It's that exciting time of year... back to school time!! For people with diabetes, and their loved-ones, going back to school can carry many more concerns than pencils, paper and new outfits. The concerns are different at different ages, from ensuring a child with diabetes receives his/her insulin at school to wondering where a college student will get their healthcare in a new town and what they'll find to eat in the school cafeteria.
Are you going back to school this month? Are you a parent of someone going back to school? What are the things you're thinking about in connection to diabetes and school?
Let's share our thoughts and info in the discussion below!
I wish more teacher's were educated or aware of what Type One Diabetes is. I just spoke to 2 teachers at my son's school and both said they had students in the past that were Severe Diabetic???? I have never heard of this I thought Type One was Type One. I wish there was a Type One teacher at my son's school. You are a treasure to your school. Bless you for being concerned for your students too.
Tomorrow will be the first day that I will be teaching classes with a diagnosis. I'm scared of the lows, and I don't know how I'm going to test to see if I'm going low without leaving the kids alone or totally freaking them out. Wish me luck!
I hope your first day went well- I don't teach children anymore, I'm teaching in a college and I had similar concerns- what I'm doing is test just when I get there and if I'm in the low 80's or lower I take 1-2 g sugar to stop me from going hypo. I can leave the room to test etc. if I need to. Many of my students have health concerns or sometimes children with health concerns too such as heart problems etc. so I may let them know of my condition if it comes up.
I tell them not to come to class if they are sick, I don't care how many classes they miss. That way none of the rest of us will get sick too. I just had my flu shot and I recommend everyone do that too, although it has made me feel ill and achy for a few days now, I'm hoping it will protect me from flu and other bugs that may come around.
Maybe you can discuss with your management how to handle this and explain to the children that you may need to test or to treat a low bg?
My first week went well. I did have a low during a class and had to test. Luckily it was in my computer class so I hid behind the desk and did it quietly so the kids couldn't see me. I work with 8/9 year olds, and the less I distract or disrupt them the better!
I definitely believe in educating people about diabetes, but my case is still a bit of a mystery at the moment and I don't want to confuse matters. I also HATE the stigma attached to T2 and I don't want some kid who sees some idiot on TV saying that people get diabetes because they're fat and eat badly to assume that is what happened to me.
That's great, I'm glad it went well... maybe once you know what is going on you can explain it to them if it is ok with the administration there. You can educate them about various things.
I had one low this week which was quite low in the 50's- I was in a hurry and forgot to test when I got to work before starting, then since I was focused on other things I didn't notice the signs as much- so I was a bit less focused while waiting for my bg to come back up but all was ok. I took more sugar than usual and I didn't spike too high from that. I have gone back to taking my basal at night now and only a smaller extra dose when I get up which seems to work better for me.
I don't understand why you're getting lows if you're not on insulin- did you have them in the past before or were they part of your overall symptoms?
Before my diagnosis I had some symptoms that seemed sort of like a low, but I'm pretty sure now they were from the very high bg I was having leading up to dka. About 10-15 years ago I had mild hypoglycemia and I think now it may have been a precursor to all of this and the type 1 happening.
i test in class discreetly at snack time . weve got a t1 so all the kids in my 6th grade knew what i was doing. the kids in the other grades just commented that their grandmas did that too. it is not a big deal to them, which is nice.
I have had lows in the past but on rare occasions. I've only had one this week and it was only 3.5 (63). I think my pancreas is perhaps dumping insulin? Or it could have been because I was running back and forth across the campus? I don't really have any answers.
yeah, poor bugger. at least i didnt have this as a kid. hes quite chilled about it. i often think about whether hes worried about having a low at recess or things like that. god knows i am, i watch him lik a hawk when im on duty. his brother is in third grade and whenever he asks to use the bathroom i start thinking maybe hes got it too. whenever any of my students ask a lot. the other teachers are worried theyre having water fights in the bathroom...
Hi Megan, that makes sense, I didn't think of that for some reason. I felt like I was having lows too before DKA but I'm not sure, but it could have been from that and activity.
