Juvenile Diabetes and your child
Sometimes your child will eat food that hasn’t been covered with insulin. The reasons vary…it could be that your child ate something that you didn’t know about, or perhaps you could not give insulin when your child did eat.
Life happens…so don’t be surprised if you find yourself in this situation. Every parent whose child has diabetes type one will experience this. So…here are some choices for dealing with the situation.
Know what your child ate
If you know what your child ate and how much insulin is needed, go ahead and give your child a bolus of insulin. The important thing to remember is that you need to wait to take a blood sugar reading at least 2 to 3 hours after you have given the bolus. It takes this long for the insulin to be processed. If you take the reading earlier than 2 hours, you will likely get a high blood glucose reading. It is a false reading because not all of the glucose that was injected has gotten into the system.
Don’t know what your child ate
If you don’t know what your child ate or don’t know how much insulin to give, wait two hours, take a blood sugar reading and then correct the high glucose reading with an injection of insulin.
It takes about 2 hours for carbohydrates in foods, in the form of glucose, to enter the bloodstream. Foods high in proteins or fats take 3 to 3 ½ hours to get to the bloodstream.
So don’t panic
This happens to every child with type 1 diabetes and so it happens to their parents. The most important thing to do is not to panic.
And don’t forget, the Dario glucose monitoring system for mobile phones can give you and your child’s physician important insights in monitoring your child’s blood sugar readings. It eases your mind by helping you determine the amount of insulin your child needs, provides reminders and alerts regarding hypoglycemia and general testing and you can always take a look at the event charts for clues to help you keep your child’s blood sugar on track.
So take a deep breath. You are not alone. Consider your choices and you’ll be okay. Remember, being a surrogate pancreas is not an easy task. You’re doing the best you can.