October 16, 2000
Daily Care, Honeymoon
Question from Columbus, Ohio, USA:
My 12 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 10 months ago. His control has been excellent until the past couple of weeks. He is eating properly and never misses an injection so we are totally baffled by the mid-high 200s mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L] and an occasional 300+ mg/dl [16.7 mmol/L]. He is very bothered by these readings! His dosage is 5 R and 15 NPH in he morning, 7R at dinner, and 7 NPH at bedtime. We are all frustrated. His numbers at the two previous visits were 6% and 7% for his HbA1c. Let us know your opinion.
Answer:
Probably the most common reason for the change is likely to be the end of his honeymoon period, when the body’s ability to make the last remaining amounts of insulin fade away. This is often a challenging time and makes glucose control more difficult, and also more challenging. I suggest you talk it over with your diabetes team who can give you more advice about how to get better control. It is not that your son has suddenly developed a strange problem. It is a normal pattern that we see in children.
JS
