My 6 year old recently started using Animas Ping pump and we love it–already have much better control than with injections.
Last night, she was 120 pre-dinner. Did bolus for her happy meal. bed as usual. Checked her at 11:30 and she was at 450!
do you do combo/extended bolus?
Abbie generally eats a healthy, balance diet, but every now and then we let her have fries, etc. I’d hate to cut them out of her diet completely, but 450??? Help.
According to the USDA database, a small serving of McDonald’s fries is 30 g of carbs. Medium is 46 g. Large fries have 70 g. (rounding up in each case.) Bolus accordingly.
I don’t know if an extended bolus would help. I generally only use it for pasta or meals high in fat, like pizza so I’m guessing it wouldn’t. Personally I don’t use an extended bolus for fries.
What else was in the Happy Meal? What drink, for instance? Maybe that had something to do with it.
Terry
i know at mc donalds they have the nutritional information
right on the package
i don’t now about other fast foods.
you should get a calorie king book
it would help a lot 
First of all don’t fret to much. Consider that McDonalds French fries are coated in sugar before frying. It is the sugar on the outside that makes them golden brown. Other fries are not nearly so toxic, so she may find some she likes that are nto as harmful.
Second, these fries are unpredictable. The very thing that makes them really good also makes them very unpredictable. When she eats you can almost count on a delayed hit all at once in the blood stream. So what I do is test at two hours, three hours and four and dose for each level. Assuming the adsorption graph looks like it is climbing a hill gradual at first, more steep as it goes, then you might give a smaller dose to start at dinner, then test at two hours and correct for BS, three hours the same, and then at four hours, correct for BS plus a unit or so.
It is not science, it is art. I wish I could be more helpful, what works for me will likely not work for her, so ti is trail and error.
rick phillips
I had the right carb count (from the calorie king database on ping)…so the carbs should have been accurate. she had chicken nuggets and a milk along with the fries…no culprits there.
thanks to all for the comments…always comforting to hear when others have similar issues.
it’s likely the protein and fat that caused the spike later. I have to watch for those spikes and have learned to plan for a correction many hours later when I eat high fat foods and meat.
Before I had awareness of how different carbs effect my sugars, I would bolus for fast food, and then correct for the inevitable high 2 hours after. I would bolus the exact amount of the carbs, thinking that would work. One day, I tested soon after eating and found that my sugars were plummeting. Huge bolus + slow absorption due to high fat = post-bolus hypo with a kidney related rebound!
The hypo was always masked by that greasy feeling that McDonalds gives you. Even now, I still check my sugars soon after, but I find that using a square-wave bolus to deliver it evenly over 30 minutes works for me. If you do try this, make sure to check sugars periodically within the post-prandial period to make sure things are going well.
I agree about using the dual wave bolus, it always works for me with french fries and pizza, half the insulin now and the other half spread out over the next two and a half hours. Good luck!
WOW!!! This post bring back memories!!! hehe… I have not eaten at McDonalds for like 15 yrs!!! LOL…I don’t eat red meat, so I gave up fast food!! Whey protein powder is now my friend!!! LOL
I just accept that they are going to fmylife for about 4-6 hours. Bolus with your eyes closed, pray to baby jesus, whatever…they are like pizza. Eat at your own risk!
All of this discussion, coupled with my own experience, has convinced me that I should avoid french fries. Forget it - french fries are not worth the worry and the unpredictable bg levels.
thanks so much to everyone for their input…we’ll continue to avoid the fries, although we’ve never had this type of reaction when she eats fries at our local cafe. just one more good reason to stay away from the golden arches!
WOW!
Are you absolutly sure the drink was not sugar free? I have had this happen to me numerous times. I cannot taste the difference between sugar and sugarfree soda. My wife can taste the difference. I try to be extra careful at McDonald’s when they are busy and lots of “kids” working. Mistakes are made. Please understand that I am not picking on “kids”, I know that they are trying hard to keep up with the flow and along with their inexperience. Mistakes are made under those conditions. It is no ones fault.
Thanks Sid
Sid…I’m one of those mean moms who makes all my kids drink milk at McD’s!
Another thought here,
Go online to all the fast food places and download their food chart into a folder. Dunkin Donut, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, You get the idea. It really helps me to become familiar with the certain foods that I like. Makes carb counting easier.
Sid
thanks for making me laugh! I’m picturing will ferrell in taladega nights praying over my french fries!
People let the kid eat fries! Jeez!!
I do eat fries and Pizza’s as well, my plan will be to do a combination bolus where I give 50% of it and leave the rest for 2 or 3 hours depending if I will be going to the gym or not.
In my opinion regarding your kid, I will let him eat fries or whatever and try my best to bolus correctly, plus that I will keep an eye on him by checking the blood sugar every two hours, so even if it was high you can have a correction bolus at 250 in stead of 450!
Hope this helps
I’m with Ahmad, let her have fries! She is not a grown up. We grown ups can choose to avoid them but making your kid give them up is not necessary, IMO. Once you get it figured out, the Ping will make it easy with the combo bolus feature (although I suppose the best coverage might come from a Normal bolus, time delay, then an Extended bolus). You know the carb count so now you’ll need to try different combo bolus splits and durations to get best post-meal bg control. The bg control may not be as good as avoiding fries altogether but if you keep experimenting I bet you can get it nailed down pretty well. The hard part with any of these special foods is all the testing required to figure out the best bolus and then making a note somewhere so you’ll always know exactly how to bolus the next time. I bet you can get it figured out within 3 tries, if you test 2-3 times after each time.
We let our grandkids drink chocolate milk. What is the difference? We are their heroes.
Well, no offense but with an A1c of almost 9, your average BGs are around 200…maybe you should reconsider what you are eating if you are striving for good control (if not, disregard my comments). Additionally, spiking to 250 is definitely not a good thing. I don’t even like to see a post-prandial of 150.
I wouldn’t tell someone not to eat something but what food is worth wrestling with blood glucose spikes and lows and rebounds in both directions for hours or even a day?