[Guest]

Hello
I have a 17 year old daughter who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in May of 2006 during her sports physical. It was, of course, a shock to both of us because she had not displayed any symptoms of the disease. We have gone through the diabetic education and also meet with a pediatric endocronologist and his staff every three months and keep in contact with them via fax and telephone calls trying to regulate Kaylees insulin dosage. My daughter refuses to take responsibility for her care!....She "fudges" her charts that I fax to her doctor every 12 days, doesn't test her blood often enough (maybe 3 times per day on a good day!) and "estimates" the carbs she's eaten. It's impossible to regulate her insulin because we have no idea what she's eaten and unless I go back and check her meter on a daily basis we have no idea what her sugar is. I have tried desparately to make her understand that how she cares for her diabetes now will affect her future. She knows about kidney failure, blindness, loss of limbs, etc...but I think she truly believes this won't happen to her! I have grounded her, taken away her driving, computer and phone priveleges a few times now and she's "good" for a couple days, then reverts back to her old ways. Does anyone else out there have a child who was going through the same thing? Any ideas or tips on how to get her to step up and take control of her diabetes??? I'm so sad and angry and frustrated....I don't know what else to do. Her attitude when I ask her why she isn't keeping track of her sugar, carbs etc is just a plain old "I don't know Mom" and she sports an attitude from then on. Please...if anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate hearing from you.
Thank you.
Debbie

 

[T-Dubb88]

Oh man we all hate this phase. First off trying to come out of this phase I can tell you be happy she does test 3 times a day... I have been a week without testing once (no im not proud of it but it happens), iv been threatened by doctors about the driving deal, and heard every speech you can imagine about limbs. To be honest, if she is anything like me it won't work much. I don't know how her A1C is but my ended up being 6.7, no one really knows how i pull it off because they got mad when I tell them I bolus from my guesstimation i made on food and correct for how i feel. coming from the stand point of someone trying to pull out of this stage rather then being a mother I can only say it's a hard time... and nothing can really happen till she gets the motivation to do it herself. How active is she? the could only conclude that it was (my a1c) where it was because of sports and activity. She will realize she needs to get her diabetes in order and will change... trust me. good luck and feel free to pm me if you need help!

 

[otep]

Hello
I have a 17 year old daughter who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in May of 2006 during her sports physical. It was, of course, a shock to both of us because she had not displayed any symptoms of the disease. We have gone through the diabetic education and also meet with a pediatric endocronologist and his staff every three months and keep in contact with them via fax and telephone calls trying to regulate Kaylees insulin dosage. My daughter refuses to take responsibility for her care!....She "fudges" her charts that I fax to her doctor every 12 days, doesn't test her blood often enough (maybe 3 times per day on a good day!) and "estimates" the carbs she's eaten. It's impossible to regulate her insulin because we have no idea what she's eaten and unless I go back and check her meter on a daily basis we have no idea what her sugar is. I have tried desparately to make her understand that how she cares for her diabetes now will affect her future. She knows about kidney failure, blindness, loss of limbs, etc...but I think she truly believes this won't happen to her! I have grounded her, taken away her driving, computer and phone priveleges a few times now and she's "good" for a couple days, then reverts back to her old ways. Does anyone else out there have a child who was going through the same thing? Any ideas or tips on how to get her to step up and take control of her diabetes??? I'm so sad and angry and frustrated....I don't know what else to do. Her attitude when I ask her why she isn't keeping track of her sugar, carbs etc is just a plain old "I don't know Mom" and she sports an attitude from then on. Please...if anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate hearing from you.
Thank you.
Debbie

That's a hard case. Anyway, she is young and unfortunately finding out that she is diabetic isn't easy, more so if her lifestyle is about to be changed. it's like a free bird suddenly caged. Maybe you want to approach this differently. If you become too stiff or strict she might rebel or become more stubborn. Bring her to a diabetic educator - but gradually insert your visits until she gets used to the schedule and not see it as a "hassle" in her day to day activities. Just a suggestion though.

 

[Guest]

I am so sorry to hear you are going thru' this with your daughter. First of all I belong to many Diabetic websites. I think we need all the information we can get ahold of. I am a mentor on 'Diabetes Daily' website. There are alot of parents there with children who have T1. They even have a teen section. Maybe she or you could check that out. She is at a rough age right now....And the NEW thing going around is these teens are purposly NOT taking their insulin to lose weight.That can be fatal...Please check out that site and get some further opinions...I am glad to hear she has a good Endo. That is KEY.
STRIKER

 

[javis]

I´m always listening here and there that young people are always the most problematic ones in taking care of themselves and following all aspects of the diabetes therapy. I hope you could make her understand that is so important now to make things right thinking in her future.

Cheers,

JAvier

 

[aoifewozere]

I went through a similar phaze, I was diagnosed aged 2 so my parents looked after me untill I was about 11 or 12 I was ok untill about 14 when I just didnt want to know about it anymore, I stopped looking after myself completly and drove my poor parents to distraction, they were constantly chasing me, trying to get me to look after myself but the more they chased the more I rebelled, it was only when I left home for college that I started to realise that I felt terrible all the time and it was my own doing and that I was the only person who could change that. It sounds to me that your daughter is having trouble accepting the fact that she does have diabetes and unfortunatly the more you chase her the furher she will run, I found that when I had no one chasing me anymore I realised that I was the one in charge, however this definatly wasnt an overnight transformation, it took almost 3 years for me to fully come to terms with it and get myself back on track, I know that sounds like a long time, but itsa a life long illness so its important to take that time to deal with the issues involved with it on your own terms. I know it must be really hard as a parent to watch your child play roulet with her health but the best thing you can do for her is be ther to offer her your support not enforce it. Try and not bring up diabetes directly too much, I found that everyone used to ask me how my diabetes was instead of How I was and it made me feel like a walking illness, try and let your daughter bring it up in conversation herself.
Teenagers tend to think they know it all, so telling here how she should do things will not help, instead ask here how she thinks she should deal with issues ie. if she says she is feeling low. dont tell here to eat something or offer to get her something, ask her what shes thinks she should do, it will encourage her to start thinking about it and learn to deal with it herself.
the best advice I can give based on my personal experienc is to let her learn by her own mistakes, if she is constantly making herself feel ill, she is not goin to enjoy it and have to start lookin after herself sooner or later, but that will only happen if you stand back and let her experience it for herself. trust me once you learn what its like to feel bad and how easy it is to make yourself feel good again, she will never go back.
Hope this helps!

 

[Suga Lips]

That was awesome! Thanks for sharing, my daughter is 11 and were goingg through this now.

Suga Lips