To have rushed to the school or am I a neurotic parent??

[WanderingAroundandAround]

DS is 13 and was diagnosed with Type I diabetes 18 months ago. He manages it well in general but regularly ignores low blood sugars until he’s in a hypo. He has a blood sugar monitor and we try to drill into him to treat (with glucose) if he’s going towards a low rather than wait until he’s in one as obviously he feels like crap and it can cause long term effects if he regularly hypos.

Today I got a notification from his monitor that he was in a low and going further down, he also still had a couple of units of insulin onboard. I normally keep checking to make sure he’s treated it and is starting to go up again but he continued going down to 2.7 which is dangerously low. Lowest should be 4. I called the school to ask them to check he’s treated it and make sure he eats a decent amount to counteract the insulin he still had inside him.

They said they’d get him. He continued going down to 2.2 15 minutes later (lowest he’s ever been) at which point I panicked, jumped into car and drive to school with his glycogen injection (school have one but have had it since diagnosis and didn’t know if it was mislaid or whatever), ready to inject as expecting to have to call 999 and DS unconscious!

Got to Reception and said why I was there. The monitor was registering DS as off the scale low at that point. DH had called in as well from work as we were both panicking! Receptionist clearly raised her eyebrows as if to say that I was overreacting. I said she didn’t need to raise her eyebrows as it was a life threatening emergency. She denied doing it and said she was sorry if I thought she had. Kind of thinking now was I was rude but I was very stressed and know how serious it is, a lot of people don’t.

DS then came out with medical lady, who was a bit WTF, and he was laughing and saying I’m fine and very embarrassed saying why did you come to school! Looks like his monitor was wrong which is rare. Medical lady said it was natural that I was a bit anxious as still getting to grips with diagnosis. We have got to grips with it but he was in a life threatening hypo according to his monitor! I think I was right to be extremely worried.

Left feeling rather embarrassed and like I will judged as a neurotic mother and as if I caused a bit of an unnecessary kerfuffle with the receptionist.

I have never gone into school before because DS has gone into a low. Only called once before as he was very high for a long period.

Was I being neurotic? WWYD in that situation.

My DS has T1 (although is only 5) and was recently diagnosed.
I know that panicky sick feeling well when you get the phone alert, and there are still double arrows down! I tend to call them first if I'm concerned but I'd have no problem rushing in. T1 is a serious condition and soooo many people don't realise that or have any idea what to do.

You did nothing wrong. You're not neurotic, you're looking after and advocating for your child. And yes the monitors are wrong (regularly!) Which only adds to the anxiety I find....! The receptionist was out of order.

I hope your son wasn't too embarrassed, and I hope he gets the support he needs at school.

Sending solidarity....it's rubbish and a constant worry when your child has T1.

Student welfare assistant here.

It’s completely understandable that you reacted the way you did.

Does your DS have an individual health care plan in place with the school? If not, he should do.

He should also have a medical pass/exemption allowing him access to his phone and the medical room in relation to his condition at all times.

@Ace56 makes a good point about the fact that the school should be on the ball and able to deal with any situation that arises, but based on your second post I’d be inclined to give the medical team a call or ask for a meeting to ensure that everything he needs is in place and communicated to all relevant staff.

He really needs to have his alarm on and not worry about using his phone. My dgs was diagnosed when he was 5 so he is probably more used to it than your ds. But he needs to accept his diagnosis and act accordingly.
It’s really tough for them but it’s the only way.

Good luck.

And to add OP....I'm a pretty low key "relaxed" parent. But not with T1. It's your child's health, it involves relentless monitoring and care and worry, and you're being a good mum ❤️

YANBU at all. Very different but I have a DC with epipens for a moderate food allergy and if I thought there was the slightest chance she was in anaphylaxis wild horses wouldn't keep me away.

As others have said, it sounds like the staff at the school didn't understand the severity. And as others have said, this won't be the last time that happens, so you're going to have to grow a thick skin and occasionally be That Parent.

You did the exact right thing.

You did the right thing. Hopefully it might also prompt him to react more quickly to the alerts if he knows his mum will show up in the classroom if he ignored them….

You did the right thing. I probably would have already called the ambulance at those numbers. I also would be complaining about the school staff and their lack of concern over a life threatening situation.

Totally understandable, I would have done the same.

Do your paediatric diabetes team liaise with the school? I would be telling them about this so they can reiterate his care plan to the school and suggest that they do some more awareness training for staff (i.e. the reception lady).

