<p>It is nice to find a thread where others speak the T1D language. It will be another year before my son goes away to college, I am already developing the mental list of diabetes realted considerations: </p>
<p>1) Register with the office of disabilities or not
2) Roommate or not<br>
3) Own fridge?
4) Send 4 months of supplies or rely on mail arriving safely or let him deal with CVS (ugh!!)
5) Endo in college town or appointments when he visits home
6) Tour the local hospital/clinic etc
7) Physician in college town or not (a sinus infection causes him to run really high)
8) Send medication for vomiting, diarrhea etc.
9) Daily texts or daily worry </p>
<p>I had gestational diabetes while carrying D. I was told then that the vast majority of women in my situation get T-2 after the age of 40. I have it now. D was diagnosed with T-1 in 7th grade.</p>
<p>So many parents have shared wonderful insight in the posts. As a wife of a T1 diabetic for 33 years, and the mother of a non diabetic son in college, I can emphasize with worrying parents. I would want to be close enough to be able to offer help if the student becomes ill which can really impact a diabetic. My husband became diabetic at 13, went to college in his home town because it was a easier for his treatment back then. Today, I can envision a student living in a dorm, but I’d hope that the kids in the dorm or a roommate would be aware of the signs of high/low BGs. It’s not that easy to explain all the nuances of diabetes to new friends. Maybe there’s a trade-off to be had; close enough to step in if there’s a real need or problem, but far enough away to feel independent. It is a serious disease and it is so very, very hard to keep perfect control. It is easy for things to go amiss, and I’d want to be near enough to offer help without too much of a fuss. With all the adjustments for college, I would have to compromise on location, just for peace of mind for all in the family. I worry and watch over my husband; we’re partners with this disease. I think students might need to have parents available, just in case. The care for T1 diabetics has certainly improved immensely over the years, but it still requires significant attention and effort to control.</p>
<p>My son was also diagnosed in college. Amazing how often this happens. We stayed with him the first week while he was in the hospital for two days and then in a hotel room for the rest of the week. Since then I have been hands off with his care. He has figured everything out. He is a smart kid and I felt it was something he would have to own. He makes all of his own appointments with the endocrinologist and yearly eye exams. I see the insurance bills so I know he is following up with his care.</p>
<p>I think the worst thing you can do is to require your child to text or email you daily. What happens on the day they forget and you can’t get a hold of them? Kids don’t understand how much we worry as parents.</p>
<p>Something else that gives me peace of mind is having my son signed up with Medic Alert. He wears a necklace that emergency personnel are trained to look for. If they call in with his ID all of his medical info is available: doctor info, equipment he uses, and my contact info.</p>
<p>And it works! Luckily it wasn’t an emergency, but he lost his necklace playing ultimate frisbee, and days later someone found it, called the number, and Medic Alert immediately called me.</p>
<p>Good point martharap! My D has a nice selection of beautiful medic bracelets. To the average person, they look just like a nice bracelet, but medics are trained to look for them. If any of you have T1 daughters, the website is laurenshope.com They have the best selection I have seen.</p>
<p>1) Register with the office of disabilities or not : Depends on the school. We didn’t find them overly helpful at my D’s school, so she ended up just speaking to all of her professors on the first day of class. No issues yet.
2) Roommate or not: for my D, a single has been great, but I guess there are pros and cons. My D is up a lot in the middle of the night, so a roommate would be very hard.
3) Own fridge? Definitely yes!
4) Send 4 months of supplies or rely on mail arriving safely or let him deal with CVS (ugh!!):
We sent supplies. Once less thing for her to worry about.
5) Endo in college town or appointments when he visits home : We have both. An endo at school and home.
6) Tour the local hospital/clinic etc: probably not necessary, as long as they know where it is.
7) Physician in college town or not (a sinus infection causes him to run really high): If the school has a good med clinic on campus, it should suffice, but a local physician is always great.<br>
8) Send medication for vomiting, diarrhea etc.: I didn’t, but I like the idea.
