Diabetic Meltdown

I’ve heard that teenage boys can go through a rebellious stage in regard to their diabetes management but I never thought it would affect my son. He does his blood sugars, changes his site, boluses for his meals….or so I thought until yesterday.

We have been letting go of the reins a bit in order to give him more responsibility. After all he is 14 ½ and we can’t be by his side 24/7. As long as we know where he is, who he’s with, how long he’ll be gone, and of course, that he has all of his necessary supplies, we’ve allowed him to venture into the world of teenagedom.

Yesterday he was with his girlfriend and her family all day until 5:00 p.m. Once he came home we sat down to go over his blood tests to put on a 3 day log sheet that we needed to fax to his new Doctor. To my surprise there was no blood sugar history after the morning test, and after checking his pump, confirmed there was no bolus history either. After Jake had what I call a "diabetic meltdown", he decided to admit that he hadn’t done anything since breakfast. He said when he’s around his girlfriend he just wants to feel "normal", and that he’s tired of his diabetes. He’s tired of the needles, the blood tests, the carb counting, the low’s and the high’s. When he’s with his friends he wants to be like all the other kids.

After a lot of tears, mine included, we grounded him for two weeks for lying. I guess the reins will be pulled tight again.