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New Type 1 diagnosis -13 year old boy

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B

Billy B

New Member
Hi

My 13 year old son has just been diagnosed with Type 1. All of a sudden a lot of things he'd been doing over the last few weeks made complete sense.

He's into every sport, especially rugby. We have a lot to learn in the weeks ahead.

We'll we be reading here.

All the best

Billy
 
Welcome Billy B 🙂. Sorry 2 here about your son but being active is the best way. I used to play rugby for my school & have been T1 for more than 50yrs. Please keep asking if you are not Shure. Good luck 🙂
 
Welcome Billy, glad you found us. How did your son's diagnosis come about? There are lots of people on here who do sports so hopefully you will get some great advice whenever you need it
 
Welcome to the forum Billy. I hope you find the place supportive.
 
Hi Billy and welcome to the forum. 🙂 It must have been a big shock for both your son and you. Over time though things will become more routine although you never stop learning with T1. In terms of sport there is no reason at all why he can't continue to participate with a few adjustments. A number of us on here take part in all sorts of sports at various levels. There are now a number of professional athletes with Type 1 competing in a range of sports including football, rugby and cycling.

Runsweet is a great site that covers a whole range of sports and exercise and Type 1 diabetes.
 
Hi Billy
There is indeed a lot to learn about, very quickly with a diagnosis of T1. I was a lot older than your son when diagnosed and at whatever age it is a big shock. After 10 years all the testing and delivering insulin is part of the new normal. As others have said it does not need to stop him doing anything, it just takes a bit more planning beforehand and lots of monitoring.

Things tend to be a bit unpredictable in the early stages during the so called Honeymoon Period. This is when the pancreas’s final few beta cells, which make insulin get a bit of a rest, as your son is now diong most of the work by injecting, and decide that they can make a bit of insulin. Then they get tired and decide that they can’t. Then ....so don’t let hime get too annoyed if it is difficult to get things levelled out at first (or even later on). They will want to bring his blood glucose levels down slowly to normal levels.

Once things are more settled they should then start to teach hime about carb counting and how to adjust his own doses of insulin. But that is a little way ahead. Patience is what is needed now.

A book that I have found invaluable is Type 1 Diabetes in Children, adolescents and Young Adults by Ragnar Hanas. I was 53 at diagnosis and wish I had known about the book then. It explains things very clearly and is well referenced so makes it great when looking for a solution to a problem. It is updated regularly with information on the latest technology, so worth finding a copy of the most recent edition. Not cheap but well worth the money.

If you or your son have any questions there are plenty of people on here who are only too happy to help, and they are able to draw on loads of practical experience.
 
Hi Billy, glad you found us. There are quite a few parents of children with type 1 on here who I am sure will be happy to answer any questions you have as a carer.
 
Billy B said:
Hi

My 13 year old son has just been diagnosed with Type 1. All of a sudden a lot of things he'd been doing over the last few weeks made complete sense.

He's into every sport, especially rugby. We have a lot to learn in the weeks ahead.

We'll we be reading here.

All the best

Billy
Click to expand...
Hi Billy, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your son's diagnosis :( The good news is that it should not stop him achieving all he hopes for, and particularly in sport. There are many, many examples of top-flight sportsmen and women with Type 1 who manage their diabetes very well on very rigorous and intensive training programmes, as there are in all walks of life - it just tends to take a bit of extra planning and a few extra precautions 🙂 I've run several half-marathons since diagnosis, and the exercise has actually helped me to maintain good blood sugar control - you just need to take things steadily to begin with and learn how your body responds - this can vary greatly from individual to individual.

I would highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas, it is excellent, and covers all aspects of living with Type 1. It's not cheap, but it's best to get the latest edition as things can move quite quickly in the world of diabetes and available treatments, so the book is frequently updated 🙂

Also, you and he may be interested in getting a copy of the Diabetic Athlete's Handbook, which is very useful for explaining how to deal with various types of exercise and explains the physical processes very well 🙂

What insulin is he on, and how is he finding things so far?

Good luck! There is a steep learning curve, but you will get there. Any questions or concerns, please ask, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience here, and there is unlikely to be anything that has not been experienced by others, who have found an answer or strategy 🙂
 
Thanks to everyone for their replies - much appreciated indeed.

We've be in hospital since Friday and are due to meet the diabetes team today to sort the care plan.

Not that it's the most important thing right now but he has a rugby cup final he's due to play in a couple of weeks. Really don't want him to miss that.

I'm back off to the hospital now.

Best wishes all.
 
