Hi, I am an 18 year old living with type one diabetes, I have been diabetic for 16 years going on 17 in a few months. In the past little with I have been struggling majorly staying on track and finding the drive to continue managing my diabetes properly. So here I am asking for some help, if someone can relate and possibly talk about things together.
need a little help
- Thread starter jenna2000
- Start Date
Guzzler
Master
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Hi Jenna. As it is late you may not get many responses until morning but I welcome you to the forum where I know that many young people (and the not so young!) will do their utmost to offer advice and support.
Best wishes.
Best wishes.
kitedoc
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 4,783
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
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- Pump
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- black jelly beans
Hi Jenna,
Being from Australia I have become the early bird !!! or cockatoo!!
(excepting Guzzler, whom I shall affectionately refer to as the Night Owl) !!
I was diagnosed as T1D at age 13 in 1966 and in 1970, aged 16 to 17, there were no fancy pens,
no fancy insulins or blood glucose monitoring. or insulin pumps - and a lot less knowledge of diabetes.
There was no encouraging news about diabetes and avoiding diabetic complications.
What is more, there is the rest of your life ahead of you as an adult with no let up or holiday
from the pesky big D. Let alone education, finding work, relationships, money etc etc??
Should I ever think of having children? What about my wish to be an astronaut (in 1966 that was the wish
of most of us). And complications, always the complications.!
Not sure how your early years were for you, but in the 60/s 70/s and 80/s I was to blame for all my bad BSLs.
And risk of diabetic complications were used as a threat to make me do better. No-one thought about the
insulins whose absorption was unreliable, the diet or the fact that urine testing for sugar was often useless.
Well 52 years on insulin, retired, with a family showed 'em. Not saying it is easy but it is doable -
moreso with all the advances.
My endo tells me that these days he advises all his new patients with T1D to ensure they develop
a good normal age retirement plan. The news for diabetics is that good!
But I know the hassle of going through the teenage growth phase, BSLs and insulin doses on a roller-coaster
and that is on top of all the other changes in those years !!
So how have I and others gotten through 30, 40 , 50 plus years on insulin relatively unscathed?
I could say sheer, dumb luck but that is a gamble whose odds are best avoided.
For me - there were dark moments - why bother? and even later when in the 90's
I was diagnosed with depression.
I think part of the reason to do better came from two things.
a) I had an excellent GP who had diagnosed my diabetes at the first appointment - an achievement
my specialist said was extra-ordinary.
Given that achievement was it fair to let my GP (and specialist) down? Or my family? My pet dog?
b) finding exercise helped me feel better and BSLs were better.
Not exactly an addiction but exercise gave some meaning to living and hope for more and better.
It lead me to sports and routines that I might never otherwise have experienced or benefitted from.
I got the best marks I could at school and managed to get into medical training.
My GP was an exemplar and what better way to pay something back.?
Not saying that is what anyone should do, just plan to do the best in whatever way you can.
Something possible, not trying to break the rules about what training and occupations are
possible with diabetes, but finding things that are manageable and rewarding.
And, as I found out, what particular part of an occupation stream you start in is not always
where you end up later !!
Getting my first glucose meter in 1980 was a big moment - some chance to deal with the D on
more of my own terms.
Today that is not a big deal - meters are sort of a dime a dozen but it meant a new way for me
wherever I was to see what was happening.
I implore you to consider the gift that that is - because there are other developments which
you may or may not know about which have revolutionised my diabetes management
even in the past year. Not just pumps and CGM either.
Exercise and the hobbies/sports that encompassed have remained a constant theme for me over
the years, even though commonsense made me see that some of the more severe, risky forms were
not worth the glory !!!
Exercise and activity or whatever you develop an interest or passion for, need to be about meaning,
not setting some personal best or being selfish.
At age 65 my activities are far more sensible and have just, if not more, meaning than years ago and
with just as much health benefit.
What about that fear of complications? Well in 2000 i copped the carpal tunnels ones, tissue swelling
around the carpal (of the wrist) nerve as it passed thru the carpal tunnel (underneath the tendons at the
wrist joint, palm-side up). The nerve gets pressured, tingling and pain at night - easy fixed - op to cut the
roof of the tunnel !! Later some swelling of finger tendons - op for them too.
I could blame all of it on the paddling of kayaks and bike riding but denial only gets you so far.
