My daughters just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, diet advice and support g!
Question: She is 3 yrs old, been diagnosed a week, all the info in leaflets and on the web is about hypo's, but her probs at the minute are high BS not low.
Any help or advice? Also anyone know of any good support networks out there, that you don't have to pay for?!
Answers: She is 3 yrs old, been diagnosed a week, all the info in leaflets and on the web is about hypo's, but her probs at the minute are high BS not low.
Any help or advice? Also anyone know of any good support networks out there, that you don't have to pay for?!
We all over-react, so don't worry about that. You have enough to worry about. My son was diagnosed at 2 and it was very hard to keep him in his goal range, as we weren't comfortable with the carb counting, exercise, and making any changes ourselves (which we are now, though we still end to be cautious and it has been 3 years).
Give yourself a break first. After you have done that, contact the JDRF (www.jdrf.org) who are awesome, have support meetings which are really helpful, especially in the beginning, can put you in touch with someone who has been through it with their child, and let you know you aren't alone. Plus everything there is free.
Then, we all worry more about the lows because they hold a more immediate danger. They can happen fast, and with a very young child are unpredictable. But the highs are scary when they aren't controlled too. For the first few weeks (or months) don't hesitate to call her endocrinologist for help and guidance. That is what they are there for, and they want your child (and her family) to be as healthy as possible. We faxed in a list of BG, insulin amounts given and what he ate and what exercise he did everyday for the first couple of weeks.
In the beginning, even the doctors are trying to figure out what works for the child, and the more info they have, the better assessment they can give. So make sure you are keeping track of everything. You will begin to see patterns and that will help you figure out when things need to change. And they will change. My son's doc said that glucose control is an art, not a science because a child's insulin requirements change all the time.
Did they explain the 'honeymoon period' to you? If not, ask them. It is the time (from 3 months to a year) where the body is still producing some insulin, but not enough and not predictably. That is why initially we are all worried about lows.
In your situation, I would suggest to take her blood sugar a lot, before meals, before snacks, before bed, even during the night. I am not a doc, and therefore can't give you recommendations for insulin doses (for meals or for the sliding scale for highs). So you need to talk to the doc about her highs. Also, they should have given you a ketone tester (either blood test or urine test). For little ones, I much prefer the blood type. You should be testing her for ketones, because if she does have ketones, she will need more insulin than usual. The ketones basically 'eat up' the insulin that is there, leaving none for the carbs she eats with meals. So it becomes very difficult to get them back down to a healthy level, which then produces more ketones.
I wish you luck and hope you know that it does take time to understand it all, but you are doing well to reach out for help. The diabetes community is pretty tight and we are all trying to figure out how to keep our kids healthy and ourselves sane.
Email me if I can help with anything else, it was a lot to write and I might not have explained it all that well.
Take care
Get a nutritionist or dietitian. Go get education on it. A nutritionist is as good as gold.
The reason everyone is giving out leaflets on hypos is because they are the most serious short-term complication. If her blood sugar drops below 4ish then you need to treat it with carbs and sugar. However, if you have lots of leaflets i dont really need to explain this any further.
Running bloodsugars high- especailly in the 30 range or off the meter can be prety dangerous as well. Your daughter could get ketones- which are not pretty and can result in comas! Its really not pretty. Basically, if her blood sugars are too high- she will probabaly need more insulin. I would seek help from your doctor for this. This is beacuse she will prolly have to do 4+ blood tests a day and inject accordingly. Untill you work out exactly what she needs insulin and food wise it will be hard to get the bloodsugars totally under control. Running them higher at the beginning is ok for a week or so untill you get used to everything. Its definatly not easy but its manageable! Try also to limit her sugar intake- insure all juices are switched to the sugar free version and dont give too many sweets. Although diabetics ccan eat what they want its just a matter for doing everything in proportion- its pretty much just a case of following a healthy diet. If your wee girl likes sweets there are sugar free versions availble.
I was diagnosed when i was 12 and im now 19...its wasnt easy- and it must be even more difficult with a child so young- but if u need ay further assistance dont hesitate to contact me. Goodluck :-)
i'm sorry to hear that your little girl was diagnosed with diabetes. at her age it is very difficult to control blood sugars. test her blood sugar as often as you can, which means between 4 and 6 times a day, more if you have to. since this is a recent diagnosis, you can test up to 8 times a day to get a good idea of where her blood sugars are at throughout the day and how certain foods affect her sugars. (that's what i was told when i was first diagnosed) get your daughter to a good pediatric endocrinologist. once you do that talk to them about the pump. it is a life saver for children that age. i used to know a family who had a 3 year old diabetic and it was so hard for them to control her BS, but once on the pump her numbers we're much more normal. the reason the pump makes giving insulin so much easier is because you know she is getting the exact amount that you want her to have. sometimes when giving shots, you can be off by just the slightest amount and it will make a huge difference. good luck with everything.
http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/supp...
http://www.cdfnb.org/support/suprtgrp.ht...
http://www.diabetesamerica.com/?247SEM
Talk to the dietician and doctor often. Online there are many support groups, and even writing here can make you feel better, and people often email each other about it, at least I have received a few emails. D-life is a great place to go, I am not sure of the exact site name but if you google it you will find it.
Just continue to go to her diabetes nurse. It might take another week or 2 to get the insulin doses just right.
I'm type one diabetic, as far as a diet - for a child? well it shouldnt change to much. The doctors should be doing the changing her meds around her food. If they change the food then your daughter's body may not respond well because of the change. You can try this website. www.jdrf.com and see if that helps you any.
It will take a while for your daughers body to completely adjust to the meds, at least 2 weeks before the dramatic changes are going to happen.