Ask The Expert
Education, Care & Research

I understand how overwhelmed you feel right now, and naturally you are eager to learn all you can. It’s hard to tell you to slow down and take it one day at a time when you want to do everything possible for your son. You may have already learned that early in the diagnosis with type 1, many children go through a temporary “honeymoon phase” where they barely require any insulin, and the diabetes is very easy to control. For this reason, most specialists prefer to wait awhile before embarking on an intensive regimen (such as using an insulin pump) until things settle down.

Since I can’t tell what you already know, or what type of diabetes education you have already received, I’ll try to give you an overview of what’s available and how to find it:

• Diabetes Specialist: First it is important to get established with a diabetes specialist. This might seem obvious, but not all health plans automatically allow this. However, it is almost universally accepted that children with type 1 diabetes should be under the care of a specialist.
• Diabetes Education: Next, you should obtain diabetes education on an ongoing basis, from a diabetes center or outpatient diabetes clinic. Ideally, your diabetes educators (nurses and dietitians) will be certified diabetes educators (CDEs), and their education program will be recognized by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). I would add that even if your health plan didn’t cover this service, or if you had to travel farther to obtain it, it is well worth the investment and time, to obtain the education, support, and expertise that the staff of a good program can offer. I cannot emphasize enough that you can get inundated with information (including all the info from the sites I list below) and advice from other parents—and you really need a good relationship with a healthcare team who knows your son, to help you sort out what is appropriate for you and your son’s individual needs.
• Other Support: Generally it takes several months to obtain and absorb all the information from a typical education program—and meanwhile, your and your child’s feelings and attitudes are changing as you learn, adapt, cope, and accept all that is happening. Many people benefit from the services of a social worker or counselor (some diabetes programs have counselors as part of their diabetes team) to help your family adjust to this change. In addition, many communities have support groups for parents of children with diabetes. There is on-line chat support available as well on some websites.
• Staying Current: As you will read in the related question at right, there are many web resources that offer monthly subscriptions to print magazines and/or weekly e-newsletters.

Best wishes for sorting this all out and obtaining the information and support you need.