Billy B said:
Not that it's the most important thing right now but he has a rugby cup final he's due to play in a couple of weeks. Really don't want him to miss that.
Click to expand...
Much will depend on what toll the circumstances leading up to his diagnosis have taken on him. I was due to run a marathon the week I was diagnosed and once they gave me insulin I felt so full of life (after not realising how ill I had become) that I honestly thought I would still be able to make it. Unfortunately, I was still in hospital 8 days later and when I came out I started to realise just what it had all taken out of me. I hope that his circumstances are much better, but the most important thing is to regain his health and strength, and also to work out a strategy for trying to keep his blood sugars under control if he is feeling well enough to participate.

Good luck, I hope he is home soon! 🙂
 
Thanks to everyone for their kind replies. We are feeling better as a family now we have been drilled in the measure/count/inject regime. The people at the hospital have been fantastic. I've ordered the Ragnar Hanas book.

We are back home now and my son is just about to try an afternoon at school with him injecting himself after lunch.

He has a Freestyle Libre Sensor on his arm and we are going to try him with it at a rugby training session tomorrow. Covered up with some rubber tubular bandage. I'm reading the various threads about experience with the Sensor at sport. I'd be very grateful for any advice anyone has about playing rugby with one of these.

Thanks again.
 
Just had a thought re Rugger - you could always ask the RFA if they have any contacts/info? - there must surely be some other T1s playing Rugby at a high level of the sport?
 
Billy B said:
Thanks to everyone for their kind replies. We are feeling better as a family now we have been drilled in the measure/count/inject regime. The people at the hospital have been fantastic. I've ordered the Ragnar Hanas book.

We are back home now and my son is just about to try an afternoon at school with him injecting himself after lunch.

He has a Freestyle Libre Sensor on his arm and we are going to try him with it at a rugby training session tomorrow. Covered up with some rubber tubular bandage. I'm reading the various threads about experience with the Sensor at sport. I'd be very grateful for any advice anyone has about playing rugby with one of these.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Hello Billy B.
Not sure how relevant my experience is, as my time playing rugby and being diabetic didn't coincide. But if this helps..
I am on my fourth libre sensor now, three held on pretty well but one just fell off, I guess it's going to be as random as that. In terms of rugby, I am sure your son can relate to this as can anyone who played.. whatever is bothering you, that's where you will get hit first and hardest, I would say put micro porous tape around the sticky pad for a bit of extra hold-on, cover the sensor so that the edges are less likely to snag on anything and.. forget about it as best as he can.. easy to say but as an example, I can't tolerate things in my mouth, toothbrushing is a battle against a gag reflex but I could wear a mouth guard for an entire game. I was focused on something else..

are you planning to scan during the game? Whatever the plan is.. perhaps do it first in a couple of training sessions just to get readings from comparable situations, the exact values aren't the most valuable data but the trend and movement is.
Good luck to you both! What team is he playing for??
 
We've got training tomorrow night - mum is going to be on the side lines for scanning him occasionally during the session. I won't say the team yet on here - just figuring how with my wife and son how low profile or not we want to keep his condition. (of course the folks at the club and team members will know).
 
Billy B said:
Thanks - will do. I see there's some info on the web site. I understand England player Henry Slade is Type 1.
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There is a thread featuring an article about Henry Slade below. Link to the article doesn't seem to work now and I can't locate the original article but here's an interview with him from JDRF.

https://jdrf.org.uk/news/emerging-r...-diabetes-and-salutes-fellow-jdrf-supporters/
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/henry-slade-rugby-union-with-type-1-diabetes.56415/
 
Billy B said:
We've got training tomorrow night - mum is going to be on the side lines for scanning him occasionally during the session. I won't say the team yet on here - just figuring how with my wife and son how low profile or not we want to keep his condition. (of course the folks at the club and team members will know).
Click to expand...
That's all good.. still very early and if I am anything to go by, my head was spinning for weeks about all kinds of things. Still is to be honest, you kind of develop work-arounds as you go.
Didn't know about Henry Slade! I was watching him at twickenham against Argentina about a month before my diabetes became noticeable.. Chris Pennell at Worcester is another, you would do a lot worse than contacting the clubs directly. I would be surprised if the players didn't respond with some encouragement..
 
Just make sure he has some rapid acting glucose (jelly babies or glucose tablets or full-fat coke or pure fruit juice) to hand while he's training or playing, so that if he has a hypo he can treat it immediately and just have a few minutes break and then a biscuit or two before carrying on.
 
Sorry to hear about your son’s diagnosis Billy. Good luck with getting to grips with it all.
 
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