Hearing the doctor diagnose your child as a type one diabetic can be a devastating moment. Many things can go through the mind of any parent when faced with a life altering diagnosis. Yes it is manageable, yes your child can still be treated just like every other child their age, but; there is still that feeling of why our child?, what could we have done differently?, what didn't we do?
Fortunately there is nothing that you did or did not do as a parent to have caused your child to be one of many living with type one diabetes, and there is nothing you could have done differently. As mentioned in the article What is the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes? Type 1 can affect anyone due to a breakdown of the pancreas usually from a fever or viral infection. So instead of dwelling on the diagnosis, the best thing you can do now is learn as much as you can about the disease starting with how you handle it.
Coping with Type 1 diabetes can be easy if you follow the directions of your doctor, ask questions when you are not sure, and work together with your doctor as a team. Checking your child's blood sugar before breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime can be overwhelming, add to that giving an injection of insulin after each meal and before bed and you are really overwhelmed. However; there are a couple of things you can do to help you get through the first few days, or weeks.
Don't be ashamed or afraid to go to family or close friends to discuss your feelings good or bad. Talking about it is therapeutic and can help things become clearer.
Getting the other siblings involved with the care and management of the child with diabetes can not only help them understand what is going on but will help the child dealing with it feel loved and supported.
Remember you are Not Alone! There are support groups, websites, and local support available to help in any way they can.
Get connected by checking out some of these websites:
Southwest Chapter of JDRF
Children with Diabetes
JDRF National Website
Thank You- Thank you for this-it needs to be said and repeated often. Parents hearts are broken when they hear their child has type1-so much happening and so much info coming at them so fast.You can quickly sink to the bottom if not helped by others.Adding to the pressure is the thought that somehow-some way that you have brought this on to happen to your child and the mind can be like a never ending tape recorder going through the mind searching for that one thing you did wrong as a parent to cause this and the world and uneducated people are there sometimes to confirm that the parent is the one to blame-The only way that I can get to a better place is to read the facts-true facts that I nor other parents did anything wrong and this just happened.Now-where do we go from here-forward and I watch the many people who live beautiful lives in spite of type1-they are bright lights to my life.Thank you again..
Meme,
I apologize for not ever responding to this, I thought I was receiving emails when I get a comment post on my blogs and don't remember ever getting one on this.
I just want you to know that I saw, Thank you and your Welcome!