Day 8

This is Craig just a few weeks after diagnosis... He continued to play baseball and we had to figure out how to manage his diabetes while he was active.  It may sound easy, but its all like a numbers game..Its different for every person, situation and different every day really!

One thing that we struggled with for Craig and are now trying to figure out with Madi is excersize... With Craig, he is very active in baseball and after his diagnosis it was very hard to determine how many extra carbs he needed, when he needed them, and how he got them to keep his levels up during the game.. With baseball, sometimes he is running and exerting a lot of energy, sometimes its more laid back, and sometimes he is pitching and using a lot of energy...
     It took him getting low a few times and us trying to figure out how his body reacts to exersize and carbs to know whet he needs when playing... He is pretty good now, he snacks on jerky during the game, and has gatorade as well to keep those levels up while playing.  If he is high, he drinks extra water.   This keeps him at a good level so he doesnt pass out or something!! Also, with him being 12, he can tell when he is getting low...We also change his carb ratio when he has a game or practice.. He eats extra carbs before hand and that helps too. 

     Madi on the other hand is sparatic..She is 4, so sometimes she just wants to chill and watch movies and sometimes she is wild and running around like crazy!  That makes her numbers up and down!!   She cannot tell us when she feels her levels getting low...I dont like that..Its one of those hard things about diabetes... Its not something you can see...I know eventually she will be able to tell if her levels are getting to a low number..but for now, its a lot of finger pricks to see where she is at...


For Type 1, there are calculations we do to figure out how much insulin the kids need...

First there is a correction calculation... This is the number your blood glucose is at (which you test on the meter by pricking your finger)..This number is divided by a number (which is different per person)   This calculation gives you  a decimal number

The second calculation is your carb ratio.. You take the number of carbs you are going to eat and divide it by your meal bolus (another number different for each person.. Madi is 75 and Craig is 45)
This gives you another number...

We add those 2 numbers and that will give us the amount of insulin the kids need....See what I mean about more time.. and calculations! We do this for both kids before every meal.....


Here is a quote from JDRF:
Type 1 (T1D, insulin-dependent or juvenile)
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) can occur at any age, but most commonly is diagnosed from infancy to the late 30s. In this type of diabetes, a person's pancreas produces little or no insulin. T1D occurs when the body's own defense system (the immune system) attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. People with T1D must inject insulin several times every day or continually infuse insulin through a pump.
While its causes are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved. Its onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent T1D, and-at present-nothing you can do to get rid of it.