Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Foreword by Dr Peter Swift -- Foreword by Dr Stuart Brink -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Getting to grips with diabetes -- When you first find out you have diabetes -- Very young children -- Routine check-ups -- Living the life you choose -- 3 Caring for your own diabetes -- Goals for managing diabetes -- How can you achieve these goals? -- Becoming your own expert -- Can you take "time off" from diabetes? -- Alternative and complementary therapies -- 4 Diabetes: some background -- Type 1 diabetes -- Type 2 diabetes -- Other types of diabetes -- How common is diabetes? -- Can you catch diabetes? -- Does eating too many sweets cause diabetes? -- 5 How your body works -- Insulin -- Your body doesn't realize it has diabetes -- The anatomy of your body -- Pancreas -- Islets of Langerhans -- Cellular metabolism -- A healthy cell -- Starvation -- Diabetes and insulin deficiency -- 6 High blood glucose levels -- Not enough insulin? -- How to treat a high blood glucose level -- Ketoacidosis -- Blurred eyesight and diabetes -- 7 Regulation of blood glucose -- Counter-regulation -- The liver -- Glucagon -- Glucagon injections -- Adrenaline -- Cortisol -- Growth hormone -- 8 Hypoglycaemia -- Blood glucose levels and symptoms of hypoglycaemia -- Symptoms of hypoglycaemia when the blood glucose level is high -- Severe hypoglycaemia -- Seizures -- Does severe hypoglycaemia damage the brain? -- Hypoglycaemia unawareness -- Rebound phenomenon -- Too little food or too much insulin? -- Night time hypoglycaemia -- Dawn phenomenon -- Somogyi phenomenon -- Will low blood glucose levels return to normal if the child doesn't wake up? -- Can you die from hypoglycaemia? -- Why does awareness of hypoglycaemia occur at different levels of blood glucose? -- 9 Treating hypoglycaemia -- Practical instructions: -- Timing and hypoglycaemia.

Helping someone with diabetes who is not feeling well -- Glucose -- Fructose -- Sweets and hypoglycaemia -- After hypoglycaemia -- Learning to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycaemia -- 10 Insulin treatment -- Regular short-acting insulin -- Intermediate-acting insulin -- Long-acting insulin -- Intravenous insulin -- Rapid-acting insulin -- Basal insulin -- New basal insulins -- Pre-mixed insulin -- A larger dose lasts longer -- Units and insulin concentrations -- Twice-daily treatment -- Three-dose treatment -- Multiple injection treatment -- Injections before meals (bolus insulin) -- When should you take your premeal dose? -- Insulin pump -- Can I skip a meal? -- Bedtime insulin -- When should bedtime insulin of NPH type be taken? -- When should the long-acting injection be taken? -- Mixing insulins -- Depot effect -- How accurate is your insulin dose? -- Insulin absorption -- What happens if a child won't finish a meal? -- What if you forget to take your insulin? -- What if you take the wrong type of insulin? -- Having a lie in at weekends -- Staying awake all night -- Shift work -- Birthday parties -- Insulin at school and day nurseries -- Sleeping away from home -- 11 Monitoring -- How many tests should I take? -- "Good or "bad" tests -- Diabetes or not? -- Are some things forbidden? -- Urine glucose -- Renal threshold -- Blood glucose -- How do I take blood tests? -- Borrowing someone else's finger-pricking device -- Does the meter show the correct value? -- Continuous glucose monitoring -- Children and blood glucose tests -- Does continuous finger pricking cause loss of feeling? -- Ketones -- Vomiting and ketones -- Blood ketones -- 12 The HbA1c test -- What level should HbA1c be? -- How often should you check your HbA1c? -- Can my HbA1c be "too good"? -- HbA1c when travelling -- Is it worth taking tests? -- Fructosamine.

13 Injection technique -- Getting used to injections -- Injections for parents -- Taking the pain out of injections -- Where do I inject the insulin? -- Is it necessary to disinfect the skin? -- Storage of insulin -- Syringes -- Injections with syringes -- Pen injectors -- Why aren't all insulins available for pens? -- Replacing pen needles -- Different pens for day and night time insulin -- Air in the cartridge or syringe -- Insulin on the pen needle -- Used needles and syringes -- 14 Injection equipment -- Automatic injectors -- Jet injectors -- Insuflon -- 15 Adjusting insulin doses -- Starting insulin treatment -- How much does insulin lower the blood glucose level? -- What to do if your blood glucose level is high -- Different ways of adjusting insulin doses -- What about the food you eat? -- Changing the content of the meal to affect blood glucose -- Changing insulin doses -- Keeping good records -- What is the best order for changing the doses? -- Premeal bolus doses -- Insulin for breakfast -- Insulin for lunch and dinner/tea -- Insulin for evening snack -- Holiday or weekday? -- Physical exercise or relaxation? -- Using rapid-acting insulin analogues -- Adjusting the basal insulin -- High blood glucose levels -- Hypoglycaemia -- Exercise -- Pre-mixed insulin -- Switching to rapid-acting analogues -- Can you eat the same things as before? -- Bedtime NPH insulin -- What should you do next? -- Blood glucose levels at night -- Night time hypoglycaemia -- Using the basal analogue Levemir -- Using long-acting Lantus -- Puberty -- Insulin adjustments during the remission phase -- Hypoglycaemia -- Experiment! -- 16 Insulin pumps -- Starting the pump -- The basal rate -- Temporary change of the basal rate -- Premeal bolus doses -- Change of insertion site -- More frequent home monitoring -- Insulin depot with a pump -- Ketoacidosis.

