Our little guy started throwing up on Friday afternoon and into the night. By early Saturday morning I had to take him to the ER knowing he needed fluids and he was developing ketones. His blood sugars seemed stable. He tested positive for influenza A. They gave him some Zofran. We were able to go home after he peed again and ate a little bit. I started treating for ketones and they were eventually cleared. He only had a slight fever. He has been taking Tamiflu. He has thrown up once since home the other day. Now he has watery stool, not all day long just once or twice a day. No appetite, but will manage to eat some things and we are working to keep him hydrated with popsicles and ice chips and watered down juices. Once he started with the watery stool, his blood sugars stay lower and I don’t even cover him for anything he eats! Last night we had to cut his basals through the night by 50% just to keep him in a 90-100 range. This morning he ate a waffle, chunks of banana and milk and I didn’t even cover him. He was 62 to start and after an hour only went up to 125. It is just so baffling. I am assuming he is just super sensitive to the insulin right now and everything he eats is going right through his system and barely any of it is being absorbed? The poor guy is getting ketones again. But with borderline low BGs I have to be careful giving extra insulin and just try to push fluids first. Last night he fell asleep and I kept checking him and he was going low but was so worn out and tired wouldn’t wake enough to eat and drink enough so I gave just 1/2 unit of glucagon SQ just to bring him up to 120s. I hate this!! Have any of you experienced this with the “sick days” I hope he starts feeling better soon! He just isn’t himself. And our youngest started throwing up the other day too! No fun! 
Just needed to vent.
Thanks. The thing is we try and he won’t drink them. I am sure having to cut his basals so much through the night has now contributed to the ketones rising, but didn’t know what else to do. We had to use the glucagon another time too. We just checked with the doctor and nurse and we give just a small dose of that SQ to help get the blood sugar up when he isn’t eating and drinking well. So it isn’t the dose used for an emergency unconscious situation.
The popsicles usually are a hit and we just get the regular ones, but he hasn’t been finishing them very well. And we try giving just the regular juice boxes but he won’t drink them very well either. Maybe it is because he just isn’t used to the real sugary taste. I don’t know. His tummy is just not feeling well at all. I give him the Zofran tablets as needed to try and help control any nausea. At least he is eating some for lunch now so I can cover extra for the ketones. Per instructions if BG is less than 300 just cover for ketones every 2-3 hours. So I guess as long as he is running lower and eating and drinking some I will just do that. Keeping in touch with diabetes nurse too. Today as he is more awake I can try again with the Sprite if needed. Hopefully this is clearing up soon. He finishes the Tamiflu today.
Our experience with stomach bugs is that even after they stop vomiting, it takes quite a long time for their BGs to go back up. My theory is that their bodies are still not absorbing the food like they should.
We rely a lot on pretzels and Gatorade in these situations. Gatorade seems to be easier for my son to tolerate than soda and it has the extra electrolytes which I think their bodies need after this kind of bug. The pretzels settle pretty well and also make them thirsty so they drink more.
My son had a stomach bug in December, lasted only a couple of days and then he was back at school. However, several days later he had a severe low at school - one where they asked me to come as they could not get him up. We must have fed him 100+ grams of various fast acting carbs (glucose gel, tabs, juice) and his BG would just not budge. I finally resorted to glucagon. Throughout the event, it took over an hour for him to become aware again (his eyes were open but he was totally out of it during the hour). Even after the hour his BG never went above 140, which was just crazy given how much glucose I shoved down the poor child and the glucagon shot. I fully believe that this was just lack of proper absorption as an after effect of the virus. So, be very wary for some extra days until you really feel like he is back to his normal patterns.
Aw… I know how that feels. I’ve been there! Just hang in…
Hi, Natalie,
So sorry your little guy isn’t feeling well. We had the flu this past Friday and it wasn’t fun. I’m finding that EA is also running low and I’m not covering a lot of her food…although she’s eating much less than normal these days anyway.
We actually ended up in the ER because after the morning spent in bed, not eating, drinking, speaking, etc…I took her to see the pediatrician. The pediatrician was worried about appendicitis, so after seeing her and having her tummy poked, EA threw up in the Dr.'s waiting room and then we went to the ER. (thankfully I had a hospital bag packed) We were there for about 8 hours doing sonograms, labs, etc. before they decided it must be ok and after she ate a bit and tolerated it, we were sent back home.
Do you notice emotional affects on your children after a bout in the hospital? EA was doing great, but since getting sick, she seems more quiet, mopey and more listless. She also has been eating very badly and only wants white bread and a few bites of applesauce. So not easy to feed little kids.
Anyways, I’m in the sick camp with you Natalie, and hope everyone feels better soon. Praying for you.
Jessica
my daughter did the same thing this last summer,mid to large keatones, but BG too low to even correct. she also wasn’t hungry, but I finally was able to get her to eat 60 carbs worth of frozen yogurt, did the 1.5X dose of insulin and put her to bed. She woke up keatone free and feeling much better. This was after the fever and other symptoms had passed though. When there BG is low with keatones, you may need to actually push the sugary drinks so you have something to cover to bring down the keatones… ICK, i hate sick days!
Thanks for all the well wishes. And Jessica that sounds so similar to our situation yesterday! He had a follow up appointment at his Pediatician just to check in since his ER visit on Saturday. He was not feeling well at all yesterday. And just as we sat down in the waiting room he turned to me and threw up all over the place. I took him to the into the bathroom and he threw up again all over in there. We were both a mess and he just went limp, so drained. It seemed like no one was coming to help, and everyone in waiting room was witnessing all this as the bathroom is right there, so someone finally said she did tell the receptionist. I had my oldest rush me his meter so I could check him quick and thankfully his BG was 133. His doc saw him quick once a nurse finally helped us back to a room. We made another trip to the ER for more fluids and bloodwork and came home. I was wishing I would have just taken him to the ER in our town, the one we had beento on Saturday, it is smaller and not as busy. He could have been seen and treated quicker and then if there was the need to be admitted he could have been sent to the other hospital. But his doc referred us to the larger hospital where his endo is just in case they felt he needed admitted. But it was so busy and we waited in the ER waiting room for 2 1/2 hrs. I kept managing his blood sugar with temp basals and some snacks but worried he wouldn’t keep anything down. Managed to check ketones once when he peed in waiting room bathroom. Thankfully he did keep everything down, at least I had a bucket with me this time. But his bloodwork was ok, much better than it was on Saturday so no need for admission, just some fluids. He hated having another IV stick, I had to stop them before they drew the blood and told them they needed to draw it off of the IV start because he doesn’t need multiple sticks!
He has been in some mopey moods, he keeps apologizing for being sick On Sunday he was tired and just exhausted I am sure because I woke him up in the morning to check him and he just had a meltdown. He cried and screamed and pulled his hands away saying “I don’t want to be checked!” It just broke my heart I just held him and let him get it all out.
Today he seems to finally be doing better. Other than having to be woken up with a BG of 44 this morning, he has been better and more of an appetite. This just hit him so hard. My youngest was throwing up Monday afternoon and evening but was better by Tuesday.
I hope all your little ones are feeling better. We need some nicer weather so we can get out and soak up some extra vitamin D!