When you first find out you have type 1 diabetes

[csking24]

Hello to all on the forum

I am currently working on a new website for 10-18 year-olds who have type 1 diabetes and looking into how you cope with diabetes whilst you are growing up

Firstly I am looking into what happens when you are first diagnosed - how often do you see the doctor? Did you see a dietician or a psychologist? Who did you go to talk to when you had problems? Did you get a lot of help at first then less as you learnt to cope with diabetes yourself?

It would be great if you could tell me what happens to help me better understand

Thank you very much.

Charlotte

 

[Rubyx]

Hi, i am writing this on behalf of my almost 12 year old who was diagnosed 5 years ago.
He had a fever and was off school. Lost weight and was thirsty and always going to the loo. We took him to the doctors and he was immediately diagnosed with diabetes and sent to the hospital.
He was sent home the next day and the nurse came to visit a few days after.

He now regularly goes to the doctor every 3 months and has a more detailed medical around his birthday. He has adapted to the testing and injections very quickly but his sugar has not been under control since his honeymoon period was over.

He accepted that he had to cut down on sweet stuff but i still remember him crying for custard creams the first time he went to the supermarket. However he quickly adapted to picking a magazine of his choice rather than a sweet of his choice over the next few weeks.

 

[imalittlefishy]

Hi there, I was diagnosed a week after my 11th birthday and was only in hospital for one night, followed by my first clinic appointment a week later. They gradually got further apart until I was having an appt once every 3 months, which was standard for me right up until I went to uni and changed diabetes healthcare teams.

I briefly saw a dietician after I was diagnosed, all I remember being told at that point was to not eat sweets and cut down on orange juice. There was an opportunity for me to see a psychologist if I wanted, but as a stubbornly independent 11 year old (some things don't change!) I wasn't interested.

I did my own blood sugars and injections from the start and took pretty much all responsibility for my own care from pretty early on. If I did have problems it was usually my mum I went to (she's a practice nurse so pretty clued up on diabetes stuff) but I did have an email for my DSN so I could contact her with any issues/questions, which was helpful. I think I was rather "thrown in at the deep end" but as I said before, that was partly due to my "I don't need your help, I can do this on my own" attitude rather than a lack of opportunities for support etc.

Hope that helps
xx

 

[diabetes51]

You say on your profile, you are a student/researcher.

Are you asking us about this as part of a research project/student assignment, also where and when is the site to appear.. I just wondered - it would be nice to know if we are helping improve care at a local or national level.