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5am Hypo Tired And Feeling Lonely.

M

Mia4554

Active Member
Messages
27
Hi, taken me a while to convince myself to post but feeling pretty down right now so I suppose I haven't got anything to lose. Been up 3 nights in a row and feeling tired and pretty lonely. Just wondered out of interest if many of you know any other type 1s personally? I occasionally feel a desperate need to find someone 'out there' in real life who gets this condition!
 
Good morning
I'm sorry you are feeling low and yes it gets to us all from time to time.
I have a sister with type 1 and one of my neighbours is type 1 as well.
My neighbour and I talk about it usually if one of is has suffered highs or lows.
This forum is a comfort to me but when I first joined I noticed a lot of people seemed to have better numbers than me however I found the ongoing thread "type 1 stars are us " and realised there were diabetics just like me.
Take a look.
Where are you geographically and what do you think has caused the 3 nights in a row hypos?
Hypos and hypers really can effect your mental well being.

Tony
 
Hi Tony, thanks for the reply, I will have a look at that thread. It's nice to know there are people who cope with this too.
The last 2 nights have been really high and then today I had the hypo, so frustrating! I haven't changed any doses or anything but have just started a new job and have had some other personal situations to manage so I think that's probably why my bloods are a bit erratic. Just feels like we can't get a break sometimes as it just makes everything harder when it's already hard but I suppose it will settle down again soon.
I'm in Wiltshire and have just got some info for a group that I will check out in a few weeks but not sure if it will just be type 2 but want to go along anyway and see what it's like for some company. My friends and family are very supportive but they don't really get it.
Have you been diagnosed long? I was diagnosed 21 years ago and still feel like I don't always understand what I'm doing!!
Mia
 
44 years a type 1 and sometimes think I don't know what I'm doing.
It catches us out and always will but armed with knowledge and experience we do our best.
Being on here helps and I've learned a lot despite my 44 years.
Changes in routine can have a massive effect on bloods and that's why we have a blood machine.
As I've got older I find I do more tests and am more anxious to get it right so if you feel like that then I think its only natural.
Can you talk to your Doctor?
I'm really lucky as I have a top notch GPs surgery and I don't see a specialist because they depress me and don't know me.

Tony
 
Yeh when I was diagnosed my parents were told that diabetes is like driving a car in reverse but only able to see out the front window.
I didn't think much of it when I was 7 but i kind of like that description these days although I still think it's a bit of extreme way to describe it as you would obviously cause a lot of accidents if you actually drove like that

Aw I'm glad you have a good GP but sorry to hear the specialist isn't great. Yeh I prefer my DN than the docs as she has known me for quite a while now.
Mia
 
Hi @Mia4554, You are not alone, in the sense that other diabetics also feel 'different' to other people. I carried that cross for many years - partly I think because of wishing to be as stubbornly independent as possible and because hypos made me feel embarrassed and depressed and not worthy of knowing by others. We cannot do without injections of insulin where others can, but we suffer risks of hypos, we can eat what we like and suffer the consequences where others do not. It sucks, sometimes!
Now at 51 years on insulin I can look back and reflect a bit. No major complications, only carpal tunnel and trigger finger releases and replacement of cataracts (and I partly blame the Aussie sun for them )!!
For all they say about the triad of diet, exercise and insulin, for me it is emotional stress that is the biggest challenge. Having depression as well (strong family history) has added to the burden at times. What has helped me with all this ?
1) developing interests/pastimes/hobbies - it may be a book club, photography, gardening etc, preferably nothing too expensive or time consuming, preferably with a social component and something that exercises the mind and body; nothing dangerous but something with modest aims, extendable to more involvement if desired, and something to show for it. I still have a wonky looking pottery mug from a pottery class I did once !!
And as my picture depicts I am kite crazy (but not requiring detention)!!
2) finding and cultivating friendships, and where needed good relationships with health professionals. (Including having a plan , a contact number and so on for if you fell really low in mood).
Yes finding fellow diabetics can help but I have found people who 'get' at least a bit of what my diabetes is about because of being in the health field or having relatives with it.
I have a kite flier friend with T2D who asks how I am travelling: The code is: flying over 100metres (= high BSLs), Kite is in the water (= low sugars), flying aces (= BSL great).
I am lucky to have found a great GP, endocrinologist and psychiatrist. They understand my sense of humour, as does my laser-yielding eye specialist.
3) develop your humour, including self-humour - I joke with my eye doctor that I could seek out sci-fi movie roles for him;
I 'berate' myself for having such a poor 'injection' average - I have only hit blood vessels about 3 times in 51 years of injecting insulin; I used to hum a really old pop tune "Needles and Pins" whilst doing injections; once I accidentally doubled up on injecting my evening dose of insulin -I debated with myself about using an out-dated practice, used for snake bite, of stabbing the injection sites and sucking the insulin out but perished the thought and had to 'punish' myself by eating ice-cream through the night; my father used to work at a place called Lucas heights, which he renamed as "Glucose Heights".
4) Insulin pump and other treatment- at the 45 year mark I was on 8 injections a day to try to keep BSLs in line, suffering night hypos, at risk of losing my driver's license and having to curtail my duties at work. Switching to an insulin pump made a huge difference: hypos zilch, back to driving a full-time work, much better HBA1Cs, and much less guesswork with managing stress and exercise. I am not saying using an insulin pump is easy street. It still requires vigilance but after being such a head in the sand, stubborn so and so about it for years I am really sold on the pump and much better emotionally for it.
I have had to give up the notion of being independent of anti-depressant medication, but have also been surprised that for me, a minor dose reduction of anti-depressants suggested by the specialist led to a 30% increase in my insulin requirement after one week. Return to the previous dose resolved the insulin dose problem. There is always something to learn.
5) Love yourself - is a slogan oft used. But finding something to like about oneself, having self-humour, favourite music, skills and interests all helps (and Diabetes R Us forum has plenty of that, including the Ruler of Multiuniverses, Wearer of the Omnipod cake conoissuer etc etc.) This forum whilst not the same as a person with physical presence is at least a safe place to vent, rant, joke, commiserate and dream of better times and things. Other forum provide answers and help with questions +++.
Please keep posting (and isn't is great that that does not mean licking stamps much these days)!!, learning, sharing and living.
Best Wishes, fellow warrior.
 
