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My newly diagnosed 12yr old son

Type1Anderson

Type1Anderson

Newbie
Messages
3
Location
Portsmouth, Hampshire
Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi

I've been looking around these boards over the last week - and found a wealth of information - thank you!

My 12 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 at the beginning of October this year.

I am so proud of him, he does some of his own injections, all his BGs, he's learning his indicators of Hypos & treating them. We record his figures on an app so we can review his numbers - he's also updating the app too. He's made a great start on trying to carb count.

His DN & Dietician say they feel he's doing great & we feel that too. He does get upset on occasion, he might cry, he may get a bit angry - he seems to come to me mostly - he has broke down in tears with his Dad. I'm glad he's coming to us - I'd be worried if he didn't. We can have access to a thoughts & feelings Dr if he wants, his DN is really approachable too.

He knows I've cried - he's seen me get upset when he's crying/upset. I just can not seem able to talk to anyone face to face without tearing up/crying. I literally have to tell them that I can't speak about it if my son is around, I don't want him to see me like that. I feel scared mostly, angry, like I'm not coping - I need to be stronger than this - strong for him. Is this 'normal' for now?

SA x
 
Type1Anderson said:
Hi

I've been looking around these boards over the last week - and found a wealth of information - thank you!

My 12 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 at the beginning of October this year.

I am so proud of him, he does some of his own injections, all his BGs, he's learning his indicators of Hypos & treating them. We record his figures on an app so we can review his numbers - he's also updating the app too. He's made a great start on trying to carb count.

His DN & Dietician say they feel he's doing great & we feel that too. He does get upset on occasion, he might cry, he may get a bit angry - he seems to come to me mostly - he has broke down in tears with his Dad. I'm glad he's coming to us - I'd be worried if he didn't. We can have access to a thoughts & feelings Dr if he wants, his DN is really approachable too.

He knows I've cried - he's seen me get upset when he's crying/upset. I just can not seem able to talk to anyone face to face without tearing up/crying. I literally have to tell them that I can't speak about it if my son is around, I don't want him to see me like that. I feel scared mostly, angry, like I'm not coping - I need to be stronger than this - strong for him. Is this 'normal' for now?

SA x
Click to expand...

HI, so sorry to hear of your boys diagnosis and sorry for you for you too. Lots of parents find it hard to come to terms with their child's diabetes as it's such a shock and bewildering too, with a lot to to take in and your feelings are perfectly normal. You will probably find he is taking it better than you, kids are tough cookies and honestly in time it will get a little easier for you and your family. He can carry on as a normal 12 year old doing all the great fun things he did before. I am not a parent to a type 1 but my granddaughter was diagnosed when she was very young and I was a mess for a little while.

Hopefully some parents will be along with some good advice, help and support. Remember you aren't alone.
Take care RRB
 
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Hi....my 7 year old son was diagnosed with T1 beginning of Sept...so I know exactly how you feel. I was by his side 24/7 in hospital the first week, so had no chance to express my emotions. When I could I bawled my eyes out! It's a whole tidal wave of emotions and information and it's so hard to absorb such a 'punch in the face' so easily. I have no advice ....but know you are not alone. My son does his own I injections but also cries about it....its not fair...but it's own new life now X hope each day gets easier X
 
Gosh, I feel for you parents :(. I have a friend who's boy was diagnosed at 11 (about 12 months before I was diagnosed).

She gave me a lot of help and advise but she still cried occasionaly. That was 40 years ago now.

As she says now, you will eventually get over it, the crying will stop, you will be able to give advise, you will become stronger and you will argue with your kids as they go through puberty but, hey ho, isn't that normal :) :D
 
When I was first diagnosed 6years ago My mum would get upset about it but now shes fine,It the 'norm' and shell give me advice about everything! A promise is that it does get better and it does get easier for Him and the whole family! Youve just got to keep smiling xo :)
 
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Hi SA, my 9 year old daughter was diagnosed in August. I still cry, and I don't hide that from her, although I do limit myself to a few tears when she's around. When she's not I might rant and scream at the 4 walls :) I want her to know that I feel this on her behalf, but that I pick myself up each time and move forward, that it's ok for her to cry - it's a difficult, frustrating condition to manage - and let out how she feels, so that she can pick herself up afterwards and carry on. It's incredibly tough, but I remind her of all the people we know of or have met who have T1 and who do absolutely everything in their lives that they want to do. I remind her how strong she is to be dealing with this, how smart she is to be getting her head around it, and how it has already spurred her on to do more than she might have done before diagnosis, just to kick diabetes' butt!
I'd love to know what app you're using to record results? At the moment I copy everything from her diary into a spreadsheet I send to the DSN every few days. Diabetes is time consuming!
 
Just as a side note....I like the mySugr app for recording all the numbers! Its fun and child friendly....also a good game app is Monster Manor...not so much a recording app, but its a game that can only be played whenyou input your readings....again aimed at children. Shouldnt the DSN just be downloading all her readings from her monitor? x
 
Thank you all so much for sharing - I'm so grateful to know we're not alone. We all need to know that this rollercoster of emotions is 'natural'.

The app we use is GlucoSweet - we find it user friendly as it updates to all devices (mine, my sons, my husbands) & it also produces a little graph that shows his BG. You can also download. You can record BG, carbs & insulin units. It lets you record everything if you so wish.

Thanks again
 
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