We were caught by surprise 5 years ago when our son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. No relative on either side of our family had the disease, we didn't know anyone with the disease, and we weren't really sure what Type 1 Diabetes was. Luckily, we happen to live just 20 minutes from one of the country's premiere Children's Endocrinology Centers. We learned everything we could as quickly as we could. We were relieved to find such a strong, supportive network of parents and researchers all working towards a cure.
We also found that many friends and relatives had only sketchy notions of the disease. "He'll grow out of it, won't he?" "Did your wife eat a lot of sugar while pregnant?" "I understand, my dog has diabetes..." But we don't mind educating people - it is the foundation on which acceptance, support, and a cure will be based.
To our surprise, we found that there was not an accepted ribbon to display support for finding a cure to Type 1. As a visual artist, I started thinking about what that symbol could be. I knew it needed to be more sophisticated than just showing the equipment involved (needles, meters) or drops of blood. It needed to focus on the person, and how they handle the disease as part of their life.
After going through many different ideas that weren't quite right, my wife suggested the tightrope walker. I finished the design the next day.
Red and white to represent blood and sugar. A child walking the tightrope between food (represented by an apple) and insulin. The delicate balance done every day to maintain equilibrium until the cure is found. There is no negative connotation to tightrope walking -- it is beautiful to behold by someone with the hard-won skill. But our goal is not just to make walking that tightrope easier, but through science, awareness, and perseverance we will bring our loved ones back to solid ground.
Please feel free to download and spread this symbol. Please ask questions and make comments. And best of luck to all our fellow parents of diabetic children.
HELPFUL HINTS
A place for the little hints and tricks we've learned. Please feel free to add to our knowledge base by commenting below!
Varied Carbs: Eating a proper carb load and teaching a diabetic to have a healthy relationship with food can seem to be working at cross purposes. We want our son to have as much control over his eating as possible, while still maintaining a precise carb count. One trick we use is to have cookies and crackers of various carb counts – some that are 3 grams a piece, 5, 7, 9 and 11. After Alexander tests his blood sugar, we can say, “Would you like some crackers?” and then we’ll give him the appropriate snack for his score. A high-end blood sugar will get him the lower carb cracker and vice-versa. He feels good because he gets to have a snack, and we feel good knowing his sugar will stay in control.
Matching Carbs: Choice is very important to children. We frequently stock different food of matching carb counts so that at snack time we can ask our son, “Do you want a granola bar or an apple sauce cup?” when both are the same carb count. Being required to eat at certain times is difficult enough, but he feels better if he gets some say in what he eats.
Lifesavers: Our son always carries several lifesavers in his pocket as a source of fast-acting sugar. Always easy to find, and they come individually wrapped.
Exercise: Exercise affects the blood sugar in many ways. Our muscles store sugar in case we need a burst of quick activity. If we suddenly start running, our muscle sugar provides the start, and then stored sugar from the liver and in the blood take over to sustain the activity. About an hour after the exercise, our muscles pull sugar from the blood to replace their stored sugar – which means that blood sugar levels can drop dramatically an hour or two AFTER exercising. Be prepared with extra sugar after the cool down period.
A short burst of exercise can spike blood sugar levels as sugar is released into the blood on its way to the muscles. Generally speaking, one will get a much more accurate blood sugar reading if your child has rested for 10 minutes before testing. Stopping a child during activity to test may give you an artificially high blood sugar reading.
Halloween Strategy
Halloween presents a difficult challenge for the diabetic child – exactly what is the carb count of all that candy from around the neighborhood? Our solution to this problem is rather straightforward – replace the candy. Our son trick-or-treats around the neighborhood, but then at home we separate out all the candy that we can’t find the carb count on. Having earlier bought bags of his favorite snack size candy bars (and getting the carb count off the package) we simply replace the ‘unknown’ candy with an equal amount from our own stash. The neighborhood candy goes back in the bowl to be handed out to trick-or-treaters, and our son still gets his full sack of candy.
He will slowly eat his way through that candy over the next couple of months, as we put one or two pieces in with his snack each day.
We also bring a piece of candy with us to give him half-way through trick-or-treating, to counter all the activity of walking.
The following is a list of candy carb counts we have collected over the years. Please be advised that manufactures can change their product size and nutritional makeup at any time, so please check individual websites and packages for up-to-date nutritional information!
All candy bars are Fun Size unless specified and numbers represent grams of carbohydrate.
Spree (8 pieces) - 14g
Baby Ruth - 12g
Twix (mini) - 6g
(full) - 37g
Butterfinger - 15g
Almond Joy - 11g
Mounds - 11g
Hershey Bar - 10g
Snickers - 12g
Payday - 10g
Woppers - 5g
Reece’s mini bite - 4g
Hersey kisses - 3g
mints - 5g
butterscotch - 4g
dots - 3g per dot
Kit Kat - 9g
Reece’s - 12g
Milky Way - 14g
milk duds - 5g per dud
Laffy Taffy - 6g
Kissables - 10g
Nerds - 1g weight=1g carb
Swedish Fish – 15g
Tootsie Roll - 4g each small; 10g large
Sugar Daddy - 11g
Tootsi pop - 15g
A&W - 6g
Skittles - 20g (.75oz)
Restaurants
Eating out in restaurants can be a tricky proposition with Type 1 Diabetes. While it is a great treat, it is difficult to know exactly how the food is prepared. A dish of pasta at home and a dish of pasta at a restaurant can have wildly different carb counts. Luckily, it has gotten a lot easier lately, with restaurants frequently posting their nutritional information online, or ready to supply the info at the table. Here are a few tips and resources we’ve discovered for eating out:
Research first: more and more, it is becoming easier to find carb counts online for restaurants. Glancing at the kids menu online can prepare you for what to expect.
Arrive early: You may need to wait for a table, and then for your server. And you will have to wait for the food – so give yourselves time. When we find ourselves short on time, we just ask that the kid’s meal be brought first, as soon as it is ready.
Avoid Fountain Drinks: Diet sodas are not always! Because of the way fountain soda systems are hooked up, we have found that diet sodas from a fountain can frequently spike our son’s blood sugar. We usually order an iced tea and sweeten it with Splenda at the table. We have also brought Crystal Light To Go Packs and mixed his own drink from his water glass. Sometimes a waiter will give us a surprised look, but that is easily remedied with a quick explanation.
Restaurant Effect: No matter how accurately we have measured restaurant food – our son was always high after eating. We soon started adding a little insulin on top of his food carb count, just for being restaurant food. We generally add one more option (15 grams worth) of insulin to counter this effect.
Keep a Journal: If you frequent certain restaurants, keeping a journal of the meal and it’s effect on blood sugar can be very helpful for next time. Remember to record your child’s blood sugar from the next morning as well. We find with some restaurants that our son needs additional insulin overnight to help with digestion as well.
Carry a Scale: We carry a pocket-sized scale (purchased off Amazon.com) to aid in calculating carbs once the meal has arrived.
Calorie King: This book has proved indispensible to us on many occasions: http://www.amazon.com/CalorieKing-Calorie-Carbohydrate-Counter-2010/dp/1930448279/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277828182&sr=8-1
Collapsible measuring cups: http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-5-Piece-Collapsible-Measuring/dp/B0016KOH1G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1277828274&sr=8-1
Restaurants are not off-limits with diabetes, it just takes a little more care, and be prepared to use a lot more insulin!
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