Son age 12 just diagnosed

[Scot mum]

Hi my son has just been diagnosed with type 1 during the Christmas holidays , it's been a complete shock , and the information is a lot to take in. All credit to him he's doing brilliant in his first week of this huge lifestyle change injecting himself. The carb counting is tricky but with our carbs n cals book we are managing so far although he was a bit sad on Xmas day he got umpteen selection boxes and couldn't graze as he would normally have done at all his relatives festivities. I am getting very nervous now at the thought of him returning to first year next week and how he's going to manage with leaving the class and checking/injecting before lunch, he's very quiet and timid normally ,also he was in the swimming club before this and how will I manage his hour long swims three times a week ? I am exhausted checking his bg at 3-4am every night then can't get back to sleep but I am paranoid he has a nocturnal hypo. I need help , tips of any kind. He's on lantus 18 at night and novorapid 1unit to 15 carbs. Thank you in advance ,sorry for long post, wide awake and worrying x

 

[Lynn Davies]

Hi and welcome to the forums - dont worry about posting asking for help. There are quite a few parents on this board so they will be along soon to offer far better advice than I ever could (((hugs)))

 

[Kirsty R]

Hi sorry that you are having to go through this. My son is also newly diagnosed with type 1 on the 11th December although he is younger I still know what your going through! For us we have got to grips with the the practical stuff, although not started carb counting as yet but it's the constant fear of nighttime hypos that get me! I'm bearly sleeping, not out of choice just shear worry. At the moment ours is on small doses due to the 'honeymoon period' in which he is still producing some insulin it's just not enough and not working in the right way plus we caught it early so he didn't get really ill and we didn't have the really high levels to content with.

I have found this forum to be very supportive and if I can be of any help then please don't hesitate to message me.

 

[Northerner]

Hi my son has just been diagnosed with type 1 during the Christmas holidays , it's been a complete shock , and the information is a lot to take in. All credit to him he's doing brilliant in his first week of this huge lifestyle change injecting himself. The carb counting is tricky but with our carbs n cals book we are managing so far although he was a bit sad on Xmas day he got umpteen selection boxes and couldn't graze as he would normally have done at all his relatives festivities. I am getting very nervous now at the thought of him returning to first year next week and how he's going to manage with leaving the class and checking/injecting before lunch, he's very quiet and timid normally ,also he was in the swimming club before this and how will I manage his hour long swims three times a week ? I am exhausted checking his bg at 3-4am every night then can't get back to sleep but I am paranoid he has a nocturnal hypo. I need help , tips of any kind. He's on lantus 18 at night and novorapid 1unit to 15 carbs. Thank you in advance ,sorry for long post, wide awake and worrying x

Hi Scot Mum, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm very sorry to hear about your son's disagnosis There's never a great time to get diagnosed, but during Christmas must rank as one of the worst. There is a very steep learning curve to begin with, but things will get easier - I'm sure you are all feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment.

I would suggest having a read of Adrienne's essential guide for parents of newly diagnosed children, which may help you to understand the situation you now find yourself in. I'd also highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents by Ragnar Hanas, without doubt the best book available for Type 1. There are some good sources of help and support, as well as this forum - I would suggest having a look at the Children with Diabetes website.

Please let us know if you have any questions and we will do our best to help out - many of our members have lived for decades with diabetes, so you should take comfort from that, and with the right amount of planning ahead there's no reason not to have a full, happy and healthy life. You will need to approach things with caution and monitor closely, recording everything and eventually you will build up experience of how he reacts to certain foods or exercise and things will start to become more predictable - although you can expect diabetes to do the unexpected at times as well. You sound like you have made a good start and it's great that he's happy to do his own tests and injections. If there is ever anything you are confused or unsure of, please let us know 🙂

 

[NI-Bookworm]

Hi

So sorry to hear about your son. My son was diagnosed a year ago tomorrow. He is very active playing some type of sport almost every day. For us it was just experimenting with his novo rapid before sports (reducing it by about 20%) and when he has had a lot on, like after a weekend with 2 competitive football games it also meant reducing the long acting insulin on the Sunday night so he wouldn't crash on a Monday. He also uses lucozade sport before and sips during to keep him going. I can say that diabetes has not affected his sport and to be honest a lot of his team mates don't even know he has diabetes. After he was diagnosed I threw out all sweets and sugary cereals etc, then are a couple of weeks realised that he can still have these if counted for and taken responsibly. We didn't start testing at night as the nurse advised that the body response will waken him and so far so good. Some night time hypos that he has woken up with, dealt with and then back to sleep. One year on I now feel more confident but still learning so much as we go. The diabetic team were brilliant with the school, they attended with the teachers and provided an individual plan. My son is so quiet in class that I was worried he wouldn't test if needed as it would draw attention to him but he is such an expert at doing the tests now so quickly and treating hypos that after the first few times the class mates don't even notice. If he uses the canteen for lunch it may be worth looking at downloading the carbs and cal app for a smartphone as you can add all your favourites and much more discreet and lighter than the book.

Good luck to you and your son

 

[Scot mum]

Thank you for replying , that is very helpful especially regarding the sport , as I don't want him to crash during the night or next day maybe reducing his lantus would help , does he eat a snack before and after exercise and not cover for it with insulin like just eat extra carbs?

 

[Scot mum]

Thanks everyone for your responses I am sure I will be a regular on here ...had dramas today lol he dropped his accu expert and it would not work at all que phone be calls to the company for a replacement then we had to go to the chemist and sort out all the orders for the new year , it's a lot of stuff to store I think a kitchen cupboard is going to have to be emptied and allocated ...gearing up for him staying at his grandparents this thurs and Friday as me and his dad are both nightshift so preparing his gran for that , she was horrified when I explained about hypos .and it's going to be hard for me leaving him without my constant checking on him but needs must .....

 

[Copepod]

In general, yes, snacks before / after exercise, are eaten without insulin.
Please don't feel that you have to understand and master everything at once, but you may find it useful to look at one of the websites aimed at people with type 1 diabetes eg www.runsweet.com www.teambloodglucose.com
Do talk with your diabetes team, as there are other things that might help, such as reducing long acting insulin when in training, having a snack before bed etc.

 

[NI-Bookworm]

As copepod says it will take time and trial and error. If a one approach fitted all,diabetes would definitely be easier to manage. Write everything down in a wee diary with notes about the activities done and you start to see your own patterns
I bought a new dresser for all our diabetes stuff as it certainly mounts up. Was looking for an excuse for age
Empower your son to be an expert in his diabetes, as he will have to live with it, and it makes you more confident when having to unleash the reigns and leave him with others, or when he heads off to school/mates houses etc.

 

[HOBIE]

Welcome Scotmam. A freestyle Libre is good learning gadget. It gives graphs & results through the nt. You can test 100s of times a day & every min. £130 with vat off. inc 2 sensors. Good luck & keep at it. It will ease a bit in time 🙂

 

[Lauren]

Hi Scotmum,

I'm not a parent but have had Type 1 since I was 6. It's a lot to take in at first but trust me, you will both get used to everything surprisingly quickly. Having Diabetes has actually benefited me in two ways: 1) I have grown up knowing about healthy food choices and I feel I would be more unhealthy without this knowledge and 2) It's made me really good at maths!

When I do have low blood sugar it usually happens at night and I have always woken myself up and have been able to treat it myself, and I have been Diabetic for 22 years now 🙂 I hope this is reassuring.

Best of wishes for the both of you xx