newly diagnosed 15 yo son

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scott heptinstall

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My 15 yo son was rushed into hospital Sunday night and still in there now, hopefully coming home today(11th oct) , but this in its self scares the life out of me.
Our world has been turned upside down and so many questions going through my head but have no idea of what and how to ask.
My main worry is how do we look after him what can we feed the poor sod ?
 
Hi @scott heptinstall Your worries are completely normal. Type 1 can be overwhelming to start with. It does gradually get easier though.

Type 1s can eat a pretty normal diet. The ‘only’ difference is we need to inject our insulin and take over the job of our pancreas.
 
What you need to make sure you’ve got clear is his insulin doses. He might be on fixed doses to start with, but this will change so he’ll be able to eat normally. Importantly, make sure you have plenty of hypo treatments available: Dextro glucose tablets, full sugar Coke, jelly babies, etc.

Does your son have a Libre sensor yet? (That goes into his upper arm and measures his blood sugar?)
 
Inka said:
What you need to make sure you’ve got clear is his insulin doses. He might be on fixed doses to start with, but this will change so he’ll be able to eat normally. Importantly, make sure you have plenty of hypo treatments available: Dextro glucose tablets, full sugar Coke, jelly babies, etc.

Does your son have a Libre sensor yet? (That goes into his upper arm and measures his blood sugar?)
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hi no sensor yet , and yes being sent home on 3.5 of insulin at first i think to begin with
 
scott heptinstall said:
hi no sensor yet , and yes being sent home on 3.5 of insulin at first i think to begin with
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Does he have the two different types of insulin? Basal (slow/long) and bolus (fast/quick)? The basal insulin (eg Levemir, Lantus, Tresiba, etc) is a background insulin that keeps blood sugar steady in the absence of food. The bolus insulin is a much quicker-acting insulin that’s given before meals (and some snacks, and to correct high blood sugar) in order to deal with the carbs in the meal. These two different types of insulin replicate what a pancreas would do.
 
Inka said:
Does he have the two different types of insulin? Basal (slow/long) and bolus (fast/quick)? The basal insulin (eg Levemir, Lantus, Tresiba, etc) is a background insulin that keeps blood sugar steady in the absence of food. The bolus insulin is a much quicker-acting insulin that’s given before meals (and some snacks, and to correct high blood sugar) in order to deal with the carbs in the meal. These two different types of insulin replicate what a pancreas would do.
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no idea at the moment , will find out once back at the hospital this morning
 
I was also recently diagnosed although somewhat older than your son. Terribly sorry to hear he’s been diagnosed at 15!
I just wanted to say that I saw diabetes nurses in hospital who went over injections and other topics but also fitted the Libre 2 blood glucose monitor to my arm which I was very thankful about.
It might be worth asking if they can do that as I was very pleased to have it done there so I could monitor what’s happening.
 
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Hi and welcome. You will be supported through the early months but a lot of it will be about him learning how to do it so he can be independent. Once he’s settled a bit and has learnt carb counting he’ll be able to eat what he wants including sweets and cake etc but it’s good if he can stick to reasonable portions and not just down an entire big bag of Haribo.

You have time to get him set up with what he needs so don’t panic. It’s good if he can get a pump and sensor (preferably ones that talk to each other) while still under the paediatric service and also to get DLA, which you can get 3 months after diagnosis (but can apply for before that).

We still use the carbs and cals book often so it’s worth getting one of those. He will soon get the hang of carb counting.

He may find it hard to be different at school so getting his mates to learn about his diabetes will help.
 
Thebearcametoo said:
t’s good if he can get a pump and sensor (preferably ones that talk to each other) while still under the paediatric service
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I understand about half of children (with Type 1, obviously) use a pump and I'd guess that's on the increase. The expected advisory on hybrid closed loops makes everyone under 18 eligible so there's an excellent chance he'll be offered such a system.

Having said that, for safety reasons he'll probably have to learn how to cope with MDI and then manual pump use first.
 
scott heptinstall said:
no idea at the moment , will find out once back at the hospital this morning
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Welcome to the forum. I am glad that you have found but I am sorry about your son’s diagnosis.
IT WILL GET EASIER FOR YOU ALL. Lots to learn and your son will find that once he has his head round carb counting he will be able to pretty much what he wants, just with a bit of planning and carrying hypo treatment with him all the time. We all get caught out at times so just need to be prepared.
As questions arise, just ask. You will also have your son’s support team around. A pump can make life a lot easier and the more recent Hybrid closed Loop is amazing, which is now available to U18s. Do ask. You also need to be able to use the pump manually . Lots to learn but it does get easier. Keep in touch.
 
So sorry to hear about your son’s diagnosis. It can be an overwhelming time, and it’s absolutely normal to feel full of worry about it.

I’ll tag in @Bronco Billy and @Sally71 too who are other regular parent-posters.

Be kind to yourselves and give yourselves time to adjust and adapt. Expect a bit of emotional fallout from it (almost like grieving) including the possibility of feelings and reactions like anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and ultimately acceptance and adaptation.

This Diabetes etiquette for parents page may come in handy for trying to have positive and open conversations about diabetes management - especially if and when things get tough.

Diabetes is serious, but it can also be well managed and doesn’t have to stop him doing anything he wants to - professional sports, prime minister, airline pilot, rock star, business entrepreneur, partner, dad, or simply becoming a feisty, lively and rudely healthy octogenarian - modern treatment techniques and gadgets make all of these options completely possible.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
So sorry to hear about your son’s diagnosis. It can be an overwhelming time, and it’s absolutely normal to feel full of worry about it.

I’ll tag in @Bronco Billy and @Sally71 too who are other regular parent-posters.

Be kind to yourselves and give yourselves time to adjust and adapt. Expect a bit of emotional fallout from it (almost like grieving) including the possibility of feelings and reactions like anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and ultimately acceptance and adaptation.

This Diabetes etiquette for parents page may come in handy for trying to have positive and open conversations about diabetes management - especially if and when things get tough.

Diabetes is serious, but it can also be well managed and doesn’t have to stop him doing anything he wants to - professional sports, prime minister, airline pilot, rock star, business entrepreneur, partner, dad, or simply becoming a feisty, lively and rudely healthy octogenarian - modern treatment techniques and gadgets make all of these options completely possible.
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i like that link very interesting and helpful
 
@scott heptinstall i hope your so is doing ok.
As others have said, whilst Type 1 is a serious condition, technology today is far better than any other time in the past and the reason why things like published lifespan is a little meaningless - it is based on people with Tups 1 who have not had access to the insulins and techno logs we have today.

You can live a normal life with T1 diabetes. But you can also live an abnormal life like sportsmen such as Henry Slade, musicians such as Nick Jonas, comedians such as Ed Gamble, actors such as James Norton or even politicians.
 
hello every one not been on for a good few days, been busy coming to terms , but we are all slowly getting there, the dietician we have is fab she is so helpful
 
@scott heptinstall how’s your son taking to the diagnosis, I hope he’s tackling it with positivity rather than doom and gloom. Wishing you guys the best
 
he's getting there and dealing with the injections well, next stage carb counting and working out the insulin, just waiting on the consultant to sign of on the numbers
 
It’s a lot of data collection and learning to begin with but you will soon all get in your stride.
 
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