Tag: Sleep

Do they Know what We Do………..While they Sleep?

Posted on | by tomkarlya | 10 Comments on Do they Know what We Do………..While they Sleep?

moonWhile they sleep.

Do they know we stare at them first?

Do they know we think “…where can I do this without disturbing their sleep?”

Do they know we want to do this as quickly as possible?

Do they know we would stay all night, every night, if we could go without sleep?

Do they know how much we care?

Do they know how much we want them to have everything as much as those who do not have diabetes…..and even more?

Do they know we hold them in their bed while they drink or eat something to raise their blood sugar, so they do not fall back down unaware?

Do they know that we leave and we cry sometimes?

Do they know that as we go back under our sheets we think, ‘I will need to test again in two hours’?

Do they know that sometimes we ‘scrunch’ our toes in the carpet to distract showing anything on our face, just in case they see?

Do they know we usually kiss them and tell them, again, how brave they are and we love them even though we also know they do not hear us.

Do they know what we do?

While they sleep.

I am a diabetes dad.

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My Child, When Low….Will Wake up…..Right? Um…..Not Necessarily.

Posted on | by tomkarlya | 41 Comments on My Child, When Low….Will Wake up…..Right? Um…..Not Necessarily.

I had the opportunity to hear Jeff Hitchcock present this weekend and he addressed night-time testing and the ‘thought’ that our kids wake up when they feel low.

It is thought by many (us…..definitely) that should our kids start to feel low while they sleep they wake up.  I know for me it was a fore-gone conclusion because Kaitlyn has done it most of her life.

Does it turnout that we were merely fortunate?

A study from the University of Luebeck in Germany tested 16 nonT1 patients and 16 with T1 diabetes.  During the control time none of the patients awoke.  In the test of the two groups presented with hypoglycemia; 10 patient in the healthy group awoke when presented with hypoglycemia while only 1 in the group with T1…….

Conclusions: A fall in plasma glucose to 2.2 mmol/l (40 mg/dl) provokes an awakening response in most healthy control participants, but this response is impaired in T1DM patients. … Failure to awaken increases the risk for T1DM patients to suffer prolonged and potentially fatal hypoglycemia. ***

How conclusive is this study?

Well given it is not a huge sample; but it is enough for me to know that either by CGM or testing in the middle of the night is something we probably should all be doing more; and not merely depending on our child, and/or loved one, to merely awake on their own.

This is not written to scare anyone but numbers are numbers and it is a tool/guide/reference for us to consider as we work through the daily management of diabetes.

It has always been just accepted that Kaitlyn and Rob would just wake up when they are low…..this study paints a different picture albeit a small sample group.  That said; until such time that someone tells or shows me differently–we will no longer JUST ASSUME they will wake up when low.

Granted that other factors may play a role if we choose to wake up and test them in the middle of the night or not–but one of those factors, which will be removed in our house, is the 100% belief they will just wake up.  How about you?

I am a Diabetesdad.

Editor’s note: My point here is we probably should not merely 100% accept that every time PWDs go severely low in the middle of the night—they will just wake up. 

 

***Bernd Schultes, Hamila Jaich-Chara; Eva Reiprich; Werner Kern; Alchim Peters; Herst L. Fehm –Department of Internal Medicine University of Luebeck, Luebeck Germany
Steffan Gais; Manfred Hallschmig; Jan Born-Department of Neuroendocrinology; University of Luebeck, Luebeck Germany
Kerstin M. Oltmanns- Department of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy; University of Luebeck, Luebeck Germany
Emails may be directed to: Schultes@kfg.uni-luebeck.de

Why Do We Get Up in the Middle of the Night?

Posted on | by tomkarlya | 3 Comments on Why Do We Get Up in the Middle of the Night?

 

 

A friend of mine asked me recently if I still get up in the middle of the night to check our children’s BG numbers?  My answer was only if we feel there might me circumstances that happened during the day that might add to the possibilities of them running low.

SInce she asked me that question I have been dealing with another thought that I cannot seem to shake out of my brain:
So that means that I’m no longer afraid of them dying while they sleep….right?

When Kaitlyn was much younger I once crossed my wife in the hallway at about 3 a.m.–I was later than my usual 2 a.m. check and she was earlier than her usual 4 a.m. check.  Turns out for over a year we wer doing ‘our thing’ and didn’t know our partner’s routine.

You see, if I checked and needed to treat a low, I did—-I guess I was supposed to write down what I was doing…….Duh (as I said a million times as Diabetesdad, no one has made more mistakes than I).

I eventually got it correct and did as I should have been doing all along.

But now at this almost 20 years, and now with 2 kids with T1, have we just accepted the fact that they will wake up in the morning?  Is that wrong?  DO we finally have it down to where we think we understand diabetes?  Is that a dangerous way to feel; are we playing craps with their lives?

Last time I was home I got up at 2 a.m. to check if they were breathing…….at age 22 and age 17; they were not in bed yet.

I wish I could go back to when they were kids.  I knew what I was doing then……..or did I? 

Do we ever REALLY know?

I’m a Diabetesdad.