Re: Low blood sugar

[Guest guest]

Hi le

You've asked some really good questions. Ones I am eager to read replies to

as well! (welcome back by the way).

S. is our resident guru on blood sugar levels. I have similar

issues with Adam, although I can't test his sugar levels because he won't

let me prick his finger with the " thing " . Is that how you check Coby?

One thing I do know is that complex carbs and/or protein are the best foods

to maintain sugar levels. I find peanut butter is the best and the quickest

way to boost up the levels. Unfortunately the schools are now all " peanut

free " so it makes it difficult for me to get that stuff into Adam during the

school day.

If a child is right in the thick of a hypo-g episode, you can use Gatorade

or some sort of a juice box for an immediate quick fix. Then you can follow

that up with a protein.

Now if Coby is refusing to eat and you are worried, I'd let him eat anything

just to get over that moment. When Adam's blood sugars are low it's REAL

obvious. He becomes unruly, argumentative and just plain nasty. Of course

when he goes into moods like that, it's impossible to get him to eat. He

won't cooperate to eat. Now, as time has gone on, I just know when it's been

awhile since he has eaten and I will make him eat. It use to be terrible at

Church, we go to Saturday mass at 5 p.m. and he'd always flip out there. I

finally figured it out and now it's part of our routine that at 4 p.m. he

HAS to eat (usually a pizza pocket.........quick and easy in the microwave)

and now we don't have that problem. What I started to do was " describe " to

him what exactly was happening to his body.........'when you start to feel

angry that means you HAVE to eat'.........now he's pretty good at monitoring

all of that on his own (but he's 12 years old now).

I'm sure someone else on the list will come along with good answers to your

questions soon!

Take care

Debby

Low blood sugar

>

>

> I've not been on in a while because my computer died, but I have a

> new one now so I'm BACK! hehehe

>

> I'm sure you all remember that I have been trying to find a solution

> to Coby's behavior changes. Well, he has an appointment with a

> neuro pschyco on Feb 9th. I decided that I would record his blood

> sugar levels a few times a day to see if that could be part of his

> problem. Coby has only had one episode of gypo-g that we knew about

> and it was after surgery. However, after taking his blood sugar

> this for the first time today and it was at 57 I think we may have a

> problem. He absolutely refused to eat anything so I gave him a cup

> of his whole milk with chocolate carnation instant breakfast. It

> went up to 107.

>

> My questions are:

>

> 1) What if they refuse to eat, what do you do?

>

> 2) Could you give me a few examples of good snacks to raise their

> bs quickly?

>

> 3) Could his new bs issues be related to his GH?

>

> Thanks for any idea's.

>

> le, mom to:

> Shye 10, Brock 8, and Coby (rss) & Carlee 2

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

hey danielle!!

welcome back!! i just want to let you know i have 2 boxes full of

clothes for coby, i will try and get them out to you this week!! i

have been finding more stuff that the boys dont fit in (winter

items) i hope you will be able to use them, some of the stuff is

brand new!!

as far as his bs, what i do is i try to make sure atleast every 2

hrs christopher eats something (anything-cookie, crackers, apple,

ect) carbs. are really good and you can try oj or cake icing if it

drops to bring it back up. but follow up with something to eat

because candy and icing will bring it up quickly but wont maintain

it. as long as christopher eats something every 2hrs his bs never

seams to be a problem. i only had a problem recently at school

where there was a sub and a sub aide that decided to do their own

thing and not what was writen down for them to follow. as a result

he only got one snack during the middle of his school time(his iep

states he is to be given a snack 2x atleast as well as on demand)

his bs dropped and when i picked him up he was hystrical and crying

and throwing himself on the floor. once i got him home and got

something in him after a few mins he was back to normal. good luck!!

jodie c.

>

> I've not been on in a while because my computer died, but I have a

> new one now so I'm BACK! hehehe

>

> I'm sure you all remember that I have been trying to find a

solution

> to Coby's behavior changes. Well, he has an appointment with a

> neuro pschyco on Feb 9th. I decided that I would record his blood

> sugar levels a few times a day to see if that could be part of his

> problem. Coby has only had one episode of gypo-g that we knew

about

> and it was after surgery. However, after taking his blood sugar

> this for the first time today and it was at 57 I think we may have

a

> problem. He absolutely refused to eat anything so I gave him a

cup

> of his whole milk with chocolate carnation instant breakfast. It

> went up to 107.

>

> My questions are:

>

> 1) What if they refuse to eat, what do you do?

>

> 2) Could you give me a few examples of good snacks to raise their

> bs quickly?

>

> 3) Could his new bs issues be related to his GH?

>

> Thanks for any idea's.

>

> le, mom to:

> Shye 10, Brock 8, and Coby (rss) & Carlee 2

[Guest guest]

le,

You can buy glucose in a tube at the drug store. It's with the

diabetic supplies. All you have to do is squeeze it into Coby's

cheek and it is absorbed. It will raise his BS if he won't eat or

if he is just too out of it.

In a pinch, you can also use gel cake icing tubes, but they are not

as effective. They are better than nothing, though.

Please let me know more about what the neuro-psychologist does and

asks. Max's psychologist has suggested that we take him to one in

the next year because we are thinking about plans after high

school... (VERY scary thought!) For some reason, which I cannot

remember, she thought this would be a good step. We are waiting for

her to get us the name of one.

