brittle diabetes and diet....

[3znuf]

I have an 8 yr old daughter who has type I diabetes and is a "brittle diabetic".  We are very strict with her diet, but still struggle to keep her bs down as it is common for it to be in the 450 range.  We have tried different kinds of both long and short acting insulins and there is no difference.  I was wondering if anyone knows of a service that you can use to make out weekly menu plans.  I have taken all the classes and feel I am well educated however I would like to try a strict diet made out by a professional and see if that helps in any way.  Even though I am doing all I know to do and am working together with our Dr., maybe I am somehow not doing all that I could and this would show me what I am doing wrong.

[JDRF-Team-RL]

Hello.  I'm neither a medical professional or a dietician, I'm just a parent of a child with diabetes, just like you.  What we've learned about diet is that being on a strict diet isn't as important as accurately counting the carbs in the meal.  Once you have that accurate count, you can then dose the proper amount of insulin to handle those carbs, factoring in your daughter's bg level at that time.  That means if she's high, you can give a little extra insulin to bring down the score.  Please discuss this with your endocrinologist to make sure you get the proper adjustment rates for your daughter.  You don't say what kind of treatment plan your daughter is on (pump, Lantus and Humalog, NPH and Humalog, etc.).  It's likely you are not on the pump, since you talk about switching long acting insulins.  Anyway, each one of those different treatments makes for different ways to adjust for high blood sugars, and your doctor can help you adjust.



After my daughter was diagnosed, a friend of ours who has been a type 1 for 30 years told us about a book called Sugar Busters, which does a really good job of explaining how carbs affect your system.  You can also purchase it with their cookbook, that link is about halfway down on the page.  It's the best book on the topic that we've found.



Now that being said, there's a lot more that goes into blood glucose levels than just diet.  Exercise is a major factor in bg levels.  When the body produces adrenalin, for example, for short bursts of energy, it causes the muscles to absorb glucose directly from the blood stream without the need for insulin.  Getting kids out to exercise is good for them in general, and because of the way the body uses glucose, it's expecially important for diabetics.