Tools That Keep our Kids Alive and Well
Insulin is not a cure for an auto-immune disease called type 1 diabetes. Every day, with every shot and every blood test, the hope and the goal is for a cure. Until that day, I am grateful for the tools that each have a place in managing this horrible disease. Insulin, Insulin pumps, glucose meters, continuous glucose monitors, and alert dogs are all management tools. Science has proven that tighter control of blood sugar will help keep away the deadly effects of blindness, kidney disease, neuropathy, heart disease, amputations, and death.
Keeping blood sugar under tight control is a process that can make a person insane. For some blood sugar swings are not a problem, for others, like my brother, blood sugar can be normal one minute (100) and spike 200 or more points upward in just a few minutes. Sometimes there is a rapid blood sugar drop. My mom studies his charts, measures his food, and rackes herbrain trying to figure out why one day an insulin dose is perfect, the next it's too much, and the next it's not enough. Jason's endocrinologist assures us that there are just too many parameters such as growth spurts, adrenaline, exercise, hot baths, lack of sleep, stress, excitement, and so on that affect blood sugar. It will never make sense.
A lot of people with diabetes can feel the spikes and drops in their blood sugar. Some can't. One theory is that the auto-immune disease attacks the cell in charge of sending the emergency signals. No cell = no signal. Another theory is that insulin has changed from natural pig insulin to a synthetic insulin. Scientists are investigating a possible correlation of the rise in hypoglycemic unawareness to the change to synthetic insulin. Whatever the cause, hypoglycemic unawareness is a terrifying condition to live with.
- Insulin Pump
- Insulin
- Glucose Meter
- Continuous Glucose Monitors
- Diabetic Alert Dog
We use an Animas pump and LOVE our pump. The pump is a sophisticated tool that can deliver precise amounts of insulin. The two things that have made the biggest impact on health and quality of life in living with diabetes have been the Animas insulin pump and our special dog Red.
Jason's A1c was lowered after he started on his Animas pump. A lower A1c means better health now and in the future.
Insulin is a hormone naturally produced by the body that regulates the transfer of nutrients to each cell. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease that destroys the cells that produce insulin. Insulin as medicine is a combination of pig insulin and synthetic materials. It must be injected into the body because the stomach acid kills insulin. Without insulin a type 1 diabetic would starve to death, because no matter how much they eat the body can't get the nutrients from the food into the cells.
Too much insulin can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Hypoglycemia can cause comas and even death.
Too little insulin can cause hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). Hyperglycemia can cause comas, permanent loss of vision and many other worse things.
Getting it right is key to the long term well being of the diabetic.
High blood sugar happens when there isn't enough insulin to process nutrients from food. This glucose backs up in the blood stream, but in the process of getting pumped around your body the thick sugary blood damages nearly every internal organ. That's why diabetes can cause diseases like heart disease, kidney disease, and blindness.
Low blood sugar happens when there is too much insulin. The body can have a seizure because it's trying to shake out the extra stores of nutrients stashed away in the muscles. If a person with diabetes doesn't get sugar quickly they can have a seizure, go into a coma, or die.
Years ago people checked their blood sugar using a urine test. The test could only detect blood sugar when it was above 180 (normal is 100). Now days, blood sugar is checked by a glucometer. Poke your finger for a blood sample, place the blood on an expensive test strip, and find out what your blood sugar level was 15-20 minutes ago. This is a big improvement, but if your blood sugar drops quickly the 15 minute delay can pose problems.
Glucometers help in managing a tighter control over blood sugar. We test every 2-3 hours around the clock. The bad part about a glucometer is that it requires a blood sample and that makes my brother a human pin-cusion.
A continuous glucose monitor takes a glucose reading every 5 minutes. This is a real breakthrough. Some people absolutely love their CGMS. Others use a CGMS just for times of changing insulin doses. However, there is more than meets the eye. The Medtronic CGMS is only 60% accurate in children (especially if they have changing hormones), must be calibrated by blood tests; some models must be inserted for 10 hours before it will function; many say the needles are incredibly painful and leave a scar. If you've ever witnessed a screaming child getting a flu shot, perhaps you can have compassion. This is great technology, but it's not developed yet in a way that is both accurate and livable. (Just our opinion.)
When trained properly a dog can alert someone to dropping or rising blood sugar in the moment verses being 20 minutes behind. Has our dog caught every single low - NO. He's catching about 85% of the lows. Red can alert to a low without sounding like a nagging mother. Red is a best friend. Red helps my son feel safer.