June 7, 1999
Daily Care, Honeymoon
Question from the United Kingdom:
Our 10-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 7 months ago. Although we maintained good control at first, her blood sugars now fluctuate from anywhere between 3.0 to 27 mmol/l in a day. We are always with her when she does her insulin and know that she does it, as with her blood sugar readings. We follow advice from the dietitian regarding her diet and are careful to count exchanges, but sometimes the levels seem to shoot up for no reason. What are we doing wrong?
Answer:
You are, in all probability, doing nothing wrong. At 7 months, your daughter is probably coming out of the honeymoon period and you are now giving her all the insulin she needs. The fluctuations that you are finding are very common. With some work between you and your team, you will get things settled down a bit but there will always be odd high or low sugars without obvious cause.
KJR