Similarly I had to have cataracts removed in the late noughties - could have blamed the sun exposure in
Australia with the kayaking and bike riding .....
But no heart, eyes, kidney or other nerve problems - the real biggies !!
And with care and all the modern advancements, you have an even brighter future.
Yours to take if you wish to.
In 2011 at the 45 year on insulin mark I was on 8 plus insulin injections per day to try I keep BSLs in range
with troublesome night-time hypos.
Driver's license and job in jeopardy to say nothing of risk to health - but modern medicine had an answer -
use of an insulin pump - tech which is yours in the right setting if the big D is causing troubles.
But that is not the end of the story
Insulin pumps whist immensely helpful have their quirks - cannulas delivering insulin under the skin
can block and kink and you only know when BSLs hit the roof and ketones may have risen - quicker than
when you are on long-acing insulin as well. So extra vigilance was important but with the advantage that
at least the hassles of rising BSKs in the early morning (called the Dawn Phenomenon - see Home page and
type it in the question box right upper page) could be sorted, and easier to cope with exercise and illness
with a pump.
No diet I had undertaken in 50 plus years had really been optimal - so even on a pump this was true.
I came to realise that all along the teaching had been: work out what you want to eat, count the carbs and inject
short-acting insulin to match the carbs. Whether you are on mdi (multiple daily injections) or pump.
And your blood glucose meter helps you to work out the right sort of ratio of carbs to insulin.
What they call eating to the meter.
It does not work well or takes a lot of trial and error to get even close.
Why? The short acting insulin has a pretty fixed action relevant to each person - onset of effect of BSL-lowering
= X minutes, Peak BSL-lowering effect Y to Z hours and minutes, e]overall effect lasts + A hours.
But your insulin is being given to 'chase' the BSL rise of your food, how easy is it to do that.
No insulin by injection under the skin can match how quickly BSL rises after a usual meal with lots of carbs that I
have found.
In despair I read about the low Carb diet that some T1Ds on this site and others had been trying. And just so you
know I have no financial or other interest or benefit in telling you this !!
Most of us I have read the book or e-book: Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. The crux is that eating very little carb
per day and use of protein and more fat in the diet helps get people to their ideal weight, maintain it and stop the
large fluctuations in BSLs seen on other diets. I say that it is more important than having my pump.
Such a diet does not save one from adapting insulin doses to changes on monthly cycles, for illness etc and it is
important if undertaking such a diet to work with your nurse or doctor to adjust insulin doses for lower intake of carbs etc.
By all means look at all the diets under Type 1 diabetes on the Home page and consider all I have said about diabetes.
Hear what others on site have to say about their experiences of diabetes such as @helensaramay, @Mel dCP, @Knikki
who have various perspectives.
Keep asking questions, seeking support and most importantly believe in yourself.
Best Wishes
Hang in there..........Needles and......Not every day....Ask for help ..........Nothing is ever
................................finger pricks........will be perfect......it will be there........impossible
......
........
.....
.....
Being from Australia I have become the early bird !!! or cockatoo!!
(excepting Guzzler, whom I shall affectionately refer to as the Night Owl) !!
I was diagnosed as T1D at age 13 in 1966 and in 1970, aged 16 to 17, there were no fancy pens,
no fancy insulins or blood glucose monitoring. or insulin pumps - and a lot less knowledge of diabetes.
There was no encouraging news about diabetes and avoiding diabetic complications.
What is more, there is the rest of your life ahead of you as an adult with no let up or holiday
from the pesky big D. Let alone education, finding work, relationships, money etc etc??
Should I ever think of having children? What about my wish to be an astronaut (in 1966 that was the wish
of most of us). And complications, always the complications.!
Not sure how your early years were for you, but in the 60/s 70/s and 80/s I was to blame for all my bad BSLs.
And risk of diabetic complications were used as a threat to make me do better. No-one thought about the
insulins whose absorption was unreliable, the diet or the fact that urine testing for sugar was often useless.
Well 52 years on insulin, retired, with a family showed 'em. Not saying it is easy but it is doable -
moreso with all the advances.
My endo tells me that these days he advises all his new patients with T1D to ensure they develop
a good normal age retirement plan. The news for diabetics is that good!
But I know the hassle of going through the teenage growth phase, BSLs and insulin doses on a roller-coaster
and that is on top of all the other changes in those years !!
So how have I and others gotten through 30, 40 , 50 plus years on insulin relatively unscathed?
