Going back to school…
Going back to school after you are told you have diabetes can be pretty scary. To make going back to school a bit easier, here’s some things you can do…

• Get mum, dad or someone from home to talk to the teachers at the school about diabetes and what they have to look out for (e.g. hypos, testing, sport). They can find information from the teachers and schools section of this website. Sometimes your diabetes educator may be able to go to your school as well.
• Ask mum or dad or someone at home to explain simply what diabetes is to the class – or you can explain - but sometimes it is difficult so you may need help. You can show them “Professor Bumblebee’s Guide to Type 1 Diabetes” a cartoon story telling what happens when you get type 1 diabetes on DVD or video or get your teacher to read them the book. You can order these through Diabetes Australia-NSW.
• Do a diabetes “show and tell” for your friends and classmates so they understand more. You can show them your meter and how you do a blood glucose test (but do not do a test on them!), tell them about your insulin injections and explain about hypos so they learn to look out for you and help you

Diabetes at School...

Testing
Your diabetes educator will tell you when you need to test at school. If you do need to test, it is really good if you can test quietly in class. This is better than testing at the office or sick bay especially if you think you are low before you leave the classroom. You might drop even lower on the walk to the office and your hypo will be harder to treat. Testing in the classroom also helps your classmates to understand diabetes better.

If you need to test at school, the common times are before morning tea or lunch, before and during sport, before afternoon tea if you are at after school care or if you are not feeling well. Not all kids with diabetes do all of these tests, it depends on you and how your diabetes is managed.

Injections
If you need to do insulin injections at school, you will probably have to go to the office or sick bay to give your injection. Some schools like you to leave your syringe or pen in the office, other schools will let you carry it with you. Remember to be careful when carrying your syringe or pen and make sure that you don’t leaving any sharps lying around. Do not forget that you need to eat straight away after you have had your insulin.

Hypos

A hypo is when your blood glucose level (BGL) goes too low. When this happens you might feel:

• Sweaty
• Shaky
• Sleepy
• Cross
• Weak

OR

• Find it hard to concentrate
• Have a headache
• Feel like crying

Everyone is different, you need to know how you feel when have a hypo. Hypos can be caused by lots of different things, like exercise, not eating enough at meals, skipping meals or too much insulin. Common times for hypos at school are just before recess or lunch, during and after sport, but remember they can happen at any time.

When you have a hypo you need to quickly eat or drink something sweet straight away and then eat something else to stop the hypo from coming back. If it is just before recess or lunch, eat or drink something sweet then eat your recess or lunch. Do not leave the classroom to treat your hypo and make sure you have a full hypo kit with you at all times. It is important to always tell an adult when you have a hypo.

It is important not to ignore a hypo even if you are worried about making a fuss or having everyone in the class look at you. No one likes to be embarrassed, but ignoring a hypo can make you feel worse and can be more embarrassing if you do not treat it.

Highs & Sick Days

Sometimes your BGLs can go too high. This can be when you are:
• Sick or unwell
• Stressed, worried or excited
• Less active than usual
• Eating more than usual
OR
• You don’t have enough insulin in your body (e.g. you forgot your insulin injection or did not give the right dose)

Sometimes high BGLs happen for no reason at all.

If your BGL is above 15mmol/L at school and you are feeling OK, you can enjoy all of the fun things that your friends are doing, but it is not a good idea to play really active sports like football until your BGL comes down. Drink plenty of water and do another test if you are not feeling well.

If your BGL is above 15mmol/L at school and you are feeling sick, you might have ketones. High BGLs and ketones can make you really unwell and give you a tummy ache, make you feel thirsty and want to go to the toilet a lot. This means that things are out of balance in your body. When you feel like this, you need to tell your teacher how you feel, test your BGL more often, drink plenty of water and sit quietly, but stay with your class. The school should contact your parents to see if you need to go home early or visit the doctor. If they cannot contact your parents, they should speak to your diabetes educator for advice. If your BGL is above 15mmol/L and you have ketones, you are likely to need extra insulin to help you feel better - your parents or someone at home can help you with this.

Remember if you start vomiting you should tell a teacher and it is really important that they call mum, dad or someone at home. Make sure that you and your family understand what to do for sick days. Talk to your diabetes educator about this when you are at clinic.

Sport
Kids with diabetes can play all sports and do the same activities as kids without diabetes, you just have a few extra things to think about. Being active usually lowers BGLs but sometimes BGLs may go up before and after sport because of being nervous or excited. Sometimes BGLs can drop low and stay low later in the day or night after sport.

