Hi all im a nearly 40 year old mum , my son is 14 and last thursday he was diagnosed type 1 diabetes... he has lantus at night and novarapid during the day for meals.... So proud fof him he is coping so well , i feel lost and worried and scared inside for him... Tomorrow will be his first morning back at school after having a week off... Im handing the reigns to him and them and im scared, I know he is ore than capable of it all but there are times when he does forget things and needs reminding..
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Parent of newly diagnosed type 1
- Thread starter sarah40
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fencesitter
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
Hello Sarah
Sorry you've had to join this club ... but you've come to the right place for support 🙂
My son was diagnosed just short of 14 too. There's so much to take on at first but soon it becomes second nature. There's a really good book by Ragnar Hanas called Children, Adolescents and Young People with Diabetes (I think!) which is very comprehensive and highly recommended.
You might find your son's levels are a bit unpredictable for a while, because often the pancreas recovers a little bit once you start taking insulin before it packs up altogether. They call it the honeymoon period! William's lasted about a year and for a while his insulin needs were quite low. Anyway, a big welcome and I hope your son has found it OK going back to school.
Best wishes
Catherine
Sorry you've had to join this club ... but you've come to the right place for support 🙂
My son was diagnosed just short of 14 too. There's so much to take on at first but soon it becomes second nature. There's a really good book by Ragnar Hanas called Children, Adolescents and Young People with Diabetes (I think!) which is very comprehensive and highly recommended.
You might find your son's levels are a bit unpredictable for a while, because often the pancreas recovers a little bit once you start taking insulin before it packs up altogether. They call it the honeymoon period! William's lasted about a year and for a while his insulin needs were quite low. Anyway, a big welcome and I hope your son has found it OK going back to school.
Best wishes
Catherine
Hanmillmum
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
Hi Sarah and welcome to the forum 🙂
I have no experience of teenagers but can certainly identify with how you are feeling as a mum. Pleased to hear your son is coping well so far. Getting back to school with a new way of doing things will hopefully slot into place relatively smoothly for him.
I have no experience of teenagers but can certainly identify with how you are feeling as a mum. Pleased to hear your son is coping well so far. Getting back to school with a new way of doing things will hopefully slot into place relatively smoothly for him.
Thank you wills mum i will keep an eye out for that book... 🙂 I am sure he will cope bu inside you just cannot help but worry, as i know he has a rubbish memory and does no give me confidence that he will remember to do what has to be done alone yet... Its hard to explain to my partner aswell as he is off the mind its all fine and tells me i worry to much.. im sure i do lol We are going camping soon (booked before this came about) So slightly worried but looking forward to it.. I think we will enjoy it and its a much needed little break
Hi Sarah and welcome from me too. My son was days short of his 16th birthday at diagnosis 21 months ago. Your feelings are totally natural. My husband felt I worried way too much but I felt he was just not interested. Unfortunately it's in a Mum's job description to worry! It will get easier on you over time, but just go with your feelings for the time being and find someone who is a good listener to blurt all your feelings out to.
Glad he has taken so well to things. It's early days, and just getting back to school is a major milestone I feel. I remember it well. Just encourage him to be as open as he can about it certainly with his group of friends. Hopefully they will rally round him and keep an eye on him during the day.
The first few weeks you are fed so much information, it's mind boggling. If you EVER have any questions, no matter how daft you think they may sound, do come on here and ask them. People are so helpful and knowledgeable and are speaking from personal experience.
The book Willsmum mentioned is brilliant. I got it from Amazon (am I allowed to say that???) It's bright orange in colour. It's essentially a reference book but you can dip in and out of it and find out all sorts of bits of information and it's very well written and easy to read and digest.
This truly is the best place to come for advice and information though. People really are friendly and helpful, and even when you feel low people will help pick you up again.
Very best wishes to you and your son.
Tina
Glad he has taken so well to things. It's early days, and just getting back to school is a major milestone I feel. I remember it well. Just encourage him to be as open as he can about it certainly with his group of friends. Hopefully they will rally round him and keep an eye on him during the day.
