This post entitled A day in the life of a Type 1 Diabetic Child with Coeliac Disease is an introduction into what makes us tick here at Glutarama. In fact, it explains how Glutarama came to be in the very first place.




I begin by giving you a bit of background into how we found out that my daughter Bethany had Type 1 Diabetes. I then go on to describe the signs and symptoms of Coeliac Disease as they presented themselves in Bethany’s case.
Finally, I give you a day in the life of Diabetes and Coeliac Disease through my eyes as the parent of a child with Type 1 Diabetes and Coeliac Disease. Then I present you with links to what life is like through Bethany’s eyes now that she is a beautifully spoken and literate young lady.
Disclaimer
I feel it only right to remind you at this point that I am not medically trained and can only confess to being an expert in my daughters medical conditions by living them with her on a daily basis for well over 10 years now. If you, or someone you know is affected by any of these issues please seek professional medical advice immediately.
How did we know our daughter had Type 1 Diabetes?
To read the full diagnosis story you can head over to A Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis – signs and symptoms guide. To keep this post to the point I’ll list the signs we saw, that in hindsight, were unmistakable.
What are the symptoms for Type 1 Diabetes in a young child?
Symptom 1 – Weeing: Beth started wetting her bed again. She’d been dry through the night from a very early age yet now at 3.5yrs of age she’d started wetting every night.
Symptom 2 – Thirst: Bethany’s thirst was insatiable on two occasions before her diagnosis I caught her drinking from bizarre sources. The first time was while we waited to get into toddler group and she licked water from a metal railing. The second time I found her drinking from a puddle!
Symptom 3 – Tired: As her symptoms worsened she became terribly tired and eventually the lethargy consumed her until she found it difficult to keep her eyes open.
Symptom 4 – Weight Loss: being only 3yrs old it was difficult to see weight loss as we were not in the habit of weighing Beth on a regular basis anymore. I kick myself now but looking back at photo’s you can clearly see she had lost weight.
Symptom 5 – Breath like Pear Drops!: This is the most bizarre of all symptoms and the MOST DANGEROUS. Beth’s breath did indeed smell like pear drops, sickly sweet the day before she was rushed to hospital. I also add that her wee was sticky and sweet too.
The main signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes include:
Going to the toilet more. Your body will try to get rid of excess glucose through urination
Being extremely thirsty. If you’re going to the toilet more, you’ll be very thirsty
Tiredness. Type 1 diabetes stops your body making the energy it needs, so you’ll be exhausted
Weight loss. Your body has to get energy from somewhere, so will break down fat stores
Fruity-smelling breath. If your body continues to operate like this, acid called ketones will build up. This will cause your breath to smell like pear drops, and can also lead to stomach pain. If ketones continue to build up in the blood they cause a potentially fatal condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), with can be fatal. You can read more about DKA below.
For young children you may find it useful to sign up to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). They have an adorable mascot Rufus the Diabetic Bear who can help you to education your child on how to have their injections. There’s also lots of resources and support here JDRF Support & Resources
You can also sign up to Diabetes UK and find useful resources and support, click here to receive a Type 1 Bag designed for parents of newly diagnosed.

What’s it like to be a Teen with Type 1 Diabetes?
I distinctly remember people telling me when Beth was diagnosed that it was a blessing as she will never know any different…boy were they wrong. Our senior Diabetes Nurse knew this was rubbish and that Bethany would still experience all the teenage emotional turmoil attached to being diabetic.
Bethany has written about her experiences with diabetes a couple of times here on the website. She’s brutally honest and pulls no punches. You can read more about it here A day in the life of a type 1 diabetic

