Raising Teens with Diabetes

"Raising Teens with Diabetes: A Survival Guide for Parents, by the well-known sports news reporter Moira McCarthy, who is also the mother of a child with type 1 diabetes, is a wonderful resource for parents of adolescents with this condition. The book is written in a simple but captivating way, with hints from normal life situations mixed together with medical and technical concepts about diabetes...[McCarthy] offers great suggestions and strategies about how to deal with the many daily issues encountered by parents of teens with diabetes. Alongside tales from her personal experience are real-life stories from other parents, adolescents with diabetes, members of the medical staff, and other people working in the diabetes specialty...How can parents and other family members discern between mood swings due to hypoglycaemia or hyperglycaemia and those typical of an adolescent's behaviour? How should they deal with issues related to school, relationship with friends, days out, risk-taking behaviour, driving, or moving to college? The book offers very useful suggestions for each of these key issues...Overall, this book is a great guide for parents of adolescents with diabetes and for other family members, who will hopefully find answers and suggestions as to how to manage situations that might sometimes seem unbearable...Although difficult, McCarthy shows through her personal experience that it is possible to get through the "awful" teen years, and to help adolescents with diabetes to become healthy as adults." -The Lancet "Having a teen with raging hormones, a poorly developed frontal lobe, and diabetes is not for the weak. Moira McCarthy's extremely thoughtful and timely book, written by a parent who has definitely been there, is a must-have. Don't let your child enter puberty without it!" - John Walsh, PA, CDTC, Co-author of Pumping Insulin and other books "Moira brings out a raw account of the organized chaos of the teenage years living with T1D. You want to reach through the book and hug her for her honest reflection on some of the hardest times for not only a mother and daughter, but for an entire family accepting T1D into their homes" - Regina Shirley RD, LDN "Moira McCarthy shines a light to guide parents who love their teens with diabetes, but are frustrated anxious, and often constantly worried. These are parents who do not want to be fighting with their teen about diabetes management --yet the stakes are so high, and parents feel like they have failed and can't seem to find the way to sustain their teen's health as well as the family peace." - Barbara J. Anderson, Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Head, Psychology Section, Baylor College of Medicine "In this must-read Moira McCarthy distills her personal experience to share her story and perspective, and provide common-sense wisdom and guidance on the challenges faced by young adults and their parents during the challenging transition to independent self-care." - Howard Wolpert, MD. Senior Physician, Section of Adult Diabetes, Joslin Diabetes Center "I recommend this book for parents and loved ones of teens with diabetes, and even for people newly diagnosed as it thoroughly explains about diabetes and treatment. It touches on insulin choices, explains CGMs and meters, and covers pumps vs. MDI treatment. McCarthy's ideas are sensible, thoughtful, and downright smart. I also really enjoyed her daughter's excerpts in the book and the addition of comments from many well-known bloggers and guest writers." - Meagan Esler, Diabetes Health "In sixteen chapters, the book covers everything from the physiology of adolescence (hormones, growth spurts, mood swings) to a call for advocacy. It concludes with tips for sending one's grown child off to college...All the details of this hands-on guide point to careful editing, professional reviewing, and a thoughtful, compassionate approach to the population and its unique problems." - Barbara Bamberger Scott, ForeWord Reviews "Whether you are currently the parent of a teenager with diabetes and you're struggling, or you're the parent of a pre-teen child and things are going perfectly, this book is an easy read and it's filled with the wisdom and guidance that could help prevent diabetes from driving a wedge between you and your child and causing turmoil throughout the home." - Ginger Vieira, Diabetes Daily "If you are a parent of a teen, or soon will be, Raising Teens with Diabetes: A Survival Guide for Parents should be on your "must read" list. Highly Recommended." - Jeff Hitchcock, Children with Diabetes "My son with diabetes is just a few months shy of 16. We are knee-deep into the teen years and tips for handling drinking, driving, and letting go are definitely all things that I welcome with open arms! ... If you have a teen with diabetes this book is for you. If you have a child who will grow up to be a teen with diabetes, keep this book around for later years. It will come in handy!" - Barb Wagstaff, Diabetes Advocacy "Adolescence can be particularly difficult time for diabetics because of the body's developing hormones, physical growth spurts, and inevitable mood swings all exacerbated when combined with blood sugar problems. Diabetic teen years presents parents with health problems that non-diabetic children are not heir to. "Raising Teens with Diabetes: A Survival guide for Parents", by diabetes mom, author, and advocate Moira McCarthy, is a compendium of 'real world' observations, advice, information, and encouragement that is exceptionally well written and presented. Very highly recommended, 'Raising Teens with Diabetes" should be required reading for the parents of diabetic teenagers and will prove to be a significant addition to community library Health, Medicine, and Parenting reference collections." - The Midwest Book Review