Type 1 Teens

Teenager. Merriam-Webster define a teenager as “being or related to a people in their teens [13-19 years of age]”. Parents understand a “teenager” is more than a age.  It is a time for growth towards adulthood. How each teenager manages this growth can and will be vastly different. Some teenagers need constant guidance and supervision. Others appear to be born ready to launch into adulthood. Either way this time in a person’s life is exciting, challenging, and rewarding.

Now add the daily challenge of diabetes to the teen years. As parents we want to give our children wings to fly. But when daily our children’s lives can be at risk, letting go may become a challenge.  How do we allow our type 1 children to thrive and still be healthy and alive in the end? I think this is a question daily we ask our selves.

Consider where your teen is at in their own care now. Are they able to recognize low blood sugars? treat for them accurately? testing and understanding what to do with their blood sugar?

Basically start small. Teach them what to do with a low blood sugar, because lets face it a low blood sugar is the most immediately dangerous aspect of type 1 diabetes. Then move on to what to do with the blood sugar number at meals and allowing them to take the time to research their own carbohydrate counts. See small steps. The smaller the step the easier the mastery.

Also enlist the help of the endocrinologist and educator. Let them tell your child what to do and how to do it. Some times in those teen years guidance from a different adult followed better.

Below are some resources for helping teens become independent in their diabetes.

-WHEN YOUR TEEN JUST QUITS: DIABETES AND TEEN YEARS http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/about-diabetes/kids-diabetes/when-your-teen-just-quits/

-TEEN TOOLKIT  http://www.jdrf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/JDRFTEENTOOLKIT.pdf

-PARENTING A TEEN WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES https://diatribe.org/parenting-your-teen-type-1-diabetes

Also look forward to our book that will help your teen take ownership and control of their diabetes in a reasonable way!

Type 1 and the upcoming New Year

Last week as we approached midnight we all made some sort of resolution. You may have kept the resolution quiet but it is still there lingering in the back of your mind. It may to be more organized, be in better shape, eat healthier, or simply not to make a resolution. How do your resolutions apply to helping your child with his/her diabetes? Is it to learn a new skill? to improve on an A1C? to encourage and actually get your child to camp? To not be a helicopter parent as much? So no matter what your personal diabetes related resolution is I have included a list of things that may help ease the daily diabetes burden in your lives.

          Things you can do:

1)Make a resolution to download that CGM to get quality data at least once a month. This will help with A1C management and improved glucose control.

2) Keep a food diary quarterly with sugars and carbohydrate counts to determine if your child’s insulin sensitivity is correct. Some foods cause spikes in blood sugars and may require a dual wave or increased insulin to combat the high. Alternatively some foods may not need as much insulin because your child uses those foods better.

3) Try to have your child eat at schedule times. Fore example breakfast at 8 a.m., lunch at 12 p.m., and dinner at 6 p.m.. In our house I limit food intake to every two hours so my son does not stack his insulin.

I hope these guidelines find you and your child well in the new year. Check out our book for more tips on when you are not with your child and another adult is caring for your child.

Stacey Smith-Bradfield

From your authors at Science Horse Productions

Stacey and Dayna

One Smartie, 2 Smarties, 3 or 4…What is your child’s preferred treatment for a low blood sugar?  There are so many treatment options to choose from.  There is a small tube of cake gel, 4 ounces of OJ, 4 ounces of regular juice,, a package of fruit chews, or glucose tablets.  Some children like to change up what they use, sometimes Smarties or juice or sometimes regular soda.  The key is to keep it around 15 grams of carbohydrates, and then follow up with a 15 gram of carbohydrate snack with protein.  For example a slice of bread with peanut butter on it.

Our book helps a babysitter, grandparent, or another adult to determine these things.

Flying and Diabetes

Flying with diabetes the first time is an overwhelming activity. Flying is overwhelming because of security. There are so many rules to fly in a plane these days. In these rules how does a parent of a type 1 diabetic prepare?

Flying with diabetes does not need to be overwhelming! Following some basic rules getting through security should be easy.

The basics:

Medications:

Keep medications separate from the other carry on items and ensure they are clearly labeled.  As you enter security, declare that you have liquid medications, needles, etc (including the ice packs) to the security officer. A side note the ice pack must be completely frozen not soft or slushy. The TSA website indicates this can be confiscated and tested more thoroughly.

Pumps:

Declare that you or your child uses an insulin pump and the pump cannot be safely removed from your child’s body. Likely the pump will be checked and like phones you will be asked to make the screen change.

You can also ask for a pat down instead of the x-ray machine so it does not interfere with you device.

We have traveled may times with my son and have never had an issue with security. Most times he is stream lined trough security because of his age and medical condition.

For full information visit the TSA web page for traveling with medications:

http://www.tsa.gov/travel/special-procedures

Happy Holiday Travels