A day in the life of a child with Diabetes and Coeliac Disease
This was a typical day for my daughter but to tick all boxes I chose to describe a day that covers all her medical needs. This diary of events was written in 2015, Bethany would have been 10 years old at the time.
Waking for school was not so easy today, Beth said she felt low, I could see she wasn’t wrong as her hand shook whilst she attempted to brush her hair. It’s times like this when you have to approach her as though she’s suffering with all the symptoms of a raging hangover. Grumpy and irritable doesn’t cut it! She’s 3.7mmol (could be worse) of course her blood sugars (BS) will have been lower than that at just before dawn. That’s when the ‘Dawn Phenomenon’ (DP) kicks in, we all get it, a little release of Glucagon in the blood to aid us with the natural waking up process. Beth’s DP can raise her BS by 3mmol, now my maths isn’t fantastic but that a potential low of 1.7 … hangover central!
3 Dextrose tablets and 10mins later Beth’s back, who was that other girl? Goodness knows, lets hope she doesn’t come back!
Breakfast time, let me think, will madam be wanting toast with Nutella, toast with Nutella, or …. toast with Nutella? It’s the one saving grace in this mayhem that Beth’s tastes are simple and she doesn’t want for much. Back in the early days I spent hours blood, sweat and tears (well, not blood) creating dishes from scratch so that Beth didn’t miss out on ‘normal’ food. Did she like any of them? Did she heck! I’ve learnt that these were my issues, not hers so chill Rebecca and spread Nutella!
Toast toasted in Beth’s personal Gluten Free toaster (no risk of sneaky crumbs contaminating her food), another prick test 5.6, three slices of toast (15g each) three generous slatherings of Nutella (10g each) and sugar free squash. So that’s 75g of carbohydrate in total to add to Beth’s Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM) which is basically a remote control – yes, my daughters a cyborg! The PDM sends a signal to the insulin Pod that’s attached to her with a diddy cannula that delivers insulin under the skin. Simply type in the carbs to the PDM, this in turn calculates what insulin Beth will need to cover her breakfast, point the PDM and press confirm – job done!
Now for the science bit, did you know that fatty foods slow down the digestion of carbohydrates which in turn slows down the release of sugar in the blood (ALL carbs turn to sugar). By slapping Nutella onto Beth’s toast, I’m slowing down the absorption of three pieces of toast into her system thus ensuring she’s a happy bunny until lunchtime.
The time is now 07:30 and the day has only just begun!
Lunchtime she tests 11.8, this is a bit high ideally she should be between 4.5 and 7.5 she did have an apple at break time to keep her going, these are generally 20g of carb but we tend not to bolus (that means give insulin) for snacks at school. Her packed lunch was lovingly prepared by myself and carb counted, today it’s 85g of carb in total … as indicated by the Post-It Note I’ve slipped into her test kit!
Afternoon lesson and it’s cookery. Beth makes Gluten Free biscuits (all ingredients supplied by her fabulous school) each one adorned with a glace cherry. Now I could be wrong but my guess is that one or two cherries may have inadvertently popped into Beth’s mouth because at 16:45 when she does a prick test before dinner she’s 20.2 … it’s just a hunch!
Quick dinner tonight, the kids have Karate. A bowl of tagliatelle with tomato and mascarpone sauce, that’s 80g of carb – point and fire!
18:15, soon be Karate, going on previous experience Beth will go low half way through her 2hr lesson so I reduce her basal on her PDM – this is the tiny droplet of insulin that she gets every 10 mins 24 hrs a day. Exercise can reduce your BS dramatically but your muscles will continue to work after extreme exercise, don’t quote me but I believe 30 mins of lane swimming will still effect your muscles 12hrs later. A reduction of 20% in her basal for the next 3 hrs should do it.
20:45, home again and Beth’s started beeping! time to change her Pod. The Pods last three days only to reduce the risk of infection at entry site. Old Pod deactivated and added to medical recycling box, new Pod filled with 200 units of insulin, primed to squeeze out any pesky bubbles, apply to Beth’s tummy, point and fire! Then we have the waiting game, it’s a bit like Russian Roulette you hear a quiet clicking sound as the mechanisms fire into action then ‘SNAP’ a sound not unlike a staple gun and the cannula is injected 3mm into the skin and the needle withdraws, all within 200ths of a second! Well done Beth, no need to do that again for three days unless we have one of those dreaded Pod failures that can happen every once in a while.
Suppertime consists of two biscuits (16g) and a 250ml glass of milk (10g) … did I just see her add a sneeky spoon of sugar to the milk? She denies it, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Prick test and she’s 6.8 add 26g of carb to the PDM – point and fire!
My bedtime, it’s now 22:45, I was going to have an early night (I say this every night) one last ritual before I can settle into the land of sleep. Beth’s a heavy sleeper so doing a prick test rarely wakes her, she’s 12.2 … mmmm maybe she did add sugar to her milk after all! Do I bolus to correct her or do I leave it, decisions, decisions. Well her supper bolus was definitely right (sugargate aside) but she did have a hard session in karate tonight, do I, don’t I. Oh sod it, I’ll leave it this time…….good job I did…..
03:00 Beth comes into our room ‘Mum, I feel low’ – 3.2 and so begins a new day.
If you found this post on Diabetes useful, check out other posts on Glutarama
disclaimer: with all of my ‘behind the scenes’ posts the same guidelines apply, I am not a trained medical professional, I’m a mum, a bloody tired mum but a damn good one too. All the ideas, thought and opinions in these types of post relating to Type 1 Diabetes and Autism are my own unless I have referenced a professional or piece of evidence to make a point.
If you’ve only just happened across my blog Glutarama, then you may also be interested to know this is not the main topic I write about, the majority of my posts relate to free from recipes and reviews, as our family are affected by Coeliac Disease, egg, dairy other intolerances it keeps me busy in the kitchen, but boy do I have fun experimenting for my family and followers.
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