Advice on Diabetic forgetting to take his insulin?
Leeola asked:
My daughters boyfriend who our whole family has grown close to and is like a son to us is very irrespnsable when it comes to taking his insulin. At one point a few years back he was hospitalized for 6 months due to this (before he met my daughter) He’s come a long way since then and has been taking care of it for a long time with A LOT of help from us and my daughter helping him but lately(past few weeks) he is starting to get lazy and forgetful again. He is 18 and old enough to know better. He’s been a diabetic since he was 6 years old. He knows how to measure,test his blood sugar..etc. So theres really no excuse. She and we love him very much but would never just give up on him (like other people in his life seemed to of in the past) But I don’t think she should have to constantly remind him to take his insulin either! Yes she feel in love with a diabetic and she IS and will continue to help him because she loves him and thats part of the deal. We understand this but he also has to stop forgetting to take his insulin and test himself. What can we do to help? Growing a little frustrated here!
Gary B! Thank you for the advice! It rocks and agree 100% and plan on using some of the things you said when I talk with him later on tonight
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My daughters boyfriend who our whole family has grown close to and is like a son to us is very irrespnsable when it comes to taking his insulin. At one point a few years back he was hospitalized for 6 months due to this (before he met my daughter) He’s come a long way since then and has been taking care of it for a long time with A LOT of help from us and my daughter helping him but lately(past few weeks) he is starting to get lazy and forgetful again. He is 18 and old enough to know better. He’s been a diabetic since he was 6 years old. He knows how to measure,test his blood sugar..etc. So theres really no excuse. She and we love him very much but would never just give up on him (like other people in his life seemed to of in the past) But I don’t think she should have to constantly remind him to take his insulin either! Yes she feel in love with a diabetic and she IS and will continue to help him because she loves him and thats part of the deal. We understand this but he also has to stop forgetting to take his insulin and test himself. What can we do to help? Growing a little frustrated here!
Gary B! Thank you for the advice! It rocks and agree 100% and plan on using some of the things you said when I talk with him later on tonight
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when his blood sugar is high he will feel tired.
slow acting insulin lowers the needs for constant insulin shots.
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There is NOTHING you can do to help. There is a LOT you can do to **** him off, in which case he will break off his relationship with your daughter just to get rid of your “control”.
The short story is that YOU can control no one except YOU. People can and will make their own decisions, and that fact is VERY important to an 18 year old. he, unfortunately, puts the “spreading his wings” process above that of “stay healthy”. He has NOT yet grasped the concept that in order to spread one’s wings, those wings must be healthy!
He may be 18, but he is NOT yet mature enough to take care of himself! a REAL man know that his Number One responsibility is to those around him (his girlfriend, his wife, his children, his family, etc), and you cannot be effective with that unless you are healthy.
What you are seeing is a typical response from a teenager, who wants desparately to be free from from control, to live his own life, but is “grounded” by a life-threatening disease. While he seems to have broken away from his parents or they from him, as you said: ” . . . never just give up . . . like other people in his life seemed to of . . .” He will NEVER be able to break away from diabetes. This is a life-long problem that need his constant every-day attention.
What he needs to do is learn to be a real man, and take control of his problems instead of letting them take control of him. Diabetes, when well-managed, is NOT a road-block to life. There are MANY well-know professional in ALL fields who are Type 1 Diabetics. Because of their personal care and attention to their haelth problems, they function at almost 100% of their capacity in life. I’ve met Sport figures, musicians , actors, and CEO’s who are in various stages of diabets. Diabetics are around you every day — and you would never know it unless they made a TV commercial!
WHEN he learns to take proper care of himself, he will find that almost nothing can stop him from enjoying lfie — including schooling, college, sport, love, marriage, and children of his own — probably even grandchildren!
But if he, through his own inaction, lets diabetes control his life, then he is going to die — at a young age and in a great deal of pain.
Given this, your daughter may want to review his actions towards his diabetes, and consider the emotional pain that this will cause in her young life, and she needs to consider if he really exhibts his love towards her through his unwillingness to take proper care of himself so that he can be, in the future, a good husband and father.
Again, YOU can do nothing. you can tell him all this, but it is HIS choice as to follow the instructions or not. You may not like his choice, and you do not have to let it affect YOUR lives, but you DO have to respect his ability to make his own decisions — even the wrong ones.
diabetic testing
Every young person goes through this. Please understand that managing Type 1 is very complicated and frustrating – we are missing a critical bodily function that you take for granted, and we are just trying to mimic it as best we can. I’ve 42 and have had it for 25 years and I still forget to bolus myself sometimes, or I think I didn’t do it so I bolus twice!
Let him know you care about him and you know he doesn’t feel very good when his glucose is high. Your daughter doesn’t need to baby him, but she will need to keep track and remind him until it becomes second nature. Maybe you think she shouldn’t have to, but if she’s interested in being with him, then helping him take care of himself is what she’s signing up for. It’s a chronic illness that is very challenging to manage.
He also might do better with an insulin pump – you can set alarms on it at mealtimes as reminders.