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Any experience with forced treatment? (non-compliant teenager)

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NaggingMum

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Our daughter (14) has been in and out of hospital over the last few months due to deliberately not looking after her diabetes. She has severe emotional problems (she is getting help with this) and is unfortunately communicating her feelings to us by refusing insulin and/or testing, sometimes not eating or drinking either. I think this is a way for her to she feel in control when her feelings are very out of control. Things are escalating and she was on an insulin drip recently, this was nearly forced on her but in the end she very reluctantly agreed. I fear she may soon start completely refusing all treatment in hospital. My question is...how easy is it to obtain permission to force treatment? Our daughter's lovely doc said he would need two doctors and CAMHS to agree, then the hospital director to sign it off. This would be for a max. of 72 hours, after which it will have to go to court. Anyone who has experience with their child of having gone through this? Is it straightforward to get this permission? Anyone had trouble with this due to their child deemed having capacity? I can imagine this will be a thing to worry about with her, especially as she gets older. She is able to understand the risks of non-treatment and chooses to do so anyway...
 
That sounds very worrying for you and I don’t have any direct experience beyond my daughter having periods of non compliance but never to the point of her needing hospital admission.

Is it something that is likely to improve or get worse once school goes back? Some kids find the rhythms and routines of school helpful and holidays terrifying in their unpredictability whereas others find school a whole other pressure.

Do you have social services involvement? I would expect there to be a team around her not just the doctors at this stage. If there hasn’t been a referral in yet you can self refer.

The diabetes support line is there for you to offload and talk things over.
 
Thank you for your reply, much appreciated. Yes, she has other professionals involved (quite a few in fact). She may do better once school starts, but I know she is also nervous about it..
Thanks again
 
So sorry to hear about your daughter’s and your situation. Have you got access specialist diabetes psychological support? Particularly with a young person - Diabetes can need careful handling.

A young person can have profound challenges accepting a diagnosis of a long term condition. And feeling empowered and in charge of their own diabetes management is the ideal - though I can see that you feel a million miles away from this and can only imagine the worry and stress involved.

DWED is a charity that supports people with diabetes and eating disorders which seems somewhat connected to your daughter’s situation.

I am going to move your thread to the parent’s section where it should get more replies.

Really hope you get the professional and peer support you need to resolve your daughter’s current situation :(
 
Thank you very much. Yes, she has specialist support, she has a lovely team around her (we're very lucky). Without going into too much detail, the diabetes isn't the main 'issue' (although I appreciate it's not nice to have to deal with it on a daily basis, especially when you're a teeanger). She has other very serious underlying issues (e.g suffered major trauma). She is getting help for this, but it will be a long road to recovery. Meanwhile, she is feeling so worthless and out of control that she is self-sabotaging. It's very sad and we feel pretty helpless at times as parents, as do the doctors and professionals working with her. We have good and bad days. Today was a good day. But the bad days are getting more frequent and more serious.
 
How are things now? Is she back at school?
 
Hi,
Yes, she's back at school. So far, so good. Fingers crossed...thanks guys. It means a lot to be able to talk things through.
 
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