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A pointless rant

Fenn

Fenn

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,405
Type of diabetes
Type 1.5
Treatment type
Insulin
I am becoming increasingly upset by peoples attitude towards my need? to take insulin, I have just read a thread about us type 2’s using up other types insulin, does anyone think this is fun? Does another type deserve treatment above me? Did I ask for this? You think I havent spent years eating low carb, running marathons? Should I accept ridiculously high blood glucose so as to not use up medicines for the more deserving?

I never asked for this, my DSN (after trying everything thing else) has said I am not producing enough insulin and my pancreas needs help, so here I am. I haven't been eating too much or being lazy, I havent brought this on myself, I was eating lchf and keto years before many people had ever been diagnosed, I have a big pile of the t-shirts, one of them says “you dont really need this, just stop eating bread” I am in ketosis every day.

Perhaps I am being paranoid, I dont know, just feeling sorry for myself? I hope so! But not my way usually.

I dont care what uneducated people think about me but people on diabetes forums surely should know better? I am desperate for help and advice from time to time as im new to this insulin gig but I am feeling alienated by the comments here :(

Its not everyone of course, I may be getting this very wrong but I dont think I should be made to feel so bad by comments on a “support” forum?

I felt positive about this new way to finally gain some control I was so desperate for, now I just feel like a failure and a waste of insulin, because of what I have read here.

So please please please spare a thought for peoples feelings, especially the less mouthy than me people that come here and read without wanting to post, I (we) have been trying very hard just like you but due to some genetic mess we have been given, we have no choice, I would very much like to be able to control this with diet too.

I dont even think people realise they do it :(

Sorry for being so needy im sure I deserve everything I get.
 
First, have a hug from me, this isn’t a pointless rant, if it makes you feel better to get things off your chest, then go for it. If you and your medics have decided that insulin is needed, then insulin is needed, fullstop, no debate. I take Metformin and am happy too, but sometimes just for a second I feel inferior to those who control their T2 by diet alone, but I give myself a metaphorical slap and get on with the regime I’m happy with.
 
Hi @Fenn, Very sorry to hear that you feel this way. People can be insensitive at times and also self-centred sometimes.
In Australia with our humour we usually shrug it off the way we do when somebody calls the other an "oxygen thief".
I wonder if the attitude you have been assailed by is to do with the idea that a LCHF diet should cure all T2Ds and get all of them off insulin and others medications.?
Yes, LCHF diet may help many but we are all at different parts of our journey and, as you and your DN say, you need insulin, whether that is because the insulin-producing beta cells in your pancreas gland are completely worn out with long term T2D or, as some have found, they have developed LADA (= type 1.5).
We have another expression here which is: If I pay my taxes I can use the road. And for children there is the expression:
'Share-bears are care-bears'. You share resources as they are needed with all due consideration and caring.
You have just as much right to have and use insulin as the next person with diabetes.
Live on and well, fellow warrior. Please accept this image below in a general sense rather than a personal sense.
Hey, we are all in this stew together. I am here but if you need to find me otherwise I will be next to the carrots !!
P3310368.jpg
 
Sorry that you are feeling that way - and sorry that people feel the need to be judgmental about other people even when they have no idea of what struggles others go through.

If it helps, honestly just put the people on ignore. It's much better for your state of mind not having to confront that type of ignorance. If the prejudice is overwhelmingly obvious, then I'd report them for breaking the board guidelines.
 
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Thank you, @Indy51. I couldn`t have put it better.
@Fenn if someone makes comments that are so belittling, please report. Mods will look into it.
Oh, and I don't think your rant is pointless at all. :)
 
Fenn said:
my DSN (after trying everything thing else) has said I am not producing enough insulin and my pancreas needs help
Click to expand...

I may have suggested this before but did you ever look into getting a fasting insulin test done?
At least that would tell you if you were over or under producing insulin?
It would also demonstrate if the nurse is right or wrong.
 
kitedoc said:
In Australia with our humour we usually shrug it off the way we do when somebody calls the other an "oxygen thief".
Click to expand...
That the best ya got mate, most of the oxygen thieves are in Canberra.

