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Advise on child wanting pump please

Y

yorksherpud

Well-Known Member
Messages
57
Hi there,

My son was diagnosed as T1 three weeks ago today, he's 11. Since then he has collected loads of leaflets on diabetes and read them all avidly. He came out of hospital and was started on syringes, but couldn't wait to be 'upgraded' to the pens. The nurse gave him his pens last week and he was thrilled. The only problem is now he's read in one of his many bits of literature about insulin pumps and is wanting to ask the doctor about them at the clinic. I am a bit more dubious about them and would really appreciate if you could give me a few pros and cons for them so that I can give him full rounded view that they are hard work etc.

Thanks for your time

Kindest regards

Melanie

ps, he seems to have taken to it all like a duck to water, he has no issues and has just said there's lots of kids worse off than he is. He has amazed me at his maturity and the fact that he has been giving his own injections since he came out of hospital two weeks ago. He just seems to have got on with it.
 
hello Melanie,
i was diagnosed aged 11 too.
This easy bit at the start of treatment is called the honeymoon period.
Once your sons pancreas completely stops making insulin then things get a little more tricky.
He's not a battle-hardened diabetic quite yet. But by the sound of it your boy will do just fine.

Insulin pumps don't suit everyone but if you know what you're doing you can get very good
control with then. it's certainly worth giving it a go if you can get funding for a pump.

all the best,
Tim.
 
Hi Melanie,
Well the pump, for me, is a wounderful thing. You can easily control you blood glucose and have alot more flexibility with my diet. However at first the pump is hard work, you have to keep to do alot more blood glucose testing not just during the day, but at night too for the first few weeks. You also have to start working hard before you even get your hands on the pump. But the earlier you get the pump, the better i reckon. GOOD LUCK! :D
 
Hi,
I have longed to get a pump for years...but they are expensive things. It seems to be the NHS attititude that they will only give them to the people who need them most. This si fair enough I suppose. Unfortunately, sometimes this can feel a little unfair. Sometimes, someone with diabetes tries their absolute best to control their blood glucose, but does not achieve very good results. In my humble opinion, these are the people who should get them first. There are others, who don't even try..and achieve poor results. I am not sure what teh NHS thinks about this. Then there are the rest of us....who try really hard, and achieve reasonable results. In many cases we would achieve better results with a pump...but because their are people who take priority, there doesn't seem to be much hope of getting one soon.
You should be really proud of your son...what a brilliant response! I think (although I am not certain) that he may be slightly too young for the pump at the moment, but it would be a real shame if he were denied a pump. Everything that can be done to maintain his enthusiasm...and good health should be done. It is true about the "honeymoon period" but with his attitude, he will do really well. Most diabetics get depressed and slightly dispondent about their diabetes at times...so don't panic if this happens, everyone has off days. If todays results weren't as good as he expectde, well, work on making tomorrows better.
Ask about the pump....in my limited experience, some Drs love them, and some hate them! Alas, it may come down to money...and not ultimately what is the best for your son.
Good luck!
 
Hey, I'm happy to hear that your son is doing really well, i have been on the pump since september and i think it's great. It is hard work though, there's a lot of carbohydrate counting involved and it is attached 24/7, i'm not trying to put a negative on it because it really works for me but it is something that he should think about. It may be a bit early for your son to have the pump though but no harm in asking, it's great that's he's taken a really positive attitude towards it.
 
Thank you so much for all your replies, and to be honest I am suprised that you all seem to love the pump so much. I was expecting you all to say, no bad idea, to much hard work etc. I do have my concerns but as a newbie in the diabetic world I am trying to learn as rapidly as I can, and to keep up with the rate at which my son is learning.

He is currently on 12u Mixtard 30 in the morning, 3u Novarapid at tea and 8u at supper. The nurses are telling us what doses he needs at the minute.

I am a bit worried as he has had a couple of hypos at school this week but the nurses have dropped his morning dose in response to this. The school have been fantastic and have watched in like a hawk. One of his teachers who is also T1 diabetic has promised to climb Ben Nevis with him when he's ready.

Anyway enough waffling from me, thanks again for all your help.

Kindest regards

Mel.
 
Hi Mel,

Both my girls are on the pump. We have found that despite the hard work involved it has improved their quality of life. I agree with other posters that it is a bit of an NHS lottery as far as funding is concerned, so you would have to ask at your clinic. But as for his age, I know that in Europe babies are successfully started on pumps, and at our clinic there are several toddlers on pumps. They are now talking about putting children on the pump at diagnosis.

Having said all that though, there are some children and parents who manage very successfully and happily on injections, so it is not necessarily the 'holy grail' for everyone.

Something for you both to think about anyway, hey?

Good luck with everything, you sound like you're both coping really well!!
Sue
 
Hi,

My daughter age 9 was diagnosed three months age. She too has been coping amazingly. I read your comments on another topic about feeling like super mum. That is probably why he is coping so well......because you sound like a super mum. If you get on with it and don't fall apart ( well not in front of them anyway). Childern just seem to get on with it too. They will have good days and bad days but don't we all.

Congratulate your son on doing his own injections. I have to go into school every day to do my daughter injection which can be a bit of a juggling act, we have been carb counting for the past two months and that has proved initially much simpler than it sounds.

Good Luck.
 
Thank you so much for your kind comments and advice. I think the honeymoon period has gone up a step for Matthew since he bug at the weekend. I have put another posting up about this in Discussions, titled T1 Honeymoon period.

Kindest regards

Melanie x
 
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