Son with constant highs

[Adele]

Hi desperate for advise my son is 16 and his hba1c reading was 100 last week at the clinic he uses libre 2 and myself and his dad r constantly having to
nag him All day every day to scan and correct. Obviously he is a typical teenager and has a busy collage, work/ social life and never seems to be home or want to be home . I try to put small adjustments in place to try and make sure he at least come home after collage and eats a home cooked meal rather than food on the go which he odv prefers. Hoping these little tweets will help.
One day I feel I may be to soft and other days I feel I'm to harsh and as we all do i constantly tell him it's all because we love him so much.
Just dread the coming years of alcohol and all that comes with later teen years.
Hoping to hear from people who have Similar experience and any advise much appreciated.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hello and welcome to the forum 🙂
Teenage years are the pits for the person with diabetes and their parents.
What normally works for older teenagers is the fact s/he needs to show testing results for a driving licence, also explain that if he ends up with eye damage it will involve laser treatment and a loss of his licence if he can not pass the visual field test.
Nagging even with love tends to drive a wedge so tip toe very carefully in that dept, as teenagers tend to be very delicate flowers 🙂

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Adele 🙂 It must be very hard having a teen with diabetes, and, of course, not easy for the teen themselves. Is he missing injections or is he mis-counting carbs or eating extra? Are his friends supportive?

I have Type 1 but none of my children do, so I’ll tag some parents of Type 1s for you that might give some good advice @stephknits @Sally71 Also, @Lily123 is a young person with Type 1.

My advice would be to ask him what he’s finding hard and why he’s not giving the diabetes the attention it needs. Ask him in a ‘trying to make things easier for you’ way. Then talk about complications. @Pumper_Sue has mentioned some above but I’d add in relationships. High blood sugar can interfere with moods, cause annoying infections, and have physical effects that will mean his diabetes is more obvious than I guess he wants it to be. Controlling it keeps it in its place.

 

[Lily123]

Thanks for the tag @Inka . @Adele I’m assuming that your son is in first year of college/ sixth form which will make things stressful enough for him without adding on the effect that stress can have on BG.If your son is still under paediatrics (this tends to vary by county) then he might just be within the margin to be regarded as children under the new NICE guidelines that state all children should be offered a rtCGM like Dexcom which means your son would not have to scan it. But if he isn’t still under paediatrics then he would have to meet the adult guidelines

 

[Adele]

Hello and welcome to the forum 🙂
Teenage years are the pits for the person with diabetes and their parents.
What normally works for older teenagers is the fact s/he needs to show testing results for a driving licence, also explain that if he ends up with eye damage it will involve laser treatment and a loss of his licence if he can not pass the visual field test.
Nagging even with love tends to drive a wedge so tip toe very carefully in that dept, as teenagers tend to be very delicate flowers 🙂

 

[Adele]

Hi inka thankyou for your reply. Yes we have many hearts to hearts with him and in general he is a good boy and try to be as senative as we can but still doesn't seem to get us anywhere. But will def mention the driving licence.

 

[Adele]

Welcome @Adele 🙂 It must be very hard having a teen with diabetes, and, of course, not easy for the teen themselves. Is he missing injections or is he mis-counting carbs or eating extra? Are his friends supportive?

I have Type 1 but none of my children do, so I’ll tag some parents of Type 1s for you that might give some good advice @stephknits @Sally71 Also, @Lily123 is a young person with Type 1.

My advice would be to ask him what he’s finding hard and why he’s not giving the diabetes the attention it needs. Ask him in a ‘trying to make things easier for you’ way. Then talk about complications. @Pumper_Sue has mentioned some above but I’d add in relationships. High blood sugar can interfere with moods, cause annoying infections, and have physical effects that will mean his diabetes is more obvious than I guess he wants it to be. Controlling it keeps it in its place.

 

[Adele]

Thankyou and I think it's a case of eating the wrong things and possibly not injecting before food he says he has missed occasional injections but does it generally so really because we r not with him and his vague response its hard for us to no what he's doing or not doing properly if we didn't prompt him constantly he wouldn't even scan. I think he to caught up with what he doing at the time and possibly the inconvenience with injecting in what ever surroundings he in at the time. Thankyou again for your reply

 

[Inka]

Would a pump be a possibility? I can control my pump from my phone so it’s less obtrusive in public. If that was an option for him, the technology side of it might be an attraction too.

Honestly I think you need to choose a good time and have a sympathetic but clear reminder of Type 1 and why, nuisance as it is, we have to work to control it. I’m sure he wants to forget it and be just like his friends, but the best way of being just like his friends is to control it. If his friends understood a little, maybe they could prompt him too.

 

[Adele]

Thanks for the tag @Inka . @Adele I’m assuming that your son is in first year of college/ sixth form which will make things stressful enough for him without adding on the effect that stress can have on BG.If your son is still under paediatrics (this tends to vary by county) then he might just be within the margin to be regarded as children under the new NICE guidelines that state all children should be offered a rtCGM like Dexcom which means your son would not have to scan it. But if he isn’t still under paediatrics then he would have to meet the adult guidelines

Hi lily

Yes first year of college. And still with children's I have been constantly in contact with are nurse and explaining the issues we are having and the huge impact its having on are relationship regarding the lack of scanning as he struggles to produce enough scans per day. They have now said untill he gets his overall bloods down and hits the 8 scans then he wouldn't be considered for dexcom which I think is crazy as he needs the help now. After his last appointment he was told he has been very lucky up till now he hasn't ended up bk in hospital and warned of stokes and heart attacks. Yet still that day his bloods continued to be sky high and had to be constantly told to scan. He says he trying his best and starting to get quite upset with it all. So yes just so worring at this time. Ww have also found vapes on him over the last few months and I wonder if this could be creating high bloods.

