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Hello All - Mum to a T1 10 year old

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Maladjusted1

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Hello

I am the mother of 10 year old girl who has been diagnosed T1 for 18 months.

I work full time and I am cracking under the strain at the moment. Any hints or tips for dealing with burn out?

We just can’t get her levels balanced with all of the raging hormones.
 
Welcome to the forum

How is your daughter coping? Have you tried speaking to the diabetes nurse or clinical psychologist?
 
Hi and welcome

My kid was diagnosed just before 9 and whew yeah hormones are fun.

Good enough is good enough. I know we get bogged down in trying to get lots of time in range etc but as long as the HBA1C is ok and there is still engagement with managing her diabetes let the perfection slide.

We found a huge issue when dealing with periods and the week before first period was a complete meltdown and unwillingness to engage with any diabetes management. My kid is trans and is now a boy but has/had periods so all of that complicated things too. He’s now on the pill to stop bleeds and it helped massively with evening out the hormonal swings and has made the emotional side of managing diabetes easier.

Our team were very good at supporting us and preparing us for the increases in insulin that would be needed with puberty. It really can take a huge increase to get levels right even before periods start. She needs the insulin she needs so try not to get hung up on the numbers.

Use your team’s psychologist for you if you need to. They’re there to support the whole family.
 
Lily123 said:
Welcome to the forum

How is your daughter coping? Have you tried speaking to the diabetes nurse or clinical psychologist?
Click to expand...
Thank you x
My daughter is coping ok but I am managing the condition. I know this has to change before senior school and we are working on the transition. I think it’s especially the lack of sleep over the past year that has really got to me now.
 
Thebearcametoo said:
Hi and welcome

My kid was diagnosed just before 9 and whew yeah hormones are fun.

Good enough is good enough. I know we get bogged down in trying to get lots of time in range etc but as long as the HBA1C is ok and there is still engagement with managing her diabetes let the perfection slide.

We found a huge issue when dealing with periods and the week before first period was a complete meltdown and unwillingness to engage with any diabetes management. My kid is trans and is now a boy but has/had periods so all of that complicated things too. He’s now on the pill to stop bleeds and it helped massively with evening out the hormonal swings and has made the emotional side of managing diabetes easier.

Our team were very good at supporting us and preparing us for the increases in insulin that would be needed with puberty. It really can take a huge increase to get levels right even before periods start. She needs the insulin she needs so try not to get hung up on the numbers.

Use your team’s psychologist for you if you need to. They’re there to support the whole family.
Click to expand...
Thank you x it sounds like you are doing an amazing job. My daughter started her periods at 10 and has developed anemia since so maybe the pill might help. How old is your son now?
 
Maladjusted1 said:
Thank you x it sounds like you are doing an amazing job. My daughter started her periods at 10 and has developed anemia since so maybe the pill might help. How old is your son now?
Click to expand...
Urgh 10 is rough. Mine was barely 11 when his started. He’s nearly 13 now. We’ve found the pill helps both with the evening out of the emotional state (he was getting very bad mental health issues) and with not having so many hormonal changes to blood sugar. Obviously long term use of the pill has its own issues but as she’s already anaemic it’s worth a chat with the GP and if it helps with the diabetes management too then that’s a bonus.

I find it exhausting parenting a kid with diabetes. There’s no down time. The number of decisions and things we have to remember every day (I can do most carbs off the top of my head but that means less space in my short term memory for other things) and we have alarms at night often enough that I don’t sleep well. It’s like going back to having a toddler again in some ways only he’s now as big as me and way more stubborn than he was as a 3 year old

Feel free to come on here and moan and offload.
 
What are you finding difficult?

The pump and CGM should make it easier to cope but not always
 
Puberty is tough and things will change a lot, it can’t be helped. Be kind to yourself and try not to worry too much about things. You can’t get it perfect all the time no matter how hard you try. What helped me a lot was when our DSN pointed out that there’s no point stressing over the numbers all the time if that’s all you do, you have to enjoy life too. So allow yourself a few days to relax a bit and not worry every time she’s high and then start again. In the long run a few dodgy days here and there are not going to hurt.

Your daughter will take over control when she’s ready. I found the transition to secondary school greatly helped my daughter, at primary she hated being different and hated talking about her diabetes but as soon as she got to secondary she seemed to take it all in her stride much better. To be honest I think the staff at the secondary school dealt with it better, maybe that helped. My daughter has being doing her own boluses and gradually taking over carb counting since junior school but still leaves it to me to decide when she needs basal adjustments (she’s 16 now and doing A levels!). Don’t expect your daughter to do it all at once, just gradually start letting her do it for herself. I pretty much let my daughter get on with it on her own now and just check the graph each day to see if we need any adjustments. She won’t go into clinic appointments on her own yet either, I need to start working on that before she has to transition to adult services!
 
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