• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Fed up of all thing’s diabetic

A

abigailsheree

Active Member
Messages
40
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hey all,
I’m have been diabetic for nearly 25 years and I have got to a point where I am fed up with dealing with all of it and especially when my diabetes is blamed for everything. I feel like no one actually understands what it’s like to go through it and I asked the same question to the consultant who basically blamed me for my diabetes and how I am on multiple injections. Apparently all my skin infections are also linked to my diabetes and if it was better controlled I would be on 2 injections a day max and my skin infections would not come back. I am also on antidepressants and am sorry about ranting but not really sure who else would understand what it’s like.
 
abigailsheree said:
Hey all,
I’m have been diabetic for nearly 25 years and I have got to a point where I am fed up with dealing with all of it and especially when my diabetes is blamed for everything. I feel like no one actually understands what it’s like to go through it and I asked the same question to the consultant who basically blamed me for my diabetes and how I am on multiple injections. Apparently all my skin infections are also linked to my diabetes and if it was better controlled I would be on 2 injections a day max and my skin infections would not come back. I am also on antidepressants and am sorry about ranting but not really sure who else would understand what it’s like.
Click to expand...
I read on one of your earlier posts that you were diagnosed as a child so is it safe to assume that you are Type 1 ?

I've had doctors who associate conditions with diabetes but as a Type 1 I accept that my immune system is not working as it should. The results will be different for everyone and it's generally accepted that if your immune system is not working in one area, it could be breaking down somewhere else. So it could be your immune system rather than the diabetes itself that is at fault, but I agree it is easy for a doctor to blame the diabetes.

Multiple daily injections (MDI) is a common treatment method for T1 so I don't understand your doctor's comment at all. I inject long acting insulin twice a day and short acting insulin with each meal so a minimum of 5 injections per day.
 
abigailsheree said:
Hey all,
I’m have been diabetic for nearly 25 years and I have got to a point where I am fed up with dealing with all of it and especially when my diabetes is blamed for everything. I feel like no one actually understands what it’s like to go through it and I asked the same question to the consultant who basically blamed me for my diabetes and how I am on multiple injections. Apparently all my skin infections are also linked to my diabetes and if it was better controlled I would be on 2 injections a day max and my skin infections would not come back. I am also on antidepressants and am sorry about ranting but not really sure who else would understand what it’s like.
Click to expand...
Hi @abigailsheree I am sorry to hear of your plight but fully understand. I think the most important thing to realise that diabetes is not your fault. Even mismanagement, if any, is not your fault. You are dealing with a condition which has no holiday. Obviously I have no idea what sort of blood glucose results you tend to have, nor how you deal with diet. All I would like to say is that like many others, I too sank badly years ago and gradually realised that better control made me feel better in body and especially mind. I hope you begin to feel better soon.
 
Yes I am type1 and on long acting 2 times a day with minimum of 3 fast acting for meals, they questioned my diagnosis but the damage is already done, I will deal with most things they say but if they said that to someone who is recently diagnosed they are giving false hope. I have until this point been fairly lucky that I havnt got many complications so it just confuses me why suddenly despite my best efforts they do not accept my worries surrounding hypos and seem to think you just get over it. I had 5/6 courses of antibiotics before they investigated my infection and I have to deal with an internal cyst because they refused to operate. Diabetes just seems such an easy excuse these days and as I’m over 18 I have been arguing for a pump for years to try and have better control as I’m really sensitive to adjustments despite trying to
 
Massive hugs Abigail, I hear you in regards to blaming everything on the t1d, I still speak out and argue against it if I feel the case justifies it, sometimes it best to just accept and move on - big point here though is that your t1d is not your fault so don't feel personally attacked if they say this, it limits the emotional connection if you can identify it as a separate entity, you are not your t1d. Sadly with managing t1d we can become it and it becomes us, so we need to separate this, it will help lessen the emotional strain when you can adopt a new mindset to living with it.

Find a new Diabetes Nurse if you're not getting pump access, you need to get yourself someone to listen to you and will help you gain access, improving your quality of life with managing your t1d is vital and seeking the right support to allow you to cope better, message me if I can help in any way.
 
Your doctors comment regarding only needing 2 injections if you had better control is rather odd, before being on a pump I was at minimum injecting 6 times a day if not more and even when I was a child and had better control I wouldn’t have been able to “skip” any of those injections..

When I was around 24 I had the worst control I’ve ever had, I was averaging 15mmol+ for every blood test - but I was diagnosed when I was 1 and I think I’d just got to a point where I’d given up so I know how difficult it can be. I’m lucky enough to be on a pump and cgm now and if I were you I’d definitely see about changing doctors/nurses and fighting for access to a pump, it gives so much more freedom and is a lot easier to manage sugar levels with one rather than MDI especially if you currently struggle with control in regards to that.
 
