Friday, July 27, 2012

Growing Pains

Every six months or so, I'm tempted to post a "What the heck? His insulin is like water" post.

And then I remember I've already done that a few times.

Each time I forget that we are dealing with a growing boy here, and his insulin needs are constantly going to change.

Here's a pic of Adam's I:C ratios for June:


These were set after our last Endo appointment in May and were working great!

Until they weren't. For a good part of July, I couldn't get Adam out of the 300's some days. And I continued to be befuddled (really, Steph? Have we not been through this before??) Yet it took me a few weeks to catch on to the fact that I might need to change some of his I:C ratios. It took looking at his 30-day meter average and seeing a 190 staring back at me to get serious.


So I rage-I:C-ratio'ed. Is that even in the D-dictionary?

I ignored all the great advice about making small changes every 3 days. Instead of dropping his I:C ratio by one every few days, I did this:


Yeah, I like to live life on the edge.

But to my surprise, it worked. I haven't seen a number in the 300's in 3 days.


And, um, yeah...we've been testing a lot lately. As you can see by his PDM. But look at those purty numbers!

For some reason it still pains me to see that he continues to need more and more insulin as time goes on. I know it's part of the deal.

I am positive I will be upping some of those once school starts and adding in some different patterns depending on his school schedule. But for now, I'm happy to not have a cranky boy who is sick of being high all the time!

7 comments:

  1. I am always amazed at how different our kiddos insulin needs/settings are. So cool that you nipped those 300s girl.

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  2. You are amazing!! I needed to read this today. Matthew's going through a growth spurt right now and I'm about to pull my hair out. Should I change basal? Bolus? Ugh!

    I hope I do as well as you did! : )

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  3. Ohhh, I can relate. Natalie has been high a lot lately. Maybe the bad food we ate while on vacation or just growing?? I don't know! Natalie has had the same carb ratio of 1/15 for all meals for a LONG time, like over a year I think. It surprises/scares me when I see other kids her age who get less insulin than her. Not Adam, just other kids we have met I have noticed are older and/or bigger and get less than her! Same with lantus. I asked at her Dr. and of course they tell me not to worry about it or compare. Yah right! It scares me too when their needs increase and to know their life depends on it. Hope to see as good of #'s as Adam is very soon!

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  4. Wouldn't it be great if they had one I:C ratio for the entire day?!? Emerson is at 1/14 at breakfast and by dinner she is at 1/50.

    Glad to hear your numbers are down with your new numbers!

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  5. With ya, girl! Growing is the last thing I think of when Bean's numbers go out of whack! Her basals are up 0.05u across the board and it's looking like some I:Cs need to be adjusted a bit, too! Darn these growing kids!!! :)

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  6. I know! Why do I have to convince myself that I need to adjust insulin instead of trying to be a sleuth and figure out if its bad insulin, bad site, miscalculation in carbs. I think its still scary to me to adjust the insulin, the smallest amount can make big changes. Way to go on rockin the rage-I:C ratio!!

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  7. I am so with you. Aiden had been in the 300's for weeks and I was DYING!!! I love our Endo and he could tell that the gradual changes we usually do weren't cutting it for me and he rage-I:C-ratio'ed the heck out of it. For now, we are back on track (until we aren't - love that). But I have been thinking the same thing about hating when their insulin need increases. It just makes me so sad for some reason, then I feel bad that maybe it was me that was just too hesitant on giving him the insulin the he just needed to LIVE. For some reason, it just does make me a little sad (or something) to think about how not too long ago he was just getting 1 unit of lantus a day. Like if he only got a little insulin, he was only a little type 1. :( Then it passes and I give him an extended bolus of 4 units for some donuts and we move on. ;)

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