secondary school

What does he have fo lunch?
I was a secondary teaher and I can tell you they often don't say what they ACTUALLY eat.
I would ask to have a word with the school's SENCO. He/she has huge power and can arrange things to suit your son.

The sandwich or roll is probably high in carbs.
It would definitely be better if he took a packed lunch and learned what to put in it himself.
A home-made burger wrapped in a lettuce leaf is carb free, or low carb if you have breadcrumbs in the burger. A baby Bel cheese, some carrots sticks, celery sticks and cucumber sticks with a piece of fruit, such a an apple, would also have fewer carbs.
I believe that if you give the control over to the child( under supervision of course) you'll get the best results. your son could easily have a copy of the Collins Little Gem calorie counter and use that to make up a packed lunch with the right amount of carbs for his insulin. Is he on a premix or basal an bolus? the problem of always eaing "up to" the insulin, can cause a weight gain spiral.
Katharine has brougth up a teen age diabetic son and can probably give you the best help if you pm her.

An apple wouldn't send his sugars to the 20's!

Have you seen the **** that school kids eat? Go to your local corner shop/garage in the morning or after school and watch what the kids buy. Cans of full sugar coke, big bags of Haribo, Mars bars, pack of chocolate peanuts...it makes me ill to watch.

Your boy is NOT just eating an apple, believe me. He is eating the absolute rubbish his mates/peers are eating - he doesn't want to be different, he doesn't want to be seen as weak or an outsider because of his diabetes.

Primary school is different, the kids have so much more care, support and supervision. Secondary is far more feral, unfortunately, and he's having to run with the sugar addicted pack.

He thinks like all teenagers, that he is immortal.

I don't know what to say to you to try and stop him, but this is undoubtedly what he is doing.

Giraffe has said it plainly
That's what I suspect.
the worst meals I ever saw eaten at secondary schools were the ones the kids bought in the local shops. the last school where I worked is close to a large ASDA and a chippy. Both were full of kids every lunchtime and they were not eating sandwiches or apples.
It was perfectly possib;e to buy a healthy meal from the canteen, but even most of the kids entitled to free meals didn't have a nice cooked lunch.
If it's possible, try to be where your son buys his lunch and see what it actually consists of. then take him to the waiting room at your hospital's podiatry centre to see the patients with missing feet sitting there.

Is there a possibility he is eating things going to or from school or in school that he shouldnt be? Sounds harsh but most kids just dont want diabetes, they want to be like and do what there freinds do. I was diagnosed at 10yrs old and if my freinds were eating milky bars... well then, thats what I was gona do. Kids dont like being different from their freinds. My mum had to round up my mates, tell them the score an the consequenses to me. HIGHLY imbarising for me but good freinds and great parents kept me on the straight and narrow through those difficult school years. Thats my 2 cents.

Question - what insulin regime is he on?

My daughter thought I was a dreadful Mum, because unlike her friends' parents, I didn't automatically assume she would do the right thing and took precautions.
Having said that, It could just be puberty hormones. If he really doesn't eat the wrong stuff, get him to test more often and track what's happening. Do you know his best friend's parents?
It might be nice to invite best friend with Mum for tea and teach BF how important it is. By inviting Mum too, you get her on side.

I worked on a research project with children aged 7 and 8 years, no connection with diabetes, which involved parents filling in food diaries for 4 days - except when children were at school, when we researchers did it. When we met later to collect diaries, several parents expressed surprise at what we'd ticked for school dinners eg "that's not what I put in their sandwich box" - the little darlings had swapped food with friends! I'm sure secondary school children have even more scope for buying / swapping food!

As a parent who has a 14 yr old boy (not the diabetic of the family) I'd just like to say that from when he was 11 he grew about a foot taller, filled out, couldn't sleep at night or get out of bed in the morning and got a deeper voice in a very short amount of time. Boys do seem to have very sudden development and blood sugars would be very hard to control during this time. I can also say that his frontal lobe hasn't fully recovered and he can be prone to some poor choices and the odd lie.

I can't wait til he gets past this stage.

What I have described seems to be the norm for young men and I've been advised to be supportive and ride it out. It must be very hard going from good blood sugar levels to some really unpredictable ones and I wish you all the best. My 2.5 yr old (diabetic) is always changing. No sooner do I think I've succeeded that my good work goes belly up.

I've met a lot of parents that have helped their kids get insulin pumps to make secondary school a bit easier. Maybe this is worth thinking about.

Jen.

Just a thought,
Perhaps if hes going through a growth spurt ( i know my T1, 11 yr old son is) the humalog 25 is a regime that isn't working for him anymore, or perhaps it'l take a while to settle back into the routine of school, ie times of meals, injections exercise ect. Perhaps at 4.1 he felt hypo and ate extra and its bought his bs up too much along with a snack on the way home on the bus. Only asking him to be truthful will you find the answers, and it might not be all his fault. I find with the Levimir and humalog basal bolus regime worked out and given correctly its easy to see by bs results if they've sneaked any sweets and easy to rectify, its made our life a whole lot easier in giving good bs results, although its hard work along the way the results are almost perfect.
Good luck,
Suzi x