Hi @abigailsheree
25 years ago i had a cyst removed from the bottom of my spine and the specialist tried to blame my diabetes until i pointed out my dad had the same cyst removal when he was in his twenties!
I've been at it 50 years and take antidepressants and there is no shame in that.

Are you talking to someone about how you are feeling because in my experience it helps....partner doctor friend neighbour it doesn't matter who although i would choose my GP and i only say that as i am on good terms with him.

Please don't bottle things up and i wish you well

Tony
 
abigailsheree said:
Hey all,
I’m have been diabetic for nearly 25 years and I have got to a point where I am fed up with dealing with all of it and especially when my diabetes is blamed for everything. I feel like no one actually understands what it’s like to go through it and I asked the same question to the consultant who basically blamed me for my diabetes and how I am on multiple injections. Apparently all my skin infections are also linked to my diabetes and if it was better controlled I would be on 2 injections a day max and my skin infections would not come back. I am also on antidepressants and am sorry about ranting but not really sure who else would understand what it’s like.
Click to expand...
Try not to get too bogged down with it I inject approx 7 times a day, I have had T1 for 45 years & some Consultants I make sure I leave behind in the theoretical world of the consulting room. I tend to use AI these days to solve things especially if you hit a solid wall in control.
 
bmtest said:
Try not to get too bogged down with it I inject approx 7 times a day, I have had T1 for 45 years & some Consultants I make sure I leave behind in the theoretical world of the consulting room. I tend to use AI these days to solve things especially if you hit a solid wall in control.
Click to expand...
I agree and i haven't seen a specialist or DSN in years.
My philosophy on injections is simple .... 50 years ago it was a faff with harpoons....now with a pen and needles just 4mm i don't feel a thing and if i need one in the night i can do it in the dark as i just count the clicks and off i go without waking my wife.

Tony
 
Hi,

In my experience over the years with stuff like diabetes unrelated A&E visits the magic “T1” has to be fair fast tracked me into getting seen within a few minutes?
You can only blame 3 busted ribs & a suspected traumatised spleen or a gashed wrist off a grinder on stupidity..
 
@bmtest with reference to your use of AI
Mods recognize that AI is a fast emerging technology and is starting to permeate many aspects of our lives. We do, however, caution members using AI. AI is certainly not 100% reliable and draws from many sources, some of which are questionable if not wholly inaccurate. Therefore the answers AI provides, at times are simply misleading or entirely wrong. As for making medical judgements or decisions around dosing, we strongly recommend using your HCPs or well established sources of accurate information.
 
I get it...I have had Type 1 for 71 years!!! And have had many comments made to me that are thoughtless and stupid...But life is dear and yes, I get tired of the regimen. One thing tho..I have been reading a book by Dr. Donald Barnett. It is the story of Dr. Eliot Joslin, founder of the Joslin Clinic in Boston, MA...those people who became Type ! before the discovery of insulin lived about 2 years even after being basically starved!! How awful..at least we have a chance. So hang in there. Lots of good research going on (hopefully it can continue here in the US).
 
As Tony mentioned at least we are not injecting with Harpoons, never mind storing the harpoon in Industrial Meths & boiling it once a week to clean of the salt water.

Flicking the air out of solid metal needle attached to a Rocket brand Harpoon was a nightmare & living off boiled cabbage, messing around with the chemistry set and urine and holding burning hot test tubes kept you on your toes.

Sweating & trembling like a pig on the pig insulin was a wake up call before lunch at work having a cold and high blood sugars only to have to wait 8 hours till you got home to the harpoon.

Trapped on a double decker full of smokers your stop coming up and the hypo not worn off.


All this kept you busy mentally there was not time to consider other tablets there was simply no time like there is today to think anything but control as it was curtains if you got it wrong.
 
@bmtest i put a funny on your post because thats how it reads but it wasn't but thats what we were used to!
I recall on the very odd time i ate out at meal time balancing my vials of insulin on a toilet cistern using bd needles that we had to pay for as they weren't on prescription until the drug addicts got them first back in the early 1980s.
Please don't think i'm being rude about what was happening in the 80s where drug addicts were sharing needles and syringes and dying of AIDS so Mrs Thatcher sanctioned free needles etc.
As an after thought the government of the day added free supplies to diabetics!
We got insulin and glass syringes on prescription, and i also recall my parents buying a blood glucose monitor which were expensive back then, but needles had to be paid for.

I was young and foolish back then and its how i recall things but now i'm old and foolish so i could be wrong.lol


Oh happy days lol

Tony
 
Hi @abigailsheree , I feel your pain.
I too am 25years in, though diagnosed older, and I expected by now I'd have it worked out, but diabetes doesn't work that way.

I get abused by HCP's because my body is broken and not doing what they want. I frequently get told I am diabetic and must do ..., and when things don't work its because I didn't do exactly what they said. They are probably correct, but I am not a bleeding robot. I take insulin to live, I don't live to take insulin / manage diabetes.

