hi everyone! My son, who has just turned 2, was diagnosed last week with type 1. Its come as a big shock but he has been a total star with blood testing and injections! Just looking for any support or advice anyone has and anyone who has experience on the pump as they ve indicated they d like to start him on one as soon as it's feasible, Thanks in advance xxx
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Mum of toddler with type 1
- Thread starter Lyndsay d
- Start date
- Status
Martin Canty
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi & welcome to the group....
I don't have any experience of this but we have many members who do & will likely be able to give advice....
I don't have any experience of this but we have many members who do & will likely be able to give advice....
pottersusan
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Welcome.
I'm not an expert on children, but I love my pump and would thoroughly recommend it. it's hard work to start with, but worth it.
I'm not an expert on children, but I love my pump and would thoroughly recommend it. it's hard work to start with, but worth it.
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Lyndsay, welcome to the forum 🙂 Very sorry to hear about your little one's diagnosis
How did it come about? We do have members here with similar aged children, so hopefully they will be along to share their experiences.We also have a member whose daughter was started almost immediately on a pump (@Sally71 ) so hopefully she will see this - I know that it was tough to begin with, but she has found it to be of enormous benefit. If you want to read up more about pumps, I'd suggest having a look at the INPUT website which is full of good information 🙂
What insulin is he on currently? Good to hear that he appears unfazed by it and it's not a battle to test and inject - a little star indeed! 🙂 I would highly recommend getting a copy of the excellent 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, you will find it really helpful 🙂
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns and we will be happy to help 🙂 Although this is a difficult and confusing time for you all, with a steep learning curve, things will get easier. Knowledge and treatments are improving all the time and there is no reason why he should not achieve everything in life he wants to - there are international sportsmen and women, as well as people in all walks of life who manage very well with Type 1 diabetes - even the current Prime Minister, Theresa May, has Type 1! 🙂
Sally71
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
Hi there! Sorry you have to be here, but you've found a good place!
Pumps are fab, I would highly recommend that you get one if you have the chance! We got one only a week after diagnosis (there was a trial going on comparing injections with pumps in newly diagnosed children, and we got lucky and were in the right place at the right time). Yes it was tough at first, we hadn't had chance to get over the shock of the diagnosis and how to manage it with pens, then had to do a crash course in carb counting and how pumps work which is quite different. Serious brain overload - but with a lot of help from the hospital we got through it and haven't looked back. Pumps are fab in many ways - they can do much smaller doses, increments of just 0.1 unit instead of 0.5, which for a child as young as yours could make all the difference! You can also do things such as temporarily increase or decrease the basal for a few hours at a time if you are ill or exercising; or if you are having highs or lows at the same time every day you can adjust the basal just for those few hours without disturbing the rest of the day, you can't possibly do that with Lantus or Levemir! You can also spread out your meal doses by anything up to 12 hours to cope with foods which are slow to digest and so on. It can be hard work trying to get everything adjusted correctly (I'm having fun with my daughter at the moment, she's hypoing all over the place so I'm gradually reducing her doses, I'll probably just get it sorted and then she'll start going high all the time and I'll have to change everything back again, that's diabetes for you!) and there's a lot of trial and error involved, but to my mind the pros far outweigh the cons.
My daughter loves her pump too and doesn't mind being attached to it all day, in fact she misses it when it isn't there and doesn't like having to take it off for 10 minutes to refill it! We can get 5-6 days out of a cartridge and the cannula in her tummy needs to be changed every 2-3 days, so it's less needles too. Which makes it much easier if you're out and about, you only have to push a few buttons to do a bolus, so if your child wants a snack or if you're at a restaurant and don't want to bolus for your pudding until you've seen what it is, it's easy to do a separate bolus any time you like and you don't need to stick needles in all the time. You still have to do finger pricks though!
The pumps themselves are very sturdy and it's highly unlikely that even the most boisterous toddler could damage it. Yes I am aware that I do go on a bit about how wonderful pumps are; that's because to my mind they are wonderful, but as someone on another thread pointed out to me, you have to decide for yourself whether they are the right thing for you and your child, there are many people quite happy on injections. I would highly recommend that you try a pump if you can though, if you can stick with it for say 3 months you should know by then whether it's working for you or not, and if you really aren't getting on with it you can always go back to pens. Good luck!
Pumps are fab, I would highly recommend that you get one if you have the chance! We got one only a week after diagnosis (there was a trial going on comparing injections with pumps in newly diagnosed children, and we got lucky and were in the right place at the right time). Yes it was tough at first, we hadn't had chance to get over the shock of the diagnosis and how to manage it with pens, then had to do a crash course in carb counting and how pumps work which is quite different. Serious brain overload - but with a lot of help from the hospital we got through it and haven't looked back. Pumps are fab in many ways - they can do much smaller doses, increments of just 0.1 unit instead of 0.5, which for a child as young as yours could make all the difference! You can also do things such as temporarily increase or decrease the basal for a few hours at a time if you are ill or exercising; or if you are having highs or lows at the same time every day you can adjust the basal just for those few hours without disturbing the rest of the day, you can't possibly do that with Lantus or Levemir! You can also spread out your meal doses by anything up to 12 hours to cope with foods which are slow to digest and so on. It can be hard work trying to get everything adjusted correctly (I'm having fun with my daughter at the moment, she's hypoing all over the place so I'm gradually reducing her doses, I'll probably just get it sorted and then she'll start going high all the time and I'll have to change everything back again, that's diabetes for you!) and there's a lot of trial and error involved, but to my mind the pros far outweigh the cons.
