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Teens and the Challenge of Living with Chronic Illness
What are the barriers to managing chronic conditions for teenagers and how can their parents, families, and caregivers help.
As children enter their teenage years, the desire to rebel is ubiquitous almost to the point of cliché. But what about those young people with chronic diseases whose burgeoning independence heralds a new era in their medical management?
Parents and carers who are used to helping their children manage their health conditions can find it difficult to step back. They find it hard to allow young people to find their own ways of managing their conditions — and making their own mistakes.
Case studies of teens living with chronic illness
A recent case study followed Adam , a type 1 diabetic who’d been managing his blood sugar monitoring and insulin regime with increasing independence since he was at primary school. In his teens, he began regularly attending his local A&E department with life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis, requiring admission to ICU on three occasions in the months after his 15 thbirthday.
He was quiet and withdrawn at appointments with his consultant and barely spoke to his parents. His specialists knew that he was aware of the risks…
