June 30, 2000
Daily Care, Exercise and Sports
Question from Minnesota, USA:
My 12 year old daughter has Type 1 diabetes diagnosed a year ago. She has had excellent control and is very good about following her food plan. She is becoming very active in sports, and her schedule has become very uncertain. She is in softball now with some late practices causing her to miss her 5:30-6:00 P.M. meal. She drinks juice during practice to keep from getting low. She then eats her evening meal about 8 P.M. At bedtime (9:30 P.M.), she has been running high (over 200) and is becoming discouraged. How can we adapt to her busy schedule and still keep her glucose under control?
Answer:
The busy lifestyle is a part of the times, and it is good for kids to be active in sports.
One trick is to split the evening meal and give some rapid insulin at the 5:30 P.M. time and some at 8 P.M. Otherwise you are likely overdoing the insulin, or lack thereof, at the 5-8 P.M. interval, and surely not allowing the glucose to fall from the big meal at 8 P.M. by 9:30 P.M. That is a problem for lots of little kids, dinner and bedtime so close that the “bedtime” sugar, which is actually a postprandial glucose, being seemingly high. It is likely the glucose will be lower by 10 or 11 P.M.
LD
