During school, there were scheduled periods of time for recess/PE and the Nurse and I worked together to manage these on a day to day basis. Because they were scheduled, we had a good idea of how many unbolused carbs he would need as well as how much (if at all) we wanted to back off of the insulin (temp overrides).
But with Covid-19 and him being at home 24/7 and having 5 brothers…I am finding many more crashes than we had before. He will randomly just start running and chasing his brothers and neither he nor his brothers a) tell me or b) track his BGs. So I’ve found the hardest part for me during this covid outbreak has been just keeping up with him!
He can go from 210 double up to 100 double down in a matter of 15 minutes once he starts dashing around and chasing his brothers.
Not sure if any other parent has noticed (if the children have siblings they chase around), but it’s definitely something I’ve noticed!
Wow, that adds a layer of complexity to the mix that we didn’t have to deal since Cody was 12 at diagnosis. Yeah, I am not sure how you bolus for goofing around with brothers since that can be anything from fight for your life wrestling, to just normal running around, to laying on the sofa…Good thing he is getting his exercise though.
If he (or his brothers) would have at least some notice, I could take action…like, if I was bolusing Liam for Lunch and the bolus that was being called for was 3 units, if they would tell me they are thinking about rough-housing, I would bolus only a small fraction (or none) of the bolus. But inevitibly, what’s been happening is (and this is no matter how much I beg them to not do this, or at least communicate with me first), I bolus him, wait, he eats, then all the sudden they’re running around the house like mad men and I end up having to shove fast carbs into him to avoid the crash (or make the crash end sooner.)
I’m not stressing over it though, just reacting - it’s really all that I can do. lol. They are having fun and I don’t want to disuade them from that. We just take whatever it is and deal with it but it does result in so many extra “roller coasters” during the days during Covid-19.
I wonder if you could rig a fitbit or apple watch to report to you when he is exercising above the norm. Probably not a useful thought, but it is a thought. We always found catching baseball games to be much trickier than soccer or other sports where you can guess the effort required, but as a catcher you can’t guess very accurately when your pitcher is going to fall apart and the 15 minute usual inning is going to take 50 minutes…We used to pass Cody a water bottle with full sugar Gatorade so the players wouldn’t know he was going low…
Possibly, but the crashes are fast and extreme so even if notified, I don’t think it would help in time to change the end result. When they are playing, it’s insane but it’s usually short spurts. And 5 or 10 minutes, for Liam, of just going crazy running around, wrestling, jumping, playing, etc., is plenty to IMMEDIATELY turn a double up into a double down in a matter of 2 or 3 ticks. I should make a video of it sometime…it’s really crazy. He can be 220 double up and all the sudden I hear screaming and yelling from him and his brothers, then 10 minutes later, he’s 190 double down, then in another 10 minutes, he’s 100 double down. It happens that fast with him.
I am 79 and my BGs do that. As to your boy, why not give him half his bolus before a meal and reserve the other half for, say, 1/2 hour after… and only in case he needs it. Eating probably gives him that extra energy to fool around with his sibs. You may not need to give him the other half at all.
I do this also. In fact sometimes when i am pretty sure they are going to roughhouse i won’t bolus at all. But there is a tightwire that has to be walked. If they don’t start playing soon he’ll be up to 400 in 30 minutes.
I came to find this topic. I have had so many crashing lows that I have created a new profile called Covid. I use Control IQ and the lows were so bad that suspending insulin was not helping. My Covid Basal is about 20% lower and it has stopped the lows. My levels are a bit higher, 120-130 but that is just fine.
For background, I am still working out, mostly cardio.
Samson’s blood sugar has had fewer spikes in general – just now realizing how much of his daily spiking at school may have been adrenaline driven.
He hasn’t had a ton of crashes that weren’t tied to something obvious, like us guesstimating a bolus. But then again, he was pretty active in school and we don’t have much outdoor space at all, so there’s not much room for him to run around. My guess is he’s a lot more sedentary now than he would have been.
It’s really been a killer for our daily exercise that parks have been closed because Samson would run around if he was in an open field, but getting him to go on a “walk” to nowhere is a tough sell…
Hmm, I’m sorry that the virus is making BGs more of a hassle for you guys! And like you said, you don’t want to be disruptive to the kids playing and getting exercise, but it would be nice to have a heads up to try to avoid the rollercoaster! That sounds frustrating and tiring.
As I’m sure you know with all your kidos, it can be hard for kids to plan things out or prioritize setting aside play for even just a second. I’m trying to think if you could incorporate them alerting you of playtime into the wrestling/running around, and possibly have some sort of positive reward for doing so that’s directly related to playing and is fun. Like I’m thinking maybe you could establish that whoever rings a bell once they start running around gets a head start or dad as a teammate? Probably sounds silly and maybe not possible!
Anyways, hope you and your family are staying safe and sane!!
