One of the most frustrating things, caring for a type 1 diabetic, are the things that make no sense. I mean, none of it is a picnic, but I'm braced to deal with a high blood sugar after a birthday party or a big meal, and I can adjust insulin dosages to account for extra activity or illness or whatever. But I hate it when Penny's blood sugars go berzerk and I can't figure out why. This entire weekend was a case in point.
We went out to eat Friday night to Penny's favorite restaurant, which is a buffet, and I let her fill her plate twice. She's a fan of sushi (which involves white, sticky rice and a ton of carbs) so I was braced for her blood sugar to be high that evening. I wasn't quite prepared for it to climb all the way to 400, though, or for her to still be high the next morning.
She was in the high 200s and 300s all day Saturday, despite giving her corrective insulin, and a Wasabi-high (Wasabi being the name of the restaurant) generally levels off much sooner than that. Saturday night, I tried to take my parents out to dinner, and as soon as Penny got her food, she told me she felt like she was going to throw up, and we spent several minutes in the bathroom waiting for it. It never came, but now I had a new theory about those high blood sugars -- illness makes them skyrocket.
But she wasn't feverish, and she never actually threw up, and it's possible her stomach was upset not because she was sick but because she'd sucked down her entire 16-ounce cup of milk in about ten minutes.
When we got home, I had her do a ketone test, but that turned up negative.
We were still a week out from needing to change out her insulin cartridge, but it does occasionally spoil, for whatever reason, so I got out a fresh Humalog cartridge and gave that a try. Six hours and two shots later, she was finally back in range. We changed out her Lantus as well, last night, and this morning she was actually a smidge low.
So had the insulin expired on us? Had she been sick and then it passed? Had it just taken her a solid thirty-six hours to digest all that sushi and syrup-packed fruit? A combination of all of the above? No idea. I mean, really, none. And that makes me crazier than the high blood sugar itself. If I'd known what was causing it, I could have done something about it that much sooner.
(On the plus side for the weekend, not to get lost in the diabetes frustration -- Alex made it through the weekend without any accidents! We're still telling him when it's time to go and watching him for the peepee dance, but I'll take whatever progress I can get!)
3 comments:
Have you approached the idea of a pump anymore or are you guys still holding off on that? I know it will make a world of difference for you if you can get are into the idea of one. In the mean time *hugs* from me. I know how frustrating it can be :(
She's said recently that she's interested in looking into a pump, so we're planning to bring it up the next time we see the endocrinologist (which I think is next month). If she doesn't chicken out when she sees the infusion set needle (our endo insists on an oblique insertion angle, which means we can't use the hidden-needle insertion doohickeys) then we could be on a pump by sometime this summer.
Your opening line nailed it: "One of the most frustrating things, caring for a type 1 diabetic, are the things that make no sense." Sometimes, we just can not make sense of this complicated condition. All we can do is treat and move on.
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