I could say sheer, dumb luck but that is a gamble whose odds are best avoided.
For me - there were dark moments - why bother? and even later when in the 90's
I was diagnosed with depression.
I think part of the reason to do better came from two things.
a) I had an excellent GP who had diagnosed my diabetes at the first appointment - an achievement
my specialist said was extra-ordinary.
Given that achievement was it fair to let my GP (and specialist) down? Or my family? My pet dog?
b) finding exercise helped me feel better and BSLs were better.
Not exactly an addiction but exercise gave some meaning to living and hope for more and better.
It lead me to sports and routines that I might never otherwise have experienced or benefitted from.
I got the best marks I could at school and managed to get into medical training.
My GP was an exemplar and what better way to pay something back.?
Not saying that is what anyone should do, just plan to do the best in whatever way you can.
Something possible, not trying to break the rules about what training and occupations are
possible with diabetes, but finding things that are manageable and rewarding.
And, as I found out, what particular part of an occupation stream you start in is not always
where you end up later !!
Getting my first glucose meter in 1980 was a big moment - some chance to deal with the D on
more of my own terms.
Today that is not a big deal - meters are sort of a dime a dozen but it meant a new way for me
wherever I was to see what was happening.
I implore you to consider the gift that that is - because there are other developments which
you may or may not know about which have revolutionised my diabetes management
even in the past year. Not just pumps and CGM either.
Exercise and the hobbies/sports that encompassed have remained a constant theme for me over
the years, even though commonsense made me see that some of the more severe, risky forms were
not worth the glory !!!
Exercise and activity or whatever you develop an interest or passion for, need to be about meaning,
not setting some personal best or being selfish.
At age 65 my activities are far more sensible and have just, if not more, meaning than years ago and
with just as much health benefit.
What about that fear of complications? Well in 2000 i copped the carpal tunnels ones, tissue swelling
around the carpal (of the wrist) nerve as it passed thru the carpal tunnel (underneath the tendons at the
wrist joint, palm-side up). The nerve gets pressured, tingling and pain at night - easy fixed - op to cut the
roof of the tunnel !! Later some swelling of finger tendons - op for them too.
I could blame all of it on the paddling of kayaks and bike riding but denial only gets you so far.
Similarly I had to have cataracts removed in the late noughties - could have blamed the sun exposure in
Australia with the kayaking and bike riding .....
But no heart, eyes, kidney or other nerve problems - the real biggies !!
And with care and all the modern advancements, you have an even brighter future.
Yours to take if you wish to.
In 2011 at the 45 year on insulin mark I was on 8 plus insulin injections per day to try I keep BSLs in range
with troublesome night-time hypos.
Driver's license and job in jeopardy to say nothing of risk to health - but modern medicine had an answer -
use of an insulin pump - tech which is yours in the right setting if the big D is causing troubles.
But that is not the end of the story
Insulin pumps whist immensely helpful have their quirks - cannulas delivering insulin under the skin
can block and kink and you only know when BSLs hit the roof and ketones may have risen - quicker than
when you are on long-acing insulin as well. So extra vigilance was important but with the advantage that
at least the hassles of rising BSKs in the early morning (called the Dawn Phenomenon - see Home page and
type it in the question box right upper page) could be sorted, and easier to cope with exercise and illness
with a pump.
No diet I had undertaken in 50 plus years had really been optimal - so even on a pump this was true.
I came to realise that all along the teaching had been: work out what you want to eat, count the carbs and inject
short-acting insulin to match the carbs. Whether you are on mdi (multiple daily injections) or pump.
And your blood glucose meter helps you to work out the right sort of ratio of carbs to insulin.
What they call eating to the meter.
It does not work well or takes a lot of trial and error to get even close.
Why? The short acting insulin has a pretty fixed action relevant to each person - onset of effect of BSL-lowering
= X minutes, Peak BSL-lowering effect Y to Z hours and minutes, e]overall effect lasts + A hours.
But your insulin is being given to 'chase' the BSL rise of your food, how easy is it to do that.
No insulin by injection under the skin can match how quickly BSL rises after a usual meal with lots of carbs that I
have found.
In despair I read about the low Carb diet that some T1Ds on this site and others had been trying. And just so you
know I have no financial or other interest or benefit in telling you this !!