We have a few "snowflakes" here in Queensland that go all touchyfeely on occasion. :meh:
 
bulkbiker said:
I may have suggested this before but did you ever look into getting a fasting insulin test done?
At least that would tell you if you were over or under producing insulin?
It would also demonstrate if the nurse is right or wrong.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the test that tells the doctors how much insulin is being produced endogenously is the c-peptide test. There seems to be quite a bit of controversy over the usefulness of fasting insulin tests - Catherine Crofts for example finds it a fairly unreliable measure because of the pulsatile nature of insulin.
 
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Mel dCP said:
I’m sorry you’re feeling like this - fwiw, if you’re not making enough insulin, you need to top it up. Doesn’t matter why. Sending hugs x
Click to expand...
Thankyou Mel, means an awful lot.
 
Rachox said:
First, have a hug from me, this isn’t a pointless rant, if it makes you feel better to get things off your chest, then go for it. If you and your medics have decided that insulin is needed, then insulin is needed, fullstop, no debate. I take Metformin and am happy too, but sometimes just for a second I feel inferior to those who control their T2 by diet alone, but I give myself a metaphorical slap and get on with the regime I’m happy with.
Click to expand...
Thankyou Rachox, didnt make me feel better, annoys me that I am being so thin skinned about it.
 
kitedoc said:
Hi @Fenn, Very sorry to hear that you feel this way. People can be insensitive at times and also self-centred sometimes.
In Australia with our humour we usually shrug it off the way we do when somebody calls the other an "oxygen thief".
I wonder if the attitude you have been assailed by is to do with the idea that a LCHF diet should cure all T2Ds and get all of them off insulin and others medications.?
Yes, LCHF diet may help many but we are all at different parts of our journey and, as you and your DN say, you need insulin, whether that is because the insulin-producing beta cells in your pancreas gland are completely worn out with long term T2D or, as some have found, they have developed LADA (= type 1.5).
We have another expression here which is: If I pay my taxes I can use the road. And for children there is the expression:
'Share-bears are care-bears'. You share resources as they are needed with all due consideration and caring.
You have just as much right to have and use insulin as the next person with diabetes.
Live on and well, fellow warrior. Please accept this image below in a general sense rather than a personal sense.
Hey, we are all in this stew together. I am here but if you need to find me otherwise I will be next to the carrots !!
View attachment 29768
Click to expand...
Thankyou Doc, hard to find words to thankyou for this. Believe me ive been sitting here trying, I cant pretend I know what is going on, I have achieved so much through lchf in the past, I know how good it is, but it isnt enough anymore. This past week I have been getting days where I am in the green zone all day and all night, its a beautiful sight (Libre) It gives me a predicted a1C of 50,this is after a few weeks on it and when I finger prick test its often lower than the libre says so I feel reasonable confident I will see a lovely improvement in 2 months and i’m only just getting my doses right, last hba1c 81 while eating very well. Thankyou
 
Indy51 said:
Sorry that you are feeling that way - and sorry that people feel the need to be judgmental about other people even when they have no idea of what struggles others go through.

If it helps, honestly just put the people on ignore. It's much better for your state of mind not having to confront that type of ignorance. If the prejudice is overwhelmingly obvious, then I'd report them for breaking the board guidelines.
Click to expand...
Thankyou Indy, You are right, I should just ignore, and its very possible I am being way too sensitive, I am sure everyone here means well, we are all just struggling along, I am going to use this to make sure I dont do a similar thing whilst wrapped up in my own bubble.
 
bulkbiker said:
I may have suggested this before but did you ever look into getting a fasting insulin test done?
At least that would tell you if you were over or under producing insulin?
It would also demonstrate if the nurse is right or wrong.
Click to expand...
Thankyou Bulk, I read alot about the test as Indy posted above, I decide without the test, I would try the insulin and if I needed huge does I would know if im very insulin resistant or just dont produce enough, both my daughters have hyperinsulinism so I am guessing I have had that for I dont know how long (they were diagnosed at 2 and 13, I was diagnosed at 40 so who knows) and worn out my pancreas. The doses I am having huge success with a relatively low I think and its having a huge effect so I am assuming I know the answer.
 
