Hi everyone!
Got another question for Y’all. Doc called tonight after I called in daughters numbers and said he wanted to start her on Novolog at lunch and dinner. I asked if we can start with dinner and then add on lunch, he said no problem. She is going to be taking Lantus in morning and then Novolog at lunch and dinner.
How do these med’s work for your kiddo’s?
Come on and give me all the advise you can. We can really use any and all information. 7 days into this and flying blind it seems.
So, she’s not taking anything with her breakfast? My daughter has always been on Novolg and Lantus. She gets Novolg at every meal and her Lantus before bed. I guess every doc. is different.
My girls are both on levemir and humalog, my oldest doesn’t get any rapid acting (humalog) with breakfast either, unless she eats a really big breakfast. the other gets it for all meals. We were on lantus, but it didn’t work too good for us, every person is different though, and i know lots of people that are happy with lantus.
My daughter Lily is on Novolog and Lantus too and has been from the start. However, we have made a number of changes in her regimen since she was diagnosed 10 months ago.
She gets her Lantus in the morning with breakfast, Novolog with lunch and dinner. Going to start with dinner first then move on to adding lunch.
Lantus is a long acting (background) insulin. Its purpose is to keep numbers stable when not eating. It doesn’t actually bring down numbers when you consume carbs, UNLESS she is still making some of her own insulin. My older daughter still makes lot of insulin, so in the morning she only needs the background insulin to keep her numbers stable. Her insulin production decreases as the day goes on, so for the rest of her meals she needs rapid acting (or a bolus) insulin. The sad thing is that is guaranteed to change, at some point her “honeymoon” will be over, and we know that then she will need to add her rapid actiing with breakfast like her sister does.
your daughter must also have quite a bit of her own insulin if they only started her with lantus and are just now adding novolog. for both my girls they were started on both rapid acting and background insulin right away.
Hang in there! At 7 days you are going to feel like you are flying blind. There is so much to learn, so much for the dr’s to figure out about your daughters ratios, and how her body responds to things, etc. But don’t worry, things will level out, the dr’ will start to have your daughter on a stable program. (Often they are very cautious, not wanting to cause lows with kids that might not be able to recognize them yet)
Soon, you will be an old pro, and will be thinking blood sugar/insulin in your sleep, and will be directing the pharmacist on exactly what they should be giving you (I wonder how many people have left their local walgreens with their first box of syringes, arriving home to discover that for their 1-2 unit doses they have 100 cc syringes and need a magnifying glass to figure it out??)
You daughter must be showing some post lunch and dinner highs, and not post breakfast. The novolog reacts in 2-3 hours, just as the carbs she has consumed are being digested. It will ‘cover’ the food. She must not be showing the after breakfast highs. Maybe because of honeymoon, or morning activity levels (with the slow release lantus covering)
Hi Mia,
Both of these insulins are vital to any type 1 diabetic’s survival. Right now your daughter is in her “honeymoon” phase - her pancreas is still producing some insulin, so she doesn’t require quite as much via injections. As time goes on, she will need to take more of both of these long acting and fast acting insulins.
Have you checked out JDRF’s website? It’s loaded with lots of information that you, and your daughter would find useful. Here’s the link http://www.jdrf.org
Best,
Patti
A book that we use as our go to book for any diabetes related questions is Think Like A Pancreas by Dr Gary Scheiner. I have read and reread it many times. In there you will see how different insulins act, when the peak, etc. When my son was diagnosed we were put on NPH and Novorapid, NPH is the long acting and Novorapid is the fast acting. When gave him two injections a day, one in the am and one at supper. We mixed both insulins in a syringe as per our doctor’s instructions to lessen the number of injections he got. Now we are onto long acting and fast combined in the am, fast acting at supper and long acting at bedtime. We test between 6-8 times a day, more if he is sick or is playing hockey. You are doing well if you found this website by day 5, it took me months to find it. hang in there.
Very helpful information thanks.
Thanks, I have been looking at books online and just don’t know which ones to get. I will check this out.
Yeah her highs are afternoons and evenings. And I feel so bad cause if she’s high she can’t have that snack that she may want. This kid ate like two grown boys and this is hard because everything is limited. I am still waiting to hear from dietitian, so until then we are doing it on our own and with the help of the internet. Her breakfast levels are great.
I haven’t been to that site yet but have been meaning too and will. I have been to ADA site and have read and used the My Food Advisor site that has been very helpful.
Thanks, this is so overwhelming. I am online for hours looking and reading. We are also checking 6-8 times. The Dr. tells us 4 but to me that just isn’t enough. And my daughter is the one that has to check herself so she’s ok with this. I have read a few others post about that book and plan on getting probably along with a few others that I have been told about.
My son has been doing Humalog at all three meals and then Lantus at bedtime since day 1. When he first started, his carb ratio for all three meals was 15:1. Now his breakfast is 45:1, lunch 40:1 and dinner 35:1. His lantus started at 15 and is down to 7. My son started with his snacks needing to be 15 carbs or less and was going to bed starving. His snacks are now 30 carbs or less and he has been doing this for 2 months now and so far it has worked out perfectly.
Think like a pancreas is an excellent book. I highly suggest you buy it!
The addition of novolog should change that. And soon, she will be her own pancreas and will be able to eat like two grown boys again! For now, are you stocked up on carb-free snacks - beef jerky, broccoli with cheese, string cheese, nuts?
We test both girls any where from 6 to 10 times a day. they are both very active so BG can change quickly. During swim meets we can test as often as every 45 minutes. I am sorry that your daughter is needing to avoid foods for now, soon you will be manipulating her numbers with the insulin, not so much with the food!
My son also eats a lot of ham/cheese or turkey/cheese rolls when he is hungry and needs to be low or carb free! Krogers sells a yogurt called Carb Masters. A container is only 4 carbs and it tastes good. The texture is a little different then regular yogurt, but that with ham/cheese or the turkey/cheese roll and he can be filled up on 4 carbs.
Beef jerk and nuts, yeah. The problem is my daughter does not and will not eat veggies. She likes some cheese but wouldn’t eat string cheese I don’t think. I buy stuff like that all the time but she doesn’t like them. Today she had 1/2 c milk (low-fat) with her breakfast and its the first time in months. I told her over time she will start liking stuff that she never did before because she won’t have much of a choice.
Ham/cheese rolls and even turkey rolls she does. Yogurt? Oh no I have been trying for years to get her to try. She has always been funny about certain foods. Texture problem! Nothing smooth like yogurt, puddings, jell-o’s or even oatmeal. This is hard!