 

[Adele]

Would a pump be a possibility? I can control my pump from my phone so it’s less obtrusive in public. If that was an option for him, the technology side of it might be an attraction too.

Honestly I think you need to choose a good time and have a sympathetic but clear reminder of Type 1 and why, nuisance as it is, we have to work to control it. I’m sure he wants to forget it and be just like his friends, but the best way of being just like his friends is to control it. If his friends understood a little, maybe they could prompt him too.

Yes I have mentioned pumps to the hospital and they just say its down to him to get control and no tec will be a miracle cure. And honestly we have so many heart to hearts with him. Probably on a weekly basis. We took him out for the day the other week to get him away from the house and everything to have a serious talk about it but nothing we do or say seems to change anything.

 

[Lily123]

Hi lily

Yes first year of college. And still with children's I have been constantly in contact with are nurse and explaining the issues we are having and the huge impact its having on are relationship regarding the lack of scanning as he struggles to produce enough scans per day. They have now said untill he gets his overall bloods down and hits the 8 scans then he wouldn't be considered for dexcom which I think is crazy as he needs the help now. After his last appointment he was told he has been very lucky up till now he hasn't ended up bk in hospital and warned of stokes and heart attacks. Yet still that day his bloods continued to be sky high and had to be constantly told to scan. He says he trying his best and starting to get quite upset with it all. So yes just so worring at this time. Ww have also found vapes on him over the last few months and I wonder if this could be creating high bloods.

How long has your son been diagnosed and was he in DKA at diagnosis? If he’s been diagnosed quite a while then he’s probably trying to rebel against it for a time. If he hasn’t been diagnosed very long he may think you were being overdramatic with the heart to hearts

 

[gll]

Ww have also found vapes on him over the last few months and I wonder if this could be creating high bloods.

I have vaped for 3 years now and since diagnosis my hba1c has gone down (and then back up) so for me personally, I don't link my bg to vaping at all.

A wider google search says there are suggested links to higher bg but nothing has been proven either way. (and that is only if vaping nicotine vs just plain juice from what I can tell).

It isn't ideal and I would never suggest vaping except for a way to get off combustible cigarettes. Lesser of 2 evils though etc.

Sorry you are struggling so much with him. I have a 19 and 21 year old without D and that can be a challenge at the best of times to get them to do anything for their own good although they are somewhat a little more responsible now. My heart goes out to you x

 

[Adele]

How long has your son been diagnosed and was he in DKA at diagnosis? If he’s been diagnosed quite a while then he’s probably trying to rebel against it for a time. If he hasn’t been diagnosed very long he may think you were being overdramatic with the heart to hearts

Hiya

He was diagnosed when he was 13 and yes rushed to hospital in dka so he does remember how serious it was.

 

[Adele]

I have vaped for 3 years now and since diagnosis my hba1c has gone down (and then back up) so for me personally, I don't link my bg to vaping at all.

A wider google search says there are suggested links to higher bg but nothing has been proven either way. (and that is only if vaping nicotine vs just plain juice from what I can tell).

It isn't ideal and I would never suggest vaping except for a way to get off combustible cigarettes. Lesser of 2 evils though etc.

Sorry you are struggling so much with him. I have a 19 and 21 year old without D and that can be a challenge at the best of times to get them to do anything for their own good although they are somewhat a little more responsible now. My heart goes out to you x

Thankyou that's why I've joined this group and inside info like that is very useful we have also found out through desperation by going through his phone he has start to dabble in smoking weed we were devastated and again did not scream and shout but had a serious heart to heart with him and he has promised to put a end to that however time will only tell.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Would a pump be a possibility? I can control my pump from my phone so it’s less obtrusive in public. If that was an option for him, the technology side of it might be an attraction too.

I doubt he would be considered for a pump due to the fact he isn't making the effort to inject or check his blood sugars.
It might be worth looking at his basal to see if that needs increasing due to hormones as well helping to mop up some of the carbs not injected for.

 

[Adele]

I doubt he would be considered for a pump due to the fact he isn't making the effort to inject or check his blood sugars.
It might be worth looking at his basal to see if that needs increasing due to hormones as well helping to mop up some of the carbs not injected for.

Hi sue yes I've actually contracted our Nurse today to see if she happy for me to up that. We used to go in his room and do the early morning scan for him but as he got older we has to start respecting his privacy so stood bk from that but since last week I have had to reintroduce it.so now getting the early morning scans we need to judge any changes needed. And all week he scanning average of 11 -14 in morning. Hospital are also going to change to a longer lasting basal which apparently stays active for a little while longer. So yeah hoping all the little changes we make up add up to a lower A1c result.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Would it be possible to self fund a dexcom for a couple of months? That would a) give you more data so you can see if it’s basal or bolus that’s the problem and b) give you the data to justify dexcom on the NHS (we have been self funding dexcom for a while and have been told it will be covered by the NHS from our next appointment- the delay is just in doing the paperwork). It’s worth getting dexcom funded now before he hits adult care as they may then continue it as a like for like match


Does he have good friends who understand his diabetes? Getting peers who can support him and remind him to inject when he eats will take some of the pressure off. It can be really difficult to feel different and teens are very sensitive to that.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Would it be possible to self fund a dexcom for a couple of months?

Would dexcom give that much more information than Libre 2 already does?

 

[helli]

Would dexcom give that much more information than Libre 2 already does?

No but there is no need to scan which seems to be an issue.
However, there is little point in scanning or having the data if it is not acted upon.