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Preparing Your Child and Family for Life With Diabetes
After the initial shock of diagnosis wears off and we become
more comfortable with administering insulin shots, scheduling
blood tests and mealtimes, and carbohydrate counting we have a
chance to look to the future. At that point it really begins to
sink in what a long-term commitment parenting a diabetic child
really is. We now understand we have been drawn into a different
lifestyle that will last as long as we are parents. Even when our
child is grown up and leaves home we will still be concerned and
involved with the diabetes community.
If you are finding that you are having trouble managing your
child's diabetes let me first share some statistics I found so
you realize you are not alone.
35-75% do not follow meal plans all of the time
20-80% do not administer insulin correctly all of the time
30-70% do not record blood-monitoring level properly all of the
time
23-52% do not provide adequate foot care all of the time
70-81% do not exercise adequately all of the time
Now that we understand how difficult it is to live with a
chronic and potentially deadly disease, the question is how do we
teach our children the reality of diabetes while still allowing
them to be kids and trying to keep their lives as normal as
possible. An experience that if you haven't run into you soon
will is birthday parties. They are everything you need to avoid
to keep your child's diabetes under control but they're also an
important aspect of your child's life. With some planning you can
have both. You can learn the specifics of this and many other
situations you will face in my ebook "So Your Child Has
Diabetes". The point is life and diabetes can go on together.
Just as important, your child's friends learn about diabetes and
talk about it. They don't discriminate, they include your child.
We as parents need to be adults in these types of situations. We
are the voices of maturity, reality and humanity. We are the ones
who allow our children to talk about their disease and how it
makes them feel as well as keeping them focused on self-care. We
are the ones who keep the disease from overcoming our family.
When you let your child talk to you about how they feel about
having diabetes you will find your child has less emotional
stress and better control of their blood glucose levels.
General family stress can greatly affect blood glucose levels.
It's a delicate balance. When your child's blood glucose levels
are out of control it can cause stress in the family and when
there's stress in the family it can cause out of control blood
glucose levels. You need to be prepared for these times. The
Children's Hospital that treats my daughter has an excellent
Mental Health Department. Other communities have a variety of
services they offer. Make yourself aware of them and know where
to turn before things start to get out of control.
One of the things that really surprised me was the difference
in the way I perceived diabetes and the way my daughter perceived
it over time. I found it easier to cope with diabetes as time
went on. You get into a rhythm and your comfort level with
treatment increases. On the other hand my daughter found that the
emotional distress associated with diabetes increased as time
went by. We need to be aware that just because we are better at
dealing with diabetes it doesn't mean our children need less of
our day to day care. A mistake I made was assuming that my
10-year-old didn't need me to constantly supervise her blood
glucose monitoring. After she went on an insulin pump it was no
longer necessary for me to administer insulin. She had been
checking her own blood levels for quite a while. Even though she
was checking her own blood, while I was giving the shots I was
right there to make sure she checked properly and at the correct
times. Once she went on the pump that wasn't the case anymore. I
noticed that she wasn't nearly as conciencious when I wasn't
there. This is just normal in the development of a child. Our
children need us to keep them safe while they achieve these
developmental skills.
In order to properly prepare our children for life with
diabetes we must remember how we feel when we are ill. We hate
it. Feeling lousy, unable to enjoy some of our normal activities.
Imagine how this is magnified in our diabetic child. They never
get a break. No rest from it, no vacation. No wonder they
experience emotional problems. Never forget this. Our children
need to know that we will always be there for them. They are not
facing this alone. Listening to our children about their feelings
is important but not enough. We also need to talk to them about
what happens if they don't take good care of their diabetes. We
need to be careful. We don't want our children to think that
there is something wrong with them or to feel ashamed if their
blood glucose levels aren't always under control. In this case
children are like puppies. They respond better to reward for
proper behavior that to punishment for wrong behavior.
Finally we need to realize that preparing for life with
diabetes is an ongoing process. You can't control the process all
of the time. Just take care of it one day at a time. With your
help your child can understand this process of diabetes control
and you don't have to become "that diabetic family". With
preparation and awareness you, your child and the rest of your
family can live healthy normal lives.
Russell Turner is the father of a 10 year old Type 1 Juvenile
Diabetic daughter. When she was first diagnosed he quickly found
there was all kinds of information on the internet about the
medical aspects of this dsease. What he couldn't find was
information about how to prepare his family to live with this
disease. He started a website http://www.mychildhasdiabetes.com
and designed it so parents of newly diagnosed children would have
a one-stop resource to learn to prepare for life with
diabetes.
MORE RESOURCES:
Glass of juice a day increases diabetes riskTelegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 3 hours agoResearchers found women who drink a glass of fruit juice every morning may be 18 per cent more likely to get type two diabetes, the kind normally triggered ... |
Study Finds Link to Diabetes, DepressionRedOrbit, TX - 15 hours ago22--SUNBURY -- If you are being treated for type 2 diabetes, you might also be at a greater risk of being depressed. And if you've been diagnosed as being ... |
Santarus to promote Depomed diabetes drugCNNMoney.com - Jul 22, 2008NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Santarus Inc. said Tuesday it agreed to promote Depomed Inc.'s diabetes drug Glumetza in the US, and will pay Depomed up to ... |
Diabetes - Google News
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