9) Daily texts or daily worry: Worry goes without saying. I have a D, so we talk daily anyway (probably different for those with sons). But I agree with the other poster, that if they forgot to text, it could be even worse. Again, though, not one right answer for everyone.</p>
<p>He is young but I would definitely suggest a roommate in the future. My previous roommate was a T1 Diabetic and there were multiple times where I heard him mumbling my name from his room only to find him on the floor needing sugar. Scary as heck but if I wasn’t there I don’t know how he would have gotten anything. He always tried to keep snacks under his bed just in case.</p>
<p>This is a great thread! It’s nice “talking” with people who actually know the difference between T1 and T2, and who won’t talk about T2 as if it was the same thing. It’s truly amazing how many people don’t know the difference. I have little patience with people who inquire about my son’s diet, implying that he had eaten much sugar.</p>
<p>With my son going off to college next fall, it’s helpful to hear how other families are coping and what issues they’re confronting. One of the schools my son has been admitted to is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with the closest small town about 30 minutes away. As luck would have it, this is one of his top choices. If he ends up choosing this school, I want to be prepared. I doubt he’ll factor in the proximity of medical care when making his decision; he doesn’t like to feel that he has limitations because of the disease. In fact, he’s currently trying to figure out a way to go backpacking around the world for three months. (Now that’s scary!) It’s no surprise though; we’ve always encouraged him to go after his dreams.</p>
<p>This school already knows he’s a T1 and because it’s a small school (less than 1,000 students), most of the people around him would know, too. I have discussed this with the admissions rep and tour guide and I know they’ve had T1s at the school before. But my biggest fear is what happens in an emergency if he can’t get to an ER quickly? I think it’s time to do some research so my son has a full understanding of what he would be signing up for.</p>
<p>Has location played a role for other T1s in choosing a college, e.g., convenient access to medical facilities?</p>
diabetes camp - this was a saving grace for our 8-year-old, but even teenagers can participate - and college age kids can be counselors; it can be very supportive an informative and fun.
make sure if you switch your medical coverage to the location of the college that the benefits are the same; for us, it turned out that coverage at the college location was much worse - the pump would have cost us a couple thousand, whereas it was no cost in our home state.
although up until college applications I assumed I would be worried about college away from home, in the end, my kid went to college in another state and studied abroad - and it has worked out fine (even finding glucose tablets in Europe…); maturity in handling daily diabetes issues may take time, but it will come, with support and encouragement.</p>
<p>Speaking of diabetes camps, I’d recommend the above (run by the Diabetic Youth Foundation). My son is a very outdoorsy person, and I immediately researched camps when he was diagnosed. I found this camp in California (we’re in the midwest) and they have a program for teens to hike Mt. Whitney. It was fabulous! They met him at the airport, brought him to camp, and he hiked Mt. Whitney with a bunch of other type-1 kids. He learned so much about how to hike and manage diabetes and said the nurse who went on the trip was the best diabetes educator he ever had.</p>
<p>Google them and check out their camps! Very limited openings for the Mt. Whitney trip, which I think has already opened up for registration.</p>
<p>When he first was diagnosed and went to school, I made him text/e-mail everyday. When he went back for his sophomore year and was use to pump, I asked him to contact us at least once a week. Fortunately I can tell from my facebook account, when he is at his computer since he has skype and when he’s on his computer it shows up. This has given me some peace of mind.</p>
<p>With regard to a medic alert bracelet or necklace, how did you get your sons to wear it. S1 won’t, although now that he has the pump I don’t know if it is as necessary as any medic will notice it right away and his emergency info is in his wallet. Is it necessary?</p>
<p>My son never objected to wearing the necklace! If he had, then it wouldn’t have worked. They also make wristbands if someone didn’t want a necklace (my son wouldn’t wear a wristband!). I guess he understands why it would be helpful. Medic Alert also operates on an international basis, so when my son was studying abroad in Budapest, I felt at ease.</p>
<p>I think that even if someone is on the pump, Medic Alert is helpful in that they have contact information. Let’s say someone is unconscious…as you know the downside of a pump is that even if you’re low, it keeps on pumping.</p>
<p>This thread is soooo helpful! I need to bookmark this for the future.</p>
<p>My son wears a “kit”-sort of a man purse to keep all his supplies in. (PDM, sugar, BS checker, strips, cotton balls, extra POD, etc) Do your kids carry all that stuff around?</p>
<p>I’d forgotten about the medic alert badge but son says he wouldn’t wear it. Right now, he just has a little card in his kit.</p>
