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normal feelings or needing professional help?

M

mattys parents

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3
Hi All,
It is 6 weeks since my 9 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
At times he is angry, upset, very sensitive about what the kids at school say, wanting to be 'normal' again!
We understand that this will be a normal reaction but don't know if he should now be seeing the pychologist available through his diabetes team but is on leave until April!


Thanks
Dawn & Mel
 
hi mattys parents.
i'm probably not the one in the know as i am a new type 2 diabetic but as a parent i understand your worries.
i would think it is normal for your child to be angry upset frustrated and depressed.
as a parent and as you prbably already have thought yourself i would get them all the help i could.
i would see the psychologist and would also speak with my gp/diabetic nurse about his problems and confide in the school so everyone is aware of what your child is going through hope this helps in some way..
best wishes Rob :)
 
Dawn & Mel,

After 6 weeks it is still early days and the turmoil of injecting, testing and hospital appointments will be very upsetting to a little boy like Matty, even in adults it takes time to accept that we have diabetes and the acknowledge the impact it will have on our lives. Try talking to his gp or diabetes nurse and see if they can assist and offer any advice, hopefully other parents of type 1 children may be along soon to offer help on this matter.

Best wishes

Nigel
 
From what I remember from my diagnosis (8yo) it took me a fair while to adjust to it and I was pretty kamikaze me-against-the-world for a couple of months before I realised there was no-one and nothing to blame.

Just let him know you are there for him and keep supporting him and he'll be fine. If you get very concerned it might be worth discussing the issue with his diabetic nurse and see if there are any resources avaliable to him now, rather than waiting until April.

Good luck, and all the best! :) xx
 
It's still very early days and I think it's perfectly reasonable to still be slowly accepting his diagnosis. I'm not sure how well his blood glucose control is yet but swings in glucose levels can also affect how a person feels. I would offer him as much love and support as you can and be prepared that it might take a while longer for him to get used to all of this. There are so many new things he needs to be doing now with testing and injecting but try to keep everything else in his life as normal as it used to be wherever possible. As far as possible don't allow diabetes to stop him from doing the things he enjoyed doing before diabetes. If he seems particularly down or you are particularly concerned about him then there's no harm in discussing it with your nurse or doctor. I think mostly he probably just needs time and space to come to terms with it all, 6 weeks is still very early days.
 
Hi. My daughter is still very sensitive about her condition where as my son loves to tell everyone that he is diabetic and wants them to watch while he injects himself. I guess they are all different and like everyone says it is still early days.

It can also take them several weeks after diagnosis to get back to full fitness, especially if they lost some weight. It might be worth leaving things a bit longer so he can get used to this new regime and accept that this is the way things are. You could also speak to your DSN to find out whether there are any other children of the same age in your area that he could speak with. It might help him by mixing with other children who have the same condition.

Having said that, he is your son, and you have to be the judges of what's best for him which I know can be extremely hard at times. Raising kids can be difficult at the best of times without throwing diabetes into the mix!
 
when I was diagnosed (I'm type 1) I found other people's attitudes the hardest thing about it, so I really empathize with your son. I would definitely back up what others have said, esp what leggott says about trying to find others his age with t1 he can talk with/spend time with and feel a bit more normal again.
Personally - I do emphasise this is just my personal opinion - I think for the person with diabetes, getting to talk to others with the same condition is worth a busload of non-diabetic psychiatrists. BUT, and I'm sure my own mum would back me on this, don't forget that as parents who love your child, it's normal for you to be feeling depressed/angry yourselves and don't feel bad about asking for the psychiatrist or other support professionals to help YOU. I was diagnosed 20 years ago and my mum is only now admitting how upset she was at the time and how much she longed to get support, but just never dared ask for it, or maybe just didn't think she should because it wasn't her that was ill.
 
I was diagnosed age 4....but had a sticky time aged around 7 or 8..in those days...1983, the British Diabetes Assosiation used to run "camps" where diabetic kids could go for a weeks holiday..and it was a holiday! It was great, as they did a bit of education, but only gently, and most of the benefit we got was meeting other kids our age. I have such fond memories of it. I was there when Charles married Diana. Alas, they don't run these any more, which is such a shame. It made us feel normal, rather than being "the diabetic one" Does anyone know why they stopped them?

So, I would say, if there is a local group, then this would be great. I am not sure about "professional" help.. I know with me this would have made me feel even more "special", but I know that other people would find it really helpful.
 
we have an organisation for our area that organises camps and the nurses and consultant go to them too dylan hasnt felt ready to go yet tho so cant tell u what its like altho the pictures look fab

anna marie
 
I'd recommend activities like summer camps or days out with other diabetics. Sorry to hear DUK don't run the summer camps any more, I wonder why? I found it very liberating to be with other kids who injected too, to go out and do active things without worrying because everyone was the same and knew about hypos etc. (School didn't let me do much more than a brisk walk!) And at camp you didn't get away with anything just because you were diabetic... I made a friend I'm still in touch with 30 years later - the first time I had someone my own age to offload to who really understood. Liberating for our parents too - they'd been wary of me even eating a meal away from home without them, never mind going away, but now they could send us off to each other's home for a week without worrying.
 
Hi Dawn and Mel

I remember when my Son James was first diagnosed (at 3 years old) we thought our world had come to an end. It seemed that he was the only one with diabetes that I knew of anyway. No other child in his primary school and now no one in his Comp School. He had his days, and unfortunately still does. Our DSN gave us a tel number of someone who had been through it for a while who I could talk to and now 10 years on she is giving my number for people to talk to me.

Yes 10 years on and we are now trying to get to grips with the Basal Bolus Regime as only gone on this since 12th February this year. We changed from 2 injections a day cos of puberty and control was getting out of hand.

So this Forum has been a great help and inspiration to me as you might see if you read ALL MY TOPICS. You will get there and quite honestly you do tend to feel a comfort when reading the numerous replies. There's plenty of help out there.

Take Care
x
 
Hi
Have you spoke to the headteacher at his school, Ask if is possible to have an assembly that could be about diabetes.Possibly get a DN to hold it that way the whole school learns something and your son need'nt know you and the head organised it . :D :D This is a tried and tested soluition.
:D atb. JF :D
 
I was diagnosed with stress induced type 1 Diabetes because of bullying and physical assaults during school which also lead to a high-degree of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in later situations involving people who resembled the perpertrators.

As a result of the taunting and criminal assaults and in response of coming to terms with living with Diabetes, my parents took me to a child psychologist. This was at the age of 14.

Up until that age, I was a completely normal stress and chronic-illness free child that had no interest or realisation of illnesses (whether psychological or biological). They incorrectly diagnosed me with Asperger Syndrome due to my lack of eye-contact and prefuse sweating and I felt as though I was different to everybody else as they had the legal provisions to request for private tutoring (to take me out of student social settings). The changes they made were only to help me with short-term problems. They were not thinking of the long-term problems caused by their actions which include separation from peer group, the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of labelling children with specific diagnosis' etc.

In short, don't seek professional help. You are the only person who can provide adequate support for your child.
 
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