worried about diabetic daughter

[aisha63]

Hello,
I have a 19 year old daughter who has been diabetic for 2 years and takes care of her blood sugars on her own now, however, I am worried that she may be neglecting some of her shots for the purpose of losing weight.

My question is, could I be right in my suspician? I know for a fact that she has been trying to lose weight, exercises daily, however, her diet is very high in fat.

Is it even possible to lose weight by neglecting shots? I don't want to end up accusing her of this if it's not even possible, but I am becoming very concerned about her.

Please help! Thank You!
Aisha A.

[JDRF Team SGG]

Although her endocrinologist can't release information to you, there is nothing preventing YOU from giving HIM information. You may want to call him confidentially, and tell him your concern, and ask him to give her firm instructions if her hemoglobin a1c level is high enough to support your fears. It should be fairly easy for him to see whether your concerns are grounded in truth or not after he sees the results of her tests. If he KNOWS that she may be doing this, and sees high glucose levels proven by her a1c test, your call could help him know how to approach counseling her. He might be more likely to ask her directly if she is doing this and maybe to get her referred to a dietician who can help her lower her calorie intake if she needs to do this to lose weight. If he doesn't know, he will simply tell her how important it is to tighten up her control without broaching the diet subject. So your call could help him help her. And if she is not doing this, then her a1c numbers will probably be OK and the phone call won't have hurt anything at all.

[JDRF-Team-cb]

They would be the signs of high blood sugar.  I get crabby when my blood sugar levels are high.  Does she constantly go to the bathroom.  Is she very thirsty.  Is she lethargic and sleepy and moody?  Her vision could become blurry. Sometimes I would get sores in the corners of my mouth if my blood sugars were high.  Does this help?

[aisha63]

I read all your comments and they were very helpful. I scheduled an appointment for her with her endocrinologist but I'm afraid he will not be allowed to release her results or any information to me due to her age. Are there any more obvious signs that I may be able to see? She is already a very small girl and it is hard to tell if she's lost a few pounds or not. I do not want to approach her before her appointment seeing as how she may cancel it.

thank you!

[JDRF Team SGG]

It should be fairly easy to verify whether or not she is losing weight this way -- check her latest a1c number. This test is done usually at every checkup, to check what the average glucose reading for the past 3 months has been. If she is not taking her insulin, the a1c number will be high. There is no way to "cheat" on this test and tighten up control a few days before the lab work. If she is trying to lose weight, I would recommend that you talk to her about ways she can lose weight while maintaining good glucose control. Maybe a talk with a dietician is in order.

[JDRF-Team-cb]

Yes you can lose weight, by not taking shots-but that is very dangerous!  I know-I have been diabetic since I was 10 and tried to do the same thing as your daughter.  I felt awful! I would strongly recommend that you talk to her.  She may deny it and get mad, but don't stop.  I would recommend talking to her doctor and dietician and a therapist and really having her talk to them.  When you are young you do not understand the long-term ramifications of the things you are doing. I wanted to lose weight and thought it would be a good idea to not take my shots sometimes and than I would go to the bathroom and the weight would be gone-not entirely true.  You have to do that for a period of time and that is not healthy.  When your blood sugar is high there are many short term awful side effects not to mention the truly awful long-term side effects!  There are probably other things going on in your daughters life, the pressure to be thin, she is nineteen and maybe in college or dealing with being an adult and being a diabetic, which is scarey-I had a very hard time when I went away to college.  I was nervous and it was the first time I didn't have my mom there to lean on so much because I was there and she was home.
Just to let you know I got over my issues and am a healthy woman now with 2 children.  But talk to her and I think your daughter is pretty lucky to have such a perceptive mom who cares.

[JDRF-Team-wak]

I am not a physician, but the mom of a type on diabetic.  I do know that running high blood sugars and not taking insulin is a common thing that teens do try to do to loose weight.  It is very dangerous.  I would defiantly talk to your daughter and her endocrinologists, and see if safe adjustments can be made to her insulin plan, which would help her loose the weight she wants.

I ope this helps.  Please  check back with us and let us know how it goes