Living with t1d: A guide for newly diagnosed teens

If you're a teenager who was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (t1d), living with t1d probably seems like a difficult, very scary challenge. Many teens get stressed out when first diagnosed with t1d. There's a lot of information to absorb, and you'll most likely have many questions and concerns. Here's a guide to your new normal to help you stay healthy and live well.

Key lessons

When you first meet with your health care team, you'll learn the importance of maintaining the right balance of insulin, food, and exercise. Your goal is to keep blood sugar levels in a target range as much as possible. That means keeping track of the carbohydrates (carbs) in your diet and taking the right amount of insulin, which transforms the carbs into the sugar (glucose) your body needs for energy.

All of this might sound difficult, especially when you're just learning about t1d. But instead of thinking of all these new tasks as burdens, think of them as life hacks that will help you feel good. As a teenager with t1d, no one ever told me that there were immediate benefits to managing my diabetes well. I didn't know it would give me more energy, improve my moods, and help me do better in school.

When you meet with your health care team, keep in mind questions like:

• How many carbs should I consume for meals and snacks?
• How much insulin do I need to need after eating in order to maintain healthy blood sugar levels?
• Should I give myself multiple daily injections of insulin or should I use an insulin pump?
• How — and how often — should I monitor my blood glucose?

JDRF has created a toolkit for teens with different resources that provide more information about living with t1d.

Learn how to count carbs

Learning how to keep track of the carbs in the foods you eat is one key to thriving with t1d. It will take a little time to get the hang of it, whether you do it on your own or learn with your parents. Be patient with yourself!

Here are a few tips for counting carbs:

• Use smartphone apps and websites that make it easier to calculate carbs.
• Check out nutrition labels on packaged goods to find out the total grams of carbs in each serving size.
• Start using measuring cups and spoons or food scales to count carbs more accurately when you're at home. Eventually, you'll learn how to estimate the carbs in foods you commonly eat without measuring or weighing them.
• Create a personal database to help you keep track of the foods you eat often and their carb counts, and use it as a handy reference.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) provides more information about why counting carbs is so important and how to do it.

Keep track of your blood sugar

It's vital to monitor your blood sugar regularly. Fortunately, there are two excellent tools to help you do this: blood glucose meters and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs).

Blood glucose meters gauge blood sugar levels based on a drop of blood obtained from your fingertip. They then provide a reading that allows you to check your blood sugar levels.

I highly recommend using a CGM. It includes a sensor that you insert into your skin, which monitors glucose levels and transmits the information to a receiver or a smartphone. The receiver gives you instant readings and includes alarms to alert you if your blood sugar is too high or too low. It also helps you and your health care team track patterns and make adjustments to your diet and insulin dosages. CGM users will still require fingerstick tests for a variety of reasons, but a CGM makes it easier to monitor blood sugars more consistently.

Learn how to handle low and high blood sugars

Monitoring your blood glucose levels is important for your long-term health, but it's also important because going out of your target blood sugar range can cause short-term problems. If your blood glucose gets too low — a condition called hypoglycemia — you'll feel weak, irritable, jittery, or have other symptoms. If you don't eat something to rectify those symptoms, you may eventually lose consciousness and need to be rescued with a sugar solution called glucagon.

Talk to your health care provider about how to treat lows. Keep some quick-acting glucose on hand to raise your blood sugar. There are plenty of options that fix the problem quickly including glucose tablets and juice. My personal favorite snack to fix low blood sugar is glucose gummies, little fruity snacks that taste great.

On the other hand, if your blood glucose starts getting too high, you might feel nauseous, sluggish, or have other unpleasant symptoms. If you do nothing and the blood sugar keeps rising, eventually you could develop a very dangerous condition called ketoacidosis. That's why you should always have quick access to short-acting insulin to reduce high blood sugars, using either an insulin pump or injections from pens or syringes.

Don't go at it alone

While you may not want the whole world to know that you're living with t1d, hiding it from people close to you can be a safety issue. You'll need to figure out when and how to inform your friends or romantic partners of your condition. Once you do, they'll probably appreciate knowing about it. They can help support you once they learn about how you manage your diabetes. And they should learn what to do in case there of emergency situations.

Teachers, coaches, teammates, and other people who are in contact with you regularly should also know about your t1d.

If you're anxious to share your diagnosis with those close to you, above all, remember that there is much more to you than your t1d. Once the people who hang out with you see you're living a normal life — while handling a few extra challenges — it shouldn't be a big deal to them.

Join the t1d community

You're not alone. About 1.6 million Americans have type1 diabetes, including around 187,000 children and adolescents. There's no need to feel isolated, and you can find lots of people on Instagram and TikTok posting about t1d, with many sharing some of the same challenges and have learned how to handle them.

Getting tips and emotional support from the diabetes online community can help you feel more connected and teach you things you didn't know. However, it's important not to take anyone's advice about how to treat your t1d before consulting with your doctor.

Remember: You can thrive while living with T1D!

If you're overwhelmed by the news of your t1d, keep in mind that it won't stop you from having fun, friends, romantic relationships, or a fulfilling life. Never forget that you can achieve your dreams while living with t1d. There are rock stars, actors, professional athletes, and many other people who don't let their t1d define or limit them.

For more information about living with t1d and the technology that will aid your diabetes management, check out this article.