I apologise for my rant, I will be more Australian! :)

Sorry
 
Fenn said:
I apologise for my rant, I will be more Australian! :)

Sorry
Click to expand...

Haha!
The ‘sorry’is v British and undermines the Aussieness. :D

I think type 2s on insulin have a very tricky time of it. And I completely understand your discomforture.

On the one hand there is the fact that type 1 and type 2 insulin usage is different in some ways. Even medical professionals seem to treat them very differently, with less referral to clinics and more routine support at the surgery. Sometimes with judgement and blame.

Then there is the media blame culture that bleeds through into the person on the street, and sometimes even crops up here, as you have seen.

Then, to top it all, we get the growing idea that lowering carb intake and losing weight is some miraculous ‘cure all’ for type 2s. With the first suggestion being to go low carb, and the assumption that weeding out hidden carbs and fasting will sort everything out.

Of course none of those are necessarily true, especially where there are other health conditions or dietary requirements at play. I think that type 2s on insulin are often marginalised and unsupported on the forum. This is a great pity, because they are frequent visitors but often don’t stay for long, because of the lack of support.

So I very much hope that you stay around @Fenn and continue to contribute. Your voice and experiences are just as valid as anyone else, and having members with long term experience of managing their D by a variety of methods can only be good, can’t it?

Low Carbing is a great way for many of us to get control of our blood glucose, but we none of us (T2s) know what the future holds (deterioration through age, burnout or additional illness), so we may ALL need to draw on your experience one day, and it would be a great shame if you weren’t around to offer it to us. :)
 
@Fenn i really feel for you it must be so frustrating that despite all the hard work you’ve put in that your body needs more medications. It’s a difficult balance when posting between motivational and supportive and enthusiastic about what works for yourself but that’s just it we are all individuals and are at different stages of the journey and hope that others support other members who are different from them or at a different stage of their diabetic journey. I count myself as very lucky as being someone who has to date responded exceptionally well to this way of eating mixed with stress management (a trigger for me) but know that this may change in the future. Hope that the insulin makes a big difference to your health.
 
I am now comfortable to admit that at diagnosis I was terrified at the thought of being prescribed insulin. Let me be absolutely clear here, I'm not needle phobic nor was it a fear of insulin in and of itself it was, as I came to realise many months later, a fear of the unknown. How was I going to manage learning a brand new skill, what if I couldn't get dosages right or would I be so poor at managing that I put myself in danger.

After being a member here for a few weeks I learned that insulin therapy is a treatment that is used by hundreds of thousands of people and that many would have felt the same anxiety that I had but just plain got on with the job of learning how to manage it. I am not underplaying the importance of the treatment, I went through a similar thing with one of my other conditions and realised that my feelings couldn't be that uncommon.

As to the future and the whole 'failure' issue, this is something I remember very, very well. Each time I took posession of a new disability aid I felt as though I had given in, failed miserably or hadn't put in enough effort to avoid the need for it and this, I'm convinced, did me no favours mentally. So if and when I need insulin I will meet it head on just like everyone else does.

I do sometimes wish that I could give the encouragement and advice to new insulin users that I sometimes give to new low carbers but this is not because I am looking down my nose at insulin dependant Diabetics, it is simply because I lack the knowledge to give sound advice. As far as I know no other treatment carries with it such a judgement as is sometimes seen even here on DCUK. This is not right and it is not fair.

Having said all that, if and when a health care professional tells me that I have exhausted all other avenues and that insulin is the only option left then before they turn to printing out the prescription they will have to convince me that I am no longer hyperinsulinaemic, no best guesses for me, I would demand that they do the tests.

As an aside, I think that the way some people who become insulin dependant whether they have T1 or T2 are prescribed their meds, given their 'goodies' and sent away with little or no guidance is a complete travesty. This is clearly shown by some of the questions we see here on the forum.
 
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