Help! My Child's Got Juvenile
Diabetes!
Hi, my name’s Jen and I'm the mother
of a diabetic child.
Just a few years ago we had the
worrying and rather scary experience of having my daughter,
Alissa, diagnosed with juvenile (or Type 1)
diabetes.
I’m proud to say that she is currently
at University and living a normal life, she even writes her
own diabetes blog at http://juvenile-diabetes.blogspot.com/
So how did we survive the trauma of
diagnosis, learning to give insulin injections and learning
all about diabetes?
Alissa was first diagnosed having been
losing weight for some time – although we barely noticed as
it was a wonderfully hot summer and we’d been enjoying time
in the sun!
She spent a couple of days in hospital
being treated and then came home. I think we were on
information overload – there’s SO much to take in that it’s
hard to know where to start.
The first time I gave Alissa her
insulin injection I made a real hash of it and she ended up
with a massive bruise – but I was keen to at least “have a
go” – rather than her take the worry of it.
Looking back on that time – we had
good support from the diabetic nurse – but there’s a few
things which I wish someone could have told me:-
Don’t feel guilty -
it’s easy to miss the signs of diabetes when you’re with
your child all day. The most important thing
is to get to grips with their treatment regime, insulin
injections and regular blood glucose testing.
Take it one day at a
time - don’t start to worry about the
future. What’s
most important is to help your child through this traumatic
time, get them settled back into school or college and try
to live as normally as possible.
Read as much information as
you can – you’ll soon know more than the average
nurse or doctor. Sign up for newsletters
and join the national support organisations. I highly recommend the
Juvenile Diabetes foundation for help and information,
especially about the latest research and developments into
the disease.
Make diet a
whole family issue - we chose to change everyone’s
diet as a family, this meant that Alissa didn’t feel singled
out as odd or different. If Alissa couldn’t eat
treacle pudding, nobody was going to! Reading cookbooks from the
library and recipes from magazines helped me to re-learn our
diet without it becoming boring or dull!
My good friend Sally always remind me
that we must be “kind to ourselves”. Learning that your child
has diabetes isn’t easy, can take time to adjust to and can
be emotionally draining.
Try not to
push yourself too hard, take each day as it comes, enjoy
your times together as a family and just keep loving your
child the same as ever!
Further Info
Alissa's blog -
check out Alissa's blog, mentioned
above.
Easy Christmas Recipes - for us the
holidays can be a tough time to find healthy food, we
share our favorite recipe ideas
Jen's blog - my blog as a mum to
Alissa, info on latest research, problems and
complications, health care and hospital
visits.
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