What to Expect

In the weeks after your child is diagnosed with diabetes, expect her appetite and weight to change. Before her diabetes was diagnosed, she may have lost weight or stayed at the same weight for a period of time. Now that the diabetes is being properly treated, she is likely to gain weight, as her body becomes able once again to absorb and use the food she eats. This is a normal reaction.

Although it is important to eat as consistently as possible, all children and adolescents go through growth spurts. Your child may need to eat more calories per day during a growth spurt. At other times, her appetite may even out or decrease slightly. To keep blood glucose levels under control when your child's appetite changes, ask the doctor or dietitian to teach both of you how to adjust insulin dosage for variations in food intake. You'll probably need to keep in particularly close contact with the dietitian in the first months after diagnosis, so that you can work together to adjust your child's meal plan as needed.

To make sure that your child receives good diabetes care, check this list of things to expect from the doctor. If it's the first visit to a new doctor, expect the doctor to ask:

• How long your child has had diabetes
• Whether anyone else in your family has diabetes
• How her diabetes is being treated now
• What and when she eats
• How often and how hard she exercises
• Whether she has any other health problems
• Whether she has had ketones in the urine
• Whether she has had low blood glucose
• Whether she has had any infections
• Whether she has any complications of diabetes
• What medicines she is taking

Then, a new doctor should do the following:

• Measure your child's height, weight, and blood pressure
• Look in her eyes and ask if she's had eye problems lately
• Look in her mouth and ask about dental problems
• Feel her neck to check her glands (and do tests if something seems wrong)
• Listen to the heart through the stethoscope
• Feel the abdomen to check the liver and other organs
• Look at her hands, fingers, and bare feet
• Check her pulse and sensations in his feet
• Check her skin
• Test reflexes
• Take her pulse
• Take blood and urine samples for tests

If your child has visited the doctor before, expect the doctor to ask:

• To see the logbook
• Whether her blood glucose has been running too high or too low
• Whether she has any signs of complications
• Whether she has been sick since your last visit
• What medicines she is taking now
• If her life has changed since your last visit

If she has had any problems sticking to his diabetes treatment plan, the doctor will do the following:

• Measure your child's weight, height, and blood pressure
• Look in her eyes
• Look at her bare feet
• Take a sample of blood for an HbA1c test and other tests
• Ask for a urine sample to test
• Go over her diabetes treatment plan to see if she's met the goals
• Talk about any changes that need to be made in the treatment plan

Your child should visit the doctor about every three months if she is in pretty good control. When she's having trouble with diabetes control or is trying a new treatment, she may visit the doctor more often.