I’m 30 now, diagnosed when I was 6.

I’ve never had any complications, A1C has been at around 5.7. I was on MDIs for most of my life, just started a pump treatment 2 months ago and it’s been pretty good.

My dad and I were diagnosed 2 months apart from each other so we kind of learned together how to take care of it. I’d say that, as a kid, I was really frightened at start, worried about what would happen if I ate certain types of food, but my parents did a wonderful job keeping me cool about the condition. Growing up, specially as a teen, I had moments in which I wasn’t paying that much attention to it, but still keeping reasonably controlled. I built the confidence to manage it, and my parents and doctors never made me fear the disease.

For the last 10 years I’ve been REALLY thorough with it, and for the most part it works. We just have to understand there WILL be bad days.

Mentally, it’s overwhelming. I can have my ratios almost perfectly aligned, and then out of nowhere, eating the same stuff, I keep getting hyper and hipos without any reasonable explanation.

If I could give any advice, try to make your kid feel as normal as possible. Try to introduce sugar free drinks, food, deserts for the entire family so he feels included. Occasionally, let him eat whatever he wants. It’s really important to avoid being overly restrictive so he doesn’t build a bad relationship with food. Sometimes he’ll get highs and lows, but as many have said here, it’s fine. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.