Hello all, I'm Sean and I'm new to this forum! This is kind of an introduction as well as a success story so I suppose I've posted in the right place here.
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was taken into hospital at age 6. It was a weird thing to get used to - what child of that age WANTS to prick their fingers all the time and have injections multiple times a day?
I'm now 20 years old and it's been a tough ride. In my teen years I was constantly in and out of hospital because I hardly ever took my insulin. It was only in January last year that I felt something needed to change, after I spent 2 weeks in hospital. I had never felt as gravely ill in my life as I did during that particular month of my life. I had lost so much weight that I barely recognised myself. All of this was topped off by a doctor telling me I was going to die if I continued this way.
It was time for me to change. As I was unemployed at the time, I decided it was time for me to get a routine together that didn't involve sitting around eating as much rubbish as I wanted and neglecting my injections. I started running 3 days a week (was hard at first but an absolute breeze after a while!), eating at regular times and attended a DAFNE course so I could figure out eating habits and carb counting. I won't lie, it was tough to get my head around it all to begin with and it's always difficult to change old habits.
One of my dreams has always been to travel across the world, and I knew I'd never get to do that if I didn't take control of my condition. I've now gotten my HbA1c down to 6.1% with that motivation constantly at the forefront of my mind and I've never felt better.
The best advice I can give to someone who goes through the same phase of neglect that I did is to just think of all the things you could end up missing out on if you let diabetes get the better of you!
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was taken into hospital at age 6. It was a weird thing to get used to - what child of that age WANTS to prick their fingers all the time and have injections multiple times a day?
I'm now 20 years old and it's been a tough ride. In my teen years I was constantly in and out of hospital because I hardly ever took my insulin. It was only in January last year that I felt something needed to change, after I spent 2 weeks in hospital. I had never felt as gravely ill in my life as I did during that particular month of my life. I had lost so much weight that I barely recognised myself. All of this was topped off by a doctor telling me I was going to die if I continued this way.
It was time for me to change. As I was unemployed at the time, I decided it was time for me to get a routine together that didn't involve sitting around eating as much rubbish as I wanted and neglecting my injections. I started running 3 days a week (was hard at first but an absolute breeze after a while!), eating at regular times and attended a DAFNE course so I could figure out eating habits and carb counting. I won't lie, it was tough to get my head around it all to begin with and it's always difficult to change old habits.
One of my dreams has always been to travel across the world, and I knew I'd never get to do that if I didn't take control of my condition. I've now gotten my HbA1c down to 6.1% with that motivation constantly at the forefront of my mind and I've never felt better.
The best advice I can give to someone who goes through the same phase of neglect that I did is to just think of all the things you could end up missing out on if you let diabetes get the better of you!