So scared

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FinleysMum

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Type 1
Hi, my 2 yr 9 month old son was diagnosed with Type1 diabetes last friday. Luckily caught in time before any ketones were present but sugar levels are currently anything from 2 - 26 with no visible symptoms. Does anyone have any experience of stabilising bg levels with the 2 injections of mixed insuling per day. Am terrified of the future for him.
 
Please dont let it get to you !! You do have to take great care but every day you will learn !! When i was young if my bg were a bit high i used running arround the block to get bg down. That was 1960s. Have you got a Dibetes specialt Nurse on your side ? 😉
 
Welcome Mother of Finley.

First of all, sorry you have to be here, but you will find support to make life a bit easier. It's good that your son was diagnosed before ketones were produced in his body. Mixed insulins are difficult to manage - most families find that basal bolus regime or MDI (Multiple Daily Injections) (1 or 2 long acting injections per day and 1 injection of short acting with each meal) is more flexible. But, some families find it easier to get used to 2 injections per day to start with. The big advantage of MDI is ability to adjust each dose to react to blood glucose levels, what child is going to eat / do etc. Some families find that an insulin pump is more suitable, but what's right for one isn't necessarily right for all.

It's early days, but plenty of people on these boards grew up from childhoods with diabetes (some before MDI, blood glucose home testing etc) and plenty of parents are raising children with diabetes with current technology.

The one thing that stays the same is the fear, but it does ease as you get to know the condition, how to deal with it, how to get appropriate help from clinic, school etc. Plenty of people have had type 1 diabetes for decades, with no complications.
 
Hi,

For twice daily injections the best form of control I suppose is maintaining X amount of carbs every day. How many carbs should be eaten, well, that needs to be decided by testing the blood.

iIts hard to say 'it will be OK' and 'dont be scared' as although everything will be OK, nothing will stop the pain your going through.....

Support on here will definitely help you through it......

I fear it might be too early to ask how his diabetic team are, as he is just diagnosed..........

Take each day at time, you will do a great job........
 
Hi FinleysMum, welcome to the forum 🙂 We have quite a few parents of children of a similar age to your son, so hopefully they will be able to share their experiences with you. It is very early days yet, and no doubt your team are working with you to get the doses of insulin right so that his levels can improve. Many people find that mixed insulin, although fewer injections, does not give as good control as MDI (also known as basal/bolus) which involves one or two injections of a slow-acting insulin, then further injections of a fast-acting insulin to 'cover' any carbohydrates in meals and snacks, so it might be worth asking your team if this is likley to replace the mixed insulin and when.

There are lots of links to useful information in our Useful links thread - I would particularly draw your attention to the support and information pack for children with a recent diagnosis of type 1 diabetes from JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) - all free! Also, the book Type 1 Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults by Ragnar Hanas is a 'must have' and will explain every aspect of dealing with Type 1 diabetes.

Please ask any questions you may have - nothing is considered 'silly' and there are lots of friendly, helpful people here who will try to answer them for you. Diabetes can be managed well and, as you will discover from reading the many stories of members who have grown up with it, does not have to stop your son from doing anything he wants in the future. 🙂
 
Hi FinleysMum. I am one of those parents. My son was diagnosed 2 months ago and it 22 months old. We are giving 4 injections a day (1 with each meal and 1 long lasting), but I guess the main principal is the same.

At the early stages the best thing to do is to listen to everything that your DSN (Diabetes Support Nurse) tells you. We still see our DSN at least 2 times every week and still speak to her at least 2 other times in that same week. In the early days everything was new and we felt like we were living by carbohydrate levels and insulin units and how to calculate one from the other and aarrgggghhhh. It was very hard work, but it does definitely get easier with time. Even after just 2 months we are able to preempt the changes that the DSN suggests.

There is a lot to learn so take your time. I can highly recommend the book Northerner suggested. We have it and whilst I wouldn't read it from cover to cover, it is worth it's weight in gold to dip into when looking up a particular aspect of diabetes.

Oh, and for the record, our son's readings were between 3 and 40 during the first week. We still get the odd reading over 20 so don't worry too much about those yet. And he rarely shows any signs when under 4. With the help of your DSN, things will start to stabilize and you will see an improvement in time.

Feel free to get in touch through the forum or via email if you want to share experiences.
 
thanks for your replies.

For those of you with school age children, how do you manage with administering the lunchtime insulin.

At the moment there is talk of him potentially having 4 times a day if the twice a day doesn't work but as he is due to start school in April i just wondered how this would work as I'm sure the schools are not insured to administer insulin.
 
FinleysMum said:
thanks for your replies.

For those of you with school age children, how do you manage with administering the lunchtime insulin.

At the moment there is talk of him potentially having 4 times a day if the twice a day doesn't work but as he is due to start school in April i just wondered how this would work as I'm sure the schools are not insured to administer insulin.
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Hi FinleysMum 🙂

I can assure you there are hundreds of schools up and down the country who have children having lunch time injections 🙂 it does depend on the school, of course, but they should be willing to have at least 1 member of staff trained to administer the injection. You can have a Care Plan put into place for Finley, so they always know what to do in certain situations.

I would def recommend the Children With Diabetes site and their emailing list, which is a big group of mainly mums emailing each other on a daily basis asking for support and advice.
 
Our boy goes to nursary every day. We had to get them trained up but they are happy to do the injection for us. Our DSN gave them all a training session and then went there every lunch time for the first 2 weeks to make sure that they were comfortable doing it. They phone us with the blood reading then we tell them the units to give.

As with everything, speak to your DSN for advice.
 
Welcome to the forum - I hope you will find the help and support you need here.

You are so new to the process everything is bound to be scary at the moment. I hope that your DSN is keeping on touch with you regularly to give you support ane encouragement.
 
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