Verified answer

i would call the doctor an press the need assistance now button and explain to the doctor whats going on, i work in a hospital so i would monitor his vitals ie:blood pressure/pulse/temp/ and respiration's(how many times he breathes a minute) and check his blood sugar, that's just the paranoid hospital talk coming out of me, if he were my kid, his sorry little behind would be go in to the e.r. cause if hes high then he needs insulin.and if its different every time (his blood sugar) he could need whats called an insulin drip which helps regulate it in through i.v. hope this helped

-kat

Your son needs the hard facts as far as his responsibility in managing his health. I know it is difficult getting teenagers to take responsibility for even small things. My son was diagnosed with a heart condition right in the middle of the school year and went through all the stages. It's almost like grieving-shock,sadness,anger,hopelessness and then hopefully acceptance. If my son hadn't persevered and decided to do what was needed to get himself better we would be in a bad place rather than managing and then resolving the problem. Most urban areas have pediatric diabetes clinics which have a multi-faceted team approach to caring for kids. A dr. for diagnosis and monitoring, specialty nurses for education and motivation and nutritionists for specific meal planning. Try and find a clinic near you and get a referral. You may need to set up some sort of reward system for your son for following through on his care. You would know what would work- maybe a movie for a weeks worth of carb counting and a video game purchase for a months, or a camping trip or visit to a theme park with friends. Take him to his current Dr. to discuss his current levels and any treatment to get him on track now and then lay out the reward system for your son from this point on. giving a 14 year old a motivation that has a tangible reward other than"it's for your own good" can be really beneficial. Good luck!

Your son should not be at school with ketones because it takes such intense management to take care of this problem, plus he probably feels awful. His frequent blood testing and bathroom breaks and need to have a lot of water would be distracting to the rest of the class.

It's generally not an emergency room thing either, unless you can't get the ketones and blood sugar down within a few hours.

You need a long term solution for this problem since it's not going to go away and he has a lot more school ahead of him. What I did for my son for a long time, was to count his carbs for him. I packed his lunch with carb info on everything and included a variety of foods. That way he had choices about what he at and how much insulin to take.

My son learned to estimate carbs pretty closely with this method.

You should follow your doctor's orders.

And by that I mean that HE needs to follow doctor's orders, too!!!

Frankly, it sound like mis-handling of diet is a "good way" to skip school! Too many ketones -- no school! At 14, they just don't understand the overall implications of failing to get that education.

And diabetes is NOT an excuse to not get an education! There is no reason why, with proper personal care, your son shouldn't be able to function completely and fully at school -- get his education, graduate on time, go to college, etc etc etc.

Your doctor should be setting up a Diabetic team, which includes the doctor, a dietician, AND A COUNSELOR. ALL THREE are necessary for proper care of this disease, And it seems that the counselor is going to be very important in the near future.

So yes, do what is necessary to get your son back "under control" IMMEDIATELY. Ketones is a very serious complication thaty MUSt be handled on an emergency basis.

But contact your doctor and get a referral to a psychologist who has experience working with juvenile diabetes patienets. He will, of course, want to talk to your son, but he will ALSO want to talk with you (BOTH parents), and will have many valuable ideas on how you can be both supportive (teaching and loving) and controlling (YOU need to be counting his carbs, too!) of your son's illness, especially until he matures to the point that HE can take care of it himself in a mature adult manner.