still in denial

elainechi

Well-Known Member
Messages
249
my 12 yr old daughter was diagnosed sept 10. it wasn.t good from the start, getting the diagnosis from being someone eles insulin to promises of counselling for her and me and now my daughter refuses to g as it has been so long promised. tonight she tells me she doesn.t belief she is diabetic. refuses to test before she eats snacks which is constantly and ends with high sugars. her hba1c has always been approx 11% except the time when she was purposefully overdoses on insulin. she complains i always nag her. yes i may. why can.t she take her insulin without being reminded. back to clinic next month yuk always feel like an incompetent mum. sorry im ranting but both my daughter and i have been in tears today. i don.t want her going blind being an amputee or dying from renal failure.re any ideas or hope x
 

wsmum

Well-Known Member
Messages
86
Hello, mum to a 14 year-old T1 here. I saw your post on the other thread, and wondered if you can make the pump the focus for your duaghter? She says she wants one, but the consultant says her levels are not good enough ... maybe that will be the carrot? I wonder if the consultant can be persuaded to give a realistic goal for her to aim at. If she gets her Hba1c down to say 8 would they give her the green light? I really feel for you. 12 is a tricky age too, young to hand over the reins but they crave independence. Can you sit down when she's not feeling stressed and agree between you how to balance this? Eg you trust her to do her own medication but she promises to let you see her meter every x days, or download the data or whatever. She promises to ask you for help when she's unsure about dosing, if her numbers are unexpected etc. My son doesn't like me 'interfering' (personally I see it as caring :roll: ) but backing off does seem to work in our case. But I do download his meter data every week and we do talk about what it shows. I suppose it depends on how badly she wants a pump if this is going to work.
 

elainechi

Well-Known Member
Messages
249
i think jane would like a pump and the dr told her if she tests at least 4 times a day she would consider a pump. we even have had an appt with the rep and using the accu expert meter to get her carb counting and puting in her health and exercise. well done as she does this 5 times a day on her own .snacks however she won.t count as so many. this was the reason to go on the pump. apparently they are worried that without levemir her bloods may tip her to ketoacidosis. but i will try to back off nagging and see. jane doesnt see a problem of bs in 20s although does get headaches from them . thanks for your reply x
 

wsmum

Well-Known Member
Messages
86
Shame the dr didn't give a number target in a way, as testing 4 times is only useful if she then does something in response to get her sugars down. Another thing that might help is getting her to talk to another person with T1? In the early days my nephew dug out a friend of his, just started university and managing well. We met him for a meal and he did all his carb counting/injecting at the table, really helping my son to feel OK about it. Also said if he's above 8 he's not happy and I think that message was good coming from another (cool) person other than me. I would love teenagers to be given a diabetes mentor to help them through their decisions - someone responsible of course 8)
 

imalittlefishy

Well-Known Member
Messages
108
Elainechi, if Jane would like to talk to someone a bit older who's had type 1 for several years and knows the ups and downs, like wsmum suggests, she's welcome to talk to me, I'm 20 and have been diabetic since the age of 11. Feel free for you/her to PM me if you think it might help :)
Maggie
xx
 

elainechi

Well-Known Member
Messages
249
Hi, it's Jane. I'm sat here, literally in tears. I din't believe that anything will happen in my case. I've been told all sorts of rubbish about what will happen to me and now I just don't believe anything anyone tells me. If someone tells me that if my blood sugars are over 20 for a week then I'll go into a diabetic coma and I believed that so I tried to keep them down as much as I could. However, now I'm being told different. That my leavermere is the thing that is keeping me from going into a coma. So now I feel that if my blood sugars are high then I don't have much to worry about, and it makes me think that I didn't have to worry so much about it. I've been told that I could get a pump and other things however I did not get them... So I don't believe anything my diatitions say. I did my very best and then they just took that away in one blink. So now I don't try as much as I could because I just don't feel the need since they're telling me all sorts of rubbish. The only reason I want a pump is to get my blood sugars down and they're telling me that I can only have one if I get my blood sugars down. If I could do that then I wouldn't be asking for a pump. However, they really don't get that so I just don't bother with it. I normally always feel under preasure because people always want me to have my bloods this low or this amount. I just feel as if someone's always wanting me to impress them or something. I just want to have a day off!!! With no one asking anything of me!!!!!!!! :(
 

