thanks guys for your input, for jacobs low i probably treated him with about 40 carbs becuase he was feeling pretty bad, we had lunch about 15 minutes later and i did not retest but put in for a bs of 90, since he had no ketones i think it was safe to exercise moderately anyways the story ends well we came in and his bs was 142 1 hr later hopefully he stays steady before dinner, I am new to tu diabetes it is so nice to put something out there and get input right away it is a tough disease but knowing you are not along makes a big difference thanks again! ( jacob always washes his hands when he has an unexpected high so it was real but he felt fine) amy
Yep, treating with 40 carbs is what made him that high! I treat with two glucose tabs which are 8 carbs! If I was that low I would use 3 but that still is only 12. And I’m larger than your son! Glucose tablets are the fasted acting carbs. If you treated with a food item, and if it included fats it would be absorbed more slowly and the key is to get it down as fast as possible without over treating and going high. Bouncing from 38 to 390 is not a good thing. Also, you should always test 15-20 minutes later to see if it brought you down enough, and certainly if you are going to eat.
I know there is a lot to learn but I’m glad your on here - great bunch of knowledgeable people here!
So now you know if 40 grams raised him to 390, each gram raised him about 9. And you can test that out.
So now when he’s at maybe 60, you can see if a 4 gram glucose tablet will raise him to 96. You can refine your numbers!
Always testing of course after 15 minutes to assure the prior test was not just a point on a further downward curve.
I think the math is always fun!
People have varying sensitivities to carb corrections. One gram of glucose raises me 10 pts, by way of example. I’m small, 104 lbs. I correct conservatively to avoid the low/high roller coaster with either highs or lows. Good to test before correcting, as well as after to know how much to correct & what Jacob’s correction factor is. The 15 minute guideline isn’t all that accurate because it can take up to 1 hour to know the full effect. Best to use fast acting glucose to correct lows. Carbs with fat or protein are too slow. For serious lows, I follow up with a small amount of protein to keep BG level.
But the math is more complicated because he went up to 390 after a correction and meal with bolus. Unless the OP has information on how much a similar meal may spike her son, the 390 isn’t that useful. Since he came down to 146 after exercise, I would assume that some of the spike is from the food outrunning the insulin for the first couple hours.
Maurie
I agree with Leo and Maurie that it takes “testing it out” - accumulating data about how much a 4 gram glucose tablet raises blood sugar - over several treatments for lows - without adding food into the mix. But I think she can conclude for sure that 40 carbs overshot the mark. Also, just “guessing it was 90” before the meal isn’t useful as, after only 15 minutes it might still have been too low to bolus or already on its way to the high.
I can understand a mom whose child feels awful having the instinct to give more carbs, but more isn’t necessarily the answer so much as the most rapid acting (glucose tablets) in the right amount to prevent a later high.