Diabetic Recipes
Olivia is again forgetting to bolus for meals and/or high blood sugars. She came to me tonight, saying I needed to raise her basal rates because she was running high. I've started logging again (another post for another day) and knew that she'd forgotten to bolus once on Monday. Last night, she was 415 and throwing up because she forgot to bolus for her high blood sugar and her dinner, which she'd eaten two hours earlier. I can't really make basal changes when the data I'm looking at is skewed by absent boluses.
I'm not really sure what to do about this. I do not want to punish or yell at her - that seems as though it would be counterproductive. But I need some way to get her to remember to do this. I can't sit on top of her at every check and every bolus - she's 13, not an infant.
So what do I do? Have any of you had to deal with this before? What solutions did you come up with? Any of you guys with type 1 go thru this, either now or at her age? What was your solution? I don't want her running that high and she doesn't want herself running that high - she feels like crap when she's high.
I think I posted something similar to this before, so my apologies for the repeat. I'm pretty concerned.
ask her how she feels, not what her numbers are or what's wrong, how she feels. then explain to her why she feels like crap "high blood sugar". then tell her how she can feel better "when you take insulin your blood sugars drop, you need to take insulin every time you eat or if you're high, if you don't you won't feel well...." it's simple and it works. it's how i get my campers to understand what's going on in their bodies and they are 6 yrs old (and only speak spanish).
http://pancreaticallychallenged.blogspot.com
I am 32 and I still forget to bolus for meals on occasion. I wish minimed pumps had a forgotten meal bolus reminder like the cosmo does. But alas, it does not and I have to rely on my poor overworked brain. The crappiness I feel after forgetting is usually enough to keep me on top of meal boluses for a while... but when you eat on the go its easy to forget... I guess this doesnt help much as far as how to make her remember...
I am 44, been on insulin for 38 years, am a Registered Nurse (so obviously know better) and STILL forget! What I found that has worked (most of the time) for me with my MiniMed Paradigm is...I set a reminder alarm for 30 minutes prior to my "usual" meal-times to remember to do a blood sugar and another for 30 minutes after meal usually concludes to remind me to take insulin. If I already did those things, I clear the alarm and move on. I have MUCH better blood sugars as a result. Granted, that works best for breakfast and lunch as those are pretty 'set' times for me. I also set an alarm for later in the evening 'just in case' I forgot a bolus or blood sugar check. Not knowing if Olivia has a Paradigm or not, maybe this will help. Good luck!