June 3, 2000
Daily Care
Question from Illinois, USA:
My 11 year old sister was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 3 years ago. We can’t seem to get her stable. She goes up and down. The doctor said it could be her hormones kicking in. Her reading this morning was 378! Her shot was 14R and 30N. She ate a cream filled donut, an orange, milk and a piece of bread. She’ll have a mid morning snack. Then at super time she’ll have a shot of 12R then after a night snack, before bed she’ll have another shot of 20N. The doctor thought by doing the shot this way would help, but I’m not too sure. I’m not sure about these carbs either. Please help however you can!
Answer:
Having good glucose control is not easy, especially once the honeymoon period is over. Control depends not only on insulin dose, but also on a sensible diet with regular carbohydrate, and exercise.
It sounds as though you may be able to get some improvements with diet. It would be worth your sister and parents discussing this with her dietitian. What may be useful is to keep a food diary for 3 or 5 days, so the dietitian can see how much carbohydrate is being taken each meal time and so see if there is much variation.
However, don’t dismay. Things will get better!
JS