There are some important things you need to think about before, during and after sport, these are:

• Testing – it is important to do extra tests to see what different sports do to your BGLs. You need to test before, during and after sport.

• Insulin - you might need some changes to your insulin dose when you have sport at school, especially sports carnivals. Remember to tell mum, dad or someone at home when you are having a sports day so that they can help you plan any changes to your insulin dose.

• Carbohydrate Foods - when you play sport, you usually need extra carbohydrate foods to stop your BGL going too low. It is a good idea to have a carbohydrate snack like a piece of fruit, juice or muesli bar before sport and extra carbohydrates to top up during and after sport.

• Hypos - when you do sport your BGLs can sometimes drop too low and you have a hypo. When you have a hypo you need to quickly eat or drink something sweet straight away and then eat something else to stop the hypo from coming back. It is important to have your hypo kit with you at all times. Remember that you can still be hypo a long time after sport, so you may need to eat extra carbohydrates later in the day and before bed.

Food at School

• Healthy eating is important for all school kids, including kids with diabetes.
• It is important that you eat the right amounts of food at recess and lunch to help keep your BGLs mostly within the normal range.
•  If you are not sure mum, dad or someone at home can help by writing you a list for your lunchbox and labelling what to eat when.
• Do not skip recess or lunch or you might have a hypo.
• If you want to do a lunchbox swap, make sure you are swapping something similar like a sandwich for a sandwich.
• Canteen foods are OK, but not everyday.

Parties

• Parties and birthdays at school can be lots of fun.
• You can join in the party like all of your friends and enjoy some special treat foods.
• Remember to tell mum, dad or someone at home when there is a party at school, this can help them work out your BGLs and insulin dose.
• They can also help you decide how to swap some party foods for your usual recess or lunch.

• When you have diabetes you might sometimes need to eat on the school bus.
• Some buses that you go on might not let you do this.
• Ask mum, dad or someone at home to speak to the bus company so that they understand why you might need to sometimes eat on the bus.
• Diabetes Australia-NSW have a special card that helps to explain this to the bus driver.

• Excursions can be lots of fun and really active.
• Like sports days, excursions can make your BGLs go high or low.
• Remember to tell mum, dad or someone at home when you are going on an excursion because they may need to make changes to your insulin dose.
• Do not forget to take your testing kit and insulin (if you need to), plenty of carbohydrate foods and a full hypo kit.

• It is good for all kids to go to school camps and there is nothing to stop you just because you have got diabetes.
• It is really important that mum, dad or someone at home talks to the teachers and staff who are going to camp about diabetes and that there is a plan for looking after diabetes at camp.
• Some schools will let parents go to camp as helpers but if your parents will not be there then you need to be able to do some diabetes care for yourself, like finger pricks, drawing up insulin, injecting, ketone testing and treating hypos.
• Going to a diabetes camp first can help you and your family feel better about you looking after your diabetes at school camp.

• School exams can make a difference to your usual timetable at school and sometimes cause BGLs to go high or low because you might be worried or stressed.
• Make sure that you have your testing kit, extra carbohydrate foods and a full hypo kit with you. It is important that mum, dad or someone at home lets the teachers know that you might need to stop and eat or go to the toilet more often during the exam.
• If you are in high school, there are "special provisions" for exams.

Detention

• Being on detention or being kept in class during breaks will make a difference to your usual timetable at school.
• If you are on detention, make sure that the teachers know that you have diabetes and must have your testing kit, extra carbohydrate foods and a full hypo kit with you at all times.
• Do not skip eating your lunch or recess because of detention.
• Mum, dad or someone at home needs to explain all of this to your teachers.

Teasing

• Sometimes other kids who don’t understand diabetes tease or bully anyone who is different from them. Other kids might tease you because they don’t understand about diabetes and all that you have to do to stay healthy and well.
• If this is happening to you, try and ignore them, although it’s hard to pretend you don’t care what they say – eventually they’ll get fed up if you don’t react.
• Speak to Mum, Dad or someone at home and ask them to help you to talk to other kids and their parents about diabetes.
• Your friends can help by telling the bully that bullying is “out”.
• If the teasing doesn't stop, you need to talk to your teacher, school counsellor or an adult at school, these people can help you by putting special things in place to stop the bullying.
• For more info click www.bullyingnoway.com.au

• Kids with diabetes have to do some things other kids don't have to do, like testing or injections.
• It's important that your friends, family and teachers understand this, but remember that diabetes isn't an excuse to get out of things you don't want to do.
• If you use diabetes as an excuse, people might start to think that you can't do all the things that other kids can do - then you'll be the one that misses out and feels different!