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In need of advice

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Gayle13

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I have never logged onto a forum before so apologies in advance if I am going about this all the incorrect way.

My daughter was diagnosed with Type1 in year 7 (so 11/12 years old) and handled the diagnosis amazingly. As she entered year 10 she developed anxiety and suffered panic attacks regularly. She has always had the view that she did not care about living or dying and was receiving counselling but this stopped due to lack of funding and she now will not return. She is in year 11 (16 years old) and now totally refuses to acknowledge her diabetes - I feel the denial has hit later. She takes night insulin only and will not do her bloods, take insulin with food or attend hospital appointments. She has lost a huge amount of weight and is now only 6 and a half stone.
When I try to approach the subject she says she does not care about her diabetes and does not want to manage it. I have tried to discuss the implications of not taking care and the nurse has visited but to no avail.
I feel I am watching my daughter harm herself to the point of one day there being no return and am lost with what to do!!!
 
Hi gayle13 and welcome to the forum you will get all the help you need from here so feel free to ask what you want to know sorry i can't give advice about your daughter but never been though this myself and i wouldn't like to say something out of place but just keep looking here and someone is sure to know and give you advice so welcome again and good luck with everything.
 
Hi. How very sad and there isn't much we can do to help. There have ben other parents on the forum with similar concerns. The weight loss could be fat burning due to lack of insulin which is not good as I'm sure you know. DKA could result and that is really not good. Does your daughter understand the reality of DKA and the end result? Does she have any family or school friends that could help?
 
Thank you for replying Daibell I appreciate it greatly. My daughter is aware of everything that diabetes entails, I have a close friend who is a nurse and also know a paramedic who have had conversations with her. Her close friend is brilliant and ensures whenever my daughter is with her, she encourages her to take her insulin. Family have tried and although response is good initially it doesn't last.
I managed to talk to her yesterday without her dismissing it so is one step forward. I was hoping by joining a forum others may be in or have been in similar situations for guidance and share their experiences as I feel completely helpless.

Thank you again for responding.
 
Gayle13 said:
Thank you for replying Daibell I appreciate it greatly. My daughter is aware of everything that diabetes entails, I have a close friend who is a nurse and also know a paramedic who have had conversations with her. Her close friend is brilliant and ensures whenever my daughter is with her, she encourages her to take her insulin. Family have tried and although response is good initially it doesn't last.
I managed to talk to her yesterday without her dismissing it so is one step forward. I was hoping by joining a forum others may be in or have been in similar situations for guidance and share their experiences as I feel completely helpless.

Thank you again for responding.
Click to expand...

@Gayle13 Hi :)

Your post seems to have been overlooked. Would you like me to move it to Type 1 where you should get more responses? We also have a Parents section. Let me know and I can move your thread for,you.

This is an awful situation as it must be heartbreaking for you to,watch your daughter harm herself. I don't think there's an easy answer, but the fact your daughter responded a bit is a positive thing.

Can I ask if you know exactly why she's not injecting her meal time insulin? Is she overwhelmed by the work of managing Type 1? Is she concerned about gaining weight? Is she scared of hypos? Does she feel that not injecting for meals allows her free rein to eat what she wants? Is she just blocking the whole thing out of her head?

Can you think of anything that started this off? Her anxiety? A comment from someone? Something going wrong in her life?

I think if you can get an idea of why she's acting like this and what her thought process is, that might help.

Only you know whether to be firm or not. Sometimes it can be counterproductive, sometimes teens rely on parents backing off and then continue doing the 'wrong thing' because they know a parent will back off from conflict.
 
Ask your daughter to join the forum as well!

There is a sub forum for youngsters and this may help her, especially if talking to someone who is of the same age.
 
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