Jodi Z

[Guest guest]

Hi le,

The following exerts from the book I have been recommending parents

read, Life Without Bread by Wolfgang Lutz MD, spends a great deal of

time addressing the specific issue you are running into.

Dr Lutz writes, " We realize that this idea goes against the

concept that most doctors promote. They say if blood sugar is low,

then eat more sugar and carbohydrates to raise it. Certainly in a

moment of very low blood sugar, you would need some carbohydrates to

remove the immediate problem, but this does nothing to put your body

back into a normal insulin response situation " .

" As you shall see, too much carbohydrate in the diet is precisely

the reason low blood sugar episodes occur. The process goes like

this: Excessive consumption of carbohydrates leads too much insulin

release in the blood. In some people, this results in the constant

removal of glucose from the blood, causing dangerously low levels of

glucose. If sugar is consumed to help the condition, more insulin

is produced and the low blood sugar episodes continue, often getting

worse over time. Telling a patient, " If blood sugar is low, then

eat more sugar and carbohydrates to raise it, " is the same

philosophy as telling drug addicts to keep taking that drug every

time they go into withdrawal. In the long run, the drug addict

should reduce the amount of drugs taken, until no more is being

consumed and the episodes disappear " .

Essentially our RSS children, due to their high incidence of insulin

resistance during childhood, are pre-diabetics. If this is the case

as our doctor believes and it appears that Dr. H is also in

agreement, then a diabetic's diet would be appropriate to resolve

their problem. That is why our doctor placed our on a

high fat and protein diet with some complex carbohydrates. In the

situation outlined above, if a person has a dangerously low blood

sugar then some immediate carbohydrates are needed but then it

should be followed up with good fats and protein to smooth out the

blood sugar levels. I hope that this is helpful.

Beth

>

> I've not been on in a while because my computer died, but I have a

> new one now so I'm BACK! hehehe

>

> I'm sure you all remember that I have been trying to find a

solution

> to Coby's behavior changes. Well, he has an appointment with a

> neuro pschyco on Feb 9th. I decided that I would record his blood

> sugar levels a few times a day to see if that could be part of his

> problem. Coby has only had one episode of gypo-g that we knew

about

> and it was after surgery. However, after taking his blood sugar

> this for the first time today and it was at 57 I think we may have

a

> problem. He absolutely refused to eat anything so I gave him a

cup

> of his whole milk with chocolate carnation instant breakfast. It

> went up to 107.

>

> My questions are:

>

> 1) What if they refuse to eat, what do you do?

>

> 2) Could you give me a few examples of good snacks to raise their

> bs quickly?

>

> 3) Could his new bs issues be related to his GH?

>

> Thanks for any idea's.

>

> le, mom to:

> Shye 10, Brock 8, and Coby (rss) & Carlee 2

[Guest guest]

Absolutely his blood sugar levels could be a result of the GH. The

one thing that I have tried to include in my writings about GH is

that the single negative side effect that is most common is the fact

that GH raises the child's fasting and glucose insulin levels. This

can cause what some doctors refer to as " sudden onset

hypoglycemia. " After 4 years on GH, we have found that as long as

literally snacks every 60-90 minutes, her levels are really

fine. But at 5 years old, boy, her behavioral changes would have

scared anyone. You should continue to monitor his BSL 3-5 times a

day for 3 days straight. It is important to test the same times a

day, and write down what and when they last ate. We did this for

and what they found was that her behavioral changes seemed

to be related more to the DROP in levels than what the actual number

was. So what we found was that her " normal " on our glucometer was

about 114 (the same number popped up several times during the 3

days). But there were meltdowns that were followed by tests of 70

or so (which would still be normal but would be a 44 point drop).

If he just gets cranky, then any complex carbo snack is good; or

even a quick sip of orange juice or apple juice is the fastest.

However, if he becomes lethargic or gets dark circles under the

eyes, then your doctor may tell you to put glucogel or gel icing

frosting (the kinds in the little tubes for decorating bday cakes)

in his cheek. This works the fastest, and for kids with delayed

gastric emptying, you don't have to worry about it sitting in his

tummy.

In fact, it is one thing that has caused me to wonder if I should do

a 3-day BSL testing for my non-RSS son, who has been having wicked

behavioral changes - meltdowns out of the blue, and we are beginning

to watch and many are occuring at times where it appears he has not

eaten for awhile. Hmmm.... Jenn

>

> I've not been on in a while because my computer died, but I have a

> new one now so I'm BACK! hehehe

>

> I'm sure you all remember that I have been trying to find a

solution

> to Coby's behavior changes. Well, he has an appointment with a

> neuro pschyco on Feb 9th. I decided that I would record his blood

> sugar levels a few times a day to see if that could be part of his

> problem. Coby has only had one episode of gypo-g that we knew

about

> and it was after surgery. However, after taking his blood sugar

> this for the first time today and it was at 57 I think we may have

a

> problem. He absolutely refused to eat anything so I gave him a

cup

> of his whole milk with chocolate carnation instant breakfast. It

> went up to 107.

>

> My questions are:

>

> 1) What if they refuse to eat, what do you do?

>

> 2) Could you give me a few examples of good snacks to raise their

> bs quickly?

>

> 3) Could his new bs issues be related to his GH?

>

> Thanks for any idea's.

>

> le, mom to:

> Shye 10, Brock 8, and Coby (rss) & Carlee 2