Our goal is to ensure people with diabetes and their families have the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about how to live life with diabetes.
The members of your Diabetes Team at Nationwide Children's Hospital will teach you about diabetes and serve as resources and guides throughout your journey. We hope this book will be a resource and guide to you, too.
Explore the book below or download in PDF format.
Have you or a family member recently been diagnosed with diabetes? Read this chapter to learn how to properly cope and prepare.
Be informed about diabetes. Read this chapter to learn how to properly monitor your blood glucose.
Did you know there are two different types of insulin? This chapter will teach you the difference between the two and when to use each.
There are three different ways you can take insulin. Learn about all of the options and how to take insulin safely.
Lear how to properly prepare insulin injections.
You will need to figure out (calculate) your bolus insulin dose based on carbohydrate eaten, blood glucose level or both added together. Read this chapter to learn how!
Blood glucose levels can go up and down a lot. Make the right changes to your child’s or your own basal and bolus insulin doses for these patterns with information from this chapter.
Learn to manage high blood glucose and ketones.
Hypoglycemia can happen very quickly. Read this chapter to prevent low blood glucose and be prepared if yours drops too low.
Properly administer glucagon in an emergency with instructions in this chapter.
Blood glucose levels are often harder to control when a person with diabetes is sick. Properly prepare for sick days with this chapter.
Children need good nutrition to grow into healthy adults. This chapter will teach you about the nutritional value of different foods and how to measure serving sizes.
Daily exercise is important for people with diabetes. This chapter will teach you how to balance food, insulin, and activity.
Children need adult help to manage their diabetes during the school day. Use this chapter to make a school health plan and ensure that your child can go to school and do school activities.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that every 3 months anyone with diabetes should be seen by a healthcare provider who can help manage diabetes. This chapter will help you make sure you are ready for each appointment.
When you have diabetes it is possible to get acute problems or chronic problems (complications). Learn more about possible complications and what you can do to prevent them.
Special situations can include: travel, driving, pregnancy, tobacco use or drinking alcohol. Properly prepare for these with help from this chapter.
Find some of the many resources available to help you manage your child's diabetes here.
Educate yourself and your child about terms you are not familiar with. This chapter breaks them all down and gives you definitions of some of the terms you may not understand.
