When The Penny Dropped For You?

[DiabeticDadUK]

After T1 diagnosis, at what point did the penny drop for you that you've got a serious condition? I've had a few pennies drop, a handful of change - you might say. Significantly:

- A week after diagnosis. Discharged from hospital and feeling "Oh I must be better now" then asking my parents how long I'll need to have injections for. Their reply? 'Forever'. Pretty blunt and still sticks in my head even today, I was 8.
- Walking into the operating theatre for the first of a series of eye operations to restore and save my sight. I broke down and cried.

If you're struggling to "get your head around it", as I've seen many say, then don't give up. It took some of us quite a while too

 

[noblehead]

Probably whilst still in hospital getting to grips with insulin injections & urine testing and thinking this is it for life.......

Thankfully the urine testing is a thing of the past and the treatment of type 1 is much improved, but totally concur with your last sentence @DiabeticDadUK

 

[DiabeticDadUK]

Probably whilst still in hospital getting to grips with insulin injections & urine testing and thinking this is it for life.......

Thankfully the urine testing is a thing of the past and the treatment of type 1 is much improved, but totally concur with your last sentence @DiabeticDadUK

I remember that too. They gave me an orange and an empty syringe and some water. "Here! practice injecting with that"

 

[Lorraine1973]

It took me an hour to do my first injection and that was just water. I was up and down in my seat x

 

[Jaylee]

I remember that too. They gave me an orange and an empty syringe and some water. "Here! practice injecting with that"

"Penny dropped".. Not with the "Orange". Not with the other stuff. Not even with the change in "family dynamics." I adapted to it all.

Lol, however... Since I'd been such a good lad for so long... (Thinking D won't stop me.) i decided to tick a few "rock & roll" boxes before I hit the big 40. I Then realised i should have stayed the adult i was as a kid/teen...
The penny dropped & the noise woke me up!

 

[DiabeticDadUK]

It took me an hour to do my first injection and that was just water. I was up and down in my seat x

The actual process took me about 10 minutes. The build up to the process about 4 years! My dad did my injections from diagnosis until around 12.

 

[nmr1991]

From the moment i never really fit in to society, i always felt I was in denial about all of life like it was an illusion like the matrix. Things like diabetes or mental health were (and still) just part of that denial. When i first got the diagnosis at hospital, nothing hit me, the penny already dropped, nothing can get worse nor better except death which is the final unknown.

 

[noblehead]

I remember that too. They gave me an orange and an empty syringe and some water. "Here! practice injecting with that"

Same here, wasn't allowed home until I'd mastered the fine-art of injecting insulin.

Practising on an orange seems to have been a common practice in hospitals back then

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi there, I think the penny dropped when I was in hospital, hundreds of miles away from home, my two children were with their dad, so having to go it alone when I got back home ( Ex left months before) there were some scary and anxious thoughts, but after feeling so much better and glad to be alive, I just on with it, we have to.
I don't remember an orange, but I do remember the doctor telling me I had to inject myself, my stomach was churning with very sweaty hands too, I injected into my leg.

 

[Chloesnavy]

After T1 diagnosis, at what point did the penny drop for you that you've got a serious condition? I've had a few pennies drop, a handful of change - you might say. Significantly:

- A week after diagnosis. Discharged from hospital and feeling "Oh I must be better now" then asking my parents how long I'll need to have injections for. Their reply? 'Forever'. Pretty blunt and still sticks in my head even today, I was 8.
- Walking into the operating theatre for the first of a series of eye operations to restore and save my sight. I broke down and cried.

If you're struggling to "get your head around it", as I've seen many say, then don't give up. It took some of us quite a while too

I was diagnosed when I was 6, I'm now 24. I think it dropped very, very late. I'd say only a few years ago. I used to rebel against it as a child, and then as a teenager I'd try to dismiss it as much as possible to be normal. I'd go out drinking a lot etc and I just didn't care.
Thankfully now I do and my control is SO much better. I volunteered in South Africa for three months back in 2014, by myself. It was the first time I'd ever been away from home without my parents, let alone all the way in SA. I think it changed me as a person and I came back more grown up.

 

[Scott-C]

Penny dropped on how serious it was when I read an article in Balance a few months after dx by a person who was not much older than me at the time who had been told her control was so out there was a fair chance she'd end up blind. I remember thinking I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen to me. It was a strong motivating factor to take it seriously. Fingers crossed, almost 30 years in now and no signs.

