Eating Out With Diabetes

We have had some great and terrible experiences when eating out since Jack has been diagnosed.
I must say that 90% of our experiences have been very positive. In the most people are very attentive and try their best to help.

So here is our survival guide to restaurants, what works for us.

Obvious I know, but I always ensure Jack has checked his sugar before we go out to eat.  If his sugar is low it can make him a little grumpy, not the best frame of mind for choosing a meal.

Install Carbs & Cals onto a mobile device, this is fantastic as it shows portion sizes so enables you to identify the exact size of your meal. Thus helping you to work out your carbs almost exactly. We have it on all of our devices, for us it is a must have app that makes life so easy. There is also a paperback version available.

When ordering your meal, speak to the staff in the restaurant. People have been so helpful with Jack, helped him work out his portion sizes. On occasions he has even been taken into the kitchen to meet the chef who has shown him portion sizes.

Hypo Awareness Week, Please Don't Judge

As we a coming to the end of Hypo Awareness Week  I though I would share a concern that has been on my mind lately. We have had 3 incidents recently where Jack has lost control. When I say lost control I mean really lost his temper and totally seen red, causing him to lash out in some way. 

One of the incidents was during a football match and he hit his opponent who tackled him, now of course he was immediately sent off and fined and rightly so. 

On another occasion he was on Holiday with his friends parents, they had an argument he hit and punched his friend square on the nose then ran off. When his friends Mum rang me to tell of course she was upset and a little angry and rightly so.

Now on these occasions I wasn't present, he had tested his sugar, which did not appear low. But I know this is not my child, he is laid back happy go lucky and chilled out and mostly always has a smile on his face, friends I have told who know Jack very well have also been baffled. Don't get me wrong like every teen he can whine till the cows come home, is lazy and would starve rather than make a sandwich and constantly irritates his little brother. By no strength of the imagination is he perfect, I am not deluded. But he is not aggressive. 

The Importance of Having a Great Team Around You, When Dealing With Diabetes

One night this week I took part in the Diabetes UK twitter chat. The topic for discussion was the Make The Grade campaign which looks at how schools support children with type 1 diabetes. Most of the tweets I read were positive, and then I read one Dads tweet that just horrified me.

The Dad lives in Manchester and has a 6-year-old son, who was diagnosed 3 years ago.  Whilst his son can test his own sugar, he cannot inject by himself yet. His teachers are willing to take training to administer his lunchtime injections, but the chair of governors have intervened and stopped this happening. I just can’t get over this; as a result Mum and Dad have to leave work daily at lunchtime to administer their child's injection. The Dad told me“we are lucky to have understanding employers.” I haven't been able to stop thinking about this family ever since. Of course I don’t know the all the facts, but if they are a simple as the Dad explained the School Governors should hang their heads in shame.

As a result I wanted to celebrate the wonderful people we have around us. Who have made type 1 diabetes an every day occurrence? Like breathing. Or walking. The Christie family heroes are the wonderful East Lancashire Children's Diabetes Team. I tell you now, things like that would not happen on their watch. And Jacks Primary and High School (You know who you are)

These amazing people have made everyday life so easy;

Dr. G. Inspires Jack to cope daily but also is able to push him in the right direction if his sugar is not 100%. Jack knows there are no flies on Dr. G he is able to tell if Jack has sneaked in a cheeky Cream Egg on the 15th of March at 3pm. As a result Jack really does consider what he eats. Dr.G also gives him credit for his achievements and encourages him to manage his condition. A true inspiration to Jack.

Letting Go! When To Let A Teen Be A Teen, Diabetic Or Not

As I write this post Jack is spending the first night of a full week away from us, I know arghhh. As a parent it is your worst nightmare, your children staying away from home. Yet part of you is glad you have brought them up to be confident enough to leave you. 

Jack is 13, very nearly 14 but the difference is; he has type 1 diabetes. I cant compare him to another child, he has not got an older sibling. Is it worse because of his condition? I don't know. 

When he was diagnosed at the age of 10 he was booked on an educational for 4 nights with school, of course we let him go, how could we not, but I never slept for a week. School were fantastic and had all the relevant training, and Jack had a wonderful time.

Jack is becoming more and more independent, as teens do. But I have always controlled his diabetes, understood very high, every low. However lately he has started to take control himself. At first I was horrified, but his team suggested Chris and I take a back seat.

