Help with depressed Son. 15 yrs old.

[jmg1303]

Hi my name is Jo I am new to the Diabetes.co.uk forum although I am a member of Diabetes UK.
I am an in-patient DSN and I have a son with Type 1 diabetes he is 15 years old now, and was diagnosed when he was 18 months old. I know I am a specialist nurse and have the knowledge, however, I do not have the experience of living with diabetes as you all do, and would really appreciate your advice regarding my teenage son, who at present is extremely depressed about his diabetes and at this moment in time completely rebelling. His HbA1c has never in all the time he has had diabetes been below 8 and whilst I am concerned about this the consultant he is under does not seem to be worried. Now he is rebelling I truely am worried for him and dont know what to do.
At the moment he is eating what he wants and sometimes point blank refusing to monitor his blood glucose levels or give his insulin The other day I found him crying and eventually he told me he hated having diabetes it was ruining his life. I know this maybe teenage angst and hopefully just a phase, but any help you could offer me would be truely appreciated.

Thankyou for taking the time to read this mail.
Any advice you could give me would be extremely helpful and is very much appreciated.
kind regards
Jo ( a worried mum )

 

[clearviews]

Re: Fasting..should i be worried?

Hi Jo and welcome,
I see it is your first post on the forum.

I am a step-parent to a 23 year old who has been doing the same things as your son. Probably worse as he still smokes and binge drinks and has recently gone on to a pump. I have learned that he can't be "told" just as I cannot "tell" my 34 year old that he is headed for a heart attack or a stroke probably before he gets diabetes! He has just returned home from 3 years working in the UK and Europe where he has gained weight alarmingly. He did ask me to email a list of the foods I eat when he saw my success but seems to find it all too hard. It is scary and distressing.

Mostly you can reassure him that this is a normal stage many young diabetics go through and perhaps finding him some good role models who are in the public eye to emulate might be one way of showing him him that life is great and worth getting his A1c into gear.

Stay strong, Alison

 

[cugila]

bump

 

[CR741]

hello,
if he finds injections are getting in the way, you should consider going on the pump. it is a lot quicker and easier to eat out. also, you dont always have to eat at meal times, you can eat larger snacks and bolus for them by just pressing a button. i'm quite new to the pump and at first its quite hard to get used to, as you still have the cartridge changes to do, but i found overall its better as i'm quite a busy person. there is lots of information about pumps on the forum. i'm 14 and was diagnosed 9 months ago and at the start it wasnt nice getting all sorts of levels, but you feel much better when you get your levels in range. it can be isolating at times, but there are loads of lovely people on this forum to help.
cr741