Hi Mia I've had type1 almost 51yrs. You aren't alone. The ups and downs are a real pain. If you're in a position to obtain the freestyle Libre either by prescription or self funding (prescription is postcode lottery but that's a different issue) it really helps to see if there is any sort of pattern and helps you to tweak those insulin doses. My blood sugars have always been erratic but this has helped so much. There's a Freestyle Libre UK Facebook page perhaps explore it, see what people are saying and see if it you think it might be able to help you. Don't feel alone there are lots of us out here. I .hope you have a good day
 
Thank you so much Tony337 and Kitedoc for cheering up my day

I certainly will keep returning to this site and have been looking through some great threads this morning!
Yes I totally agree that for me too emotional stress causes me the most challenges with keeping me flying aces!
Thanks for the advice
best wishes too and hope you both have a lovely day
 

You are welcome @Mia4554 and I wish you all the luck in the world...

Tony
 

Thanks
they sure are a real pain! Thanks for the info, I am currently self funding the dexcom G4 which I really like but I try not to rely too heavily on it as I use it far longer than advised as it is so expensive but it still helps to give me the gist of where I'm going graph wise. Hope you have a good day too
 
Thank you and I hope your days and nights are better.
A bird does not sing because she has a answer, She sings because she has a song.
Life is a shipwreck, But at least we can sing in the life-boats !
 
Hi Mia, welcome to the forum - wise words from the others, there. Do come and join our “type one stars” thread, it gets very silly when we don’t take T1 too seriously. Some of us will be sailing smoothly for a while, some will be in rougher seas, we’ve got a few long termers and a few newbies.

I don’t know any T1s in meatspace, so have come to rely on my buddies here for support so much! There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that peer support, whether online or off, really helps keep things under better control and helps the psychological side of things. It’s made a massive difference to me! I started using a pump two weeks ago, and the guys and girls here have really helped make it a smooth transition with the tips and advice.

You’re not alone, even if it feels like it, sometimes.
 
Hi Mel dCP, thanks for the reply. Yeh it seems like a really great place to support each other
glad your transition to the pump has been good
 

Your not alone
 
Mia4554 said:
Bit more on track again now. Thanks how are you?
Click to expand...
Good to hear ! Wet and windy in the Antipodes ! And as I said on Diabetes R Us I could almost apply washing liquid to the clothes, hang me outside and let the weather do the washing!! (typical male thinking )!! I am 'flying' well, under the 100 metre limit and evenly - in short I am behaving myself.
One weekly event I attend is going to the green grocer on Sundays, watch the Gardening show, Antique Roadshow and other programs on the TV there, have a cuppa of Italian coffee, perhaps help out (pay my dues for TV and breathing their precious air (joke !)) by preparing some veggies for sale ( protective glove on)!.
An Italian, Jo, in his 80's runs the place with his Vietnamese son-in-law, Minh, and there is an acre block of land where they grow fruit and vegetables, keep chooks and harvest their eggs for sale etc- very rare set-up in Adelaide these days.( and 13 different types of persimmons) Children love to see the peacocks they keep also. The conviviality helps me to relax, keeps my BSL in trim (as long as I resist most the lovely Italian food offerings) and I meet fellow customers from all walks of life.
Mrs Jo has T2D and we share recipes (well she does, I do not have many!), and commiserations and share chestnuts which Jo has roasted (carb counting as we go). The walk to and fro gives me some exercise, I carry my shopping home (weight training!) and try to remember the jokes and repartee.
I hope you can find something suitable to provide social 'connectedness' for yourself as well as through the aether to this site.
Best Wishes. As Aussies say, 'See you in the soup, next to the carrots".
 
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Hi Mia and welcome to the forum (me being late as per usual ). You are defo not alone there. I have a nephew (who I work with) BUT don't really like lol, who is T1D and my cousin, who I hardly see. I get a load of help and support from this group. Type 1 stars r us thread is amazing. Have a laugh and generally help one another out. I am also lucky with my girlfriend who (90%) of the time totally gets what I am feeling (BUT not how I am feeling) on times.
 

Aw sounds like a lovely weekend
 
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