September 30, 2007
Puberty
Question from Greeleyville, South Carolina, USA:
My 12-year-old son’s blood sugars have become erratic; they are high and low. He takes 22 units of long lasting every evening. He also takes a short acting insulin before each meal and snack. His body is responding differently to the insulin. One day, his numbers dropped from 523 mg/dl [29.1 mmol/L] to 50 mg/dl [2.8 mmol/L] in a period of 35 minutes after he’d gotten eight units of insulin to correct the high. Another day, he was given four units to correct a high of 350 mg/dl [19.4 mmol/L] and two additional units to cover his lunch. At the end of lunch, his number had gone up to over 400 mg/dl [22.2 mmol/L]. Could my son be entering puberty? Could anxiety also be playing a role in the fluctuation of his numbers?
Answer:
I think neither puberty nor anxiety do really play a major role in your son’s blood sugar fluctuations. Instead, I think you might not be calculating the correction dose correctly and maybe not waiting enough time between a correction shot and a meal. Please consult your son’s diabetes team about proper dosing.
MS
