My friend has a child with an insulin pump for his type 1 diabetes. The mother seems to think it’s okay for his sugars to run consistently in the 300s to 500s mg/dl [16.7 to 33.2 mmol/L]. She says it’s okay because he is growing and they don’t want his sugar to go to low! Isn’t keeping his sugar this high bad for him? If it is, what would be the best way to tell her?

Your friend is very lucky to have you! You are correct that for people with diabetes, the goal is to prevent both low blood sugars and high blood sugars. That�s one of the reasons that living with diabetes is so difficult. You are in a difficult position, however, since it will be important to protect your friendship. Offering advice to your friend about what she “needs” to do will likely negatively impact your friendship, and it also may not change how she cares for her son. One thing you can do that may help is to keep an eye out for conferences and programs in your community (the ADA and JDRF offers them, as well as the CWD programs), and then offer to attend them with your friend. Just being with her during these programs may be helpful.

JWB