# Sleep deprivation



## Adrienne (Jan 20, 2010)

Hiya

Thought I would christen this one.   Sleep deprivation.    How to you all cope?

For me, it builds up and up and up and finally I find I can't work properly and something needs to give.

Sleep deprivation, I think, is one of the worst aspects of being a carer.


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## Carynb (Jan 20, 2010)

I find the sleep deprivation side of things very difficult, it's particularly bad if I've been up in the night with J then have to get up at 6AM to go to work. 
Touch wood I don't have to get up to him every night but even if I don't, I can't sleep properly anymore. 
I wake up sooooo many times, drives me mad.
If I have a day off during the week sometimes I take a little nap in the afternoon before picking children up from school, helps a bit.


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## Adrienne (Jan 20, 2010)

I find that if I sit down ever with Jessica to watch the TV at about 4 pm or 5 pm I just fall asleep and miss the whole film.   I've often sat in the cinema and eaten her glucotabs just to keep awake.   Its ok though as she needs coke, glucotabs don't work that well and are back up for a boost.


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## grahams mum (Jan 20, 2010)

it was pretty bad when graham went to hospital in october we were both zombie  even at the hospital the nurses  noticed  how tired i was   they dont realise how hard it is to test every hour when your son is diabetic and ill


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## Admin (Jan 20, 2010)

Adrienne - is J's levels so bad that you still have to test through the night - it must be sooo hard. I think back to when I was little and one urine test a day was done! Yikes! I am not saying this was good - but a lot bloomin easier than it is nowadays.


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## Becca (Jan 21, 2010)

Admin said:


> Adrienne - is J's levels so bad that you still have to test through the night - it must be sooo hard. I think back to when I was little and one urine test a day was done! Yikes! I am not saying this was good - but a lot bloomin easier than it is nowadays.



Hiya, i think most of us parents still test through the night   Rose last night, was 8.3 at 10pm, then 7.7 at midnight and then 7.0 at 3am.  We gave her 1 glucose then and she woke up on 5.7   so needed that glucose....

I wonder when it will get easier?  Late late teens?  I really don't know...


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## Adrienne (Jan 21, 2010)

Hi Becca

I would have had to leave Jessica at 7.0 at 3 am as her 5 am highest basal kicks in and she drops without fail.   Sometimes though if I need to sleep I have to have her a bit higher so I know she'll be ok but we have sensors so its a bit different.

The trouble is whilst I am shattered all day long now, I wake up in the night regardless of whether I need to or not.   I'm a really light sleeper now as well and can hear every little beep and sound (although if you heard my snoring you may well say otherwise


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## Adrienne (Jan 21, 2010)

grahams mum said:


> it was pretty bad when graham went to hospital in october we were both zombie  even at the hospital the nurses  noticed  how tired i was   they dont realise how hard it is to test every hour when your son is diabetic and ill



You are so right Daniella.  No-one knows (except when we tell them but even then they don't understand) what it feels like to have a child where one wrong move could essentially change everything.   To not test at night would be lovely but you have to.   

By having a pump these days, you can obtain so much tighter control of blood sugars which is what we are aiming for to lessen the problems later, that it creates harder work.     Those on this forum who know pump (adults I'm talking about) will know now about how different it is and how much extra work.    Because you can essentially have different hourly basal rates you worry hourly !!!  (sort of, its hard to explain).


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## grahams mum (Jan 21, 2010)

it is hard nough without the pump at the moment thanks anyway


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## Adrienne (Jan 22, 2010)

grahams mum said:


> it is hard nough without the pump at the moment thanks anyway



I didn't mean you had to get a pump Daniella, sorry if you took it that way.  I know you don't want one and thats no problem, it is not for everyone.

I was talking in general to everyone who was reading and just explaining it is harder work but you can achieve tighter control and also confirming with you how hard diabetes is for parents.  I was painting a picture of how much more work it is pumping and that medical pros have no idea unless they have a kid with diabetes themselves or diabetes.


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## Northerner (Jan 22, 2010)

I know I'm not a carer/friend, but just wanted to say how difficult it is to get to sleep if you've had a hypo near to bedtime. As you are drifting into sleep, you can't sleep for thinking that you might be actually dropping low again. I've had a poor week like that so am feeling the sleep deprivation thing myself just now


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## Gemma444 (Jan 25, 2010)

Hya everyone

I seem to check on J alot more since diagnosis at night. I do dread it though, if hes high. That might sound awful but I have to still ring the hospital before i do a correction and then wait for a doctor to ring me back before i can actually do the correction ans then stay awake to check again in an hour. Then have to be up at 5:45am for work the next day. I tend to get really sleepy at 6pm. It can sometimes take 45 minutes before I get the call from the doctor.


