22 month old son newly diagnosed with type 1

[Katie_Lynch]

Hi
Our 22 month old son has just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I have been very emotional since we have found out but I am trying to stay strong for him as this has all been very traumatic for him. We are lucky as he was still well in himself and did not become too unwell before the diagnoses. After only 4 days he is already willing to give us his fingers to test his sugar levels and most of the time will let us give him the insulin, - so we have come a long way in such a short space of time. His sugar levels are still high and we are working the diabetic team closely (calls or visits daily) to bring this down.
Since diagnoses he has become very irritable during the day, lashing out at us (smacking, kicking, biting), lots of screaming and tantrums sometimes over the smallest things. I completely understand that he has been through so much over the past few days and also that his sugar levels are jumping up and down so he's not feeling too well either. I just wondered if his behaviour will settle over the coming weeks as we stabilise his sugar levels or if this could possibly be how he may act from now on whenever his levels jump around?
We're just trying to get our heads round all of this and its breaking my heart to see him like this as it isn't the little boy that we've known. Thank you

 

[noblehead]

Understandably your all emotional, it would have come as quite a shock, i do feel for you all having to deal with this.

The irritable behaviour should settle down once his blood glucose levels are settled, just make sure to keep mentioning it to the diabetes team if they don't, best wishes to you all.

 

[Lazybones]

It's sometimes just as hard for the parent's of a diabetic as it is for the diabetic themselves. You mustn't feel guilty or blame yourself in any way for you sons diabetic predicament, but look apon it as he is still that special individual, who just happens to have diabetes.
Being so young will mean that he hasn't developed the ability to fully communicate his feelings to you as his parent, and all the family will have to get their heads around this new situation.
You aren't alone with this problem, and should be grateful that despite this problem being found in one who is so young, it has been diagnosed so soon before more serious problems have had any chance to develop.
There is much to learn, but try to relax and not show any anxiety when dealing with your son, children even at this young age can pick up easily on your emotions even if you aren't conscious of displaying them.
This diabetic site is a wealth of practical, sensible information, so if you have any question that concerns you no matter how trivial please ask, there is always someone on this site who's been there and will know the answer.

Best of luck for the future - Lazybones

 

[Chris_Cousins_]

Hello and welcome. It will be hard to know whether moods are the result of diabetes, or not, for a while. My 6 year old daughter has severe mood swings but is not diabetic.

If possible try to do blood tests to establish a pattern - then any advice, be it on here or from your diabetes team, will be based on fact.

Check the ingredients of food/drink labels - even baked beans have sugar in!

It will take a short while to get a regime sorted but I'm sure once control is there and as you and your son learn more, it will become easier.

 

[novorapidboi26]

welcome to the forum...........

sorry to hear of your sons diagnosis.........

my younger brother was diagnosed at the same age back in 1987.........

these days the technology is much better and so it should make life that little bit easier, on the piratical side of things anyway......

you will be an expert in no time and you will be worrying about all the normal toddler stuff that they get up to, to our displeasure........

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi
Our 22 month old son has just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I have been very emotional since we have found out but I am trying to stay strong for him as this has all been very traumatic for him. We are lucky as he was still well in himself and did not become too unwell before the diagnoses. After only 4 days he is already willing to give us his fingers to test his sugar levels and most of the time will let us give him the insulin, - so we have come a long way in such a short space of time. His sugar levels are still high and we are working the diabetic team closely (calls or visits daily) to bring this down.
Since diagnoses he has become very irritable during the day, lashing out at us (smacking, kicking, biting), lots of screaming and tantrums sometimes over the smallest things. I completely understand that he has been through so much over the past few days and also that his sugar levels are jumping up and down so he's not feeling too well either. I just wondered if his behaviour will settle over the coming weeks as we stabilise his sugar levels or if this could possibly be how he may act from now on whenever his levels jump around?
We're just trying to get our heads round all of this and its breaking my heart to see him like this as it isn't the little boy that we've known. Thank you

Hello, so sorry to hear of your little one's diagnosis, it can be a very upsetting and worrying time, it's the parents and close family who find it difficult to understand and accept sometimes. But please don't blame yourself for anything, it is as you say heart breaking As he is very nearly two, his behaviour could also be the' terrible two's'.. I have a magazine delivered and it's called Type 1 discovery, News from JDRF, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I got in touch with them when my 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter was diagnosed, they were brilliant with information and I managed to get a Rufus teddy bear, who was also diabetic and had coloured patches on him, for the injection sites. My GD loved him and we pretended to inject Rufus too, he was her diabetic teddy buddy GD has just celebrated her 6th birthday and she is a happy and healthy girl.
In time, it will get less fraught, try not to worry too much, ( difficult I know) it is such a huge thing at the beginning, but kids are such fighters and tough cookies .Take care and any concerns you have, see you child' s diabetes specialist ( I was given my GD's diabetic nurses telephone number, in case I had any worries or questions, even though I am Type 1 also) Good luck and best wishes RRB

 

[Dillinger]

Hi
Our 22 month old son has just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Katie, I'm so sorry for your little chap and I'm so sorry for you; there is nothing worse for a parent than having a sick child.

This will be a very steep learning curve for you; but you will learn and you will get to grips with it. You will need to change as a family but not drastically and once the dust settles a bit everything will be fine.

Diabetes is a scary but eminently manageable condition; if half-wits like me can do it then you and your boy will be able to do it too.

You need to hoover up information about diabetes though and you need to be a pushy mum to get the very best treatment from your health care providers that you can.

If either of my boys were diagnosed I'd probably want to very seriously look at pumps and I'd want them to have constant glucose monitors; I don't know if that would be practical or even advisable but I'd want to know all the pros and cons for those options.

If at all possible make sure that your son is under the treatment of a paediatric diabetic clinic in a teaching hospital; don't accept whatever the closest hospital to you is; you have a choice in this don't forget.

Read these books; 'Think Like A Pancreas' by by Gary Scheiner, 'Blood Sugar 101' by Jenny Ruhl (and read her website of the same name).

Ask questions all the time until you start answering those questions yourself.

Engage with this forum and any other forums you think will be useful; I think there is a facebook page for parents of Type 1 diabetes; join that.

Have a look at this blog set up by an Australian mum of a Type 1 boy http://diabeticalien.blogspot.com.au/

You have every right to be heartbroken and upset but that's because it is such a shock; it is something that will need management but it is something that can be controlled; your son is going to have a wonderful, healthy normal life - don't worry!

Best

Dillinger

 

[S.Aslam]

So sorry to hear. My 4 year daughter also diagnosed recently ( 2months ago). And she too cooperate for insulin injections thrice a day & weekly once a day 3 times glucose monitoring. My advice to you is please dont get panick just follow doctors advices & closely monitor your son behaviour soon you will learn a lot.