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.

You absolutely did the right thing. Having been a first aider to teens with Type 1, sometimes they can be a bit blasé with their readings whilst at school; they think they feel fine, and don’t want to be marked out as different.

CGMs can have a lag or record incorrect levels, but if you get a note it’s low, better to act & have it be a false alarm than be in an emergency situation that can escalate fast.

I’m diabetic too, and having seen some wild CGM readings reported I’m happy with the old fashioned blood prick test! I’m old skool 😂!

The receptionist could do with a bit of a refresh of her diabetes/chronic illness training!

You did the right thing and your ds needs to know that if he can’t get over the very minor embarrassment of dealing with his monitor himself then you will come in again and cause him big embarrassment. Does he realise that if you could trust him more then you might not have felt the need to drive in?

Embarrassing your teenagers is part of a parent's job! Maybe you can agree with DS that he will check his monitor at certain points of the day (or wear his Smart watch). You will try not to panic (and always phone the school in the first instance) but if he doesn't want you turning up you need to be confident he is keeping an eye on things. Poor lad must just want to be the same as everyone else.

You did the right thing. My son doesn’t have type 1 diabetes but my mum has it so I know how serious it can be. I would have completely panicked at seeing those levels for my child and would have done the same as you. I actually think you handled it very well and the receptionist was rude. You weren’t to know the monitor wasn’t working properly. What if it had been working and you’d ignored it just in case you embarrassed him? He’d be really I’ll or worse and you would feel terrible.

Think you need to have a word with him about his phone

There is no point it being on silent or no vibration.

He MUST understand how important it is

DD (14) has T1. You were not BU. IMO if you don't live in a house with T1, you really don't get it.

This is what works for us. DD has a care plan at the school sick bay, along with low treatments, glucagon pen, insulin & syringe. I've been in & met the nurse. She uses dexcom & tslim, looping. Carries her phone - has a pass so it's in her pocket rather than bag. And very recently, we've added a Fitbit with Glance so that she can very quickly see where her BG is (Fitbit vibrates with lows/highs). This last had made things much easier!! Still get lows but more often running high & not correcting 🤬. I've phoned the nurse in the past & asked them to track her down & telll her to correct... I can't get there in the daytime. DD has been known to send me texts saying things like "I'm alive" when she's low 😁

Can you tell your DS that the watch is not negotiable? A quick look & he can treat himself immediately?? Ignore the receptionist & catch up with the school nurse. T1 is so worrying for parents - the kids don't seem as concerned! Good luck.

I'd suspect that he was embarrassed today so use this to your advantage and get him to wear the watch so he can monitor his sugars and then you won't have to "embarrass" him again. I would've done the same as you and I don't think you overreacted but once you've shaken off the adrenaline rush definitely use today to your advantage, this is in my limited understanding a lifelong condition that he needs to learn how to be responsible for and it sounds as if you're doing and are willing to continue to do whatever is necessary to help him adjust to his new normal. I would also discreetly have a word with the safeguarding officer at the school to ensure all the staff have the relevant information and training to understand his condition and when they need to intervene if he isn't able or wanting to help himself by drawing attention to himself. Maybe they could cover the topic of life long conditions, including but not restricted to T1 diabetes to educate all the children at the school, its not sadly a rare disease and the more we educate about it the better

You did the right thing and I think everyone else was wrong to minimise this.

Take no notice of the receptionist. She will have had zero medical training or diabetes training.

Your response to the situation was reasonable and it does sound stressful but there was no need to react in a rude way to the receptionist. No one should be spoken too like that, sounds like you were being very confrontational.

You were being neurotic, but understandably so. TD1 is difficult, especially in newly diagnosed teens.

Don't get hung up on should'vs or self recrimination. Apologize to the office worker you snapped at (it does sound like you were rude) and then move on to talking with your son and the school about a new communication plan so you and your husband hopefully aren't in this position again. An expectation that your DS will text after an alarm or going into the nurse to acknowledge he's on top of it might be a good start.

So shouldn't be making any decisions or judgements.

I think you acted appropriately under the circumstances OP and you have no need to doubt yourself.
I wouldn’t give the receptionist a second thought, I’m sure she deals with a lot worse than being accused of raising her eyebrows.

Bloody hell, you did the right thing and you were right to call the receptionist out as well.

I would have done the same. Hope you're ok.

You did the right thing! Can you ask for a procedure for the future aka that he goes to the medical office for a pin prick if levels are ever severely off again? Surely there is a written action plan for him/any type 1s?

So many people are ignorant about dyslexia.
You did the right thing. Even your son knows.that deep down, he just needs to keep his teen veneer of nonchalance

I think you absolutely did the right thing, a bad hypo is a life threatening condition. Understandably you were stressed when you arrived at the school so possibly a little rude but who wouldn't be thinking their child is in danger

I 100% would have done the same.

Regardless of age….that’s your child and it’s instinct to protect them.

Yes it is !
Diabetes is very serious.just because there is medicine for it does not take away the seriousness of this condition.
It kills.
Jesus people need to learn about this condition and not make assumptions about it .
Throw the fact that he is a kid into the equation makes it harder.
And To anyone who is saying he needs grow up and start taking care of himself.
Christ on a bike .how do you force a kid to grow up faster? I'd love to know how .

Really appreciate the responses.

DS remained at 2.7-3.0 for the rest of the afternoon then jumped up to 6.5 just before school finished! I’d parked up outside school an hour before just in case! Went round the supermarket before that, trying to ignore the alarms, fighting against calling school again. He did say a finger prick put him at 5.5 just after lunch.

He told me after school he had his Yr9 vaxxes this morning and can only assume that interfered with his monitor readings. I’d forgotten they were today. Other vaxxes didn’t do that though.

A positive though is I have been scared of having a situation where I have to give him the glycagon injection in case I couldn’t mix it and give it quickly enough. I have a few now as have never had to use them so today spurred me on to use an older one to practise (not injecting but getting it ready) so know how to do it quickly now!

She didn't.

OP saw her raise her eyebrows and felt it was a judgemental expression.

But it sounds like the receptionist was just surprised - from her perspective, she knows that this kid is walking around laughing and talking in the next room and then suddenly mom comes in panicking sure that kid was critically ill. That would be a surprising moment for the receptionist. When OP got upset at the facial expression, the receptionist apologized. OP should probably do the same - her anxiety was perfectly understandable but not the fault of the receptionist.

That’s sounds like bullying and discrimination to me. Why are people commenting like that? It’s rude, insensitive and intrusive. Are these other students saying this?

I’d be in making sure there were zero comments like that in class. Perhaps if that’s sorted, your son will feel happier checking his blood sugar and reacting to alarms.

Treadsoftlyonmy dreams
Apologies if I have responded to you with my last loose .i have got confused .

I would have done exactly the same as you did and got to the school ASAP. Any mum would do the same, your his mum, he's your baby, stop being so hard on yourself. Glad you son is OK x