Most of us I have read the book or e-book: Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. The crux is that eating very little carb
per day and use of protein and more fat in the diet helps get people to their ideal weight, maintain it and stop the
large fluctuations in BSLs seen on other diets. I say that it is more important than having my pump.
Such a diet does not save one from adapting insulin doses to changes on monthly cycles, for illness etc and it is
important if undertaking such a diet to work with your nurse or doctor to adjust insulin doses for lower intake of carbs etc.
By all means look at all the diets under Type 1 diabetes on the Home page and consider all I have said about diabetes.
Hear what others on site have to say about their experiences of diabetes such as @helensaramay, @Mel dCP, @Knikki
who have various perspectives.
Keep asking questions, seeking support and most importantly believe in yourself.
Best Wishes
Hang in there..........Needles and......Not every day....Ask for help ..........Nothing is ever
................................finger pricks........will be perfect......it will be there........impossible
...... ........ ..... .....
Last edited:
Traceymac23
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 603
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Moaner
Hi Jenna,
Being from Australia I have become the early bird !!! or cockatoo!!
(excepting Guzzler, whom I shall affectionately refer to as the Night Owl) !!
I was diagnosed as T1D at age 13 in 1966 and in 1970, aged 16 to 17, there were no fancy pens,
no fancy insulins or blood glucose monitoring. or insulin pumps - and a lot less knowledge of diabetes.
There was no encouraging news about diabetes and avoiding diabetic complications.
What is more, there is the rest of your life ahead of you as an adult with no let up or holiday
from the pesky big D. Let alone education, finding work, relationships, money etc etc??
Should I ever think of having children? What about my wish to be an astronaut (in 1966 that was the wish
of most of us). And complications, always the complications.!
Not sure how your early years were for you, but in the 60/s 70/s and 80/s I was to blame for all my bad BSLs.
And risk of diabetic complications were used as a threat to make me do better. No-one thought about the
insulins whose absorption was unreliable, the diet or the fact that urine testing for sugar was often useless.
Well 52 years on insulin, retired, with a family showed 'em. Not saying it is easy but it is doable -
moreso with all the advances.
My endo tells me that these days he advises all his new patients with T1D to ensure they develop
a good normal age retirement plan. The news for diabetics is that good!
But I know the hassle of going through the teenage growth phase, BSLs and insulin doses on a roller-coaster
and that is on top of all the other changes in those years !!
So how have I and others gotten through 30, 40 , 50 plus years on insulin relatively unscathed?
I could say sheer, dumb luck but that is a gamble whose odds are best avoided.
For me - there were dark moments - why bother? and even later when in the 90's
I was diagnosed with depression.
I think part of the reason to do better came from two things.
a) I had an excellent GP who had diagnosed my diabetes at the first appointment - an achievement
my specialist said was extra-ordinary.
Given that achievement was it fair to let my GP (and specialist) down? Or my family? My pet dog?
b) finding exercise helped me feel better and BSLs were better.
Not exactly an addiction but exercise gave some meaning to living and hope for more and better.
It lead me to sports and routines that I might never otherwise have experienced or benefitted from.
I got the best marks I could at school and managed to get into medical training.
My GP was an exemplar and what better way to pay something back.?
Not saying that is what anyone should do, just plan to do the best in whatever way you can.
Something possible, not trying to break the rules about what training and occupations are
possible with diabetes, but finding things that are manageable and rewarding.
And, as I found out, what particular part of an occupation stream you start in is not always
where you end up later !!
Getting my first glucose meter in 1980 was a big moment - some chance to deal with the D on
more of my own terms.
Today that is not a big deal - meters are sort of a dime a dozen but it meant a new way for me
wherever I was to see what was happening.
I implore you to consider the gift that that is - because there are other developments which
you may or may not know about which have revolutionised my diabetes management
even in the past year. Not just pumps and CGM either.
Exercise and the hobbies/sports that encompassed have remained a constant theme for me over
the years, even though commonsense made me see that some of the more severe, risky forms were
not worth the glory !!!
Exercise and activity or whatever you develop an interest or passion for, need to be about meaning,
not setting some personal best or being selfish.
At age 65 my activities are far more sensible and have just, if not more, meaning than years ago and
with just as much health benefit.
