The Real Deal

We were told that she could swing into low blood sugars.  They showed me the handout where the guy looks cranky.  I was told she could get belligerent.  I had no idea what the meant.  But we did have the episode and it's important for other parents wondering if it's normal.

First it's laughable that I could convince a fully grown woman-child to eat a snack.  HAHAHAHAHA...she's stronger than I am (I have the bruises to prove it) and I had no idea what would set her off.  It turns out it was me texting to see where she was after work.  For most other 18 year olds..the eye rolling is normal.  What is not is a 20 min meltdown of destruction and chair throwing, kicking, punching, etc.  Perhaps more frank language would have been helpful from the doctor's office.  Or maybe no one wants to talk about it?

I'm not posting this out there for all to embarrass myself or my daughter.  But it was scary as crap and I was so glad I was dead honest with my best friend.  Who told me it was ok.  She didn't judge because frankly- that was not Katie who I was dealing with.  I think it was a combination of the stress of the disease combined with low blood sugar that sent her over the edge.  She kept screaming she wasn't mad at the disease because that would be STUPID..she thought we were the idiots (juicier words inserted please) and she hated US.  Her solution was to stop her insulin and move out.  I didn't handle it well.  Kev didn't either.  We both were upset. 

She finally got herself a snack and was able to think clearly enough to realize that she overreacted.  This is the same type of outburst we were dealing with for over a year now..nice to know our sweetheart daughter didn't mean it all those times.  And if she really was mad at us...maybe we will just give her a pass  :)

The scary part is that for Katie- her low sugar right now is in the 100s.  Her body loves being in the 200s.  So as she adjusts to having insulin in her body again she will have a lower and lower threshold before she's experiencing hypoglycemia.

We are now waiting for the honeymoon period.  Some kids for reasons totally not known- experience a lack of symptoms and their diabetes seems to go away.  Some might not even need insulin.  It's like their bodies get enough insulin that any islet (eyelet) cells left kick into gear and try and do what they are supposed to.  But eventually they die off.  The longest period of time this could be is a year or so.

And is it wrong of me to hope this doesn't happen?  All the insulin has a shelf life of 30 days.  That would be money down the drain if she ends up NOT needing it.

Some kids don't Honeymoon at all.  And don't get me wrong..I say kids because I have a kid with it.  But you can be diagnosed with T1D as an adult too.  Rarer but not impossible!