[archimeech]

Is this something new or was I just not trained properly when I was a child diabetic? I've never gotten up in the middle of the night to check my sugar unless I was feeling bad. Are we keeping kids under such tught control that we are causing them to have too many hypos? I wonder if all the problems that diabetic children are having with seizures these days could be attributed to the tighter control during their hormonaly imbalanced growing years? I played sports all through my childhood and never really had a problem with going too low.
However, to answer the question. A child that is able to undertand instructions and the consequences of not doing something, is never too young to begin to take control of their own health and the decisions that come with it.

[right2fight]

Oh great, that means I have at least 5 years of mushy brains. lol

[right2fight]

Me thinks some parents are way to over protective. You know the expression, "let sleeping dogs lie", well why wake a child up unnecessarily. I have a hard time believing that the child cannot feel the hypos and yes I am aware of hypo unawareness, it's just so many parents are losing sleep in an attempt to prevent a low. My son was dx'd at 7, is now 13, has never been hospitalized for diabetic episodes and wakes himself if necessary. I trained him well, so archimeech I think your parents did a stupendous job!

[samsmom]

Originally Posted by right2fight

Me thinks some parents are way to over protective. You know the expression, "let sleeping dogs lie", well why wake a child up unnecessarily. I have a hard time believing that the child cannot feel the hypos and yes I am aware of hypo unawareness, it's just so many parents are losing sleep in an attempt to prevent a low. My son was dx'd at 7, is now 13, has never been hospitalized for diabetic episodes and wakes himself if necessary. I trained him well, so archimeech I think your parents did a stupendous job!

I sure hope you are not saying that since your son can feel his lows that everyone else should too. As you know, diabetes is not a one size fits all disease. My son can not feel his lows at night and You can believe that or not. My son has been dealing with diabetes since he was a baby so higs and lows are not new to him. There has been many times when I caught a low under 40 during the night, he never woke up. I will sacrifice my sleep for the safety of my son. I am not going to wait until he goes into a seizure and then say "well next time you should feel your lows and this wouldnt happen"!!

No I am not an overprotective mom, in fact I rarely jump right in when my son needs to do some problem solving. But when it comes to his health, I am responsible and will continue to get up in the middle of the night (not every night, just when numbers are off before bed) to make sure he is ok..thats my job, I'm his mom.

Please remember that just because your son can self manage lows, does not mean that all kids can. That doesnt mean the parents are doing a better or worse job, just that diabetes vaires from child to child...

[right2fight]

As I said in my last post, there is such a thing as hypo unawareness, so I am aware that diabetes is not a one size fits all disease. I'm blessed because my child is so responsible at 13 and hope you experience the same when your child reaches that age. All opinions are welcome here!

[type1tenorlady]

Originally Posted by Stuboy

im 23 and i dont wake up with an alarm to test during the night... i've tried.... it just doesn't happen lol.

When my BG is good, I'm a very heavy sleeper. When it's low I am wide awake in about 2 minutes and it takes another 15-20 before my adrenaline stops pumping enough for me to get back to sleep. It's been this way since I was diagnosed at 11 (I'm 24 now) and didn't change during puberty, not even a little.

I first got my pump a few months ago and was worried I wouldn't wake up for night testing so I didn't sleep very well and I had no problem getting up, but as soon as I became comfortable with it any and all alarms just got turned off and I would go back to sleep.

I've been the only one in charge of my care since coming out of the hospital; my mother loves me but could never bring herself to prick my finger or give me a shot unless it were a dire emergency. That doesn't mean to say I was responsible all the time, but fortunately I am usually quite lucid when I go low, even when it's very low (I hit 29 at school once), and I always had glucose tabs or a good substitute within reach. You're right about how much the disease varies (my brother is type 1 also, doesn't test, has excellent A1C numbers and gets completely incoherent and giggles like a schoolgirl if he goes low) but if your son has a lot of trips and camp stays in his future I'd say this is a good time to have him take some more control and start to try to recognize any patterns, eg whether a certain activity makes him go low more often than another, so that he can learn to deal with them on his own.

[Type1Mum]

Thanks Type1TenorLady and all the other replies. My son arrived back from camp where the teachers woke him during the night as they were v active during the day and he tends to go a little low after activitiy. On the last night, after setting 75% basal rate for 24 hrs, and half bolusing for dinner, the 3am check showed him at 2.5mmol (about 45 I think). After treating twice, as he only moved up to 5.0 (90) half hour later, he then woke at 7am at 3mmol/l (54)! The previous day he had hiked for 4 hours, and kayaked for 3 upstream. I am glad I had the teachers check him.

He has quite good control and last HbA1c was 6.8%.

Think I'll buy an alarm clock and see how he goes. In 2 years he'll be away for 4 weeks on a camp - so he'll need to have it all sorted by then.

Cheers!

[right2fight]

Hi type I Mum, Sounds like a great time was had by all, how fortunate you have such willing, caring people to help your son. With such strenuous activities it looks like it was necessary, is your son always active? By the way, A1C is great and it looks like he's on the road to independence.
Last night I took my son to the County Fair and I didn't see him for 6 hours. Self-sufficient and happy and sad all at once. He's growing up!
Margaret

[Type1Mum]

Thanks Right2fight. Yes - always active! However, I am very lucky with the school - still, it is a private school, so I really expect them to go that extra mile. They were amazed at how much he has to do, and all the extra stuff he has to think about compared with all the other 12 and 13 year olds there.

He plays about 4 different sports, summer and winter. Plays in the school band (Oboe), sings in the choir etc. He is very sensible - but still has the odd slip up (friends b'day party on weekend - drank non-diet fizzy drink and at way too much really fatty pizza). Still, his activity level tends to counter that.

Still, I can't imagine letting him leave home. When he was first diagnosed, I said to my husband that I won't let him leave until he has a nice girlfriend lying in the bed next to him!

[right2fight]

Hey Mum, Sounds like what I told my son after the headmaster made him lie down to act out a glucagon demonstration. I told my son, "don't ever lay down for anybody, unless it's a woman."
Margaret

[Type1Mum]

Good advice Margaret, lol.
Cheers, Anna (Type1mum)

[right2fight]

Hey Anna, It's hard to leave them alone at first, but you gotta trust them, after all it's their body and they know what to do. I expect your son does real well, with all his activities and I guess he keeps you going all the time.

Margaret

[fnz2thrght]

wanted to chime in here, this recent study would indicate that people with type 1 do not always wake from their lows - in fact most do not.

PLoS Medicine - Awakening from Sleep and Hypoglycemia in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

[DeusXM]

And yet nighttime hypoglycaemia hardly ever kills anyone with T1. Let's not forget that whilst your body might not be so good at lowering BG, it's got no problems at all at raising it. Even if your son has a hypo in the night and doesn't wake up during it, he'll almost certainly be absolutely fine and wake up the next morning with a sore head and that's about it.

If anything, cutting the strings a bit would help all kids start taking better care of themselves. I was lucky in that I was dxed at 14 and I was in a position to point blank tell my parents to back off and let me get on with it. If you're always fretting about your kid and their diabetes, they're never going to take responsibility because they'll always think a parent is going to sail in and do it for them. Give them the responsibility and they'll rise to the occasion.

[right2fight]

Kudos Deus, I couldn't agree more!!

Margaret