Jolo

Well-Known Member
Messages
70
Hi Jane,
I've struggled with being bothered to do anything about my diabetes since i was 9 (i'm 22 now) until just these past few weeks i've finally decided i've got to do something about as i want to become pregnant but i'm not allowed unless my average suger is on 5!! (Likely!?). My last Hba1c was 10% so i've got a lot of work to do. What's really helped me is i've got a goal and a reason behind it now. What i do is i have an excel spreadsheet on my computer that i've made and i enter the time of day, what my sugar is, how much insulin i've just done and what i eat all onto it and anything else that happens. sounds boring :yawn: but it is actually helping. The first time i took a print out of it to my nurse i was so dissappointed because she said it's no use because i was constantly eating snacks at any time of day. she gave me this advise:
1. Only give short acting insulin when eating carbs, but ALWAYS remember to give it(i always forgot or couldnt be bothered before i started writing it down)
2. allow 3 hours between each meal.
3.if you want any snacks in between meals, these have to be no carb, or less than 10g per carb. such snacks could be an apple, or 1 finger of kit kat,etc (have you done carb counting, it really helps?)
4. Each 10g of carbs, give 1unit of short acting insulin - this could be different for you tho, i dont know what your ratios are?
5. Give insulin 10 mins BEFORE you start eating your meal - this allows it to start working, so you dont go high before you even start.

sounds boring, but since i've started it (About a month ago) My sugars have been loads better! And i am too wanting a pump. i am sure that if we show them how hard we're working at it and prove it by showing them all our recordings, then they cant refuse a pump, hey? :D I wish someone had given me that advise earlier.. but then i probably wouldnt have listened, coz i dont reckon you listen til you actually WANT to do something about it :crazy:

Keep at it, and soon you wont feel so :sick: all the time!

xx
 

elainechi

Well-Known Member
Messages
249
Thnx. It's Jane again. I think that's a very good idea. I think I could try do that however, I don't think that it would last very long with me. I would forget about it like my insulin sometimes. I don't want to work very hard for a pump or to just keep my sugars down, it would just make me feel as if I was always working and trying to impress someone. I'm usually terrified to tell my mum my blood sugars if they're high, I don't want to disserpoint her. BUt, I'm even more scared to go to the diabetic centre and see what my Hb1c is. They always tell me that it's so easy once you get your mind to it and then it will all be alot easier. However, I don't have my mind to it but I want to l, and stop being told rubbish so that I can understand it, and when they say to me it'll all be okay somehow I just think " Well not much point really, being told nonsence from people eho I know aren't diabetic and don't know how it feels but only know by other people's lives. But thats not me, I'm not the same. I don't think and feel exactly how they feel. So they can't tell me it's going to be ok when they don't even know half of the pain I go through everyday. They just see me once every 3 months and to be honest, they just think of me as the girl with the high blood sugars that doesn't care." Sorry, been rambling on. But thats just hiw I feel about this... Stuff.... ;) x x x
 

s230787

Well-Known Member
Messages
88
Hi Jane

its not easy to manage it at all. I got diabetes at 18, I was gutted. I had just started uni and all i wanted to do was go out and enjoy life like my friends did. i was pretty bad, ate what i wanted and drank what i wanted didnt test and i'll admit i skipped insulin. I've been admitted to hospital over high sugar, felt terrible, dry mouth, weeing, dizzy, sick and its awful so recently i've realised it will catch up with me if i dont get organised and i am the most unorganised person ever :D

I recently got married (sound like an old woman to you now i bet! :) ) and know that i need to keep at it, i want to spend every second that i can with my husband and family. so my diabetes shake up began.

