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hey, newby here

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lisa-victoria

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Parent of person with diabetes
Hi, my 2 year old is a type 1 diabetic following swine flu a few months ago, i thought i was coping well but these days i just find myself in tears for hours when iv put the kids to bed. her bm's are still so up and down and it just feels like once i think im getting her under control we have a few mad days where she is either hipo or so high she feels ill. any help or advice would be great. am i missing something? i have gone through all the recipies etc. and really feel like im running out of ideas to level her. thank you lisa
 
Hi lisa,

What insulin regime is your daughter on? It can't be easy with such a young child. I'm sure you'll get some useful tips from the other parents on here xx
 
thanks for replying katie,
she is on levermir in the morning and nover rapid with each meal.
 
good morning lisa firstly welcome to the forum, sorry to hear your daughter contracted swine flu poor you must of been such a worry, theres paretns on board who will be a great support to you adnd will be able to advise and comfort you x sorry i cant be of more help
 
Hi and welcome to the forum!:D

My son is 11 and is now on a pump - but he was on mdi novorapid and levemir, but we found it so hard ot get good control - growth spurts etc made life difficult.

First of all - do you know if you have the basals right? If you do - thats great - then you start to look at the bolus/ratios. Are you carb counting? If yes, then what are the ratios that your little one is on for each meal?
Is she having the high's/hypo's at particular times? Do you have her correction doses right?
Are there particular foods that trigger a high or a low?
It is all very confusing at first and takes a while to 'understand' how to change things - or at least it was for me! But - dont worry - you have found a great forum here and between us i am sure we can help/advise with doses and ratios etc..:DBev
 
thanks steff09, im already feeling a little more on the positive side being on here, so thank you.
Hey Bev i still feel so new to all of this and although the hospital were great at first i do feel like they have kind of left me to figure out the rest. not sure what you mean by basals? and have been self educating myself on the carb counting, have in the last 10 days just been giving her food that are low in carbs, her hypo's are so random some days i find im checking her every two hours and some times during the night if im not convinced she wont last the night without having a hypo. she is a tiny little thing so the max iv ever given her is 2 units of noverapid but so often i just give her half.
Being on here is going to help i think, its nice to speak to people who understand, i am so sick and tired of people saying to me 'so she's all better now then' i just want to scream at them to google diabetes!!!! but i guess unless you live with it you wont understand. thanks for your help. lisa
 
Hi Lisa,

The basal is the 'background' insulin that keeps things steady. This is the Levemir. To know if the basal is correct - you have to do basal testing. Is she waking up on a good level? If so - thats a good starting point. In theory, if you only had basal insulin - your levels should remain fairly constant for a good few hours. If they dont - then the basal is wrong.

Basal testing will be hard for a toddler as it entails not having a proper breakfast like cereal - just bacon and eggs or omelette or cheese etc - anything without carbs in so it doesnt affect the result.

I think it might be better to take things very slowly to begin with or your in danger of getting confused with what it is that is causing the problems.

Once you have a good basal level, then its time to work on the ratios. However as your little one has so little novorapid - this might be harder said than done! Does she have different amounts depending on the meal?How do you decide how much to give her? Why havent your hospital taught you how to carb count?

Does your hospital have any pumpers? I know 2 and 3 year olds on pumps and its the only thing that helps to stabilise levels - growth spurts and excitement in children are awful to deal with on mdi (which is what your daughter is on). If your hospital offer you a pump - grab it with both hands!

I dont know if any of this is any help to you. But if you want to know more or in more detail - please just ask! I dont want to insult you by tellng you things you might already know - but i am happy to help if i can. Although there are others who are much more knowledgable than me on here.🙂Bev
 
Hi Lisa

I really feel for you. Your whole world has been rocked, you are in the right place here as we understand that and 'get it' where most of your friends won't understand totally, this is normal.

Having a toddler with diabetes is damned hard work and reading your messages you are doing so so so well, you really are, don't underestimate yourself.

I've been where you are. My daughter was diagnosed as a 5 week old baby with type 1, she had her pancreas removed a week before so she was made a type 1. So I totally understand how hard it is.

You may have been told to aim at levels under 10.0 or 12.0. I will be honest and say this is ridiculous at this stage for you. You do need to avoid the highs and lows if you can but with a child on injections you will inevitably get both highs and lows. When you say you just think you have it under control.......... I used to think this but only for a while. It took a long time to accept the fact that with children you can never get it under control. You will get to a place where things are going ok ish but then they change again. With a toddler its even harder because of the energy they have and the brain power they are using. You really are doing brilliantly you know.

As Bev said the only way you will get anywhere near good control will be on a pump. Look into it, it is worth it. If you decide you like the idea and it will give you better results, its hard work but better levels then don't be fobbed off by medical people telling you your child is too young or you need to give MDI (what you are on) a much longer go. That is all rubbish.

Take a look at www.childrenwithdiabetesuk.org it is written by parents for parents. It has so much information on the website to help you. You can join an email group from the home page which is a busy email group but it is a lifeline. It is my lifeline and I wouldn't be without it (bit like here but that is purely for parents).

Any questions you have, ask. Remember no question is a silly question, we have all asked them.

Take care
 
Hi Lisa
I'm glad you feel more positive already from being on here. I had never been on a forum in my life until J was diagnosed in August this year. J"s team at the hospital have told me that he is on too small doses of Novo rapid to carb count, although I am trying to teach myself about it so that hopefully when the time comes I'll have a better grasp of what to do! Something that does help, which you may wel do already is to write everything done. I have a big diary for J and I write everything he eats and does activity wise, then I can cross reference stuff.
It can be very frustrating at times but it sounds like you're doing a great job. Do you know anyone else with a child with diabetes, I don't but am trying to meet up with some other parents through Diabetes Uk local group.
Keep going and be strong!
Caryn 🙂
 
Hya Lisa

Welcome to the forum. My son is 8 and he was diagnosed in August this year. Its hard isn't it and I felt so guilty when the doctors told me jack had diabetes, I'd thought I had done something wrong. But we cannot blame ourselfs. How is your daughter coping with having injections? Must be hard with her being so small. I was shaking/sweating the first time I did it. This forum has been a great help and the mums are wonderful.

gem x
 
Hi Lisa! Just wanted to send my hugs to you and your daughter. My 6-year-old was diagnosed 4 months ago with type 1 - rushed into hospital with DKA after a virus. We're muddling along, but there are a lot of highs and lows still. Do you have a diabetes nurse you can call when you are worried? Ours are great and we can call them Monday to Friday or the paedeatric diabetes nurse at the hospital at the weekend.

Ask your hospital if their dietician can teach you about carb counting for diabetes, and help you work out your daughter's carb requirements. While we were still in hospital with F, the dietician worked out F's carb requirements per meal, and she came out to the house a week later to check we were OK working it all out. It does help a lot!

You could print out some diabetes information sheets to give to friends and family to try to educate them a bit. Diabetes UK has some information sheets you can download for free. I also showed a few friends this little video on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyl2tXwYOFw

Kei
xx
 
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