Thanks Wiseguy ( gal ) …yes, I am aware of the LADA group you are referring to .
Sheila,
How old is your son? What types of insulin are you currently using? Are you carb counting and covering meals with fast acting insulin, or are you on a fixed snack, meal regimen requiring snacks and meals at specified times each day?
My son David is 17. He was diagnosed at age 10 and has been pumping since he was 14. He is very athletic and like your son, prefers to keep his D to himself. I sent you a “friend” request, so if you would like to correspond directly, we can. One thing that I found that really made a difference was getting David out to listen to someone like Chris Jarvis, former olympic rower, current marathon runner and huge diabetes advocate speak about his experiences with diabetes. He has spoken at sessions geared towards pumping and he has spoken at sessions more as a motivational speaker, someone living and thriving in athletics who happens to be T1. Talk to your diabetes team in Calgary and see if they know of any events where Chris might be speaking or contact your local JDRF to see if they plan to have him out to any speaking events.
I went to a medtronic event with my husband in Ottawa well before David started pumping and Chris Jarvis was the speaker. David was sick that day, or he would have gone as well. Last spring we had the opportunity to go to a JDRF event in Kingston with Chris as the motivational speaker. He is truly inspirational. When we left the meetings, David said, WOW, that really was an eye opener and he has moved forward to work even harder to manage his diabetes together with his athletic pursuits. He saw first hand that it can be done and he understands that he cannot perform at his best unless he has total control of the diabetes factor. It takes a lot of effort. It takes trial and error. It takes not knocking yourself down, when things don’t go quite right, but it can be done.
Gatorade, powerade, juice all work well with athletics to keep the lows at bay, sips throughout a game, together with lots of water to keep well hydrated. David tried skittles, but didn’t find them to be as effective. He keeps glucose tabs in a container in his emergency kit, but doesn’t care much for the chalky taste, so juice or sports drinks are what he relies on most, with testing as the key. An average day will see David testing 7 to 10 times minimum.
Cheryl
You can suggest to him that he reduces his last meal bolus by 1 unit before any sports or activity and check if this sends him too high. Before I started on the pump, I would reduce my previous meal bolus to prevent lows.
I also really like your attitude about working with your son on this diabetes business and not making it a battle between you two. That may make certain aspects more challenging, but I think that it will pay off in the long run.
We have a teen group here that you can show him and there is another site called Juvenation where he can connect with other teens with type 1. He may be more interested in joining a different site than you.
Diabetes camp is a great idea.My parents made me go.Seriously they said either I go to camp or be grounded the entire summer.At first I hatted them for it.I was like “why would I want to be around a bunch of sick kids all summer?” but after I got there I started to make friends, I went back the next 3 years on my own free will. It’s like a break from normal life because your not constantly having to explain to people what you’re doing and why, they know and can sympathize. Camps also provide education while you’re there, and it kind of gives you a sense of independence because even though there are docs and nurses there to help, your parents aren’t there. As far as getting him to treat the lows I unfortunately have no advice.I was diagnosed at 2, but I’ve always enjoyed educating people so I never wanted to hide it, and I hate going low. It makes me feel like all my energy has been sucked out and the simplest tasks seem 100 times harder. I do agree with some of the comments though like making sure he has things like the skittles cause it’s not a snack that draws attention like glucose tabs would.Also before games make sure he eats proteins.They take longer to have an effect on your sugar, so for example if he eats like an hour before a game and then the game is say an hour long it should help carry him over. Good luck.
I wish that I could go to camp!
I’m sure once you are there, you will find out that there are other people there who you can be friends with (I’m SURE there will be others whose parents MADE them go too!).
As a high school teacher, my students are constantly downing Gatorade, so he would be able to fit in with his peers. While it does not eliminate the need for protein to help hold steady during exercise, it does give him a chance to bring up lows without anyone noticing. The other trick might be hard candy which I frequently use when teaching - can’t be used for contact sports.
Also, ask his coach if he knows of another diabetic athlete at the school. 3 years ago, all of our diabetics had the same lunch (just the luck of the draw with class schedules). They would bring the lunch to the nurse’s office and we would have lunch together and talk about the positives (and negatives!) of the disease.
Hopefully, you can convince the endo to go ahead with the pump. It got rid of the lows that I always had after dinner (even when I took no short acting insulin!).
My friend has a D son who’s now a HS senior. His entire wardrobe consists of cargo pants and short, so he can carry everything with him in a subtle and on-the-go fashion.
It’s weird to me that he won’t eat in front of his friends. I feel like my daughters and their friends can’t take two steps out the door without taking snacks and water; you’d think starvation was about to set in. Perhaps if your son had two package of skittles instead of one, he could be the cool guy who shares his candy with his friends.