I know they are 100% right, Jack manages extremely well, and in fact he has excelled in diabetes management. If there was a grade, I would give him A*, but his team think he is ready to be more independent. To make his own decisions on insulin, carb counting, sports factors etc.  Yes, he will make mistakes; it is part of learning, of growing. He will learn from these mistakes, but he has to start to take ultimate control of his condition. 

Coping with Diabetes on Days Out

I was so proud of Jack last week; I feel he really took a positive step towards accepting diabetes. We have been very positive and pro active in managing his condition. We have drummed it into him he is no different to any other teenager, but does have a few restrictions around consumption of food and drink and how he approaches sport and activity. 

Don't get me wrong he manages it extremely well. He plays in sports teams weekly and pushes himself physically to keep fit and healthy. We couldn't be prouder. But we are behind him most of the time, reminding him to check his sugar, sometime recognising hypos before he does.

However last year we had visited Blackpool pleasure beach with friends, it was a very hot day; which does make his sugar levels drop quicker. We were queueing for a ride, and the queue was huge, when he had a hypo. It was one of those hypos that came with no notice, the type he cant eat during. I had snacks on me but no lucozade. To be honest it was a total nightmare getting him out of this long winding queue, Jack displaying his full hypo strop. Now this is a rare incident but does happen, and mostly when we are out. Once we had returned Jacks sugar to normal he was more upset we had had to leave the queue when we were nearly at the front.

 

After the event a friend told me that if you had certain disabilities or conditions you could get a special pass type ticket at most UK theme parks, that would Allow Jack and, one other person to use the fast pass line. It is not something we have tried since, as we are a family of four we choose to ride together. And if we are with him we can deal with hypos, whether its a case of treating in the queue of leave the line altogether. 

However last week, Jacks school had arranged an end of year trip to Blackpool Pleasure beach. Jack was really excited planning what rides to visit with friends. But I could see something was on his mind. Then the night before, during dinner, he told us he was worried about having a hypo in the queue. And wondered if it was OK to get a fast access pass. We discussed it and agreed that if he felt safer, then yes he should.  

It was so hard as I wanted to ring the school and the Pleasure beach for him, to make all the arrangements. But I knew in my heart he had decided to take this step, and had to follow it through alone. I know he is only 13, but one thing about having a great diabetes team behind you is; as a parent they educate you, your child has to learn to take a level of responsibility for their condition. 

The next morning off Jack went to Blackpool, he text to say he was there safely but other than that I never heard from him all day. When I collected him at the end of the day, he was buzzing he had, had a great day. He talked about the rides he had been on, told me funny stories of things that had happened, but never mentioned the fast pass or his sugar. Once he had told me all his news, I asked if he had gone to customer services for a pass. And hurrah yes he had, he had asked his head of year who had agreed, and off he had gone with his diabetes card to get the pass.

I am so so proud of him, he took responsibility for his sugar levels yesterday, he came home with near perfect levels and had enjoyed a great day, without having to worry about what happens if he has a hypo in a queue. Well-done Jack today was a massive step for you, accepting your conditions and taking precautions to ensure you are safe. 

Ten Ways NOT to Deal With A Hypo! And I Have Done Them All!

Learning how to deal with Type 1 Diabetes is a real learning curve, one that I am still on. I have made some silly mistakes. Some, on reflection, absolutely ridiculous mistakes. But as I am totally comfortable with my non-perfectness. I am willing to share them so others can learn from my mistakes. 

However when you start reading, I know you will think; No-one is that stupid, or as if you would do that? It's amazing what you do in panic mode.  

So here goes, don't judge me or call child-line, I do genuinely do my best and most days do very well. 

But here are my; Top 10 mistakes, when dealing with hypo's

How We Deal with Hypo's

The thing that fills me with the most dread, probably my biggest fear in the world is Jack having a huge hypo. Hypo means that a diabetic persons sugar levels go below 3.9. Now if this is recognised and dealt with quickly then it is easily treatable, however failing to recognise warning signs could cause a temporary coma.

 The Boys were so excited to have a tube carriage to themselves.

Low Fat Jelly Sweets, A healthier alternative to Haribo

Every week at slimming world people talk about these sweets, now I have an admission to make; to be honest I don't like haribo or jelly sweets. When I tell people this they look at me at disgust, like I have two heads or something. I just don't get what all the fuss is about, they are over sweet and sickly. 

The boys love them, this is something that Jack will always have to give an extra injection for and you would not believe the carbs in them soooo high. I really am not keen on him eating them, but he's a teenager I can't deny him things he likes. 

