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September 2, 2000

Honeymoon

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Question from Georgia, USA:

My 10 year old daughter’s blood sugar readings will jump from a high of 352 mg/dl (19.6 mmol/l) before lunch to a 76 mg/dl (4.2 mmol/l) at suppertime. This happens when she has not engaged in any exercise, or other activity and extra food has not caused the high. She has had diabetes for five months. Is this signaling the end of the honeymoon stage and is there anything to do to level out the blood sugar other than insulin adjustment?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

Wide fluctuations of blood sugar levels over the day or night are due to many possible variables, such as: the different times of absorption of insulins from the different sites for the shots, the different and changing waiting times between the shot and starting of the subsequent meal, the different glycemic indexes (according to how they are cooked) of different foods, etc. These are only the most important variables and then you can understand how much a proper education for you and your daughter matters in terms of handling all these factors that influence day to day blood sugar variations.

Of course, the honeymoon’s fading may play a role. Although, I think that, in the end, what is most important for your daughter’s metabolic control is to be able to adapt insulin schemes and dosage to the different periods of life. I think that, in your daughter’s case, a pediatric diabetes team can be of the greatest help.

MS