behaviour and hypers

[jensonsmummy]

Hi in really desperate for some advice my ds is 5 diagnosed in July 2013 thankfully in a healthcare assistant noticed the signs and it didn't come as a shock as i have given patients insulin injections before . The thing that in really really struggling with is his behaviour when his high or low . He seems very unstable at the moment and when his running high his a nightmare the best way to describe it is like his an 18 yr old lad that's had too many alcopops his completely daft does the most stupid things he knows is wrong and this is affecting his school life . We really are trying to stablise him with the help of our diabetic team . Its the school that doesn't seem to want to help they just say they cant let him get away with bad behaviour but i feel for him loosing play times etc for really something if they tested him they would see his levels are high and why his behaving how he is . How is your child when they are high is this normal or is he just a naughty boy in so confused . Sorry for going on and on hope you can help x x x

 

[Hanmillmum]

Hi and welcome 🙂, sorry your son is having little support from the school, it's such a shame . I think that hypers have an effect on mood/feelings and therefore behaviour. My daughter is also 5 and she can be grumpy and irritable with high numbers. When hypo she can act very much like she is drunk! When numbers are swinging from low to high and back it must feel awful and unsettling for little ones.

This may be an area where his DSN could get involved - providing some awareness sessions at his school/with his teachers and whether you can have a care plan in place for someone to be checking his BG's when his behaviour becomes more erratic ?

What treatment is your son on? - my daughter has a pump and has someone dedicated to managing her diabetes at school who checks her BG regularly as per care plan. This helps too getting numbers back down if she is running high for any reason or vice versa.

I hope things improve for him soon, tc 🙂

 

[jensonsmummy]

Thankyou so much for replying . His currently on injections 3 novorapid 1 lantus .we have been thinking about a pump but his such a rough and tumble boy climbs trees plays rugby and football and has swimming lessons in sure he would keep pulling it out . The nurse is coming to see me on Monday hope we can get things sorted must be horrible for him x x

 

[Hanmillmum]

Some people take their pump off for contact sport, and you have to take it off for swimming/bathing as not waterproof (fine to be off for an hour). They are however, quite robust as long as tucked away nicely so they can't be snagged on anything. My daughter had hers since before reaching 2yrs and it has been through various ordeals ok.

Pleased to hear the nurse will be out to support you - it is very hard to keep BG's stable when they are young and have spontaneous bursts of energy you can't always account for, lots of bugs, growth spurts etc. School will hopefully become more routine so the team and you can work to get some of the highs smoothed out a little.

Keep at it - all the parents here will know how hard it is to manage for you both, let us know how you get on x

 

[HOBIE]

You my need to go to a Duk weekend & see how other kids behave with Diabetes. It is an education for all. kids go in one section with experts & parents go in another. Kids can find there way in life 🙂

 

[Redkite]

Hi and welcome 🙂

Sorry to hear about your school's unsympathetic approach. I agree with all the advice from Hanmillmum. It is completely wrong that he should be punished for stroppy behaviour that is due to his BG levels. Do you have a care plan that the school can follow, and do they test his BG? You and your DSN need to have a chat with them and explain about the effect of highs and lows, and come up with a strategy so that the teachers can identify when his behaviour is due to diabetes and when it is ordinary naughtiness (if ever!), so that they can help him. There are also some good resources from both DUK and JDRF with some suggestions for assemblies or lessons to tell the other kids in his class about diabetes. This is important, because the others need to understand that sometimes your son's diabetes means that he doesn't feel very well and it can seem as if he's naughty, but it's only because he's not feeling well.

Re the pump, don't be put off - it is so much easier to improve BG control with a pump, and my son was 7 when he got his, and took part in all sorts of sports and energetic playground games. The pump has never come to any harm, the cannula has never been ripped out, and only on a few occasions has it been tugged on so badly that we needed to change the cannula. I would definitely recommend a pump. 🙂

 

[littlehi]

Hi jensonsmummy. My little boy was diagnosed early last year when he was 5 and we struggled for months with his behaviour too so I know just how hard it is. Our house was like the worst episodes of Supernanny for months! Thankfully his behaviour in school was ok, it was just at home it all kicked off. Every time I mentioned it to our diabetes team they looked at me like as if I was crazy and had no useful advice.

Thankfully things really improved in the second half of the year - hard to figure out exactly why! I think it was a mixture of a few things, we took him to visit grandparents for a couple of weeks in hols to try and break the habits, had a few gentle chats with him that we know how rotten things have been for him but it's still not ok to behave like that and probably most importantly his BGs started to stabilise a bit. He is still prone to difficult behaviour when they are unstable but nothing like before. For him it seems to be bouncing from low to high and vice versa over a short period of time that causes problems so we've found that keeping his BGs as stable as possible really helps the behaviour. (Easier said than done I know)

I hope the nurse has been able to help too. It is such a shock to their systems and they're still so small at that age that it's really hard for them to control their emotions never mind being landed with all that diabetes brings every day. Wishing you all the best. It does get better.

 

[Lynna]

Hi. Our daughter also experiences unreasonable behaviour when she is high. She was diagnosed just before her 10th birthday and the first year was hell (for a number of reasons). She is now coming up to 12 and on a pump and things have settled a bit. I spoke to a grown up at the DUK family weekend who is type 1 and she explained that you do feel rubbish when high as well as low.

Can't offer any fix, just maybe some explanation.

Understanding where the behaviour was coming from made it a bit easier for us to cope with. But it is still difficult.

It must be awful for the kids to experience the unpleasant feelings, but at least with our daughter being that wee bit older we could explain.

Things will get better, I'm sure.