For the child with diabetes it used to be a time when they were to manage their disease. Now, however, it's common for parents and siblings to get involved and stay involved. Today's technology and scientific advances makes self-care more burdensome. As we stated before, in the 60's and 70's a teen would have taken 1 injection a day and monitored blood glucose levels with urine samples because glucometers weren't available. If they saw a doctor every 6 months, they got a blood glucose reading every 6 months.
Teens go through growth spurts which trigger growth hormone peaking overnight.
This works as an antagonist to insulin so teens can have high morning blood glucose levels. To make matters worse, during these teen years this hormone peaking can be irregular, which can cause fluctuations in appetite and eating behavior, it can leave glucose levels at highs and lows on different mornings, and it can affect blood glucose levels as the teen stops and starts eating as appetite changes. Add to this the changes in the ability to schedule the life of the average teen with classes, activities and sport and you can see how complicated this can become. Recent research at Joslin indicates that the more active a parent is in diabetes management tasks such as helping monitor glucose levels, the more likely the teen could keep up with the rigorous tasks that lead to better metabolic control. The goal for treating teens is to keep them healthy in the long term while fostering a positive body image and sense of self.