Hi everyone,
My name is Jordan Marshall. I am 15 years of age and live in Woodstock, Ontario. I have had Type 1 Diabetes since I was 4. I have always had trouble controlling my diabetes because somehow i always go off track. I always try my hardest for a week or so after i visit my doctor and then end up not control my food intake and end up with high readings. I am in grade 10 and alot of my classmates are tall but i think because of my diabetes I am not at my full height potential. Also my A1C isnt where it should be and hasnt been for awhile now. I am worried because next year I will be able to get my driver’s license and my doctor has told me that if i dont get my reads under control he will not allow me to get my G1. I was wondering if any of you had any ideas or tricks i could use to keep my readings and A1C undercontrol?
Hello Jordan. I truly don’t know exactly what you are going through, but I am the mother of a four year old who has type 1 diabetes. I can give you the run down on how we manage her diabetes…
- First, I did and still do alot of researching on the subject of type 1. There are so many new medical technologies out there that I have been learning about. She was diagnosed when she was two years old and already we have gone through three different types of insulin.
- We also give multiple daily injections (MDIs) - she gets between 4-6 a day, but we usually give her injections 15-20 minutes before she eats - that is supposed to really help! Of course if she is low, then we feed her right away. We also rotate the sites of injection so the insulin gets absorbed better, but the little bugger still won’t let us near her tummy!!
- We check her blood sugar before breakfast, before lunch, before afternoon snack, before dinner, before bedtime, at midnight and at three o’clock in the morning. (7:30am, 11:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, 9:00pm, 12:00am, 3:00am) If her number is high we do an insulin correction. We also check before and after any exercise.
- We also count carbs and follow an insulin to carb ratio (for example she gets 1 unit of insulin for every 20 grams of carbs). To help with this we weigh/measure out most of her food.
- We try to have her eat around the same time each day (give or take a 1/2 hour)
- We try to eat a low fat diet (but on occasion we splurge - still got to let her be a kid
) - We check her urine for ketones every day.
- Joined Tudiabetes, ChildrenwithDiabetes, and Type1parents, websites to also look for support, advice, education.
- We try to make sure that she does something active each day (exercise).
- We log all of her numbers, how many carbs she eats, and also how much insulin she receives. You can really see if there are any trends (when the high and lows are occuring). We use microsoft excel to make a simple chart.
- We are in constant communication with our endocrinologist (and diabetes educator). We send her numbers (log sheet) to Pittsburgh Children’s Hopsital every couple of weeks. We also visit there every three months for blood work and the A1C result.
)Jordan, even when we follow everything to a “T” - there are times when we check our daughter and out of the blue is a high number that we cannot understand! There is no reason for it and at times it can be frustrating. We blame it on the nature of the beast and we just try to do our best. Stay strong, and confident in yourself. Continue to fight for your future.
Keep your parents involved with your care. They are your biggest cheerleaders. They want you to stay healthy and will give you the support/help you need. I know there will be some day where I will have to give more responsiblilty to my daughter, but I will be there for her when ever she might need me.
This is a great site to join and I wish you the best.
Jordan,
15 is a hard time to have diabetes, I remember well! I dont have too much great advice, but I noticed when I hit my 20s my sugars leveled out quite a bit. Your hormones at this age will affect your blood sugar loads. Not that its an excuse, but it could be some of the reason you have control issues.
Taking this into consideration though, consistent meal times used to help me. Also, I used to kinda eat the same things each day. By doing that I had a sort of base line of how much I was eating and when I was eating, which helped me figure out my basal rates (or long acting shots).
I tend to always think if my sugar is high I have under-bolused for something, but then it turns out I just need higher basal insulin! Like Ronda said, log books are good.
Its hard to be consistent, but if you are for a while, its easier to see any patterns. Then you could probably work from there.
Remember that stress and hormones can make the sugars fluctuate, so try and stay chilled.
Good luck!
Hi Jordan. I’ve been type I since age of 6. It is a constant struggle for me to do the things I need to do to keep motivated. Have you thought of going on a pump? You do have to test a lot but it really helped me. What keeps me going now is my Dexcom. It helps me because I look at it all of the time and can see where my bloodsugar is going. It keeps me motivated to keep the line within the acceptable range area. I recently stopped using my Dexcom for about 6 weeks and when I finally got myself more supplies, I started doing better right away. Good luck!
Jordan-
Hello! Welcome to TuDiabetes. You have joined a great community full of support. There are a lot of teenagers in the community click here, it will take you to the group. I don’t fully understand what you are going through because I didn’t develope diabetes until I was 23 years old. I agree with what the ladies said. You should go to see a CDE and or nutrictionist for help. You are taking the first steps to better control. TuD is great at answering questions. Rainbowgoddess made a great point. You should see if your family can help you out by controlling your meals. You have to test often and watch your food intake. I think once you accomplish those things everything else will fall into place.
Cherise
Hi, Jordan.
To get back on the road of better control, take it one step at a time. Good diabetes control is possible, but it’s complicated. Trying to do too much at one time can set us up for failure.
For example, if you aren’t testing your blood sugar enough (for a type 1, upon waking, before every meal/insulin shot, and before bed are the bare minimum), vow for a week to test consistently for one time each day. After you master that, then you can move to the next small change.
I note you say you don’t control your food intake and end up with high readings. That’s where a registered dietitian or a certified diabetes educator can really help, because you can learn to bolus extra insulin before (or even right after) you overindulge and cover it. This isn’t something you want to do everyday, because it can make you gain weight. But you should feel confident that no matter what you eat, you can cover it with insulin. Plus, if you’re growing, your calorie needs may be outpacing your insulin doses.
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll get a lot of help and support from this site.
Jordon:
Welcome to our little site. I was 17 when I got diabetes and I had to forfeit my license for awhile at 18 because my BS out of control. I got them back, got to college, made a life. Anyway, you gotta test. i know you are doing well not testing, but you gotta test. Starting tomorrow take the glucomoter to school and test not less than five time during the day and not more than tow hours apart. If you take the meter ot the school nurse he / she will get you out of class to do it.
Now what does testing do? Nothing really if you don’t take steps to correct it. If you do nto have a meter that records the test data get one. I suggest not less than 50 tests. Then once every few days download it and collect the data. This will do three things. First you can correct the problems. second, the doc will see you are serious, and third your parents will get off your tush about testing and taking care of yourself.
Here is the thing you are at a point of a life decision. Your not a kid anymore ,and while 10th grade does not seem like grownup, diabetics grow up quicker than others. As a grown up you have to act like one. This is not about what mom and ad or school folks tell you to do. You are old enough to figure this out by yourself. You want to drive, but you have to do things in order to drive, you want a life, but you have to do things in order to have a life. You have dreams, but you have to do things in order ot make dreams come true.
The last thing is this, you can do it
Rick Phillips