<p>So the thing about my son is that he’s introverted, has some other special needs (he’s what you would term twice exceptional), and is really slow to move on things. All of these factors plus his diabetes, at this point, have us saying he would not go away to college.</p>
<p>But, as many have said, a lot can change in 3 years.</p>
<p>I also agree it’s very nice to “talk” with others who understand T1 diabetes. If eating sugar caused T1, I would be the poster child! :-(</p>
<p>I confess I am a little paranoid about my youngest son getting it. His allergies/sensitivities are the same as my T1 kid. I am keeping him gluten-free for as long as possible. (My T1 kid was gluten and dairy free for 8 years because of severe reactions to both; there is some auto-immune connections with celiac, T1, and all the other auto immune diseases)</p>
<p>Ok, sorry to ramble incoherently! Just popped in to say how glad I am for all the comments and advice!</p>
<p>D carries everything in a purse. While parents of boys probably think that is easier for girls, it’s not. Girls in college just don’t have purses at frat parties, etc, and we have searched for cute cross body purses that hold what she needs but don’t stick out. Her first night out at college she was off campus with a group of kids (organized activity about 20 minutes from campus), and her pod broke. She had 2 extra pods with her, and unbelievably, they both broke also! Luckily, we were still in town, so we were able to bring her additional supplies. Nothing like that has happened since, thank goodness. She always has cash so she can get a cab back if needed.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo, have you had your younger son tested to see if he carries the diabetic predisposition gene? I know there was a clinical trial going on a number of years ago during which my older daughter was tested to see if she had a predisposition to the disease. Thankfully, she did not.</p>
<p>My husband and I believe my son developed T1 as a result of vaccinations he had several years before he was diagnosed. About 6-7 days after the vaccinations, he had this mysteriously high fever of 104-105 (no other symptoms) that stuck around for 3-4 days. We had him in the emergency room and took him to the doctor, but no cause was ever identified. There’s no way I can prove that one of the vaccines triggered the T1; it’s just a strong gut feeling. However, I did discover that diabetes IS listed as a side effect for the MMR in the warning pamphlet that comes with it (though it didn’t say what type). </p>
<p>I’ve often wondered why parents aren’t routinely shown these warning pamphlets, especially since there can be a lot of serious side effects from the vaccines. By no means do I think vaccines are the only triggers for T1, but it is interesting to see how they have been blamed in numerous cases…and for many other conditions beyond T1.</p>
<p>My husband thinks my son has lyme disease and that his gastroparesis and type 1 diabetes are the result of this (both of them came on at the same time, and both his endos definitely said the diabetes did not cause the gastroparesis) as they are both autoimmune responses. This is his gut feeling. </p>
<p>S1 usually carries a light weight backpack (like a swimmer one) or throws his testing kit and glucose tablets in his pocket. He doesn’t have the pods so he really doesn’t have to carry any pump supplies with him.</p>
<p>It actually may have had more to do with the severe illness (which means the immunization was an indirect cause??). Our endo has said, of what little they know about what causes T1 (and there is still much, much that they don’t know), they do a see a connection of having a severe illness some months before the actual diagnosis. I think our kids were predisposed (and certainly, things seem to expedite it maybe, such as environmental triggers), but then some illness starts the body down the path of attacking itself and shutting down the pancreas.</p>
<p>I really want to get my youngest son tested but he has such tantrums when I even mention doctors, I haven’t done it. I think they do the testing here now but before, we would have had to drive about two hours for that service.</p>
<p>Dumbo, I can’t believe 3 pods failed! Yikes!! I’m so glad you were in town.</p>
<p>I feel that God totally watched out for my son a couple of times. One time, he left his kit at our homeschool co-op (with his PDM in it). I was so angry at him because it meets at a church and the church had closed by the time we had discovered it and turned around. </p>
<p>Then, it was the same day that the power went out in So. Cal. I didn’t know what to do, so I drove to a friend’s house that was about 7 minutes away (the co-op is 25 minutes from our house). We had considered going to a hospital but the Children’s Hospital was far away and there was gridlock outside, so we opted to go to my friend’s house.</p>
<p>Well, out of the blue, my son’s econ teacher from the co-op show up at my friend’s house and she had my son’s kit with her! She didn’t know we were there at all! She just remembered that we knew each other and she had to pick up a dish from my friend, so she thought she’d bring the kit with her. We thanked God that day many times!!</p>
<p>Yes, all this auto immune stuff is related somehow. I had a friend who was diagnosed with T1 at age 49! She has had some auto immune issues before that (Hashimotos Syndrome among other things)</p>