a bit of a joke because while, sure, you need less insulin when your body is in the 'honeymoon' phase, this ain't no mexican riviera cruise, either. Honestly there were many times when late at night my husband and I would sit on the couch at night, frustrated out of our minds, wondering when the stupid pancreas was just going to die already! Then we could figure out what her doses need to be instead of finding her randomly low because it decided to secrete a little extra insulin here and there after we'd already dosed her via syringe.
She had a cold come up over the weekend, and we noticed highs start slightly before that - which I'm told is pretty common. Diabetics tend to have really wonky readings when they're getting (or are) sick. Great! Well we're about 4-5 days in now, she seems to have passed the worse part of the mediocre cold, and yet she's having her highest numbers since we've brought her home today.
So we ask again... is the honeymoon over?
If it is - ok great, we'll struggle and adapt and move on. She'll need more insulin but big deal as long as it actually works.
Tonight, for example, after a few random highs (like a 345 out of no where at lunch time) she seemed to be doing well for the second half of the day. We spoke to the doctors and decided to up her Lantus (that's her 24 hour basal dose insulin) from 2 units to 3 units. This should hopefully help lower her #'s throughout the day in-between meals and at night. Theoretically, anyway. Great! We go into dinner optimistic.
Home made english muffin pizzas, they consist of whole wheat english muffin, cheese, and a little bit of pizza sauce with some severely mashed up veggies hidden underneath for good effect. And some milk. Great! We're looking at 38g of carbs if she eats the whole meal. Gave her the shots required, sat her down for dinner.
Fast-forward 2 hours later. Yes. 2 hours. She was still chewing on pizza muffin. Which she's loved before, mind you, but she's nearly 4 and her likes and dislikes change faster than you can say 'EATYOURFRICKINGDINNER'. I substituted more milk, took away more muffin, and finally after she got MOST of 1/2 of it down, plus the extra milk, called it quits.
Believe me there are times I LONG for the days I could legitimately threaten to send my daughter to bed without dinner if she refused to eat it. Sadly, that is not a viable option with a diabetic who's already had her insulin shot and needs to consume carbs or face a serious low blood sugar.
Funny, that's what you'd expect, anyway. But no. Not tonight! Not this week! She doesn't even consume the right amount of carbs, yet when we test her before bed she is a whopping 422. I think my stomach went into my throat a little. 422?! Whaaat????? I was stumped. Frank was stumped. Sierra was high and we couldn't explain it. Did the shot go haywire? Did she randomly find 40 gummy worms somewhere?! No idea. Still don't know. So a correction shot was given, and started to work, and now of course we're paranoid she'll be low at 2am when we (I) wake to check her.
Sigh.
This is a crummy diabetes day. And I think it may be the end of the honeymoon. Fine... just lets hope we figure out what needs to happen next quickly, because this back and forth and high stuff is exhausting.
In October of 2011, our 3 year old daughter Sierra was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and spent three nights at the local PICU. These are our stories, experiences, and our life as a family of four moving forward.
Today is Emerson's one year anniversary and she is still honeymooning! I can't wait for it to "die!"
ReplyDeleteI think the pump will eliminate some of your issues. Luckily, Emerson is a good eater and always finishes her plate. However, whenever we go to a restaurant, we typically test her, give her a correction and then give a food dose when she finishes her meal.
I hope you get her back into range soon...it's definitely no fun for you or Sierra!
Hugs. I remember really wanting the honeymoon to just END so there was less uncertainty. I think there is some formula out there that involves the total daily dose of insulin that will tell you if they are honeymooning still or not. I think I asked Adam's endo about 6 months ago, and he looked at his insulin usage and said, "definitely not honeymooning anymore" when he was taking in over 20 units of insulin a day. He's at about 22-23 units per day right now.
ReplyDeleteI so remember those weeks early on and that darn honeymoon. I feel like even though Natalie was diagnosed fairly early she never really had much of a honeymoon. Her insulin needs increased weekly in the beginning it seems. We were constantly having to make changes to her carb ratios and increase her lantus as well. Just a couple weeks after her diagnosis, I will never forget her feeling bad in the morning after breakfast and her shots and I checked her and she was 500! This happened a couple days in a row and then we hit a "hi" meaning over 600 breakfast spike. Very scary, but we just had to keep increasing lantus. We eventually split her lantus dose and she gets half in the morning and half at dinner. That helped even it out and with the breakfast spike. Your daughter could be running high from still recovering from the cold as well as increasing insulin needs.
ReplyDeleteI also remember when Natalie was diagnosed they were very strict about her having to finish her meal in 30 minutes and then get her shot (we now give the shot before the meal). I thought that was crazy and so frustrating! My daughter is a great eater and we can always count on her to eat everything, but she was slow and we could not get her to finish in 30 minutes! I hated having to rush her through a meal, so I don't.
Oh, and the english muffin pizza idea sounds like a great idea for my kids! Quick, easy, and pretty good on the carbs! We even eat the lower carb, high fiber english muffins that help cut down on the carbs.
Hang in there...we all understand what you are going through.
Hey hon, I've been keeping up with you on FB, and reading some of your post, but this is my first comment. I can't imagine how frustrated you are, and I've thought of you guys often. Sending our love & hugs to you. <3
ReplyDeleteI hope you figure it out. Quickly!!
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