• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

First time on saying hi

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Cofito

Cofito

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Currently in hospital after my 12 year old son was admitted last night.

First steps so looking for ways to find info and more to try and make not only his life as stress free and easy but so my wife won't panic and to learn and support him rather than think she has to do everything and blame herself for thinking she could of prevented this.

Any advice, thoughts most welcome.
 
Hi Cofito, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm very sorry to hear about the situation you find yourself in :( First things first - diabetes is a serious condition, but the good news is that it can be controlled very well and doesn't need to stop your son doing anything he wishes to do, It's never a good time to be diagnosed, but the treatments and technology are excellent these days, and improving all the time. No-one knows what triggers Type 1, but it is an autoimmune condition that is not preventable - there is nothing you or your wife have done wrong, I'm afraid he has just been unfortunate. I was 49, a lifelong runner and a week away from running a marathon when I was diagnosed - there was nothing I could do, and nothing I had done to cause it. I am now back running, and whilst my life does involve a bit more planning it is otherwise unchanged 🙂

There is quite a steep learning curve with Type 1, as you have to go very quickly to insulin injections which can be quite traumatic for some people. However, the needles used are tiny and are practically undetectable most of the time, so very different to those you might give for an innoculation. My best peice of advice would be to get hold of a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents by Ragnar Hanas, the best reference guide available to Type 1 and something you will find invaluable 🙂 Please let us know if you have ANY questions and we will be more than happy to help. Good luck, I hope he is out of hospital soon and feeling much better 🙂
 
Thanks northerner

Book ordered. Been surfing the net and reading all morning. The one thing sleeping on a chair has going for it keeps you up so time to start learning.

I guess we will have loads of questions but do far the medical team have been great giving us time to ask and be involved all of us. My son bless him seems to be taking it in his stride but I want to make sure we are aware of the dangers and how serious things can be whilst trying to see the positives in what will be a challenge.

He is loves his food and his main concern was how will he eat Christmas dinner as he won't know what will be served. 🙂.

I will be honest and it is a strange time. I have no real idea of what he is feeling or what he will feel in a few days weeks etc once the routine starts. Myself as a dad you want to protect your child. So right now emotions are high and it is more about trying to understand everything but feel a little helpless as in the hands on gadgets now.
 
Do you know what insulin he is being given? Regarding Christmas dinner, hopefully you will all be in a much better position in a couple of weeks time, but the main thing is not to stress too much about one meal and one day - getting things less than perfect will not impact on his long-term health, and the good thing is that he has been diagnosed now - far better than if he had been undiagnosed. Depending on the insulin regime he is being put on, he should be able to adjust his insulin according to the carbohydrate content of what he wants to eat (ideally, he will be on a regime called 'basal/bolus', also known as MDI - Multiple Daily Injections. This involves a slow-acting 'background' insulin once or twice a day, and a fast-acting insulin each time he eats).

Don't feel you need to know everything at once, things will take a little while to sink in and settle down, but hopefully you will have good, regular contact with his healthcare team to help you make any adjustments. Hard to predict how he will feel about it all, but I think the main thing is to stress how it is not something he needs to be ashamed of or to hide from his friends. There are plenty of great role models around who have succeeded in their chosen fields despite Type 1. The key thing is to accept it, do what is necessary each day and then just get on with the rest of your life - you control it, it doesn't control you 🙂 We have members here who have been Type 1 for decades with no problems along the way - and they were diagnosed at a time when far less was known. There was a chap in the news the other day who has just celebrated 80 years as a Type 1! 🙂

You might also be interested in looking at the
Children with Diabetes website for another source of support from other UK parents - they also have a Facebook group 🙂
 
Hi and welcome to the forums. Great information and support round here. I am new also so not a lot of help just yet but Northerner is very knowledgeable and will help. Lots of others around who are parents of young children as well so keep reading and learning. Takes a couple of days to get your 'learning' head on and soon you will be ok.
 
Boys and their food! Mine was the same, but he eats just as he used to, it just takes a little more organisation than it used to. In fact, within a week of diagnosis we were back doing everything we did pre-diagnosis, just with some additions! Kids are so adaptable, he will get used to it far quicker than you will!

Don't expect to know everything right away, or to totally 'control' the diabetes. But you will learn to manage it, and it's important to remember that sometimes it will go to pot despite all your best efforts. And that is ok.

Make the most of your team, get on MDI if poss and ask all the questions you need. They've heard it all before. We saw a psychologist attached to our team and that was really useful -good if any of you are struggling to get your head around it after a few weeks.
 
Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will find the help and support that yu need on here. Its a great place with lots of experienced and knowledgable people.
 
Thanks all for comments.

He's on MDI. With the slow background injection. Went from 21 last night down to 5.9 this morning.

He's doing the injections himself and he knows how to work everything better than me already.

Christmas dinner he's already been working out with the book they gave us 🙂.

I've checked out loads of websites and fact sheets etc.

I'm sure will have questions and will be back in here I am sure. Will look to get my wife on as she will be at home more with him so want to alleviate her worries and anxiety over any of this.
 
Hi there, Cofito. Sorry to hear about your son's diagnosis.:( Sounds like he's hit the ground running, doing his injections himself already. You're in the right place for support and info. It's tough at first, there's so much to take in, but it all calms down eventually, and life goes on. Let us know how you get on.🙂
 
Thanks Bloden.

