My Son was diagnosed at 3 1/2 and myself at 45 years old. My son just turned 15 yesterday and I'm having a difficult time with him taking care of his sugars plus puberty. Eye doctor said that if his sugars stay high that he will be blind by 40 years old. I have tried everything but counseling. I would appreciate any suggestions to help me help my son very concerned. 😳
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Newbie - Type 1 Parent & Son (HELP)
- Thread starter yiya2t
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rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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Hi and welcome
I am so sorry to hear that you are having problems with your son not managing his diabetes well during this difficult time in his life. It is a common problem with teenage diabetics judging by the similar posts we get from parents from time to time. I think it is important to remember that this is a phase and he will hopefully get back on top of things once he has managed to cope with the other difficulties caused by adolescence, so whilst 20 or 30 years of continued poor control may lead to blindness, hopefully he will be back on track in a few months or a couple of years at worst. I think the general consensus is not to nag as most teenagers just take that as a red flag to rebel. Definitely speak to his Diabetes Specialist Nurse and see what help they can offer/suggest. If he is not on a pump, perhaps that would be a good route to follow so that he is not having to inject. Meeting other young people who are on a pump could make that more appealing. I think encouragement from peers who are dealing with the same challenges would be most helpful, so perhaps join a local group or book to go on a Family Diabetes weekend.... I have read about these events but do not have personal knowledge, so hopefully someone else can chip in with info on that.
Anyway, I just really wanted to respond and say that you are not alone in this and perhaps posting or reading back posts on the parenting section of the forum might yield some useful info.
Good luck and I hope other parents will respond soon.
I am so sorry to hear that you are having problems with your son not managing his diabetes well during this difficult time in his life. It is a common problem with teenage diabetics judging by the similar posts we get from parents from time to time. I think it is important to remember that this is a phase and he will hopefully get back on top of things once he has managed to cope with the other difficulties caused by adolescence, so whilst 20 or 30 years of continued poor control may lead to blindness, hopefully he will be back on track in a few months or a couple of years at worst. I think the general consensus is not to nag as most teenagers just take that as a red flag to rebel. Definitely speak to his Diabetes Specialist Nurse and see what help they can offer/suggest. If he is not on a pump, perhaps that would be a good route to follow so that he is not having to inject. Meeting other young people who are on a pump could make that more appealing. I think encouragement from peers who are dealing with the same challenges would be most helpful, so perhaps join a local group or book to go on a Family Diabetes weekend.... I have read about these events but do not have personal knowledge, so hopefully someone else can chip in with info on that.
Anyway, I just really wanted to respond and say that you are not alone in this and perhaps posting or reading back posts on the parenting section of the forum might yield some useful info.
Good luck and I hope other parents will respond soon.
D
Deleted member 22730
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Hi there, welcome to our forum.
I'm really sorry to hear about what's happened. I just thought I'd let you know that we have a free helpline service with advisors who have backgrounds in counselling. If you'd like to get in touch feel free to email helpline@diabetes.org.uk or give us a call on 0345 123 2399 Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm
Bronco Billy
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
Flower
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hello @yiya2t and welcome🙂
Sorry you are having a worrying time with your son.
Having lived through being a teenager with T1 albeit approx 40 years back I had a really difficult time and caused my parents untold grief. It is a phase of growing up, wanting to push the boundaries needing more independence, a turmoil of emotions and hormones through puberty whilst having diabetes in tow everywhich way you turn with parents. teachers, nurses, doctors all telling you you must look after yourself. Of course they are right but all that advice just made me more and more angry and resentful. It is a period of transition that will eventually pass but it is a very challenging time to get through and it took me a few years to calm down and realise I only got one go at it and I did need to start to take things seriously. Starting to get improved results really did start to change my attitude to feeling proud of what I was achieving.
Is there something positive you could both work towards such as talking about learning to drive in a few years when he'll need to show good glucose records?
There's some useful stuff here - https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/your-child-and-diabetes/top-teen-tips#talking
Definitely speak to someone on the Helpline even just to talk things over and know you and your son are not alone in feeling like this. Best Wishes.
Sorry you are having a worrying time with your son.
Having lived through being a teenager with T1 albeit approx 40 years back I had a really difficult time and caused my parents untold grief. It is a phase of growing up, wanting to push the boundaries needing more independence, a turmoil of emotions and hormones through puberty whilst having diabetes in tow everywhich way you turn with parents. teachers, nurses, doctors all telling you you must look after yourself. Of course they are right but all that advice just made me more and more angry and resentful. It is a period of transition that will eventually pass but it is a very challenging time to get through and it took me a few years to calm down and realise I only got one go at it and I did need to start to take things seriously. Starting to get improved results really did start to change my attitude to feeling proud of what I was achieving.
Is there something positive you could both work towards such as talking about learning to drive in a few years when he'll need to show good glucose records?
There's some useful stuff here - https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/your-child-and-diabetes/top-teen-tips#talking
Definitely speak to someone on the Helpline even just to talk things over and know you and your son are not alone in feeling like this. Best Wishes.
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