The first few weeks you are fed so much information, it's mind boggling. If you EVER have any questions, no matter how daft you think they may sound, do come on here and ask them. People are so helpful and knowledgeable and are speaking from personal experience.
The book Willsmum mentioned is brilliant. I got it from Amazon (am I allowed to say that???) It's bright orange in colour. It's essentially a reference book but you can dip in and out of it and find out all sorts of bits of information and it's very well written and easy to read and digest.
This truly is the best place to come for advice and information though. People really are friendly and helpful, and even when you feel low people will help pick you up again.
Very best wishes to you and your son.
Tina
Thank you everyone for your kind words and warm welcome to the forum... I do have the carbs and cals book today 🙂 its a good lil book to have.... I agree on the information over load since being diagnosed.. then you have the fact you cannot wait to get back home to normallity and thats fine untill you realise that those nurses are on hand all the time imidiatly and face to face, when you get home its just you , your son and diabetes :/ Its good to know im not alone in those feelings and have told my son there is plenty of people to talk to we all understand and he has great friends who are sensible 🙂
Hi Sarah, welcome to the forum. Hannah was diagnosed nearly 11 months ago at age 11 and this forum has been a huge support to me during that time. I have asked loads of questions and shared my worries and concerns and have always found other members to give great advice and support. The first few months are hard as you adjust and you come upon 'challenges' for the first time. I swear our diabetic nurse must have felt I was stalking her, I was on the phone that often! Gradually though you get to know what to do in given situations and feel more relaxed about it all. Hannah has adapted well and so far it has not prevented her from doing anything a non-diabetic 12 year old would do, it just takes a bit more thought and planning. School has been a little tricky at times due in part to Hannah not wanting to make a fuss or be seen as different in any way, and in part to general lack of knowledge about the condition by the staff, but even that has got easier. Hannah's friends don't completely understand, but they know she has to eat at lunch time (where others may not bother if there is nothing nice left!) and they rally round her in a way that is quite touching! In short - be prepared for it to be worrying and challenging initially, but take comfort in the fact that it really will get easier for both you and your son x
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I am glad to be able to speak with people who have had the same experiance as friends who know but dont know about diabetes seem to brush it off.. its nice to hear other peoples experiances also to know that you feel similar to them and concerns.. I know my sons friends are very sensable also but would they panic in a hypo situation?! I have numbers to call and have been given the tools we need so far, i know there will be more and alot more information to come its so hard to take in so im glad they do it slowly and are great about you repeating it all again... Its a relief to come on here and just speak about it all and say how you feel with out people making you feel like you have nothing to worry about.. thank you for your kind words All means a lot to be welcomed and feel comfortable talking about things 🙂
Alba37
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
Welcome Sarah. Sorry to read about your son's diagnosis. My son has just turned 13 when he was diagnosed almost 7 years ago, so can empathise with you. Agree with the others that the Ragnar Hanas book is the best there is but there is lots to learn about diabetes so just take things slowly and take it a day a time.
Thank you for asking, it went very well and he was glad to be back with his friends...We both said the big test is tomorrow as its all day 🙂 ..... today we went to his sisters flat and had to take a packed lunch fr him and it was the first time that he had injected in someone elses house, He did fine so puts my mind a lil more at ease ... but time will tell as i think at the moment its a novelty and when the novelty wares off so will his mood about it...
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Glad to hear things went well Sarah, I hope this continues as time goes on. 🙂
Thank you northerner... last night had a worry coz it was my partners birthday and he had cake, so we stared at my son n was like right ok count this as a pudding and eat after your dinner ... He was like before mum i could have more if i wanted now its a slice and thats it... I feel bad for being able to have food with no worries or counting the carbs like we have to for his, i dont know if any off you all felt like that? so i felt a lil down last night for him... I know we will have days like that :/
Hi Sarah
I can 100% relate to how you felt about the birthday cake. My son was discharged from the hospital on the eve of his 16th birthday. Prior to him being in hospital he and I had been out food shopping specifically for his birthday do - loads of rubbish buffet food, gateaux and ice cream!! Of course the day came and I felt awful. It was all over bank holidays too so rather than a home visit, we had two phone calls a day the first few days from whichever nurse was on duty, and on the first call on his birthday I just broke down on the phone and sobbed. I said how awful it was that he couldn't have any of this food, all things he had chosen, and basically she said nonsense. She advised that he just filled his plate the once and didn't go back for more, but that he could have a piece of gateau or ice cream too if he wanted. I grant you this was only day 4 of his whole diabetes journey and we hadn't even started carb counting at that point (dietician was on holiday for a couple more days) he was just on fixed doses. His levels went all over the place, and we did make a panic phone call at around midnight that night as he was even higher than at diagnosis, but they were very laid back about it.
