Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to rant about how much I hate diabetes

135 replies

Edenviolet · 14/07/2014 00:26

So sick of it. Having to wake dd2 and feed her a biscuit as blood sugar was dropping then ten mins later it was too low so had to try and wake her again to feed her glucose tablets.

Its one of those nights where I just know that her cgm alarm will keep going off and its horrible having to try and get glucose into her when she's half asleep. Every time she plays in the garden on a warm day we have nights like this. Thought we had been clever and gave an extra snack before bed but she has dropped anyway.
Just wanted to rant because I really really REALLY hate diabetes

OP posts:
lougle · 14/07/2014 00:38

Can you get a tube of glucose gel? That can be rubbed on her gums.

YANBU.

febreezed · 14/07/2014 00:38

Totally understand how you feel. Just set my alarm for a couple of hours time to check dd's bloods again as they are so very unpredictable, particularly when asleep as no hypo awareness....it is exhausting at times and never ending. I would love her to have cgms but our consultant is not at all forward thinking enough.
Hope things settle down tonight for you.

febreezed · 14/07/2014 00:39

Oh and YADNBU!

whois · 14/07/2014 00:40

Oh hedgehog I really feel for you and DD. Things never se to get any easier for any of your family.

Can't imagine how horrible it is to be on such alert over DD all the time. Any progress on the doctors getting her onto an insulin pump?

Hope you get through the night ok.

Original poster
Edenviolet · 14/07/2014 00:45

She is on the pump now, got it two weeks ago, it is great but think the basal rates from 5 need adjusting to avoid all these night hypos. Warm weather seems to be the main cause though.

I know I won't sleep tonight, she went down to 2.6 so keeping a close eye on her

OP posts:
gobbynorthernbird · 14/07/2014 01:05

How horrid for you all. Hope you see some improvement from the pump soon.

Original poster
Edenviolet · 14/07/2014 01:14

Will be adjusting insulin doses again tomorrow so that may help, i know things could be worse but I just find it so hard on nights like this Sad
Even silly things like worrying about her teeth as well as the hypos obviously but I'm tired and its all swirling round my mind.
Dh is sleeping on the floor next to dds bed tonight as he said he's too worried about her and doesn't want to risk not hearing her alarm. I should be able to get to sleep but can't.

OP posts:
Latara · 14/07/2014 01:18

As a nurse I hate diabetes, I see it cause so many problems for patients and for friends' parents - both type 1 and type 2 are bad.

Sorry to hear your family are going through this. One of my friends at work has a daughter with diabetes type 1 and it's been really hard for them.

whois · 14/07/2014 08:28

Hope you're all ok this morning...?

Original poster
Edenviolet · 14/07/2014 12:35

Dd2 is fine, we are knackered! Barely slept as she was low/verging on too low all night.
I don't think dd even remembers, she woke up happy, went to preschool for 1.5 hrs and seems fine. I brushed her teeth extra well though after all the juice and glucotabs during the night.

OP posts:
effinandjeffin · 14/07/2014 13:16

YANBU

When my daughter was put on the pump, I found giving her lucozade worked better than anything else to raise her bs. Unfortunately, nothing to do with diabetes is 'a one size fits all' solution despite what your diabetes team might tell you.

But you are not alone. I hate this disease and what it's done to our lives. Unless you have first hand experience of it, you can't understand what a horrible condition it is.

MrsSpencerReid · 14/07/2014 13:21

Yanbu, I hate it too, glad you've got pump and CGM, once you've got it set right hopefully you won't have to feed her through the night, took me a while to sort mine but think I've got it now!! Fingers crossed Smile

paddyclampo · 14/07/2014 13:22

YADNBU

I've had type 1 since I was 8 and it really gets me down at times. Nobody understands how difficult and unpredictable it all is. When my levels go wrong I hate it when people ask what I did wrong, as if it were so simple!

maggiethemagpie · 14/07/2014 13:25

I've had this. I went hypo when visiting a friend, told her I'd had too much insulin for my carbs and she said 'that was really stupid.'

I had to send her an email giving her a ticking off for that one.

People just don't get it!

Nancery · 14/07/2014 13:32

Hi OP, I am a type 1 diabetic too and get pissed off with it, more so since DS. I am pretty well controlled and haven't ever had any major issues or problems but it still doesn't mean it's a breeze. When I feel frustrated wi. Ito try and remind myself of when I was first diagnosed; the lady next door to my grandma had a daughter who was dying of leukaemia. She said to my mum that she wished her daughter had T1D instead. It puts things into perspective!

