My son was diagnosed 7 years ago at the age of 3 and has been on the pump for 6 years. We are really struggling with him remembering to bolus for his meals and checking himself at regular times. He is SO distracted and appears to have trouble focusing in school. Not sure if it’s the diabetes or just plain defiance!
We have set bolus reminder alarms on his pump and when he has the CGM on, we set alarms for predicted high/low, and actual high/low. He ignored 3 alarms the other day at school which caused his BG to climb to over 300 before being treated. During his “high” he basically failed a test. Not sure how to handle that one… had he responded to the alarms, he wouldn’t have had the high to begin with!!!
It sounds like you have all the reminders you can give him in place. I’m not a parent of a diabetic, just a 30 year T1D veteran that grew up with it.
Do you think he is ignoring problems because he doesn’t want his friends/classmates to see him testing his blood, taking insulin, etc? Some kids just don’t want to be “different” from their peers or have to answer questions for fear the other kids will think they are weird. If that’s the problem maybe you can help him be more confident about his diabetes. If he talks to his friends about it like it’s no big deal, they will see that it’s no big deal and that he’s still just a regular kid like they are.
My only other advice would be to try to calmly work through this with him–for example, if you’re yelling at him about ignoring highs and the damage he may be causing himself, try a different approach. More yelling and stress about the issue may just lead to further defiance. At least for me personally, threats of future complications never scared me because it always seemed like if it happened it wouldn’t be until I was MUCH older and didn’t need to worry about it right then.
Thanks KSmerk12 for responding. I don’t think he has an issue with “hiding” it from his friends. The school he goes to is pretty small and the kids are a close knit group. He & I watched a video on youtube together about a woman who was diagnosed at the age of 19. She was a professional ballerina and allowed her sugars to run high. Now in her 40’s, she is experiencing all the “usual” complications - bleeding behind the eyes, kidney transplant, heel amputation… We had a real calm discussion about all of the issues and I really thought I made some head way - no yelling, no finger pointing, just the facts, presented by someone who is living it. I was very encouraged. The next day, he ignored an alarm and forgot to bolus for lunch.