At the end of the day, he is always going to face situations like this. You definitely did the right thing telling him he could have cake and that it would be his pudding, I would do exactly the same thing. You could always point out that with him not having seconds yesterday there is some left for today, so he can enjoy another piece this evening as a pudding.
Out of interest, does your son have a big appetite normally, or just whilst his body is recovering? My son has a big weight issue and does eat really badly, despite knowing all the recommendations. (It's not that I serve up rubbish food all the time, but he has access to his own money and pops over our local shop all the time buying whatever he fancies on top of main meals). He is no example to follow though as his control at the moment is dire, but we were told right from the off that no food is banned, he just has to calculate and bolus for it accordingly. That's where my son falls down now as he is not injecting properly, skipping 2/3 of his injections most of the time these past few months, as well as eating cakes, sweets, chocolate etc.
Instilling good habits in your son now is so important. Do allow occasional treats. If you do think he is likely to want a second piece in future, just make sure he has extra appropriate units of insulin before his meal, or delay his injection until halfway through his meal when he knows whether or not he wants cake and how much, then calculate accordingly. He is not going to want to go through life denying himself things all the time. It just doesn't happen in the real world. The important thing is just making sure he does inject.
Hope school has gone well for him for the rest of the week. At least you have the weekend now so can relax a little bit.
Keep your chin up.
Tina x
I can 100% relate to how you felt about the birthday cake. My son was discharged from the hospital on the eve of his 16th birthday. Prior to him being in hospital he and I had been out food shopping specifically for his birthday do - loads of rubbish buffet food, gateaux and ice cream!! Of course the day came and I felt awful. It was all over bank holidays too so rather than a home visit, we had two phone calls a day the first few days from whichever nurse was on duty, and on the first call on his birthday I just broke down on the phone and sobbed. I said how awful it was that he couldn't have any of this food, all things he had chosen, and basically she said nonsense. She advised that he just filled his plate the once and didn't go back for more, but that he could have a piece of gateau or ice cream too if he wanted. I grant you this was only day 4 of his whole diabetes journey and we hadn't even started carb counting at that point (dietician was on holiday for a couple more days) he was just on fixed doses. His levels went all over the place, and we did make a panic phone call at around midnight that night as he was even higher than at diagnosis, but they were very laid back about it.
At the end of the day, he is always going to face situations like this. You definitely did the right thing telling him he could have cake and that it would be his pudding, I would do exactly the same thing. You could always point out that with him not having seconds yesterday there is some left for today, so he can enjoy another piece this evening as a pudding.
Out of interest, does your son have a big appetite normally, or just whilst his body is recovering? My son has a big weight issue and does eat really badly, despite knowing all the recommendations. (It's not that I serve up rubbish food all the time, but he has access to his own money and pops over our local shop all the time buying whatever he fancies on top of main meals). He is no example to follow though as his control at the moment is dire, but we were told right from the off that no food is banned, he just has to calculate and bolus for it accordingly. That's where my son falls down now as he is not injecting properly, skipping 2/3 of his injections most of the time these past few months, as well as eating cakes, sweets, chocolate etc.
Instilling good habits in your son now is so important. Do allow occasional treats. If you do think he is likely to want a second piece in future, just make sure he has extra appropriate units of insulin before his meal, or delay his injection until halfway through his meal when he knows whether or not he wants cake and how much, then calculate accordingly. He is not going to want to go through life denying himself things all the time. It just doesn't happen in the real world. The important thing is just making sure he does inject.
Hope school has gone well for him for the rest of the week. At least you have the weekend now so can relax a little bit.
Keep your chin up.
Tina x
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