And I hate being called a 'diabetic', I am a person with diabetes! Not a condition.
And everything is blamed on my diabetes, and somehow that is my fault.

So i'm with you and fed up too. I think we should be given a respite period where we can give our diabetes to someone else, preferably a HCP, and let them worry about it.

Sorry not very constructive, we all do what we can with our diabetes.
 
Last edited:
Melgar said:
@bmtest with reference to your use of AI
Mods recognize that AI is a fast emerging technology and is starting to permeate many aspects of our lives. We do, however, caution members using AI. AI is certainly not 100% reliable and draws from many sources, some of which are questionable if not wholly inaccurate. Therefore the answers AI provides, at times are simply misleading or entirely wrong. As for making medical judgements or decisions around dosing, we strongly recommend using your HCPs or well established sources of accurate information.
Click to expand...
I’m currently dabbling about a bit with AI.
Call it an experiment with art & it’s views on the intricate condition of diabetes?

Lol, let’s just say, when it comes to the AI interpretation artwork for a “one legged cow called lollypop.” (Something I’m working on with its own theme tune. & still feel I could personally do the graphics better with paintshop pro..)
I’m not ready to hand over 5 decades of personal T1 experience to “HAL9000.” ;)
 
Tony337 said:
@bmtest i put a funny on your post because thats how it reads but it wasn't but thats what we were used to!
I recall on the very odd time i ate out at meal time balancing my vials of insulin on a toilet cistern using bd needles that we had to pay for as they weren't on prescription until the drug addicts got them first back in the early 1980s.
Please don't think i'm being rude about what was happening in the 80s where drug addicts were sharing needles and syringes and dying of AIDS so Mrs Thatcher sanctioned free needles etc.
As an after thought the government of the day added free supplies to diabetics!
We got insulin and glass syringes on prescription, and i also recall my parents buying a blood glucose monitor which were expensive back then, but needles had to be paid for.

I was young and foolish back then and its how i recall things but now i'm old and foolish so i could be wrong.lol


Oh happy days lol

Tony
Click to expand...
I remember being prescribed plastic syringes in that era. They had a smoother action to the glass syringes that felt like a dry scrape? (Probably the bung perishing after the washes in surgical spirit?)

My mum saying “watch your needles.” When I moved out for college..
Then getting caught injecting by a student & the rumour going round I was a “junky.”

I went to a reunion decades later.. Just for the sheer hell of it.
I was told I look great..
I told them I was still using the “drugs..” :)
 
Jaylee said:
I remember being prescribed plastic syringes in that era. They had a smoother action to the glass syringes that felt like a dry scrape? (Probably the bung perishing after the washes in surgical spirit?)

My mum saying “watch your needles.” When I moved out for college..
Then getting caught injecting by a student & the rumour going round I was a “junky.”

I went to a reunion decades later.. Just for the sheer hell of it.
I was told I look great..
I told them I was still using the “drugs..” :)
Click to expand...
I was affectionally known as Junky at my senior school. Major Tom at your service!
 
Tony337 said:
Hear hear and i reckon i could out advise any AI thingymbob....but it, if it is an it, wouldn't be held accountable !

Tony
Click to expand...
The thing I’ve noticed about AI bots is it seems to take answers from humans on topics on forums such as this then emulates a response peppered with what the general advice would be on something like an NHS site or a heart foundation resource??

There is AI bots probably reading what we the people write right now?
To stay on topic I could ask chat bot GBT I have a headache from working out how you come up with this stuff.
& it would respond “have you spoken with your diabetes health care professionals.”

lol, I once spoke to a fast responding bot regarding a package that was proudly announced was delivered. (A phone which was an upgrade for the impending Libre 3 or the 2+.after research.)
I’d been round other house numbers matching mine within my post code.
It’s response was to call the police & get the device blocked???

When I asked this bot if the currier had photographed the delivery.
It sent a blurred photo identifying the address 3 doors down.
The other night a currier was trying to find the address in the pouring rain as I just got home from work.
Feeling sorry for the guy I suggested it was quicker to walk him to the door.
In a brain worm he’d dropped my package there too…. Lucky it was in a plastic bag. 2 days in the rain.

Phone works great with my Libre sensor.

Grant_Vicat said:
I was affectionally known as Junky at my senior school. Major Tom at your service!
Click to expand...
In my senior school we had a form tutor & RE teacher who focussed on prayer to cure all ills?
One kid in my class fell foul of this with a different condition. Even as an 10 /11 year old it didn’t sit right with me. (Without going into too much detail.)
I kept my mouth shut regarding my T1.
I also begged my parents not to mention it either…
My dad was cool. My mum on the other hand? Let’s just say I gave more info that made her think twice.

So I just floated in “my tin can…”
 
Back
Top