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Mother oF Recently Diagnosed Teenage Daughter - Help Needed

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Lunabelle

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Hi,

My daughter is 14 and was diagnosed with Type 1 in September. We have been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride for the last few months as we try to adjust. In the first 6 weeks my daughter gained 17lb in weight - she had not lost lots of weight before diagnosis. She then tried really hard to lose some weight for about 8 weeks. She cut her carbs drastically, she exercised regularly but just couldnt shift the weight - maybe lose 1lb in a week but the next week put it back on - for the complete overhaul in diet she should have lost more weight - she just kept having hypos. Unfortunately she became so dispondant that she has now given up on her carb control, is angry, sugar levels continually high, has put on more weight. That coupled with teenage life is making her unhappy. Can anyone offer any advice please?
 
Sorry to hear of the difficulties that your daughter is having in managing her Diabetes.

When she reduced her carbs did she also adjust her insulin dose?
The fewer carbs she eats the less insulin”in you need.
Her Diabetes team should be able to help her with these adjustments.
Is she using carb counting to calculate her dose for each meal?

When I lost weight I found I needed less insulin for both bolus and basal insulin.
Without these changes I would hypo.

Is she in regular contact with her Diabetes team. It would be well worth trying to contact them and to arrange an appointment and explain the difficulties.
 
It does read as though when reducing carbs her insulin was too high, so the hypos were the result, as the insulin just caused her levels to drop as it took the same amount of sugar into storage after each injection.
I am by no means an expert on type one diabetes management, but I am pretty good at Human Biology, though I have probably forgotten quite a bit recently.
For type twos like me low carb is so effective in normalizing metabolism, due to the way it changes our insulin production. Your daughter is not far into her life with type one, it might take a little time to get things absolutely right - but I hope that you can get help to put things in the right balance.
 
Hi, Thanks for getting back to me. Yes - she did drop her insulin dose and her background insulin. She rows and does circuit training - which is what was causing her hypos. We just dont understand why she couldnt lose any weight. And now she is heavier again and really fed up. We are seeing the Diabetes team again this week but I was wondering if anybody else had similar experiences and could offer any advice.
 
Her whole body has had and is still having an VERY traumatic experience. If she'd been run over by an artic, you probably wouldn't be at all surprised she was having a lot of difficulty adjusting to stuff, as if being 14 wasn't hard enough in the first place. The other thing that strikes me is that muscle weighs more than normal 'flesh' however old or young you happen to be - so getting the balance right will be ruddy hard.

Again - professional help is needed in my opinion, so her clinic need to offer her a lot more help than it sounds like she's been getting or accepting. My brain is like a sieve today - what are those folk at Loughborough called, who work with diabetic athletes (amateur and professional) ? - might they be able to help?
 
It's still early days for your daughter and as a father whose son was diagnosed with type 1 thirty years ago years ago, I know how difficult, frustrating and worrying it can be. You blame yourself for giving them the illness, you sleep with one eye open in case they have a hypo in the night. You worry about them when they're at school, you worry when they are at home. It is not a quick fix illness. We've been through the bouts of anger and frustration. You have no choice but to persevere. One day at a time. It's not easy, but with patience and determination you will eventually overcome the setbacks.
As Jenny says, your daughter needs more support from the diabetes team at the hospital.
I am now an insulin dependent diabetic so I now know first hand what it feels like.
Sorry for being be a bit blunt
 
Welcome Lunabelle 🙂. T1 is hard work at times. Well done for joining this forum. Lots of helpful people with good advice. I would love to give you perfect advice but I know its hard for kids to accept at stages through there lives. I have been T since the age of 3 a while ago & please tell your daughter I have had a very good life. I have two good kids now bigger (a 6ft3 16yr old) Pls keep asking & we will do our best to help. Good luck 😉
 
It's Runsweet I was trying to remember the name of, Mike.
 
Hi ! I have a 15 year old so know how distressing it can be to feel she has no control over her body. I hope she feels she doesn't need to give up all that exercise even if it is tricky to balance insulin/carbs just now. I also do lots of exercise and am not afraid to start a session with a bg of 12 because the cardio will bring it down to normal range pretty quickly.
It is worth bearing in mind that there's a high incidence of eating issues/disorders with teen diabetics possibly because of all the focus on food, lack of feeling in control and being weighed all the time. Once she gets her basal dose correct and works out a good carbs to bolus ratio, her body will settle down and find its set point weight wise. Sounds simple but as you have found out its not easy especially with the variable of monthly hormones and the exercise! Hope she can get on a teens forum here or over at diabetes.co.uk to become an expert in her own diabetes as soon as possible.
 
Pandora71 said:
Hi ! I have a 15 year old so know how distressing it can be to feel she has no control over her body. I hope she feels she doesn't need to give up all that exercise even if it is tricky to balance insulin/carbs just now. I also do lots of exercise and am not afraid to start a session with a bg of 12 because the cardio will bring it down to normal range pretty quickly.
It is worth bearing in mind that there's a high incidence of eating issues/disorders with teen diabetics possibly because of all the focus on food, lack of feeling in control and being weighed all the time. Once she gets her basal dose correct and works out a good carbs to bolus ratio, her body will settle down and find its set point weight wise. Sounds simple but as you have found out its not easy especially with the variable of monthly hormones and the exercise! Hope she can get on a teens forum here or over at diabetes.co.uk to become an expert in her own diabetes as soon as possible.
Click to expand...
Good luck Pandora 🙂 & welcome
 
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