Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Poop on Diabetes

I'm in a diabetes funk.  Big time. 

And why?  Yesterday we got Matthew's A1C:  6.7

Doesn't get much  better than that, right?  I should throw a party.

But here I sit, completely overwhelmed and depressed.

We saw new endo yesterday.  And yes, overall I did like him and Matthew liked him....which matters a lot to me.

(Sidenote:  Mom and Dad, sorry I didn't tell you all this yesterday.  I was still processing the visit when we talked.....)

The quick version is that apparently Matthew has an unusual 8-10pm spike.  Though Reyna sees the same thing with Joe and boy does that make me feel better. (click here to read more.)

Anyway, when the doctor saw that Matthew's basal doubles from 6-10....well, let's just say it wasn't textbook and he wanted to change that.  (Has he met diabetes?)

He wanted me to lower it and see what would happen.  Gee....I never tried that....HA!

The second he left the room, I told Kevin there was no way I was going to lower his basal by that amount!  Kevin convinced me to talk to the doctor more about it.

Well, I do have a smart husband and I agreed with him.  I told the doctor my concerns.  Showed him the logbook..... He was polite, but felt confident his idea would work.  (Really?)

After some hesitation, I finally agreed.  After all, he is the one who went to medical school, right?

Dinner BG 86
Two hours after dinner:  311

And yes, we battled highs until midnight.....when he finally tanked and I had to feed glucose tabs and juice.

Thanks Doctor.

13 comments:

Lora said...

Are you his first D patient? Just curious :)

Justin's basals go from the 3 or 4.whatevers all day to 6.5 at 9pm... AND need to be raised because we have been going up Weird, but it is what it is.

Lora said...

OH!!! That is a ROCKIN A1C BTW!!!

Denise aka Mom of Bean said...

So he lowered the basal but was there an adjustment to the dinner carb ratio? Obviously the need for insulin during that time of day is greater...why lower it one place if you're not going to up it somewhere else?
I don't care how many degrees are on the wall or how many letters are behind their name, sometimes Dmoms know way the heck more than doctors and I think they need to listen more and talk less sometimes!
Hope you figure it out...highs that won't go anywhere for hours and then crashes stink!!

Heidi / D-Tales said...

Often times, we D mamas know best, don't we?!

Way to go on the A1C!

Tammy said...

My basals double during the day due to my anxious nature. I need more insulin to combat my body's hormones whereas (supposedly) most people need more insulin at night because activity during the daytime compensates for some of the basal insulin. There is nothing textbook about the human body. We all might be the same in the basic sense, but the fine tuning differs vastly from one person to the next.

Meri said...

With a rockin A1C like that? He wanted to make changes to something that was working just because it wasn't text book? If it isn't broke, don't fix it! To be fair, it takes a few days to really see the results of basal changes. And likewise, if you change it back, it might take few days for things to get back to normal. Don't be discouraged, you just learned something! You learned you know better than anyone else what your son needs!

I'm sorry you are having a bad time. We are so breathing the same air! ((HUGS))

LaLa said...

Rock that a1c woman!! Chin up --- great job!
Sometimes doctors don't know crap about D. I'm just sayin'.

They don't live it --- eat it and breathe it the way that we do. You know what is best. Trust it.

BTW - when are we EVER going to meet??

Tell the hubs I've got some pod magnets for him!!

Unknown said...

First off... "HI" ... sorry I am late to comment (I have a house full of guests). Anyway, yep...my endo never told me to turn mine down, but did not want me to go up on it...I have...Joe will SKYROCKET at that time of day...and it is usually 3 hours after dinner...so I don't think it is an I:C issue. Hang tough. You know your kid better than any MD. You are a smart and beautiful pancreas!

xoxo

Unknown said...

You know what?

YOU KNOW!

YOU. KNOW.

Because you're the mom. That stinkin' doctor should have recognized how hard you've been working instead of trying to put his 2 cents in....as if it would mean anything....SHEESH!

DON'T MESS WITH MY CHILD'S RATES.

I. KNOW.

I believe in you, my friend.

And now that doctor oughtta as well.

connie said...

I agree with all of the above comments, Tracy...we live, eat, breath and sleep diabetes. When it comes to our kiddos often times mama knows best!!!

(((hugs)))

I've missed you, I look forward to catching up and getting back into the DOC again...btw...we are going to look into getting Miss E on a pump real soon!!! Her night time bgs have been through the roof lately and we're hoping that a pump might be the answer to our frustrating situation.

Anonymous said...

The evening spike from 6pm to 10 or 11pm as a basal pattern is well documented in Ragnar Hanas's Type 1 Diabetes. I condier him an expert worth reading. As well as a drop anywhere from midnight to 3am. We still have this pattern, but now transitioning into adult pattern of drops 11:30 p.m thru 2am then the Dawn Phenom rise 3am thru 6am (higher morning basals as well). But since you are the one testing BGs night and day and logging them, it should be OBVIOUS to any endo what your child's pattern is... if he has a pattern... AND even if he is the only child in the world who has this individual pattern,you have to treat the spike if it does occur. So, yes, you use your own judgment, based on observation. As long as it is based on observation and documented, treat. You are the expert as you are the only one monitoring your child 24/7, 365 days a year. Trust your own judgment.

Misty said...

Congrats on the A1C!! That's great! And I agree with the others, each person's body varies and if it was working before, then I wouldn't change it either! You are doing a great job Mama Pancreas!

Lorraine of "This is Caleb..." said...

Yay for the A1C!

And YES! Caleb has had that early night basal need - highest bt 8 and 11ish.I've always attributed it to growth - it seems volatile too - comes and goes in waves.

Anyhoo - YOU KNOW BETTER!

Hot snot we had an endo appt and it was suggested that I raise Caleb's basals overnight. I simply said I was confident they were on spot and to raise them might kill him. Conversation ended there. Thankyouverymuch.

Mama knows best.

Glad it otherwise went well though.