I remember my first self-administered injection. My dad was there doing the parental support bit. He gave me a slap on the back, saying, well done, son, while the needle was still in my leg....

 

[Lesleywo]

Im waiting for the penny to drop. .. diagnosed early LADA a couple of weeks ago. Been expecting it for 4 years since finding out i was GAD positive. ..yet for some reason i havent been taking it seriously as I'm only in the early pre diabetic range. *** us wrong with me. Will someone please give me a reality check and kick me up the ar**?

 

[dancer]

I knew the day of diagnosis (at 24) that I would need injections for life. I knew little or nothing about diabetes, so couldn't believe that the nurse could tell me about people collapsing in the street with hypos, while she tapped the bubbles out of the insulin syringe, before my first injection.

My consultant lent me a book telling me all about diabetes. That was when I found out about some of the possible complications. Blindness terrified me, so I decided I would try my best to control my blood sugar. The ward sister came over to me on the second morning and said it was time I gave myself insulin. She handed me the syringe and told me to inject in my leg. I knew I had to do it, but only knew the written instructions (the needle at a 45 degree angle, in those days). I put the needle to my leg at 45 degrees but was afraid to push, in case I pushed too hard. I asked the sister how hard I should push and she said nothing, but grabbed the back of my hand, shoving the needle in. The pain was awful, you should've seen the huge bruise that appeared later! I wish I'd been given an orange! What made things worse was that it wasn't even put in my notes that I'd given my first injection. However, that made me decide there was no way anyone else was going to inject my insulin.

There were lots of tears into my pillow, at night and it took a couple of years to fully accept my diabetes but I did everything by the book, from day one, because I didn't want to lose my sight

 

[nmr1991]

Same here, wasn't allowed home until I'd mastered the fine-art of injecting insulin.

Practising on an orange seems to have been a common practice in hospitals back then

I think i was lucky when they repeatedly asked me to keep getting the feel for injecting as the first day I moved into the ward from intensive care I already felt like I was in prison - worse even. They saw I had suffered anxiety in the ward from dealing with people and open spaces so they let me go home early and saw that I could pick up injecting fast enough (and I suppose ward beds are a bit low on availability in some places).

 

[TorqPenderloin]

I guess I'm one of the weird ones. For me, it was the day I was diagnosed when the doctor said "We think you have type 1 diabetes. I hope you have good insurance because you're probably going to need it." (I'm in the USA).

I kept waiting for that moment when I would feel sad, frustrated, or angry, but it still hasn't come even after 2 years. I'm confident it's never going to come at this point.

For me, there was immediate acceptance that this was now a part of my life, and there was nothing I could do to change that.

 

[DiabeticDadUK]

Im waiting for the penny to drop. .. diagnosed early LADA a couple of weeks ago. Been expecting it for 4 years since finding out i was GAD positive. ..yet for some reason i havent been taking it seriously as I'm only in the early pre diabetic range. *** us wrong with me. Will someone please give me a reality check and kick me up the ar**?

What is wrong with you? I suspect nothing. I think people can take bad news about their health in different ways. I also suspect trying to blank it out or not taking it as seriously as you should is quite common. However, if you realise that today or frequently on any given day then it's time to take action. Only you can do it. Do not give up

 

[jackois]

The day I was diagnosed... about 4 years ago.

Doctors appointment in the morning. 'Would you head down to the hospital AMU? Go straight there, do not pass go' etc.
Finally got home at eleven in the evening, having convinced the Diabetic team, I understood how to inject, and how much to inject and having injected myself, with two huge carrier bags, full of pens, testers and so on.

Quick look on the internet was enough to confirm to me it was pretty serious.

Saying that, it's become pretty routine now...

 

[Scott-C]

I wonder how many people have thought, I can manage this, I just need to make sure I inject an orange every day...

 

[jackois]

I wonder how many people have thought, I can manage this, I just need to make sure I inject an orange every day...

On the day, I did wonder if they kept a supply of oranges especially, or whether they had to nick one from some other patient's fruit!

 

[Scott-C]

On the day, I did wonder if they kept a supply of oranges especially, or whether they had to nick one from some other patient's fruit!

Thinking back on it, I'm glad it was an orange. If they'd used a banana, I would have said you expect me to do what?