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## litto-miss-loz (Jan 25, 2010)

Northerner said:


> I know I'm not a carer/friend, but just wanted to say how difficult it is to get to sleep if you've had a hypo near to bedtime. As you are drifting into sleep, you can't sleep for thinking that you might be actually dropping low again. I've had a poor week like that so am feeling the sleep deprivation thing myself just now



yeah i hate that  

hope everything sorts itself out


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## Adrienne (Jan 25, 2010)

Gemma444 said:


> Hya everyone
> 
> I seem to check on J alot more since diagnosis at night. I do dread it though, if hes high. That might sound awful but I have to still ring the hospital before i do a correction and then wait for a doctor to ring me back before i can actually do the correction ans then stay awake to check again in an hour. Then have to be up at 5:45am for work the next day. I tend to get really sleepy at 6pm. It can sometimes take 45 minutes before I get the call from the doctor.




The doctors should give you some sort of sliding scale by now, this isn't good enough.   Plus the doctors that will be on call won't necessarily know the ins and outs of diabetes and you will know more than them, you are the expert of your own child after all.    Are you brave enough to do this yourself perhaps and sort out a sliding scale from what you know you have done in the past so that you can look at it next time he is high and give the correction dose you have sorted out.   At least then you can go back to bed and test after 1 hour or 1 1/2 hours.


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## Gemma444 (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi Adrienne

I'm going to try it myself next time as i find it a really long process just to give jack a correction. I feel confident myself to do it. Every time I have rang they have only told me to give J 1 unit of nororapid so why I can't just do that myself I dont know. What do you mean by a sliding scale? 

Thanks so much for your advice Adrienne, i really apreciate it!

Gem x


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## Kei (Jan 26, 2010)

We have recently started working it out ourselves and giving F her Novorapid without ringing the DSN or hospital.  The DSN and I worked out that every time we gave F Novorapid, it was consistently bringing her down at a rate of 6mmol/l for every 1 unit of Novorapid.  That makes it fairly easy for me to work it out for myself.  I always test later to check it has gone down the amount I think it should.  So far, so good.


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## Patricia (Jan 29, 2010)

Yes, sleep deprivation. Dreadful. Like Adrienne, we push and push and then just find that after a month or so we need to have a couple of nights' sleep straight through. Even a the risk of running E a little high.

It catches up with you.


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## Adrienne (Jan 29, 2010)

I'm getting to that point at the moment I think.   But I am having awful trouble with my eyes, itchiness etc so am now off to see a specialist so maybe that is why they feel worse than normal.


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## Gemma444 (Feb 6, 2010)

Is it just me or does anyone else have alot of diabetes related dreams. I have had plenty since J was diagnosed. i woke up at 3am the other morning having drempt that Jacks b/s was very low and i was running round the house panicing....

Gem x


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## delta (Feb 27, 2010)

Adrienne said:


> I'm getting to that point at the moment I think.   But I am having awful trouble with my eyes, itchiness etc so am now off to see a specialist so maybe that is why they feel worse than normal.



yea used to get sore eyes alot went to opticains think it was the tiredness
am i the only dad that sorts out most of their kids diabetes seems to be mainly mums


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## Northerner (Feb 27, 2010)

delta said:


> yea used to get sore eyes alot went to opticains think it was the tiredness
> am i the only dad that sorts out most of their kids diabetes seems to be mainly mums



We do tend to get mums rather than dads on the forum, but usually the dads are contributing just as much away from it to their children's care.


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## mands (May 11, 2010)

*need sleep*

Hi everyone i'm new to the site but just wanted to know how everyone copes with night time hypo's my daughter went to bed with perfect blood count yet woke at 3am with a hypo obviously i sorted it but then it took 2hrs to settle her and iv'e been on auto pilot for the rest of the day she's had diabetes for nearly 5yrs so you would think i would be use to it all now but if i'm honest im coming to the end of my tether sorry my first post so miserable.


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## Kei (May 13, 2010)

(((Hugs))) Mands.  Night time hypos are horrible, aren't they!  J gets them quite a lot at the moment as he's in honeymoon mode and we can't get his insulin balance quite right.  J's night time hypos are normally around 3pm too.  I tend to have to spend about half an hour dealing with the hypo and settling him again, then I fall back into bed and pass out.  It makes you SO tired, doesn't it!


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