September 20, 2004
Meal Planning, Food and Diet
Question from Mukwonago, Wisconsin, USA:
My 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with ADHD at age seven. She has been on various medications for the ADHD and we came up with a combination last year that seemed to work well, Strattera and short acting Adderall. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just over two months ago. Our problem is balancing her need for food/insulin with her ADHD medications that make her not hungry. She frequently didn’t eat much for lunch last year, but we could make up for it at supper. Now, she really needs to eat lunch, or at least something. Do you have any insight into this dilemma?
Answer:
I understand the problem. One possible solution is to use a multi-injection schedule with a long acting analog once a day and short acting analogs AFTER meals. This allows for adjustment according to what she actually eats and is a very successful strategy with faddy toddlers. Basically, it takes the pressure off her at meal times.
KJR
