My 13 year old daughter has type one diabetes

[SB2015]

In secondary schools most of the students manage their own condition, doing their own tests and injections. They often keep their insulin in the medical room, but keep their test kit and hypo treatment with them (all the time). However it is important that all staff are aware of your daughters T1, as a hypo could occur at any time in the day. This is usually flagged up on their class registers and as @Bronco Billy says your daughter’s DSN can visit the school, usually checking that the School Nurse is familiar with what to do and that an appropriate policy is in place for treating hypos and hypers.

The most important things is that she has her test kit and hypo treatment with her and that staff let her test and treat her hypo in class. She should not be sent off to do this. No one will notice most of the time.

Having taught in a secondary school I can suggest some strategies to help when you are ready to think about that.

 

[Ditsy daisy]

Good morning to all the parents out there that have children with type one diabetes.
My daughter was only diagnosed a week today and am finding it a very emotional time for my daughter and myself. Any support will be greatly received.

I can understand you are emotional I'm sorry to hear you have found out she is diabetic. I remember I had a really bad tummy ache before being diagnosed when I was 12 aswell. I'm now 29. I find green tea or peppermint tea is good for lowering blood sugar levels but you should ask the diabetes nurse about it because it can make you go hypo if it's not balanced with less insulin. It's good to drink it after meals I find. hope this helps. ☺

 

[Ditsy daisy]

Good morning to all the parents out there that have children with type one diabetes.
My daughter was only diagnosed a week today and am finding it a very emotional time for my daughter and myself. Any support will be greatly received.

Blueberries are also good for lowering blood sugar levels

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Blueberries are also good for lowering blood sugar levels

If you eat them instead of fudge I could believe that. But intrinsically they're just berries (10g sugar per 100g of berries, roughly). Surely won't lower blood sugar any more (or less) than raspberries or blackberries (which also won't lower blood sugar)? (Actually it looks like blueberries have slightly more carbs (and sugars) than either of those. And strawberries have slightly less than either of those.)

(Not saying they're terrible things to eat. (I happen to prefer other berries, but that's just a preference.) They're just not going to lower blood sugar levels as far as I can see.)

 

[Docb]

Sort of agree with Bruce Stepphens. Did not know that blueberries were good for lowering BG and maybe that is why just a few gave me an horrendous spike. It's a message for the OP, there is a lot of fokelore about when it comes to things affecting BG and it is best treated with caution.

Fluffy, if you can handle money then you can handle carb counting. The maths is no harder, you have just got to start simple and build up your confidence.

 

[Fluffy unicorn]

Thanks Bruce and docb. I think it's just such a shock and at such a short amount of time. I should have noticed when she was losing weight as when we got rushed to hospital she only weighs 35kg!! I was shocked!!!x

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Once you know the symptoms they’re very obvious but don’t beat yourself up about not being an expert. Most of us don’t know the symptoms well enough to know how to catch it early unless we know someone with T1D.

 

[Fluffy unicorn]

All she had was bad stomach quite often and then losing weight. O and sleeping after one every afternoon x

 

[Ditsy daisy]

If you eat them instead of fudge I could believe that. But intrinsically they're just berries (10g sugar per 100g of berries, roughly). Surely won't lower blood sugar any more (or less) than raspberries or blackberries (which also won't lower blood sugar)? (Actually it looks like blueberries have slightly more carbs (and sugars) than either of those. And strawberries have slightly less than either of those.)

(Not saying they're terrible things to eat. (I happen to prefer other berries, but that's just a preference.) They're just not going to lower blood sugar levels as far as I can see.)

Ok but it works for me although I don't like them alot. Would like to say though, green tea is giving me hypo at night and also bad nightmares confusion and delusions. I shouldn't drink it before bed.

 

[Ditsy daisy]

Good morning to all the parents out there that have children with type one diabetes.
My daughter was only diagnosed a week today and am finding it a very emotional time for my daughter and myself. Any support will be greatly received.

I'm so sorry for writing about the green tea. I'm learning here too and didn't know. I think maybe it's good in the day but NOT to drink it before bed it's causing me bad nightmares and hypos in the night. I hope you and your daughter are ok.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I'm so sorry for writing about the green tea. I'm learning here too and didn't know. I think maybe it's good in the day but NOT to drink it before bed it's causing me bad nightmares and hypos in the night. I hope you and your daughter are ok.

If you are having hypos at night you need to speak to your clinic urgently. It won’t be the green tea - it will be something else. Any small effect noted has been in insulin resistance - little use to people with T1.

“In conclusion, the daily supplementary intake of 500 mg green tea polyphenols did not have clear effects on blood glucose level, Hb A1c level, insulin resistance or inflammation markers.”
​

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16392704/

“However, there are a number issues that impede using the catechins as pharmaceuticals. These highly soluble and reactive compounds are poorly absorbed in the gut and quickly eliminated by the liver... Therefore, as targeted pharmaceutical agents, these polyphenols cannot be considered a success at this time.“​

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3124776/

With apologies to the OP for the thread hijack!

 

[SB2015]

Hi @Fluffy unicorn
How are you both doing today?
I hope that more things are beginning to make sense.
As always we welcome any questions that you have.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Any sugar-free liquid will lower blood sugar a bit, but as Mike says if you're having night-time hypos you need to talk to your diabetes team about reducing your insulin, @Ditsy daisy - and Green tea really shouldn't be drunk in any quantity (day or night) as it can, as you've discovered, cause confusion or even hallucinations.

Hello @Fluffy unicorn and a belated welcome to the forum 🙂
How are you getting on with the maths now? You might find this site helpful - https://www.calorieking.com/us/en/foods/ - put in a food, select the quantity you want (you can put in the number of grams or sometimes something like a cupful if that's more relevant) and then scroll down and find the no. of carbs in the table (ignore everything else, just add up the carbs).

 

[Fluffy unicorn]

Thank you Juliet. We are getting there I think. Just so stressful and alot to take in in such a short time.x

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I know, it's a lot to get your head round when you are diagnosed as an adult (as I was) but it must be overwhelming when you're the parent of a child or teenager who's been diagnosed. It does get easier with time - there will always be challenges, but you and your daughter will become much better equipped to deal with them.