Nancery · 14/07/2014 13:34

.maggie my DAD had said similar! Arse! I've also bee frequently told I 'I don't look diabetic' (ie fat.)

paddyclampo · 14/07/2014 13:36

People were a lot more sympathetic and understanding when I was a kid, but it all but disappears when you reach adulthood.

Can you tell i'm having a bad day?!

nannynoss · 14/07/2014 13:46

My dad is T1D and once my parents had separated, the responsibility fell on me to keep him in check. It was really hard work as a child/young teen, and he is a grown man! It must be so hard with a little one.

I remember going camping with dad and waking up to him juddering going low in his sleep. He'd run out of energy drinks so I ran to the on-site ice cream van and stood in the queue of people buying breakfast. I was 9 and very small for my age, so an adult must not have seen me and pushed in. I said (probably quite abruptly in panic) 'you've just pushed in!' And the lady laughed with her friends but let me go in front. When I asked for a Mars bar, they all chuckled to themselves that I was making such a fuss over a bar of chocolate. I remember shouting 'my dad is diabetic! It isn't for me!' And them saying 'oh I'm sure he could wait 5 more minutes dear'. I was a very angry 9 year old at that point ;)

Nancery · 14/07/2014 14:05

I find that nowadays people often don't understand there is a big difference between type one and type two. Type II don't have hypos, generally, and insulin is an absolute last resort. Plus, it is often associated with lifestyle and is generally viewed as self-inflicted and can often be used to illustrate how poor lifestyle choices are becoming a serious drain on the health service. (I've read similar views on MN.) I really hate this, because the type I have has got nothing to do with any of these things it's basically bad luck. With a touch of genetics!
And it's horrible to have a condition that is associated with all these awful negative things that people think it's largely my own fault, especially as I'm "on insulin." I've even had GPs and midwives mixing the two up, one obstetrician told me that it would be a real shame if my child also ended up in the same boat as me health wise, meaning Type 2! Needless to say, I quickly pointed out that I was a Type 1!

maggiethemagpie · 14/07/2014 14:09

nannynos what the heck was your dad doing going camping without adequate supplies of sugar? And this was your responsibility as a nine year old to sort him out? I would never put that burden on my children, I would also never go away anywhere without sweets and more backup sweets for hypos.

paddyclampo · 14/07/2014 14:13

Nancery I wish they'd give they'd give the two conditions different names, rather than just Type 1 or Type 2! It winds me up too.

Maggie I was thinking the same thing, although maybe if he'd had a particularly bad night he'd run out!

maggiethemagpie · 14/07/2014 14:13

Nancery I get frustrated with this too, I don't even have type 1 or type 2 I have MODY which is not very well understood, and quite rare. But everyone insists it has to be either t1 or t2. I do feel the disease is getting stigmatised now, even some t1s (not you I'm sure) end up being very scornful of t2s as I think they don't want to be associated with the stigma. t2 may be linked with obesity but there are a whole load of other factors, probably genetic, going on, which play a bigger role.

nannynoss · 14/07/2014 14:13

Yes Nancery I agree, because Type 2 is so common, people don't seem to register there is a Type 1, unless they know someone with it. When Dad has been hospitalised in the past, people haven't taken it seriously until I've explained to them that there is another Type other than Type 2, and how serious/difficult it is.
I think because Type 2 is almost preventable, there is more teaching and awareness on it so people don't get it. But because you can't avoid getting Type 1, it's almost like Embarrassing Bodies and similar media don't bother to explain about it!

nannynoss · 14/07/2014 14:18

Maggie, as an adult I ask myself this all the time. On that camping trip, he had had a lot more hypos than expected so we had run out of supplies. But he should have thought that was a possibility and packed extra. It was not long after Mum had left so looking back, I've put it down to him being shaken up about that and not thinking straight.
I agree with you though, I would never put a child through it. It was terrifying and I dreaded staying with him sometimes because I hated how he was when he was low. Horrible of me to say, I know. But it was scary!

FarmerNell · 14/07/2014 14:19

If she's going low because of the heat/extra running around outside, you could set her a temporary basal rate on the pump for those nights.

On mine you can do it by percentages, so for example if she would usually have 1 unit an hour basal, you could set it for 50% for a few hours, so she would only get 1/2 unit an hour for those hours, then it goes back to it's normal basal rate.

Swipe left for the next trending thread