Hi not sure what to do my son is 17now and has had type 1 for many years . We have had ups and downs over the years with injection and pump . At the moment he is on injection but thinks he knows better when he's low or high but he is running high all the time . Unfortunately he is full of attitude towards his diabetes we have many arguments and it just courses upset all round . I'm at a lose as now I'm watching my son slowly kill himself but he just doesn't care
Hi
@Davidcharles Reading this makes me realise what my parents must have gone through. I was diagnosed at 11 months and like your son, began to push The Monster away, especially in my teenage years. The following starts when I was about your son's age:
I have no recollection of any hypos while I was at senior school, probably because I was poorly controlled throughout my time there. One of the doctors at Southlands Hospital, Shoreham-by-Sea, wrote to me saying:
Dear Grant,
Further to your visit to the Diabetic Clinic last week, I have noted that your blood sugar was 26mmol again, which I feel is rather high.
At the time I was affected by a teenage resentment of my condition, ignoring outside opinion, and completely lacking any awareness of the significance of any information. As I write this [in 2009] I can see all kinds of interference on the computer screen caused by retinopathy: I am unable to keep my hands steady (not because of alcohol); and I am aware that my kidneys are struggling to survive. All this was wrapped up in those few words in the above letter. Throughout my life I have been regularly reminded, either through personal contacts, diabetic journals, visits to clinics, or through books, that all diabetics run these risks and that the condition, if unmanaged, can be fatal. Why is it that teenagers happily (?) ignore these warnings? On several occasions in the last thirty years I have been contacted by doctors, asking me whether I would be prepared to talk to a sixteen year old who is ignoring advice. Of course I would. Could they get in touch with me? On each occasion, nobody has telephoned. I think at this stage in life, when hormones are unruly, faces look like Spotted **** with a hairy frame, girls (or boys) are worryingly important, sexuality is uncertain, parents are a bloody menace and so on, the last thing a person needs is an uncomfortable label. I never wanted to talk about it. I’ve more than made up for it now. I have been able to manage The Enemy far more effectively since I have been prepared to discuss it. But, even at the age of twenty this can be daunting.
Your son is going through the same process as millions have before. By the time I reached 20 I had bleeding in my eyes and my kidneys had started a slow downhill path until I had to have a kidney/pancreas transplant 6 years ago. I still have good eyesight and only wear reading glasses. Since 2013 I have not been allowed to run, hop, skip or dance because of Charcot foot, a condiotion that can result in diabetes that can cause your foot or ankle to collapse.
I was 21 when this occurred:
During one of my ophthalmologist's consultations in my second year he asked me about my life. I told him that I was living in Kensal Rise; that I cycled into King’s College in the Strand every day; that I played squash; and that I drank moderately (I’m sure he didn’t fall for this). His response was that I should stop burn-ups on the Edgeware Road, that I should avoid squash, moderate my alcohol intake, and that I should shun aerobic exercise or anything that would make me red in the face. If I did not heed his words, I would be blind by the time I reached twenty-three.
“Thank you” I said. “Do you realise that in one sentence you have ruled out
all the finer points of living?”
The reason I have included all this is so that you might feel better about your son's future even though he appears not to care. I'm sure he does, but he feels angry, yet safe to shout at his nearest and dearest. I hope he will adjust himself abruptly when it dawns on him that there is really only one path to take. Good luck