Not sn but diabetes and know you lot can help

[AgnesDiPesto]

DS2 diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on Monday out of blue I thought at worst he had urine infection. Still in hospital while we get levels sorted and learn how to use all equipment. He's not ill. Lost bit weight (thought due to growth spurt) and just been bit off colour for few weeks. Looking for advice about how long can expect for him to be confident with injections, he has done 3 already. How long before can go to school. What school will do eg re supervision or actual injections or checking dose? I have 2 other children, one with autism and spend most of my week to and froing to appointments with him or at work which can be 15 miles away so worried about whether its sensible to be so far away from DS2. He's coping really well but I suppose once the reality of measuring food etc and change in lifestyle kicks in I can expect a delayed response. Any tips eg do kids have watches to remind them to test blood etc. any good websites? sure some of you wise people have been down this road and and can help me.

I've taught three insulin-dependent children over the years, different ages.
They had a care plan, organised with the school and the school nurse came in to give training to the adults directly involved with the child.
That meant a basic intro to diabetes, how it affected that child in particular, signs of hypo/hyper glycemia, what needed to happen to manage it on a daily basis. Three members of staff were trained to take/supervise bloods.
In class management, clear email communication between parent and teacher if anything happened to throw off the BSL, parent provided appropriate snacks kept in a labelled box the child also had access to. Book log of times and levels, including what snacks and when.
The idea was to make the child as independent as possible, as soon as possible withing safe parameters. So the child was responsible for remembering the snack and when, but the teacher made sure that they didn't forget.
Went on the whole school alert cards, so that MDS and the rest knew the signs to look out for. Children in the class also had a talk, so they understood about the need for biscuits, chocolate and when to get an adult if anything happened.
Check if the school already has experience.

Oh, and I'm sorry that you've had yet another ball thrown at you to juggle, but all of the children we have had over the years have been well-managed and all small problems have been handled quickly to avoid any becoming big problems. It is perfectly possible.

My ds2 is 5 so he has a TA who does everything for him. How old is your ds? Even if he is doing his own BG tests and injections, it's not unreasonable to have a staff member also trained to do them.

Can you send packed lunches to start with, with a list of carb values for each item? Either your son or a teacher will need to know how to work out the insulin dose from the carb values and the last BG test. But if he is at Primary then you'd expect him to be supervised.

His teacher/TA will need to know how to spot and treat hypos. He may not always be able to do his own BG test if he is hypo (because by the nature of it, they get unreasonable/irrational etc). I know parents with older children with T1 and the procedure is that the child tests if he can, but the teacher checks the meter reading, ensures the child eats the sugar, and has a timer set for 10 minutes to makes sure a re-test is done.

There is a good email list - Children with Diabetes - if you ask on here someone will be able to show you their school care plan for a similarly-aged child.

Oh Agnes, I am there with you as my autistic DS was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about a month ago. It is all a big shock at first, but to be honest it quite quickly becomes routine. Plus absolutely all foods have carb counts on the back now, which is handy. My boy will probably never do his own injections, so my experience is a bit different. But a month on, the school have taken over his midday finger test, which has saved me an extra journey. And we are managing on 2 daily injections, not 4.

The first month is super stressful, but the NHS has been spectacularly good, and I got a very good piece of advice from a wise mumsnetter on here: at first this feels like a major blow, and it is, but in time it just becomes another irritating but necessary chore that you have to do in the day for health reasons, a bit like flossing!

The finger prick doesn't hurt, especially if you get good at it and only have the needle at 2. The jabs do hurt a bit more, but an adult pal says she grabs a bit of tummy fat, puts it in quickly, and it no longer hurts her at all.

Good luck!

The one irritating thing I do find is the ignorance about Type 1 diabetes - unlike Type 2 it is neither caused by bad diet nor cured by an organic or raw food regime! Without insulin injections daily, he would be in very serious trouble!

Hi.

Are you me? I have a diabetic (flying lad) and an autistic, (flyingboy). It will be fine. No food measuring needed. He will be in his honeymoon period soon which means his pancreas will be splurging out some insulin so his levels of insulin will be small.

Pm me and we can chat more. Mine was back in school three days later. School was good. Flying lad did his mile swim shortly afterwards and went on a school residential 6 weeks later. He was 8. He's 12 now and fine. You do get good at reading backs of packets!

Thanks all. DS2 is doing well and I am thinking about half days next week as ds3 only does half days anyway. His teacher excitedly told me they had only done training last week and there is another child already. That said school has made me lots of promises about ds3 which came to nothing so I will need to see proof they know what to do. I strangely feel ok because we have been through so much worse with ds3, and it takes quite a lot to register on our personal Richter scale. DS2 is also handling it brilliantly. Good to know being back in school quickly is not unreasonable. I need to get DS3 tested and am with you autism and diabetes would be a lot harder but I have some nagging doubts about ds3 now which I need to put to rest.

Iknow what you mean. After you've been through 'your child is autistic, there's not a lot that anyone can do' frankley, 'your child has diabetes and here's loads of treatments and information and lots of specialist help' is a walk in the park.

Good luck.