Newbie mum, daughter diagnosed T1 On Tuesday

[Debbiecakes]

hi everyone

just wanted to introduce myself and give you some background. My daughter was diagnosed on Tuesday, after a 999 dash to hosp. High bloods of course and DKA discovered. 4 days in hospital and a myriad of information thrown at us. We're back home now and learning the ropes. Type 1 and on a 4 a day regime - novorapid and levemir. Have some experience with T1 as one of my best friends is also T1 - and I grew up helping give her injections, dealing with hypos etc, but it's all still a lot to take in. she has been a star, injecting herself from day 1. Her readings are still high, raging from 9 to 26 but no keotones. Am still trying to understand how long it might take for them to move down the scale, understand this will take some balancing etc over the coming weeks, but any previous experiences on this would help

Luckily she's a healthy eater anyway which should really help - but she is missing just being able to eat without thinking - I am sure this will get easier.
I'd noticed she'd been moody for a couple of weeks, and was eating for England. Which I put down to pre teenage hormones and a growth spurt ( she always eats constantly when having one). I'd also noticed she was drinking a lot, but again put this down to the hot weather. Tues was very lethargic and not hungry - so I assumed she was coming down with a bug. Move forward a few hours and she was still not right and complaining of pain - thankfully I knew something was wrong as we called 999. The one thing which made me feel awful is I had not realised she had lost 9kg in weight !
Anyway I am sure I will be asking lots of questions, not least as we go on holiday next week !

 

[Energize]

Hi

I'm a newbie too, although not Type 1. Just noticed you had left a messge but it's late, so not so many of folks around I suppose. So, just to say 'hello'.

You certainly have had a steep learning curve and well done to your daughter for doing so well. It will have been a stressful time for you.

There is certainly a lot of information here. One of the more 'seasoned' folks will post some information for you, which you will find extremely helpful.

Anyway, I wish you well.

 

[daisy1]

Hi Debbie and welcome to the forum You seem already to be managing very well. There are lots of mums here who will soon read your post and reply. It would be a good idea to post something in the Diabetes Youth Club:
viewforum.php?f=16
where the mums go as more of them will see your post.

Edit: I have just seen your post and your daughter's in the Youth Forum which I am glad you have already found. You will find plenty of help and information in there.

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

Hi there! Lots of parents here so if you want any feedback for some questions we'd all be able to add something from our experience. My son also went down hill quickly and spent a bit of time in intensive care at the time of his diagnosis.

It is a lot to learn even if you have some understanding of diabetes. One thing you find out fairly quickly is that everyone is different so what works well for one may not for another. In the early days you can only keep making adjustments and learning what foods do what and how much exercise requires extra snacks. Carb counting and keeping good records helps. I use a free download that makes graphs from sidiary.org but there are loads available and some smart people make their own.

You may experience a honeymoon period where the pancreas has a rest and recovers a little and produces insulin for a while but it will eventually cease.

Hope you are settling into the routine and life becomes a bit less about blood sugars and a bit more fun in the coming months. It took me most of a year to really get it together but Khaleb was little and it was hard work.

 

[sugar2]

Welcome. Soory to hear about your daughters diagnosis, it must have been a real shock. Are yuo still in contact with your child hood friend? The reaosn I ask is that as a child/teen, it was very useful to meet other diabetics...nice to know that you are not the only one!
I am guessing that if your daughter is 11, she is either about to start secondary school, or is already there? Hopefully the school will be able to help, and there may be other children in a similar situation.

take care, sounds like you are doing really well.

 

[Debbiecakes]

Thanks everyone for the replies. yes I am still in contact and have already spoken to her. She's going to spend some time with my dd and also be on hand for questions and support. Having known her for 33 years, it helps in realising that things will improve.

yes she is about to start secondary school, so that will be a visit on the first morning to sort everything out. luckily she is going to school with the vast majority of her primary school friends so will have lots and lots of support. Hopefully the school should be equally a supportive. Also helps that she is very independant.

knew about the honeymoon period, but thanks for more info on it. I am taking each day as it comes as the moment. Trying to let dd carry on with activities as much as normal.

So much to take it at the moment but am sure we will get there

 

[imalittlefishy]

Hiya, I was diagnosed 9 years ago this week (time flies!) also at the age of 11 and in the summer between primary and secondary school, so a very similar situation to your daughter! I was also very independent (though my mum might have used the word "stubborn"...) and I think it made it easier that I took control of everything from the beginning, with support from my parents and doctors etc. Just adding to what everyone's saying really, the first few weeks can be tough but it does get much easier and becomes second nature after a little while! I'm now 20, about to go into my final year of uni, have been living away from home for the last two years and have travelled to all sorts of places and done all sorts of things without diabetes getting in my way!

One thing that I found really helped, particularly when I was first diagnosed, was being around kids my age with diabetes. The paediatric dept at my hospital arranged a weekend away once a year doing various activities (sailing, kayaking, climbing, ski-ing etc) for 11-16 year olds, I went just a few months after I was diagnosed and was still very apprehensive about it all, and then carried on going every year until they kicked me off cos I was too old! I hated that there was something "different" about me, and it really helped to just spend time with other normal kids who were going through the same thing and understood completely how I felt about it all. If there's any opportunity for that kind of thing in your area, I would say go for it!

Luck and best wishes to both of you
xx

 

[jgreen2711]

hi my daughter was diagnosed roughly about 2 months ago. she is only 5 and coping really well(better than me i think) she started to check her own sugar levels pretty much straight away and now she wants to try her in insulin injections. when she was in hospital we pretty much got a load of info chucked our way then a week later she was discharged a month after that she was back in after loosing all feeling in the whole of her right side and after many visits to the doctors i decided to stop carb counting and go back to what we first did and we gave her so many units to how high her sugar levels were and we also reduced her back ground insulin to half and since i have done that she has been doing really well her levels are pretty even not really going above 10. im just waiting now for the honey moon period to be over and we will be ack to square 1 again with the carb counting and trying to figure out how much insulin to give her.x