Hello all,
My Dad is 84 years old and was diagnosed about 30 years ago. This past Thanksgiving I saw him for the first time in a couple months, his health had declined significantly.
He has survided this long with D and Mom said he knows what he is doing however I had my doubts and began calling them on a more regular basis. Last week when I called Mom broke down telling me she was at her wits end. I went over there and cheched his meter, he had readings from 375 during the day and the two prior 4am readings were 42 and 33.
His Endo has him on 25u Lantis before bedtime and 25u in the morning, Humalog 10u before every meal. I think he may have shot Humalog before bed those two days. Also he was prescibed a Humalog pen and did not like it so he was using the last HUmalog out of the vial.
He also suffers from artheritis in his knee and what I believe to be Neuropathy in his ankles and takes oxycodin for the pain. He needs a walker to mve more than accross a room. The pain meds are causing constapation so we are addressing that as well. He is taking Celebrix for artheritis and Gabapentine for nueropathy.
Anyway my first suggestion was to gey him on a low carb diet to stabalize the BG swings. I took them to the grocery store and stocked them with healthy low carb foods. With the new diet I restructured the insulin doses to match the low carb diet. I created a dosing chart for Humalog and reduced the Lantus to 20u per dose. From day (6 days)one he has been between 85 and 143. My target is 110 plus or minus 30.
So it seems to be working but would be interested in hearing any suggestions or opinions on how to keep him safe and comfortable. By the way, his cognative abilities seem to be improving.
Thanks for reading this long post.