My daughter loves her pump too and doesn't mind being attached to it all day, in fact she misses it when it isn't there and doesn't like having to take it off for 10 minutes to refill it! We can get 5-6 days out of a cartridge and the cannula in her tummy needs to be changed every 2-3 days, so it's less needles too. Which makes it much easier if you're out and about, you only have to push a few buttons to do a bolus, so if your child wants a snack or if you're at a restaurant and don't want to bolus for your pudding until you've seen what it is, it's easy to do a separate bolus any time you like and you don't need to stick needles in all the time. You still have to do finger pricks though!
The pumps themselves are very sturdy and it's highly unlikely that even the most boisterous toddler could damage it. Yes I am aware that I do go on a bit about how wonderful pumps are; that's because to my mind they are wonderful, but as someone on another thread pointed out to me, you have to decide for yourself whether they are the right thing for you and your child, there are many people quite happy on injections. I would highly recommend that you try a pump if you can though, if you can stick with it for say 3 months you should know by then whether it's working for you or not, and if you really aren't getting on with it you can always go back to pens. Good luck!
Thank you so much for your replies!! He s on levemir in the morning 2.5 units and at bed 1.5 units. Then novorapid before breakfast lunch and tea 1.5 units - it's only in the last 2 days his sugars have come down to between 5 and 11 mmol , I m still waiting for the first hypo - he does nt like juice so I m terrified he won t drink the glucose when needed! The hospital said to expect a couple of hypo s a week!! He s been super hungry this week and is constantly asking for "more" although I feel he eats more now than he did before diabetes!! Any suggestions for low carb snacks most welcome! Rice cakes and popcorn are firm favourites at the moment! We re just waiting for the diabetic nurse to see his nursery and hopefully he can go back - he goes 1 full day and 1 half day and it would be good to establish routine again although I think I might be hovering outside the door yo start with!!
Thanks Sally for the information on the pump - they ve pretty much said its the route they will take for him once his sugars are stabilised so I ll be prepared for a steep learning curve again!! I do like the sound of not so many injections - his little legs already look like pin cushions!!
Thanks Northener - I can t believe how many people I ve spoken to since diagnosis who have or know someone with type 1!!!
Thanks again , Lyndsay x
Thanks Sally for the information on the pump - they ve pretty much said its the route they will take for him once his sugars are stabilised so I ll be prepared for a steep learning curve again!! I do like the sound of not so many injections - his little legs already look like pin cushions!!
Thanks Northener - I can t believe how many people I ve spoken to since diagnosis who have or know someone with type 1!!!
Thanks again , Lyndsay x
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
That hunger after diagnosis is not uncommon - I was absolutely ravenous after I was diagnosed! 😱 It's largely due to the fact that, prior to diagnosis, the lack of insulin meant he was essentially starving - now he has it his body is making up for it! It should settle down before too long 🙂 If he doesn't like juice then other things can be used - full sugar coke, lucozade, jelly babies (my personal favourite, except the green ones 😉), so try him on different things. He probably would take to the kind of snacks I have, like cheese and nuts, but most things that are 10g carbs or less should be OK. It will be easier if/when he gets a pump 🙂
Copepod
Much missed Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Welcome to the forum, Lyndsay d.
Are there any sugary foods you son does like? Teaspoons of jam or honey, for example, may not be as convenient as sweets or juice, but the important thing is to find something he will take when hypoglycaemic.
Are there any sugary foods you son does like? Teaspoons of jam or honey, for example, may not be as convenient as sweets or juice, but the important thing is to find something he will take when hypoglycaemic.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Unhealthy old fashioned (not sugar-free) Jelly but possibly if he doesn't like fruit juice he wouldn't eat that, or jelly babies?
Have to say when I'm hypo, I do lose a lot of my ability to chew, although I can swallow - hence I use Lucozade. Would he drink (and Oh dear, do we want to start him on this?) Coke?
Have to say when I'm hypo, I do lose a lot of my ability to chew, although I can swallow - hence I use Lucozade. Would he drink (and Oh dear, do we want to start him on this?) Coke?
Thanks again everyone!! He does like jam do I m sure he would take that!! I ll have to put a jar in my handbag just in case!!
Wow AJ Lang - any tips you can give me? Have you seen things change a lot with diabetes care over those years??
We ve not had a very successful day with the blood sugars - 6.3 this am, 11.3 at lunch , 15.0 at tea and 16.8 at bed!! I ve stuck to the carbs allowance given and he s exercised so not sure what I ve done wrong!! Xx
Wow AJ Lang - any tips you can give me? Have you seen things change a lot with diabetes care over those years??
We ve not had a very successful day with the blood sugars - 6.3 this am, 11.3 at lunch , 15.0 at tea and 16.8 at bed!! I ve stuck to the carbs allowance given and he s exercised so not sure what I ve done wrong!! Xx
AJLang
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Sorry for short but yes things have change so much. In the early days it was one massive syringe with a thick needle that gave one dose of insulin a day and I had to eat six times a day to "feed" the insulin. Urine testing strips that were so vague they probably didn't register that your sugar was up until your BGS was over 11 so couldn't tell if a hypo was going to happen until it happened. But I've had a great life, lots of exciting things including getting a PhD and, touch wood, only one major complication which isn't life threatening. I do have other health problems but they are not because of the diabetes. I have lived and loved life and I continue to do so as a mature student. If there was one piece of advice that I would give to anyone its that although diabetes control is important don't let it control your life.
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