[53Plymouth]

I wished some one would have told me how much fun it would be raising brother kids. Our 13 year old who is type one diabetic and on an insulin pump found out the hard way what happens when she runs out of insulation and says nothing. All started Tuesday evening when she found out she used the last of her insulin for her pump a couple days ago. Why would she say anything she is 13. Wife found the empty bottle and could not find any in the fridge. Alex do you have enough insulin, why of course mom I have plenty in my pump. Wife drops me off at the bus for work the next day and goes to the pharmacy of course it is not open at that hour. When wife returns home around 6:30 AM , Alex is throwing up. Not a good sign. Calls doctor and was told get her in to emergency do not bring her into his office at the hospital. By the time she got her into the ER. Room her blood sugar was over 1100. Her blood pressure was a whopping 95 over 24. Kind of checking out on us. It took them almost thirty hours to get her blood sugar back down and get her stabilized. It has been a trying couple of days. If this weight does not do me in these kids have a good start on it.

Thanks for being here so I can vent without feeling like a jerk who can not take it.



Ed.

[qt82699]

wow sorry to hear this happened, thats kids for ya, hope everything is ok

[greensgirl19]

WOW, close call. Hopefully this will scare her enough to tell you when she's low or now have a double checking policy in place. Thankfully she's doing well now. Kids!

[DocSanae]

Wow, what a scare. Haven't seen blood sugar that high (in patients, I mean) in a loooong time.
Yes, you need a double check system in place, and probably best to always keep an extra vial in stock.
You'll have to keep in mind that insulin will make one gain weight some, and it's known that type 1 patients sometimes secretly go off insulin because they don't want to gain weight, regardless of the danger of not getting insulin.
Once your girl is settled down, you may need to have a long sit down talk with her, and have a psych who has plenty of experience with type 1 kids follow her to get through the rough adolescent patches.

Something for you and Alex that may help her out.
Do you know a band called The Jonas Brothers? (I'm not up to speed to today's US pop scene, sorry, but I checked Amazon.com out, and they have a number of albums out.) One of the brothers, Nick Jonas (15) is a type 1 diabetic. Their song, "A Little Bit Longer" was written by Nick when he had a blue diabetes day. He is featured in the July edition of Diabetes Forecast, which is a magazine published by the American Diabetes Association, so this might be a good read for both of you.
The same issue has an article on what sometimes is called "diablulimia" (which the diabetologist don't like) about self regulating insulin, and the dangers of it, so if you can get a copy of this issue, you'll have two good reads.

Link for the American Diabetes Association web site.
The cover of the July issue.

[judijo]

Oh, what a drag!

My mom was a type 1 diabetic, who was diagnosed at 12, in 1949! She lived to 60, which is about 15 years longer than any of her doctors thought she would. (she was also told she could never have children...I showed them, boy! lol)

Scary scary stuff. More than once I have had to SCREAM to hospital attendants for orange juice STAT when noone could understand why she was acting so weird.

Thank God for glucometers. Those things are the lifesavers for the diabetic community today!

I am happy she is getting better. She may be a little old for the Jonas Bros, but if Nick can maintain his BS with his hectic schedule, maybe she can see that she can take her health in her own hands, too.

[kimtindall]

OMG, I am so glad that you all caught this in time!!! Def get on a counseling band wagon wth her. Hopefully this scared her enough to realize just how important and dangerous this is. YIKES. Thinking about you.

[Spikey1341]

Wow hopefully that put the scare into her and she will take care of herself.

[beckamarie]

Oh Ed we would never think of you as a jerk. Being a part to teens is hard enough without adding the extra stress of what you have to deal with, the diabetes and I believe you said the older sibling has mental health issues. Like I have told you before I admire you for taking on the responsibility of the children. You are definately a strong man, even if you dont feel like it at times. Hang in there and you'll get through and know we are here for you friend to help you through the rough patches

[53Plymouth]

Thanks for all your concern in this trying time.Alex should get out of the hospital either later today or tomorrow.

We have a team that conceits of a dietitian, social worker, nurse), and of course the Doctor (all specializes in type I diabetic). We have had this team for the last seven years (when she came down with it). That is one of the things that makes this so hard even with all the help she still can not get it through her head how important this is. We all have decided to take her off her pump for a while and go back to shots (I am sad, back to three to four shots a day and fixed meal times).These people have been gods send to us in that they have always been there 24-7. She does have a therapist and shrank for her emotional problems from the neglect, I guess she gets to see them more from here on out.

Doc. That music sounds like something she could use; I am going to google it this afternoon. She might be a little old for it, but with her emotional problems just might work.

The real tragedy of all of this is both of the girls are very bright, but the emotional problems get in there way big time. I used to be very forgiving, but hurt a child there is not enough punishment for a person to go through.

Ed.

[Christy0283]

Ed, wow, how scary. I'm glad everything turned out ok. And, like others have said, hopefully this will scare her enough to keeping a check on it.