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Constantly worrying- I need to rant !

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H

hkk1970

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Hi everyone, Im sorry but I just need to rant, or I will scream !
My 3 year old (harry) was diagnosed in Jan this year and is currently on injections, though we are down for a pump..His levels are all over the place at the moment. We have had highs this week as he has a cold.

Does anyone else constantly worry ? How many times a day do you check levles, when we are out I want to check him all the time.

Days out for me are spoilt because Im worried he will hypo if he runs about too much , I worry about him starting school next sept (will they look after him). I worry in the night that his levels will be too low and am constantly checking on him to see if he is ok.

He is also hungry in between meals and feel a bad mother if I refuse him something to eat cos his levels will shoot up. He is not satisfied with a piece of cheese or a sausage, (well who would !) He wants a biscuit or some fruit, or the occasional bar of chocolate..after all he is a child..

My husband and mum are good support but at the end of the day its down to me to work out his carbs and inject him most of the time.

Any advice how to cope would be appreciated, thanks for listening !!

Helen
 
Hi Helen, it was hard enough with an eleven year old so I can only imagine how it must be with a child so young. There are people on here though who have been through the same as you and I am sure they will come up with some good advice. What I will say is that things will improve with a pump. On a pump you can eat between meals without having to 'inject' as such and because you can deliver smaller doses it is much more flexible. It is also much easier to correct when you get high readings. To be honest I don't think the worry really goes away, but you just get used to living with it. Be strong!
 
Hi helen, I hear too well everything you are anxious about :(


I share much the same worries, however things have been easier with the pump in our experience (cancel out the first couple of months, I don't know where we would be without it!).
Regarding your spoilt days out for him running around, you can knock the basal down on the pump to avoid hypos or nasty hypos. The nights are still a worry but you can fine tune the basal again and know that if all steady with meals, activity and every other s*dding variable then they "should" be ok. No guarentees I'm afraid. Sick days you can wack the basal up to get the BG's down ( a little bit more involved as you can imagine)

It is a difficult age as they cannot appreciate the rationale behind you offering the cheese or meat when they want that darn biscuit 🙄 Again it is easier to incorporate snacks with pumping (no extra jab and pump will account for any active insulin so as not stacking insulin), though not entirely ideal some may argue. So, pleased to hear you are down for the pump and hopefully you are not waiting too long.


Has the school a pre-school nursery you can have a good run at before the transition?. Millie just started at pre-school nursery with support of a health care assistant to do her BG's and pump etc, this will follow her up into reception at school next Sept and will phase out as she becomes independent, worth planning ahead now as takes a wee while to organise.

Regarding your mum and husband, ditto - I do the hands on stuff most of the time and it seems to be the way in most families with one being the main "carer". However, there is a compromise, my OH has to do prescriptions, pump equipment orders, he has been full on in sorting out the nursery stuff etc, he is very organised and assertive and this role suits him well lol!

Regarding testing - we test around 6 x daily minimum when steady and stable, and lots more if not ( which is quite often) I hate the amount but it has proven necessary and her fingers aren't the worse for it like I used to worry they would be by now.

It is extremely difficult at this age and I can certainly appreciate what you are feeling! Hang in there 🙂🙂
 
Hi, yes, worry, worry, worry. And that was before my son was diagnosed, ha ha.

O is 10, was diagnosed in March this year, and is injecting. He is honeymooning, and we suffer from readings all over the place, in the main. We finger prick 6-10 times daily, depending on what he is doing throughout the day. Exercise is a bugger, and sends him plummeting.

Our 'go-to' snacks tend to be a Time Out bar (sorry, not meaning to advertise) which are around 10g carbs, Pringles (no, I am not on commission) which are around 1g carb each one, so a useful easy to calculate snack. Whilst I am not advocating these as healthy snacks, we have found them to be a realistic and bearable alternative for our boy. I tend to take the view that we eat healthily enough with our meals to allow a little leeway for him with this sort of thing (within a reasonable carb limit). His life is c**p enough having to tolerate T1 without me enforcing yawn-tastically healthy snacking. 😉

I don't know with a little one how much carb is OK for a snack. 10g works for us, so sorry if I'm blowing out duff info for you.....


Also, I worry about night -time hypos. We have not (touch wood) experienced any yet- we usually keep the poor bugger awake until his BG is at least 7/8mmol.....
 
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Many thanks for all your kind words and advice.
I have calmed down a bit down, until the next time !!
 
Meant to say Ive calmed down a bit now !! God Im going bonkers !!
 
Your last one made me laugh! - all of this just proves you are an entirely normal human being. And best of all, you are trying to help your son and as any normal decent parent will agree - that includes one helluva lot of worry - even without D.

If you don't worry about your children - then IMHO - you just aren't normal.
 
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