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Mom of Son 12 newly diagnosed T1

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

New Member
Hi
It’s good to know this is here as I’ve been struggling with coming to terms with my Sons diagnosis and the carb counting etc. Diagnosed 14th January 18. My Son is also struggling and getting frustrated and angry. He said it hurts all the time to inject and is feeling pretty sorry for himself. I expect this is normal? Just don’t know how to help him. We have a very busy household with two daughters as well and my Husband and I both working full time. He doesn’t really have many close friends. Is there anyone with children his age (12) in Redditch that may like to meet up?

Any advise greatly received. Thanks Kate.
 
Kate Beverley said:
Hi
It’s good to know this is here as I’ve been struggling with coming to terms with my Sons diagnosis and the carb counting etc. Diagnosed 14th January 18. My Son is also struggling and getting frustrated and angry. He said it hurts all the time to inject and is feeling pretty sorry for himself. I expect this is normal? Just don’t know how to help him. We have a very busy household with two daughters as well and my Husband and I both working full time. He doesn’t really have many close friends. Is there anyone with children his age (12) in Redditch that may like to meet up?

Any advise greatly received. Thanks Kate.
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Hi Kate, welcome to the forum 🙂 There's no good age to be diagnosed, but 12 is a particularly difficult time :( What insulin regime is he on? Some insulins can sting a little when injected (lantus is notorious for it), but the discomfort should only be momentary. If it's the actual needles he's having a problem with, it could be because he is tensing up before injecting, or possibly the type/size of the needles - what is he using?

There's a great organisation called Children with Diabetes UK that is made up of lots of UK parents and their children. They also have various Facebook pages listed on their website, and it's possible that you could find others who live nearby via that.

I'd highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas - considered to be the 'bible' for children and young people on insulin regimes. Packed with useful information about all aspects of living with Type 1, whatever your age, and written in a very positive style 🙂 It would be worth talking to his DSN about how he is feeling. Resenting the diabetes actually takes more time and energy out of your daily life than just doing the few minutes of testing and injecting required. It doesn't need to stand in the way of him achieving anything, there are people who have achieved the very highest level in their chosen field, whether it be sport, music, or politics (the PM has Type 1!).

Please feel free to ask any questions you have. You might like to read Adrienne's essential guide for parents of newly-diagnosed children to see things from a parent's perspective, written by one of our members 🙂
 
Hi. He’s just started carb counting. He has a fixed 4units of nova rapid at lunch (school) and Lantus as the background insulin. He probably is tensing when injecting. The needles are - Accu-Chek Fast Clix 204 Lancets. Thank you for he link to try and locate other children with T1. I will check it out. Many thanks. Kate
 
Kate Beverley said:
The needles are - Accu-Chek Fast Clix 204 Lancets.
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The Fastclix has an adjustable depth setting, so it would be worth checking to see if it is perhaps set too high for him. Painless Pricks, by Alan S might help him to improve his technique when fingerpricking and make them less painful. By 'needles' I actually meant the needles that go on his insulin pens - these come in different sizes with 4mm being the smallest -if he's using larger ones then ask the DSN for some smaller ones to try.

Everything can be very overwhelming to begin with as there is so much to take in, but it does get easier as experience grows. There's always someone here to answer your questions, so if anything is confusing you or worrying you, let us know so we can try and help 🙂
 
Kate, I see it's your birthday today! Happy birthday! 🙂 I hope you are able to enjoy it, and have a lovely day 🙂

Birfday bell.jpg
 
My son was diagnosed with T! when aged just 3 so he grew up knowing no other regime other than daily finger pricks, injections and blood tests. Carb counting wasn't the routine in those days (thirty years ago) it was all to do with calories. As parents we had to draw up the insulin into syringes with 20mm microfine needles and the injections were done in his bum cheeks. Now its done with Kwikpens or similar and 4mm needles usually into the abdomen. They can sometimes sting but are mostly painless. I know that because I am now a T2 injecting insulin diabetic.
It's unavoidable that you will naturally worry about him. But as things stand it's a lifelong condition that can be well controlled and you just take one day at a time to achieve that. His emotions are completely normal and as Northerner says it's a particularly difficult age to have contracted diabetes.
There are many, many lovely people on this forum who can give you the benefit of their experience in dealing with diabetes so you will not be alone.
Take care
Dave
 
Happy birthday Kate!

A couple of things re painful jabs - have you tried sticking a needle in you (without insulin obviously) so you can understand the process? well anyway - when I'm scared of something it's quite usual for at least my hands and face to get a bit clammy and if you inject (anything) into wet or damp skin - it ruddy stings!

I'm right handed, reverse instructions if left handed LOL - I also found when using insulin pens that if I stretched the bit of skin I was going to jab into using thumb and forefinger of my left hand, so it was fairly taut before stabbing myself, it's easier. (Same as sewing eg a hem - you hold the material taut in left hand before sticking the sewing needle in)

All insulin jabs stung me whether using plastic disposable syringes or later using insulin pens.

Lantus for me always stung - but not the needle, the stinging didn't start until I depressed the plunger. This was very odd, because the Novorapid started stinging as soon as the needle pierced me. How odd ...... then I realised that the old type of Lantus pen needed different needles and they were not only a different fitting (a click fitting rather than the more usual screw on) but also a different manufacturer! So I asked the pharmacy next time I needed needles, if there was a different make of screw-on needle I could try instead of the usual make - there was and I'm still using them - instant relief! We can all only assume that for whatever reason, I'm very sensitive to the lubricant used by that particular manufacturer - though none of us has ever come across anyone else that is and I'm not allergic to anything else at all my skin has ever come across in 67 years.

I later changed Lantus for a different 'basal' insulin which served me better than Lantus in terms of BG anyway and absolutely didn't sting - so I'd been Type 1 for 35+ years before I ever had these 'painless' jabs everyone constantly tells us we should get. What a relief!

Very often with diabetes - we do have to kiss a LOT of frogs before we find our own Prince. Yes it certainly is a tedious process and it's hard to live with at the time - but boy oh boy - it's worth it in the end!

Diabetes UK run various weekends for parents and children and also local events - unfortunately the search facility for local groups isn't working on their website at the moment but I think they have a local office in Worcester who could be very helpful to you - if no joy, ring their main helpline and ask.
 
Welcome Kate & Son 🙂 Good luck finding some answers, you have joined a good forum.
 
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