The vital step after your child is diagnosed with juvenile diabetes is to develop a support
network in the community. Your childs school should be at the top of this as a resource
to tap into. Not only is it essential that the teachers at your childs school know about his
special dietary needs and what to do in an emergency they can provide help in other ways
too.
In addition to good control of blood glucose levels to ensure the current and future well-
being of your childs health, good control of diabetes is critical to learning. When a child
is experiencing highs or lows in the blood sugar reading this can create disruptions and
make it hard for them to concentrate and learn.
The teachers or other support personnel are going to need instruction for handling your
childs diabetes and what to do in case of an emergency. For a child with a low blood
sugar it is important that their blood glucose level is checked and that they have
something to eat. For a child with a high blood sugar, their blood glucose will need to be
checked too and a decision has to be made whether or not to give insulin. This is a big
responsibility to hand over to another adult and can be nerve-racking for parents.
An emergency kit should be with your child at all the time with instructions on what to
do to help if something is wrong. Included should be a snack, a food item or glucose
tablet that is fast acting (gets sugar into the system quickly), a list of emergency numbers
to call, and a glucose monitor. A teacher or school nurse should be designated as the
person responsible for your child while at school and they should have a back-up in case
they are not present for a day or more.
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Even with careful planning your child is going to test with high blood sugars but
hopefully not too frequently. There are many reasons for this, including not taking
insulin on time or enough, eating too much, not exercising enough, and stress.
High blood sugar in children does not occur as quickly as a low blood sugar will. You
may find that over the course of a day or couple of days that your childs blood glucose
levels are creeping upwards. Signs that high blood sugar is becoming a problem is your
child needing to urinate more and an increased need to drink (very thirsty). Over time,
elevated blood sugar can cause serious damage to eyesight and other organs including the
kidneys. With the increased urination, dehydration is also possible if enough liquids are
not taken in.
If over the course of a day, your childs blood glucose levels do not return to normal an
increase in their insulin dosage may be required. If you have been managing your childs
diabetes for some time you may be comfortable making these adjustments yourself. If
not, call your doctor and get advice on what adjustments need to be made and whether
they are long or short term changes.
Evaluate your childs diet too. Have there been any foods that have been introduced
recently that could be causing the problem? Other factors to consider is if your child is ill
(some medications can raise blood sugars), and has your child been less active in the past
couple of days. If your childs body is used to regular physical activity, by being
sedentary your childs blood glucose levels will be higher. Until the blood glucose levels
return to normal, ensure that your child is getting plenty of fluids the sugar free kind is
the best choice.
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In many children with juvenile diabetes a period occurs shortly after being diagnosed
they go through what is commonly called as the honeymoon period. This is a time when
your childs blood sugar levels will return to normal without the aid of additional insulin.
It is important to remember that this happens in a lot of children and does not mean that
the disease has gone away. The pancreas is still trying to do its job and is working
overtime to make insulin for your childs body. Following are some guidelines to follow
when this happens.
The length of the honeymoon period is not the same for everyone. In one child it can last
months while in another child it can feasibly last for over a year. It all depends on how
much insulin your childs pancreas can produce and how long it can keep up that rate of
production. It will be hard to figure out how much if any insulin your child needs during
this time when their blood sugar levels are normal. Constant monitoring of the blood
glucose levels is still required, because you will not know when the honeymoon period is
over otherwise.
Keep in close contact with your health care provider. He or she will help in determining
what the best plan is to follow during the honeymoon phase. Some may even want you to
give minute amounts of insulin daily in order to keep your child used to the injections and
your childs body accustomed to the additional insulin it will need.
It can be emotionally hard for your child during the honeymoon phase. Everything will
seem back to normal and they are going to want to resume their life like it was prior to
diagnosis. It is important to remain on the diabetic diet and continue monitoring during
this time.
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