Sunday, July 26, 2020

The BG Roller Coaster

A couple days ago I miscalculated an insulin correction.  Well, actually, I calculated it perfectly if he was sitting still and resting but since he was exercising at the time I should have given 1/2 a correction.  N has been going high from 2:30-5 daily for a couple weeks now.  This also coincides with the time of day that he likes to play games on the virtual reality with his arms flailing wildly as he fights with a sword, or he is jumping and crawling around through tunnels hiding from enemies. 

Hubby told N that I react to his Dexcom readings like I am riding a scary rollercoaster.  I don't like rollercoasters and I have a lot of angst when BG is out of range.  I watch the Dexcom numbers obsessively until he is back in range.  Hubby says it looks like I'm hanging onto the rollercoaster bar as we go racing down, down, down into the "red" low zones or leaning back anxiously as we click, click, click up the rise heading for the terrifying top.  That is, in fact, how it feels to me sometimes.  I admit it.  I like to keep things under control.  I like to keep things even and smooth and not just with blood sugar; that is how I like everything in my life to be.  Stable.

So I gave too much insulin while he was exercising.  About an hour later he stopped exercising.  His blood sugar started plummeting.  He was at 290 then five minutes later his reading was 256, double arrows down.  Still high though so nothing to be done but watch and worry.  Within 20 minutes he was under 80 and still had double arrows down.  We gave our 15g carbs and were supposed to wait fifteen minutes.  I was freaking out but N said he still felt fine.  Ten minutes later his number was 52, the Dexcom was alarming that he was much too low, and we gave another 15g carbs.  Ten minutes later N was laying on the couch, white as a ghost, shaking hands, no color in his lips, saying he felt "WEIRD" and another 15g of carbs.  Hubby was keeping him talking, I was on the phone with my sister getting the "pep talk" to give the emergency med if we needed.  I have not had to give the emergency med and I'm not looking forward to it.  

Finally, the double arrows down were replaced with an angled arrow down, and the BG only dropped by a few points.  Now I knew we'd given 45g of carbs with NO INSULIN to cover it so I figured we'd be rising and rising soon.  When he got back above 70 we gave him dinner (about 30 minutes early) and made sure that dinner was mainly protein but still  it included 30 carbs (which is a light-carb dinner at our house).  He'd gotten back above 100 at that point and I debated with Hubby and Sis about covering dinner with insulin or waiting and correcting again or ... 

Things all worked out fine.  We were a team working towards the common goal and everything worked out fine.  I have guilt about it but I know I am human and making mistakes will happen.  I have routines and procedures to minimize error and this time I had skipped a step.  We usually confirm math/doses with another person.  Mostly Hubby & I check each other but sometimes I have N check.  Hubby wasn't home when I gave the correction.   

N's BG did spike back into the 200s but it was back in range about forty minutes after that, although we did decide to cover the dinner carbs we didn't do anything about the 45g of carbs that brought him back up.  We usually give 3 units of insulin to cover 45g of carbs.  I had clearly given TOO MUCH INSULIN.  If you've never seen 1 unit of insulin...it is a teeny, tiny, amount.  The difference between healthy and safe and sick and low and dangerous is the size of a pea!  

Three hours later was bedtime snack and we were right back on our routine.  He was close to his bedtime BG so we covered snack and moved on with our night.  Hubby did double-check numbers this time.

I couldn't sleep though.  I worried and stewed all night.  Thankfully we have the Dexcom so I could just roll over and look at my phone and know he was fine.  I didn't get out of bed but the worry was there.  He had a lovely, flat, in-range line all night long.  He woke up the next morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Kids are so resilient.  They don't hold onto things like mom-brains do.

I'm thankful for our support people.  I had hubby and sister and if I things kept going south I was ready to call another T1D mom and I'm sure she would've jumped in her car and been here to help walk us through that emergency glucagon.  I'm glad it didn't come to that.  One day it might. 

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