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Insulin refusal! Please help

Hi citrus2512
you are scared, exhausted and tired… type A at such a young age, is a life changing challenge - you love your son and desire him to flourish. I hope you have support for yourselves processing all this… i am type 1 and i get the burnt out feeling… wishing life was “normal” and “easy” and weight issues. Praying you find each others heart and stay connected.
 
It is a usual problem with young recently diagnosed Diabetics. If your son is ambitious and enjoys activities it might help by explaining to him that diabetic mismanagement can lead to blindness kidney failure, loss of limbs, bad blood circulation and death which would be very slow and painful. When I first became a diabetic at about your son’s age several of my fellow diabetics suffered due to lack of control and one in particular became blind when she was 14. As my GP stated when I first became a diabetic don’t let the diabetes rule your life you rule your diabetes.
 
There is nothing in this article which mentioned Fiasp being for athletes. And it goes on to say

Are the side effects of Fiasp similar to the side effects of NovoLog?​

Yes. Fiasp and NovoLog both contain the same active ingredient (insulin aspart). Because of this, the side effects of Fiasp and
NovoLog are similar
Click to expand...
In the UK, NovoLog is marketed as NovoRapid. Are you saying NovoRapid is also designed for athletes?

I have been using it for a few years. I accept that it took a while to get used to for reasons that have been described multiple times on the forum but once I got the hang of how it works, I much prefer it. I am active but definitely not an athlete and find it works as well for me on days when I do not exercise.
 
Hi,
Sorry to hear about the difficulties you are experiencing with your Son.
I was diagnosed type 1 at age 12. I know during my older teenage years I sometimes just "forgot" I needed the insulin because I was too busy being a teenager. I think having experienced Diabetic Keto Acidosis a few times and spending a week in hospital feeling terrible each time definitely helped me realise I need to take much better care of myself. I hope your Son doesn't need to go through that to understand how Ill he might get by not taking his jabs. Hopefully a bit of time to get his head round it is all he needs but I think having a talk about the long term effects with a nurse is one thing that really helped me get how important it is to try and manage my sugar levels the best I can. It might also be worth seeing if he can explain why he doesn't want to take it, it may be nothing to do with the weight thing. In my experience teenagers will say anything except the thing that they are really worrying about but I did have 2 girls not boys lol. Could it be he is embarrassed about doing his jabs in public or something? I know some people find that hard as they don't want to feel different. I hope you both get to the bottom of it soon and your Son starts feeling better. Sending you best wishes x
 
Hi Citrus2512,
I'm really sorry your son and you are going through difficult times! Lots of good advice from other contributers there.

I was diagnosed T1 at age 12 (36 now) and for the longest time, I did not take care of it properly (I wouldn't do my basal injections, skip the humalog regularly as well, would not check my blood glucose). And I would NOT accept any comments at all from my parents. I felt isolated, inadequate (because my body couldn't function normally), so different from my friends. And I felt this huge sense of responsibility which I thought was unfair, scary, and overwhelming. The talks from the doctors about how I would lose my eyesight, my limbs, not be able to have kids etc just reinforced my shame about my body and about my inability to be a responsible diabetic.

In retrospect, what would have helped at the time:
- Having someone with diabetes to talk to about the struggles, or being able to read and comment on this forum for example
- Having someone not tell me what to do but asking what I struggled with and what kind of help I could have
- Understanding (and my parents as well) that blood sugar results are somehow always going to be up and down, and that every little progress counts
-Knowing from my parents that being a good diabetic is not the only thing they want to see out of me, and that they are proud of me even if my blood sugars aren't good (I now they did but would have been helpful at the time to hear it from them)
- Having a regular activity with my friends and / or family to take my mind of diabetes

I only realized the importance of diabetes once I was in my 20s - as others have said, your son will need to realize that on his own. Everyone is different but I hope some of the suggestions will help your son (or at least let you know you are not alone!)
 
Hi There
Does your son have a Libre, if not he is entitled to one on the NHS you can check remotely too. It might help to tell him that insulin keeps weight down. If he runs high his body will store the extra sugars as fat. So this might help him? Background insulin is really important to maintain healthy weight and BGs. If he’s on Facebook there are lots of kids with T1 chatting on there. Diabetes UK has lots of info too.
Good Luck it’s not easy.
 
 

ask your diabetes team about insulin pumps, closed loop system sensor and pump, they can self adjust and administer on blood test results in real time to stop the highs and the lows although you still have to punch in for meals. . there are plenty of us that are type 1 and using insulin and we are still here, insulin is a life saver and it allows me to have pudding every so often so that I can punch in insulin for it no problem.
 
Welcome to the forum @ljftype1 The OP has already said that her son is on the waiting list for a pump, but it will be 18 months to 2 years before he gets one.
 
Hi @citrus2512
a type 1 diagnosis is something that affects the whole family and as you mentioned your son doing so well at first but the reality combined with teenage not wanting to be different is having a big impact. perhaps you could ask him to join the forum himself and maybe he could get some support from the wonderful people on here.
if you send me a direct message i can arrange to send you a booklet on dealing with diabetes burnout which is what it sounds like he is going through.
 
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