I started as Jolo said writing everything down in a notebook (its very battered and dog earred now, but it is a lifesaver!!) i write down in order my blood sugars, the units taken and what I have eaten. I check what agrees with me and what doesn't. I follow a low carb diet, yet still have indian takeaways, 85% choc and cakes made with low carb alternatives. it is hard to remember to write it all down, but for some weird reason i actually enjoy it now, and show it off when ive had a good day, if ive had a bad day i let my husband have a look and we try work out where i've gone wrong! and if i have, oh well we start again tomorrow! (we can't change the past, but we can alter the future!) Jane you have no one to impress, its not a competition, we just ned to keep ourselves well and healthy don't we?

I completely understand where you are coming from with the mixed mesages from dieticians and nurses and doctors, it happened to me....confused.com but in reality you know what you need to do. this forum will help you so much Jane, from other diabetics who feel just as stressed as you about the condition... have a rant, we are all here to listen and help!

If you want to do something about it, I am here for you as I am sure others are too! People may seem to go on at you but you wil realise they are only worried about you, it can get annoying though i know, my mum sometimes worries too much and I am nearly 25! :lol:

If you want to chat you can pm me, or reply here. we can even chat on the phone if you want and i can explain some stuff to you that might help make things easier for you!

Stacey
 

Jolo

Well-Known Member
Messages
70
It's so weird when you start writing on these forums and you find out that you're not the only one who's been through all this! I always thought i was the only diabetic who had to bother to right everything down to get anywhere!
Yep, we're here to help, Jane, so feel free to PM me anytime... this forums great for letting off steam and for asking for help and support :D
Take Care,
J xx
p.s. why dont u think of just one thing that you are prepared to change - however small it is? and you dont even need to tell anyone ? the best change i ever made was changing over to low carb - you dont need half the amount of insulin! and you can eat fatty stuff if it's not got carbs in, and if you're low carbing, and putting a bit more cheese n stuff in your diet, you dont put on weight anyway - how cool is that :D
 

krisjwoody

Member
Messages
11
imalittlefishy said:
Elainechi, if Jane would like to talk to someone a bit older who's had type 1 for several years and knows the ups and downs, like wsmum suggests, she's welcome to talk to me, I'm 20 and have been diabetic since the age of 11. Feel free for you/her to PM me if you think it might help :)
Maggie
xx

hey Maggie, tried PM but couldn't find the link. Im 25 and was diagnosed 4 days ago with T1. Dealing with it OK and managing my levels pretty well. Do you have any tips or advise? I know you have had it for a while and its probably 2nd nature to you but is there anything that it really affects in your day to day?...especially being a student?
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
Hi kris :)
You can use PM when you have posted 5 times.
 

elainechi

Well-Known Member
Messages
249
thank you for all your support. jane is back to 2 injections of novomix30 a day and concentrating on low carbing. chips rice and pasta no more . her bs are much better and she seems happier.....now i have a cheese addict!!!!!!. something has clicked. hope it continues x
 

LoisCoxx

Active Member
Messages
31
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi Jane,
I'm a 16 year old type one who was diagnosed at 12, i'm glad to hear that things are better for you at the moment. but if you ever need someone to talk to about diabetes, injections, blood sugars or life in general you can pm me or anything any time. from a teen perspective i know exactly how you feel and i'd love to be able to help you! we all have those times when actually we don't want to care anymore, and things can seem rubbish, but it will ALWAYS get better (which it seems to with you) i hope you're well and easter doesn't spring up too many troubles!!
get back to me if you need anything :)
Lois xxxx
 

jackgard

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
Insulin
I am mum to 16 year old daughter with type 1, diagnosed 2 years ago. Things went well for first couple of months, she was testing 4 times a day and taking insulin twice a day. Now she refuses to test blood sugars, will not go to clinic appointments and will not speak to nurse or doctor. She does still take insulin but we have no idea what blood sugars are. If I try to speak to her about it I am "hassling" her. Try to say its because I care but she is having none of it. Any advice gratefully received :(
 

kndge9584

Newbie
Messages
4
my 12 yr old daughter was diagnosed sept 10. it wasn.t good from the start, getting the diagnosis from being someone eles insulin to promises of counselling for her and me and now my daughter refuses to g as it has been so long promised. tonight she tells me she doesn.t belief she is diabetic. refuses to test before she eats snacks which is constantly and ends with high sugars

[signature removed]