We’ve had similar low readings from my daughter’s Libre 3 - very scary until we worked out that it was coming loose and needed changing.

Neurotic? No. Rude? Yes.
This situation was caused by your son ignoring his alarms. You need to work on that with him rather than blaming the school.

Thanks for making me feel better. You know that feeling when you think you gone a bit OTT and start judging yourself!

Still a bit shaky with adrenaline myself. It’s bloody hard always being alert like this and having the incessant worry.

Aren't you a peach?

I'm a nurse and quite relaxed about medical situations but I'd of been rushing to school as well. Especially if I felt like on the initial phone call, they weren't taking me seriously. I'd of probably been ruder to the non medically trained receptionist raising her eyebrows too. Hypos are no joke and although easily treatable, they need to be treated quickly. Sorry you had a fright, I'm glad it was just a malfunction and your DS is ok.

I would have rushed to school for much less than that.

If you are concerned about your child for any reason, for peace of mind, check on them. Who cares what some random person thinks.

You did the right thing. What a horrible experience.

To all the posters blaming her son, teen boys are well known for not managing their T1 well. They really struggle with accepting it. Can you blame them? They can't just be like all their mates and have to constantly monitor themselves and watch what they eat. Worrying about not being able to eat the pizza their friends are having without counting carbs etc. Then as they get older, all their friends at the pub drinking beer. The amount of 18 year old lads I had come in with DKA due to trying to keep up with their mates on the beer. A bit of sympathy wouldn't go a miss.

He has a monitor that is linked to his phone. Yes he may have an exemption which allows him to look at his phone, but I imagine he gets tired of explaining the situation and looking "different", poor kid. Plus, if he was feeling ok he wouldn't particularly feel the need to be checking what was going on.
So many people here who clearly fail to appreciate just how serious T1 diabetes can be (including it would seem the school receptionist). I'd have done just the same as you OP, and I'm not a panicky parent either.

I would do the same and would do the same each and every time. I do t care what school staff think of me, my children are my priority and I will never take risks with their life

You did the right thing and ignore the receptionist. I doubt she knows much about Type 1 Diabetes.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call for your son though and he starts monitoring his levels and not ignore the phone when it is vibrating in his bag.

Been there, done that.

Ds2 had an Apple Watch (oldest cheapest refurbished one we could find!) so he could send texts from that and leave his phone in his bag. He pre-programmed it with quick messages like "not hypo" and "had sugar". A text in time keeps the parents away ... He could also get his blood sugar numbers on the watch, and have the alarms buzz on his wrist.

He is a bit older now and more confident about pulling his phone out and saying why. At one point I had a phone case printed for him with "Medical Device" and "Type 1 diabetes" and that medical symbol with the snakes. That helped a bit.

His Dexcom sensor does give false low readings but he has good hypo awareness so he tends to know when it's wrong. If it's showing high he fingerpricks to check as it tends to overstate a bit (says 18 when it should be 14).

You did absolutely the right thing. You couldn't know monitor was broken. Much better to be safe than sorry here. Good it was under control but better to check in case it wasn't.

You did the right thing.
Can you gently suggest that they have some general CPD type training on Diabetes? When I worked in a school we all had one on Epipens - and I decided I didn't want to do it, but was relieved to have had the training.
I would also suggest some kind of fitness tracker watch to alert him to alerts from his phone. Glancing at his wrist isn't as obvious as getting a phone out, and a wrist vibration is less obvious to others too.

You did the right thing. But you really need to develop a thicker skin. This won't be the last time that someone thinks you are overreacting, when you know you aren't.

This.

We've had it with asthma - it's infuriating again explaining that actually it's life threatening and if he's asking for his inhaler give it to him it's why it's in school ffs and if you again manage to go on a school trip without his inhaler and he has an attack - you will be calling 999.

It does eventually tend to sink in - so keep at it and again go though the school the expected procedures with him and school and check they know were his medicine actually is. (By secondary we ignored process and DS just kept an inhaler on him at all times as safer.)

Don’t worry about it, I think most of us would have been the same. It must be horrible seeing the stats but not being with ds! I’d be rushing to school too. I’m sure the receptionist has realized now that you were worried and had reason to be.

Yes that’s it. He says teachers stop and everybody turns to look at him when his monitor goes off. Obviously for an awkward teen that’s pretty traumatic! Then he gets the inevitable - did you eat too much sugar 😣