22M-Burned out and frustrated with Diabetes

Hello @DayDreamingDiabetic

Firstly your not alone, we all get this from time to time, it's just knowing how to respond to it that will help you cope better. We can put ourselves under immense pressure to try and stay on the straight and narrow all the time particularly when it comes to pleasing our parents, healthcare team etc, so it's no wonder when life becomes stressful that t1 can fall to wayside, the downside to running higher numbers is that it can make both our mood and our physical self much harder to deal with as you've got too much glucose floating around clogging up the system, getting back into range will make life and t1 alot easier to manage as you can cope better mentally without the strain of the extra glucose too.

Do you what triggered this event, any areas of particular event/stress/pressure ?

Do you have any one to talk to who will help support you ? Either friend/family/healthcare team etc ?

You will come through this and asking for help is the realisation that things need to change, maybe just set yourself a little mini target to test and inject say 3 times today ? Don't worry about what's been and what numbers you got back then, but know you can change your outcome for the future by just setting a little time aside today to take care of yourself, focus on the day to day and tomorrow will look after itself, you can do this, please pm me if I can help in any way

50 yo not YA but had similar and my 20s saw me not care about my long term diabetic health or at least I wasn't scared enough to change the chaotic way I was eating.
The good news is that it isn't a doom spiral because your body is young and you've had reasonable control til now so please try not to be black and white re the risks but also with the anger/guilt you might be feeling!
Peer support is great which is why you are reaching out. I know there are type 1 DUK groups that meet up on Zoom (Diabetes UK) - talk to the South West regional office to get a contact as I have a recollection that there is an exclusively young type1 Zoom group possibly based in Southamptom though location doesn't matter since they plan to continue on Zoom.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/in_your_area/south_west/contact_us

I'm 29 and can fully sympathise as I am also experiencing burnout and just can't seem to get back on track. I have good days though which is progress. I usually find that small targets make these good days achievable as @Juicyj suggested. Usually if I wake up and test I'm more likely to engage even if it's just for that day. And I will keep doing that until I break this cycle I am in. Try not to beat yourself up over this, you are only human and we all experience this. Take care @DayDreamingDiabetic

Sorry to hear about your DKA incident, it's quite a scary experience.

It's never too late but it's good to talk and perhaps keep a diary of your emotions and what your experiencing each day, if you can look for triggers it can help you understand more about what is influencing your control over your t1.

Yes definitely one day at a time, but don't look back and question what has happened, just take care of the day to day and the future will take care of itself, best wishes J

Juicyj said:

Sorry to hear about your DKA incident, it's quite a scary experience.

It's never too late but it's good to talk and perhaps keep a diary of your emotions and what your experiencing each day, if you can look for triggers it can help you understand more about what is influencing your control over your t1.

Yes definitely one day at a time, but don't look back and question what has happened, just take care of the day to day and the future will take care of itself, best wishes J

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I've never thought about keeping a diary but I'm liking the suggestion. Ideas of what to write/include in there @Juicyj and how to use it going forward? Thankyou

Hi. I’m 19 & I’ve been in the same position as you since I was in secondary school. It’s a hard cycle to break believe me I know. I went to see my clinic nurse for the first time in two years the other day and my hbA1c wasn’t readable. Because you’ve had pretty good control for all that time my advice would be not to let yourself sink into a deeper hole because your at a point where you can pull your self out of it before it starts getting dangerous. I didn’t check my blood for over a year until two days ago and it feels great to start again. I used to hate it when people would say it to me but I’ll say it to you now that I know its true, you will seriously damage yourself if you let it get that bad, you don’t believe it until it happens though. I have nerve damage in my eyes and my legs and I’m only 19, it sucks but it’s sort of reversible at this point. I’ve found that going to see a nurse or a diabetes clinician is always a good way to get yourself motivated again because just talking about it with them might give you the push you need to get going again. Or getting a new meter or something like that, I just started using the libre sensors again and accu-chek also brought out a cool new meter so that’s made me want to check my blood again you could see if you could get a new meter to encourage yourself to check! And apps help too, do you have the mysugr app? If not you should get it it’s so good, you can add your blood results, carbs, insulin, it even calculates how much insulin you should take with food if you set it up, and it gives you targets and challenges to keep you going, it’s good you should try it if you haven’t! Anyway, you’re not alone in this so let’s pick it back up together, we can do it

Courage, Day Dreamer. Your circs are way tougher than mine (I only got diagnosed over 50), but that situation of sometimes just not being able to cope any more & letting everything go to hell is so familiar. But (1) ALL the bad things are reversible: read Bernstein’s story. And (2) you will get your energy back. Just do whatever it takes to feel better & get all the support you can. The day will come when you start to see things get better.

Can you set things up/routines so they help you at all? That’s a big plus if you can. Things that work for you - phone alarms? exercising with friends? Getting together with another T1 friend every week, or Zooming? What works for YOU.

Love & hugs, & courage.

DayDreamingDiabetic said:

Hey Friends!

Tw Self Neglect

This is my first time posting, I’m a 22 y/o Diabetic who has been Diabetic since the age of 3. Until 2019 my control was in the 8s, so could be better but still a decent number.

However 2019 onwards I’ve been so burned out with Diabetes and neglecting myself I just don’t know how to break the cycle. I am fed up of this disease but also have an awareness if I don’t control it, it will ruin my future.

Any tips from fellow #YA would be dead helpful as we’re at that weird time in our life 18-28 and so many changes it just further complicates things.

Thanks,
Day Dreaming Diabetic.

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This is an awful thing that is one of the many difficulties of chronic conditions. I hope you have been able to overcome some of these barriers and challenges.