Disconnecting the pump -- Taking a bath or shower -- Pump alarm -- Occlusion or blockage alarm -- Leakage of insulin -- Air in the tubing -- Sick days and fever -- Pump removal doses -- Admission to hospital -- Physical exercise -- Using the pump at night only -- Is the pump a nuisance? -- Does using a pump cause weight gain? -- Having a lie in -- Travel tips -- Toddlers using pumps -- Pregnancy -- Rapid-acting insulin in the pump -- Which type of treatment do the health professionals prefer? -- 17 Side effects of insulin treatment -- Pain -- Insulin leakage -- Blocked needles -- Bruises after injections -- Fatty lumps -- Redness after injections -- Insulin antibodies -- Lipoatrophy -- Insulin oedema -- 18 Insulin requirements -- How much insulin does your body need? -- Puberty and growth -- Remission ("honeymoon") phase -- How much insulin does the pancreas produce? -- Insulin sensitivity and resistance -- Ideal insulin doses? -- 19 Nutrition -- Absorption of carbohydrates -- Emptying the stomach -- Sugar content in our food -- Taking fluids with food -- Dietary fats -- Dietary fibre -- Glycaemic index -- Milk -- Vegetables -- Potatoes -- Bread -- Pasta -- Meat and fish -- Pizza -- Salt -- Herbs and spices -- Fruit and berries -- Meal times -- Snacks -- Can mealtimes be changed? -- Hungry or full? -- Infant feeding -- Carbohydrate counting -- Different methods of carbohydrate assessment -- School -- Party-time -- Special "diabetic" food? -- "Fast food" -- Food at educational camps -- Vegetarian and vegan diets -- Different cultures -- 20 Sweeteners -- Sugar free? -- Non-nutritive sweeteners -- Nutritive sweeteners -- Diet drinks and "light" foods -- 21 Sweets, treats and ice cream -- How much extra insulin should you take? -- Ice cream -- Chocolate -- Sweets -- Weekend sweets -- Taking a break from eating sweets -- Potato crisps -- Chewing gum.

22 Weight control -- Satisfied or "feeling full"? -- Reducing weight -- The little extras -- High HbA1c and weight loss -- 23 Eating disorders -- Anorexia -- Bulimia -- Diabetes and eating disorders -- 24 Physical exercise -- How do insulin and exercise work together? -- Can the blood glucose level increase through exercise? -- Hypoglycaemia after exercise -- Physical education -- Top level competitive sports -- Keeping fit with diabetes -- Camps and skiing trips -- Anabolic steroids -- Diving -- 25 Stress -- Stress in daily life -- 26 Fever and sick days -- Nausea and vomiting -- Gastroenteritis -- Wound healing -- Surgery -- Drugs that affect blood glucose -- Teeth -- Vaccinations -- 27 Smoking -- Passive smoking -- Giving up smoking -- Snuff -- 28 Alcohol -- Alcohol and the liver -- Why is it dangerous to be drunk with diabetes? -- Basic rules -- What if you've had too much to drink? -- Can you drink at home? -- 29 Illegal drugs -- "Uppers" -- Benzodiazepines -- Cannabis -- Hallucinogenics -- 30 Pregnancy and sexual issues -- Pre-pregnancy care -- Caring for the mother -- How will the child develop? -- Will the child have diabetes? -- Infertility -- Does the need for insulin change during menstrual periods? -- Sexuality -- Contraceptives -- Forgotten to take a pill? -- Emergency contraception -- 31 Social issues -- School -- Hypoglycaemia -- Exams -- Day nurseries and child care -- Child care allowance -- Adoption -- Choice of job or employment -- Military service -- Licence to drive -- Driving and diabetes -- Insurance policies -- Diabetes ID -- Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International -- Children with Diabetes -- Diabetes Associations -- Diabetes UK -- Diabetes Federation Ireland -- The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) -- International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD).

The National Service Framework for Diabetes (NSF).