So my daughter was diagnosed in October. We have since gotten a CGM and a pump. My expectation was that if we could only get these tools our lives would just be easier and we wouldn’t fight over care as much. My daughter similar to @Sha2018 has started acting out seemingly out of nowhere. Seeking help can be difficult especially when your spouse is a therapist. How many people seek outside therapy and how often? Do you do family therapy or just send your child? Thanks for the help.
All the new technology to manage T1D is a double edge sword. It’s vastly improved the ability to manage (vs what my father had available to him—-I’ve seen the 1970’s vs today). The flip side is people with diabetes today have there vitals billboarded in their face 24x7 and that’s huge stress. It’s not uncommon wanting to unplug and just getting worn out by it all. My son goes through those ups and downs. My best advise is strong family support, just be there with words or hugs. We sought counseling for my son. Took him awhile to agree to go, started weekly and is monthly. It definitely helped him having someone to speak with outside of family/friends. It’s not a magic bullet, but one piece of a big support puzzle. It’s a personal decision and may depend on age on whether it’s 1:1, group or a combo of both.
Hi Chad @Restless_Daddy, Steve @carryback has summarized your situation very well. The awesome tools we have now do assist us in micromanaging our diabetes but that level of management comes at a cost. That is one reason that I recommend that a PWD gets used to living with and managing her/his diabetes and recognizing how one feels when “in balance”, when “low” and when “high” while sticking to finger sticks and injections - although for the very young who haven’t learned to communicate, I believe a CGM is appropriate. Yes, I use both a pump and beginning in my 62nd year with diabetes began a CGM which has assisted me in intelligently increasing my HbA1c.
Hi there. My 7 y/o has started acting out against her T1D after 3 years of having it. Partly, I think because she is getting old enough to understand how different her life is compared to her peers, but partly because he older brother was just diagnosed and all attention isn’t on her re: diabetes anymore. She says things like “You know he’s not your only kid with diabetes!” Or constantly wants me to pick her up and things like that. I’m trying to make sure she still gets enough of me, as well as my other T1D kid and my other 2 non-T1D kids…but we did get a referral to a counselor from our doctor. I think it can only help them deal with this life!
@DJAdgieB Andrea, a diagnosis is a trauma. The actual injury and the stress of the trauma have lasting and deep emotional connections. It’s not a shock that your daughter might regress a little if she thinks her support system is now focused on someone else. It might make her feel powerful and strong if she helps teach her brother what to do.
I am really glad to hear they will get to talk to a counselor.
Good luck.
I can understand this problem BTDT in my 63 years experience. Counseling is likely the best thing, but after I was dxed at age 5 and finally started learning to take my own shots 2 years later Mom sat me down and told me “Son, EVERYBODY has problems in life. Some have heart trouble, some get colds a lot, others can’t get along with people and so on. YOU have diabetes, and the only thing to do is Deal With It”
Sounds rough, but that was when I started taking responsibility for myself and this awful affliction.
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