No need to be sorry. Life is all about dealing with things. I'm looking forward to spending more time as a family to manage this so as much as it may sound odd there are always positive aspects to everything.

I will keep posting as we progress 🙂
 
Hello and welcome Cofito 🙂

It's a tough call being diagnosed young and at first it is one steep learning curve but one things for sure there is absolutely no blame attached to anyone or anything, it just happens. Things will settle down and your son sounds like he's already getting used to it all. There are people on here who have had Type 1 for 50 years + and the technology available to manage diabetes these days is improving all the while. Diabetes is dynamic, you can do everything possible to control it and then for some reason things just go awry, It's part of it and the main thing is to try and work out why - there isn't always a reason - and to get back on track as soon as possible.

I wish you and your son well and hope you enjoy your Christmas meal 🙂
 
Hey! Say two things to your son please ? First one is - We wish him a welcome, to the Club no-one wanted to join!

Second one is - it is well known fact (but only amongst diabetics you must understand - even Ragnar Hanas doesn't know this!) that there are actually two carbohydrate 'almost-free' days in every year. First one we share - cos it's Christmas Day! Second one is - our birthday! Every single year.

To you as his dad I'll say - of course they aren't ... BUT .... these are one-off days, even though they happen annually, so if mistakes are made and we don't give enough insulin for it, or eat a bit more of anything (good stuff or 'c**p' LOL) - so what? As long as we don't do it every day it won't kill us, because with modern insulins - we can always add a bit more later if we find our blood glucose is a bit high.

I'm not a 50+ year diabetic as I've only had it for 43 - but nothing has dropped off yet or stopped working and I can see fine - I needed glasses before I got Type 1.

It shouldn't stop him doing anything or going anywhere he happens to want.

Also have a look at the Diabetes UK site, plus the JDRF site - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Both do shedloads of things though the latter is obviously oriented more towards youth and both do various education type meetings and weekends etc, which are actually really good fun for the kids. I went to one of DUK's 'Big Day Out' things a couple of years ago - all the D kids were there with their bros and sisters, they all went off to do various activities whilst their parents attended to various lectures - and they were all hacked off when it came to home time, and were demanding of both parents and organisers when the next one was! 'Can we come again next week?' was heard more than once - hilarious, but it really did show it had been fun. I wasn't D as a child, and it's been a long time since I was a child anyway - but I do know full well how hard it can be to please em!
 
Thank you again. Just reading replies is really nice.

More websites and clubs are great to know about will check everything out.

I'll passed those things on trophywench made him smile.

We have had lots told to us and it has been in a real caring and drip feeding way. So not to overload us. Going over the harsh realities but then putting it all into simple terms so we can understand it all.

So far obviously a shock to be suddenly dealing with but it feels like there is a lot of support which is really comforting.
 
Don't know whether your son is quite old enough to be 'into' Harry Potter, Cofito - but we now call people like you - non diabetics - Muggles. Cos - as I'm sure you'll appreciate (you'd better, anyway!) - it is US who are normal and YOU that are weird.
 
Welcome to the forum. You will have to take a lot in the next few years. Really good luck & there are lots out there who have done it for a long time 🙂
 
trophywench he's not into Harry Potter but knows of him etc. that's fair enough as I feel like a muggle. He's the special one 🙂
 
Thanks hobie.

There are 8 others at his school we found out today so they are really good at helping and managing it when he is there. 170 children in our town.

Already it seems there is a big community to talk to 🙂
 
Just to give an update.

So far all ok. Levels overnight stayed at 4.6 and 4.2. Not sure if that is good or not as I am sure my wife will worry getting close to being too low.

We went for a few walls today. And after Santa visits later they have said for us to go out for a couple of hours so we can start to get bs k to normal.

My son still seems to be taking it in his stride bless him. Will hopefully carry on like that.
 
Cofito said:
Just to give an update.

So far all ok. Levels overnight stayed at 4.6 and 4.2. Not sure if that is good or not as I am sure my wife will worry getting close to being too low.

We went for a few walls today. And after Santa visits later they have said for us to go out for a couple of hours so we can start to get bs k to normal.

My son still seems to be taking it in his stride bless him. Will hopefully carry on like that.
Click to expand...
Hi, those levels are a bit on the low side for overnight, it would be preferable for them to be above 5.0. The reason is that levels usually take a dip to their lowest at around 3 am, then start to rise again - this is due to the liver releasing less glucose as the night progessses and thne increasing again as dawn approaches - the 'body clock' or Circadian Rhythm you may be familiar with. For this reason many parents test their children around 3 am just to check they have not fallen too low. If low, then some juice through a straw can be given to raise levels 🙂

Have they said when he might be discharged? Good luck with everything, you have all made a very good start 🙂
 
Thanks Northerner

As much as early days I had thought to low. Just tested half an hour ago and it's 8.2. They seem to be doing it at 2 and 4 ish so perhaps when home will do 3

Yesterday before breakfast it was 5.2 so it did go up early morning

I guess the body is still adjusting.

After meal levels have been high hitting 12 after breakfast yesterday. Testing 2 hours after food. But after lunch and tea they were both 8 so it's adjusting.

How to compensate and adjust I assume will be the next stage and how to use the data but we haven't gone through that yet.

Still lots to ask and discuss

Santa came yesterday so that cheered everyone up. 🙂
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top