“I like some.” Usually, it’s not a problem when my daughter says that. She means she’d like some of what I’m eating. That could be a challenge, because I have to “plug in” exactly the right amount of insulin (i.e., program my pump to deliver the insulin) to cover the carbohydrates I’m about to eat (It works well when my husband and I are sharing a chocolate dessert - sorry, dear, I already plugged it in, so I just have to eat it all!). I work around it by fudging a little - taking a little less insulin than I calculate I'd need for the food. Usually, it works out because, even if I end up eating more than I’d expected, I then have to chase my daughter around the house, so I use up the extra food. If she ends up eating more than I intended, I have to go scrounge something else (usually just a little juice). But it’s not quite as simple as plugging in the numbers. It hardly every is that simple; there are always strange factors that throw things off - like the soup having less carb than it says on the can (“servings per can - about 2” leaves a lot of wiggle room! It’s really closer to one and a little bit in most cases), or a sudden upset stomach, or...But adding another factor doesn't make it any easier.
One potentially useful tip I read in a book, for treating a low: Have some warm juice boxes around in a flavor your kid does’t like. This might not work if, like my daughter, your kid “likes” everything you happen to be eating or drinking. She hasn’t yet developed a lot of real dislikes (except for food that’s unfamiliar, and if I’m eating it, it doesn’t count as unfamiliar, I guess). But once she does develop definite dislikes, maybe this tip will work out. I usually have enough juice on hand that we can both have some, though. And I carry glucose tablets when I’m out - so far, she hasn’t shown any interest in those.
I do have to say that the book with this idea is fabulous in general. In fact, it’s the only book I've seen about being a parent with type 1 diabetes (apologies to any other authors whose work I’ve missed, and I’d be interested to know about it!). The book is “When You’re a Parent with Diabetes,” by Kathryn Gregorio Palmer. Actually, it’s meant to apply somewhat to type 2 as well, but the author herself has type 1, and there’s definitely helpful info there. It’s not a big book, though, and it doesn’t cover everything - especially about pregnancy (there’s one chapter). At some point, I’ll go back and recount what I recall of my own pregnancy experiences - what I encountered, and how I handled things (or didn’t!), what info I found helpful, and what I found decidedly unhelpful (like the general advice to give up artificial sweetener!).
These days, though, I am generally running on the low side rather than the high side, for the above reason, as well as that I’m too busy chasing my daughter, and when I’m not, doing other things, to eat too much. It’s a good thing I don’t have hypoglycemia unawareness, though it does go lower before I feel it than it did before pregnancy, perhaps because my blood sugars generally run lower, so they don’t have to drop as far to go too low. That, by the way, seems to be just my own theory; the only evidence on this that I’ve heard of is that going low repeatedly can cause hypoglycemia unawareness during subsequent episodes. (During pregnancy, I did have unawareness - that’s another story!). But in my experience, it’s the drop that I feel - even if I am going from very high to just normal, it might feel like it's going low.
If anything, I get too many symptoms for my own good, because it’s hard not to overeat (and make blood sugar rebound high) when you’re shaking, sweating, and starving. Rebound seems to be a problem sometimes even when I don’t overeat, so it’s better to avoid the lows if I can, but good luck doing that!
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