Hello, I am writing to introduce myself, my daughter having been diagnosed with T1 in December 2015, two days before her 7th birthday. We are on a multiple insulin injection regime and while we are beginning to grow accustomed to the testing and injecting and carb counting, the high levels of anxiety and rage experienced by our T1 daughter are harder to deal with and do not appear to be reducing. Our older daughters find to difficult to deal with the amount of attention that our T1 daughter requires and sibling relationships are suffering! I am finding it helpful to read all your posts and realise that we are not alone with this life changing condition! I would like to consider the pump this year to help normalise our lives, but my T1 daughter is adamant that she will never consider it. Should I put her on the waiting list anyway, given that in our area it apparently can take up to a year to get it? What seems to be really beneficial are these continuous monitoring devices that I keep reading about, particularly if part of the same pump system. Has anyone obtained one of these for a child on the NHS? Thanks for any advice.
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Mum of recently diagnosed T1 daughter aged 7
- Thread starter Shoshana
- Start date
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Matt Cycle
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Shoshana and welcome to the forum. Diagnosis of T1 is a shock at first for all the family. I'm sure in time your daughter and her sisters will accept it and it will become just another part of her life. A lot of children love technology and there are lots of children using pumps. It may be worth discussing it at her next clinic appointment. She may change her mind when she sees one or meets other T1 children who are using one.
CGM's are indeed very useful devices but not routinely prescribed by the NHS due to cost. Others with diabetic children may know more. Most people using them now have self-funded. There is a device called a Freestyle Libre, very similar to a CGM, but the attached sensor requires you to swipe the reader over it to obtain a result. They are currently only approved for use in adults but a number of parents have bought them to use on their children. It's also self-funding with these as well - the starter pack (reader and 2 sensors) is £133 and a sensor lasts for 2 weeks. Sensors on their own are around £50. Yes, it's expensive but still cheaper than a conventional CGM and will give you an idea of patterns in her BG readings throughout the day and night even if like most you only used it occasionally or on non-routine times like holidays etc.
Good luck.
CGM's are indeed very useful devices but not routinely prescribed by the NHS due to cost. Others with diabetic children may know more. Most people using them now have self-funded. There is a device called a Freestyle Libre, very similar to a CGM, but the attached sensor requires you to swipe the reader over it to obtain a result. They are currently only approved for use in adults but a number of parents have bought them to use on their children. It's also self-funding with these as well - the starter pack (reader and 2 sensors) is £133 and a sensor lasts for 2 weeks. Sensors on their own are around £50. Yes, it's expensive but still cheaper than a conventional CGM and will give you an idea of patterns in her BG readings throughout the day and night even if like most you only used it occasionally or on non-routine times like holidays etc.
Good luck.
Lynn Davies
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Redkite
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
Sorry to hear about your daughter's diagnosis, it's a massive adjustment for her and all of you to make. A pump can help make life easier - much more flexible, e.g. eat more or less what you like and bolus insulin at the push of a button. You can tailor her basal insulin across the day, and hopefully eliminate some of the swings in blood glucose that can really impact mood. My son was 4 when diagnosed, and 7 when he got his pump (we had to really fight for it, so if you're being offered the chance of one, don't hesitate to get your names on the list) - he was completely sold on the idea of being able to have 99 ice creams from the icecream van with no injection!!
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