5 yr old DD newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic

[xxmush1983xx]

Hi all, my DD was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a couple of days ago, and I'm getting over the shock and starting to do some research. I was just wondering if anyone else has experiences with this, and how your life adjusted to this, and how your child adapted? It's been a big change for us but have to say DD has shown maturity beyond her years!

Thank you :)

Hi there...no experience as a parent but i have type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed when i was in junior school...all i can say is that it's never stopped me doing anything! I got through school, went to uni, got married, had kids...all totally unscathed from a diabetes point of view!

Something else is that i thing the whole diabetes diagnosis was far more tramatic for my mum than it was for me, as i struggle to remember any different now...also apart from a bit of minor eye damage i have no other complications despite having diabetes for over 25 years!

Is she on the mixed insulin or has she gone onto the basal bolus? If i can help in any way i will do :)

Hi paddy, thanks so much for the reply! I think that has been my main worry - where does her life go from here? I have no prior experience of diabetes so had a lot of pre-concieved ideas about it, but have realised that diabetes care has come on leaps and bounds and can be easily controlled. She takes short acting insulin (NovoRapid) before meals and long acting insulin (Levemere) before supper/bedtime. We are still at the stage of adjusting doses to suit her diet (which has been gone over with diabetic dietician, thankfully no need for changes!!) as she is a big eater so her blood sugar is still running a quite high, but paed team have told me there is no cause for concern as she is getting her regular doses and it will even out as we adjust dose.

She has been such a star, I've even let her prick my finger and take my blood sugar (which she enjoyed a bit too much lol!!). I've got her very involved with the injections, and I think it won't be long before she is doing her BM and injections herself.

What is the basal bolus? See, complete novice here haha

Basal bolus is exactly what you are doing (you have a baseline insulin, the levemir, which lasts all day and gives a background amount of insulin, and boluses with meals - the fast-acting novorapid) - it is good in two ways - it's as close as we can get it to the way that people who don't have diabetes produce insulin, and also it gives lots of flexibility with what you can eat - if you have a big meal with lots of carbs you can take more insulin, if you have a smaller meal you take a bit less.
It is great that she is getting close to doing injections and what have you herself - for one thing it makes it normal for her and for another it means that as she gets older she is able to take more responsibility for her diabetes management and have a good understanding of what she needs to do, rahter than relying on mum to know her doses and what her sugars are doing and what to do when she is ill (obviously at this age she isn't really responsible for any of it but the sooner she feels like she is taking ownership of things the better - I lose count of the number of teenagers I see who still look at mum for an answer when I ask them what their sugars run at or what insulin they take!)
Having diabetes doesn't stop you from doing ANYTHING - sports, holidays, sleepovers, climbing trees and falling out of them...
You will also be very well looked after - the diabetic nurses are generally fantsatic and the paeds are always available if you have any problems

Hi again
I'm on novorapid too and lantus (v similar to levemir)...it's a great regime and gives you complete freedom! .... It honestly hasn't made very much difference to my life - i guess when i was pregnant i had to be a bit more careful and have a lot more monitoring than other mums to be ... but that's about it really!

I think being diagnosed young is much better than being diagnosed in your teens!