Parent of a T1 saying hi.

[Kai's dad.]

Hi everyone. My name is Steve and I am new here. My son is 9 now and was diagnosed T1 at 3 years old.

He had had a bug/cold and we started noticing he was drinking a lot of water and a visit to the doctor's was made. The doctor took a blood test and his blood sugar level was +40 and so here we are!!

The diabetes team at our local NHS trust are very good and helped a lot during those early day's, including going to our sons nursery and training the staff there on insulin administration and have continued to do so to this day for school staff and also holiday clubs.

I am joining the forum because I wanted to seek views from other parents about a couple of things, namely management of blood sugar levels overnight and also I am seeking information about natural hypo treatments.

Steve

 

[EllieM]

Welcome to the forums. I can only imagine how hard it must be for the parent of a very young T1 child (I was diagnosed at 8 so old enough to learn to carb count and do my own injections).

I've got to ask, what do you mean by natural hypo treatments?

 

[Figgygreen75]

Hi everyone. My name is Steve and I am new here. My son is 9 now and was diagnosed T1 at 3 years old.

He had had a bug/cold and we started noticing he was drinking a lot of water and a visit to the doctor's was made. The doctor took a blood test and his blood sugar level was +40 and so here we are!!

The diabetes team at our local NHS trust are very good and helped a lot during those early day's, including going to our sons nursery and training the staff there on insulin administration and have continued to do so to this day for school staff and also holiday clubs.

I am joining the forum because I wanted to seek views from other parents about a couple of things, namely management of blood sugar levels overnight and also I am seeking information about natural hypo treatments.

Steve

Hi Steve,
Im very sorry about your sons diagnosis. My thirteen year old son was diagnosed in July in the middle of this pandemic after I could smell ketones on his breathe. Fortunately diabetes was in my family 4 generations ago so I have been gifted this ability - which only 50% of humans have, apparently. So I picked it up before he went into a coma.
We have been on a roller coaster with our first born, Daniel.
Our son is in puberty so his levels are all over at night sometimes and with any infection, it's just impossible to predict or manage well. Your son is growing really quickly too so his levels will be difficult to control also.
My best tips are- avoid rice, cereals near bedtime or for evening meal, absolute nightmare to process even with splitting the bolus on the omnipod. The most natural hypo treatment is probably orange juice rather than sweets? We have both in Daniels bedroom for when his alarm goes off in the night. I try to make sure Daniels level is about 8 before he goes to bed at 10pm. To give him enough to get through the night.

It's a marathon not a sprint though..so, best of luck.
Fi

 

[Kai's dad.]

Hi guys. Thanks for the replies.

So, ever since Kai was diagnosed we have been prescribed Gluco gel as his hypo treatment. We have recently sought to change this and tried dextrose tablets from Boots. I was hoping to seek advice on other possible options that other parents may use.

The other thing I was going to seek advice on was how other parents manage overnight. Kai is on a Medtronic pump and we blood test him at about 10pm when we go to bed and then either his Mum or I get up at midnight and again at about 2AM. We tend to find that if we blood test him at midnight and if necessary give him insulin, if we go back at 2AM his blood sugars 9/10 will not really have changed so end up giving him more insulin. The local NHS team make minor changes, but to be honest nothing really changes.

Are we the only parents getting up twice a night?

Thanks.
Steve

 

[Hopeful34]

Hi @Kai's dad. I'm not a parent, but have had diabetes for 53 years, diagnosed when I was 2. Are you able to get either a Libre or cgm from the NHS, or if not, fund it privately? I got a Libre and added a miaomiao which connects the Libre to my phone. If I'm going high or low it alarms and wakes me up during the night, so I can adjust insulin/carbs accordingly. Kai's phone could be set, so that you get the readings and alarms without having to get out of bed. It's a game changer, and should also help Kai and yourselves see where to adjust his basal rate, so hopefully you don't have to get up every night to adjust insulin/carbs.