So I was keen to try these, if there is a chance they are a good substitute then these have got to better for him. So here goes

You will need;

2 sachets sugar free jelly crystals
2 sachets powdered gelatin
1 pot mullerlight yoghurt

I used Raspberry for this Batch

Peoples Misconceptions of Diabetes.

Jack has been very lucky with the way people surrounding him have reacted to his diabetes; he was in year 5 at primary school when he was diagnosed. School was fantastic,his class friends were so supportive, in fact 6 weeks after his diagnosis he was due to go away for a week with school. I didn't think this would now be possible, there was so much for us to learn, how would school manage. But they arranged an appointment with Jacks nurse Vicky and received all the relevant training to make the trip possible. They even did a fund raising event for diabetes UK in support of Jack.

His high School is exactly the same, I was terrified when he started High School but they are amazing, he is in lots of sports teams and last year won an award as one of the runners up, as sport personality of the year. They encourage him and push him to do lots of sports and he loves sport, as a result he absolutely loves School.

100 Happy Days, Day 37, Jacks Diabetes Review.

For day 37 I am choosing Jack, we went to see his consultant and the diabetic team today for Jack's 3 monthly check up. At the clinic up they weigh and measure Jack to ensure he is growing correctly, discuss any concerns or issues he may have. And most importantly Jack has a test called a HbA1c. 

This test is able to check the glucose/sugar levels of Jacks blood, and is able to understand his levels for the last 12 weeks, so it is hugely important; if this is right we are on the right track for Jacks long-term health.

Living With Type 1 Diabetes, Traveling With Medication.

There is so much to think about when going away on holiday, sun cream, toiletries, clothes, and shoes. But now we also have to ensure we have all of Jacks necessary medication, and trust me there is loads. And spares in case of emergency. 

The first time we went away this blew my mind a bit as we had to make sure we had all bases covered. A typical holiday list looks a bit like this.

Map of the Day, Coping with lunch time injections.

I had to think of a way  to make dealing with diabetes at lunch time fun! Not easy to make being different, and administering an injection fun but there had to be a way.

Then I came up with map of the day, every day I put a little note in with Jacks packed lunch to tell him how many grams of carbohydrates are in his lunch. He can then put this data into his Aviva Expert Glucose Monitor to analyze his blood sugars and ratios to give him the correct prescription of insulin to administer.

Mini Map of the UK

Testing Blood Sugar Levels

Now we were coming to terms with the concept of Diabetes, we had to get a grip on Jack's Sugar levels, Jacks wonderful nurses suggested we try the Aviva Expert Bolus System, this amazing little machine actually seems to have a brain, it thinks for Jack. Anyone with a teenage boy knows this is priceless.

The home screen option on the Aviva Expert

The machine has to be set to know Jacks ratios of insulin per meal, Jack is on slightly different ratios for each meal, then he is able to put in the correct amount of carbs he is about to consume from his carbs and cals ap, This clever little machine is then able to work out his ratio, coupled with his current blood sugar level to give him an exact prescription of insulin he needs to inject.

Carbs & Cals

When Jack was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes he was put on a fixed dose of insulin 3 times a day at meal times, this could be quite restrictive on certain occasions; such as eating out and having a pudding etc as he could only consume a certain amount of carbohydrates.


From day one he coped extremely well with all the information, and adapting to his new way of life. He was also incredibly lucky to have in my opinion the best diabetes team behind him, who encouraged him to change from fixed dose to carb counting. This is where he adds the carbohydrates of every meal together and works out how much insulin to inject.


This is a much more thorough and effective way of living with diabetes, carb counting allows you to have ultimate control over your blood sugar levels. Jack still injects before every meal, but now is able to inject an exact amount of insulin to work with the food he eats. This has helped his ability to be responsible and control his diabetes.

Coming to terms with Type 1 Diabetes.

Getting over the shock, embracing diabetes.

When Jack was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 3 years ago we were faced with many choices. The first was how to deal with the news. There were several ways to deal with this we could loose all grip of reality and embrace the injustice of it all, or we could think hey he could have been diagnosed with worse conditions or even worse an illness.

Don't get me wrong diabetes must be taken extremely seriously; it has changed our way of life forever.  It affects everything.
If it is not well managed it can cause serious life long health problems but in my opinion you do have the choice to learn, fight and manage the condition.  This was the path we like many, many others chose.

The 4 days Jack and I spent in hospital blew my mind, We had so much information to learn; it felt like we were studying a foundation degree but the outcome of this degree affected our child's life forever.