Rollercoaster!

People living with Type 1 diabetes understand that the term roller coaster is not just a high speed ride at an amusement park, it also refers to the unexpected and unpredictable ups and downs of blood sugar readings.

After being the caregiver of a child with Type 1 diabetes I fully understand that blood glucose numbers are just that, a number in a moment in time to give information. We don’t classify numbers as good or bad, they are just numbers that tell us one of three things: need insulin, need sugar or good to go.

While the numbers vary from time to time, most have an explanation. Above range and we can usually figure out that there was a mistake carb counting or extra carbs were eaten. Below range and we can usually determine that there was more than expected activity, or less carbs were eaten that were counted upon and too much insulin was given. Regardless, most of the numbers can be explained in one way or another.

You make changes to insulin basal and bolus rates when you see a pattern at similar times of day. For instance, if my son’s blood glucose number goes low 3 hours after breakfast everyday then I know from our experience that that is a basal issue. These are the reasons I still keep a detailed log book even 2 years into this. I can pinpoint patterns and make changes accordingly.

Then there are the roller coaster days. They seemingly have no pattern and they blindside you. It’s like someone came out of a dark alley and hit you in the knee caps with a baseball bat. Out of the blue! Completely unexpected numbers one way or the other, and then not two hours later, more completely unexpected numbers this way or that way. These are the days and nights that take the most out of me as a caregiver of a child with Type 1 diabetes.

Not because the numbers are doing anything to me, but because of what they are doing to my son. One minute he is shaky from such an out of the blue low number, to the next hour when he is angry and frustrated from an unrealistically high number from the amount of sugar given for the low. It is like his little body is a ping pong ball. Being hit back and forth between high and low numbers. Patiently, and not so patiently, waiting for this game to end and his numbers settle back into some semblance of a pattern. He just wants to be a six year old boy, he never asked to be part of this game.

In two years I have no answer as to why these roller coaster days happen. They don’t happen often (thank goodness), but when they do they remind you how awful this disease is. How truly unpredictable blood glucose numbers can be, and how difficult it is for me to be acting as a pancreas outside of my son’s little body.

Roller coaster days remind you that no matter how on top of and in control of things you think you are, that you really aren’t, you are just along for the ride. My advice…hold on tight.