What about that fear of complications? Well in 2000 i copped the carpal tunnels ones, tissue swelling
around the carpal (of the wrist) nerve as it passed thru the carpal tunnel (underneath the tendons at the
wrist joint, palm-side up). The nerve gets pressured, tingling and pain at night - easy fixed - op to cut the
roof of the tunnel !! Later some swelling of finger tendons - op for them too.
I could blame all of it on the paddling of kayaks and bike riding but denial only gets you so far.
Similarly I had to have cataracts removed in the late noughties - could have blamed the sun exposure in
Australia with the kayaking and bike riding .....
But no heart, eyes, kidney or other nerve problems - the real biggies !!
And with care and all the modern advancements, you have an even brighter future.
Yours to take if you wish to.
In 2011 at the 45 year on insulin mark I was on 8 plus insulin injections per day to try I keep BSLs in range
with troublesome night-time hypos.
Driver's license and job in jeopardy to say nothing of risk to health - but modern medicine had an answer -
use of an insulin pump - tech which is yours in the right setting if the big D is causing troubles.
But that is not the end of the story
Insulin pumps whist immensely helpful have their quirks - cannulas delivering insulin under the skin
can block and kink and you only know when BSLs hit the roof and ketones may have risen - quicker than
when you are on long-acing insulin as well. So extra vigilance was important but with the advantage that
at least the hassles of rising BSKs in the early morning (called the Dawn Phenomenon - see Home page and
type it in the question box right upper page) could be sorted, and easier to cope with exercise and illness
with a pump.
No diet I had undertaken in 50 plus years had really been optimal - so even on a pump this was true.
I came to realise that all along the teaching had been: work out what you want to eat, count the carbs and inject
short-acting insulin to match the carbs. Whether you are on mdi (multiple daily injections) or pump.
And your blood glucose meter helps you to work out the right sort of ratio of carbs to insulin.
What they call eating to the meter.
It does not work well or takes a lot of trial and error to get even close.
Why? The short acting insulin has a pretty fixed action relevant to each person - onset of effect of BSL-lowering
= X minutes, Peak BSL-lowering effect Y to Z hours and minutes, e]overall effect lasts + A hours.
But your insulin is being given to 'chase' the BSL rise of your food, how easy is it to do that.
No insulin by injection under the skin can match how quickly BSL rises after a usual meal with lots of carbs that I
have found.
In despair I read about the low Crab diet that some T1Ds on this site and others had been trying. And just so you
know I have no financial or other interest or benefit in telling you this !!
Most of us I have read the book or e-book: Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. The crux is that eating very little carb
per day and use of protein and more fat in the diet helps get people to their ideal weight, maintain it and stop the
large fluctuations in BSLs seen on other diets. I say that it is more important than having my pump.
Such a diet does not save one from adapting insulin doses to changes on monthly cycles, for illness etc and it is
important if undertaking such a diet to wrok with your nurse or doctor to adjust insulin doses for lower intake of carbs etc.
By all means look at all the diets under Type 1 diabetes on the Home page and consider all I have said about diabetes.
Hear what others on site have to say about their experiences of diabetes such as @helensaramay, @Mel dCP, @Knikki
who have various perspectives.
Keep asking questions, seeking support and most importantly believe in yourself.
Best Wishes
Hang in there..........Needles and......Not every day....Ask for help ..........Nothing is ever
................................finger pricks........will be perfect......it will be there........impossible
View attachment 32268......View attachment 32269 ........View attachment 32270 .....View attachment 32271 .....View attachment 32272
What a great reply
BeccyB
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 465
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
Hi Jenna, welcome to the neighborhood
Have you seen the Young People/Adults forum? Many of us oldies can remember how it felt at your age though!
Most of us have gone through phases where it all seems too much and we let things slide, it's officially called Burnout - try a search of the forums and you will find lots of stories of people who are in Burnout, and importantly lots of people who were but have come through to the other side and got things back on track.
If you give some more details about how you control things (or don't) you will get more specific advice In the meantime just know that you are definitely not alone in how you are feeling and you have come to the right place for information and support x
Have you seen the Young People/Adults forum? Many of us oldies can remember how it felt at your age though!
Most of us have gone through phases where it all seems too much and we let things slide, it's officially called Burnout - try a search of the forums and you will find lots of stories of people who are in Burnout, and importantly lots of people who were but have come through to the other side and got things back on track.
If you give some more details about how you control things (or don't) you will get more specific advice In the meantime just know that you are definitely not alone in how you are feeling and you have come to the right place for information and support x
