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Type 1 Diabetes
explaining what it's really like to live with Type 1
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<blockquote data-quote="prancer53" data-source="post: 1192858" data-attributes="member: 85578"><p>I have had diabetes since the age of 8 which totals 57 years. I did the wee testing and glass and metal syringe bit and felt eternally grateful when blood testing and multiple injections became the norm because life became so much easier. I tend to always eat the same amount of cho for meals because it works better for me. I plan my days around diabetic requirements and usually find I can manage ok. Frankly I can't imagine life any other way now--if I was cured tomorrow I would still eat the same cho at mealtimes (maybe I'm kidding myself)!! I have always done what I wanted to do and never considered that I was unable to do anything because of diabetes. In short it has never stood in my way. When I was a child my mother sent me to ballet lessons "to keep the sugar down". I loved dancing and at the age of 16 auditioned for a London ballet school, was accepted and given a full grant by my local authority. For 3 years I did classes all day, every day, each 90 minutes long. I found I needed to cut my insulin dosage down dramatically whilst eating a lot more cho. At 19 I joined for the Italian Operetta Company and stayed there, as a dancer, for 2 years. I was offered a 3rd year in the company which I accepted but on a visit home I decided not to return. I then worked as a dancer and taught dancing. I married but we had only been married for 6 1/2 years when my husband had an accident and broke his neck after which he was in Stoke Mandeville hospital for 6 months. I used to stay away from home for work but after his accident I needed to drive many miles every day instead, as he couldn't be left on his own, as well as look after him. The life and daily management of tetraplegia is exceedingly complex and time consuming and there never seemed enough hours in the day. I used to worry about what an earth would happen if I had a nocturnal hypo because my husband was no longer able to get out of bed (I had to lift him into his wheelchair from bed and back from wheelchair to bed and also into my car) to get me some sugar. I often used to eat more than I needed before bed because it was the only thing I could do to ensure I didn't go hypo overnight). He did go back to work though and we both were working full time until I had children,, 7 years after his accident which is when I gave up work. I had the usual hypo problems with pregnancy and can remember getting home one night after a long drive and falling asleep. It turned out I was hypo so my husband rang the doctor (no paramedics then) but realised that because I was unconscious I wouldn't be able to answer the door to the doctor so hubby had to ring a neighbour and ask if he could pick my mother in law and deliver her to ours because she had a key so could let herself in and then let the doctor in!! No one had explained about the types of hypos that would occur in pregnancy and the doctor had told me to put my insulin up by a large amount. After that I always put my own insulin up throughout both pregnancies and devised a method of doing so which was safe for me but also kept my HBA1C at between 4 and 4.5. My first baby was born naturally weighing in at 7lbs and the 2nd (also without any intervention) was 6lbs 7 ozs which I was very pleased about because I was told I would have big babies!! I didn't return to work because it would have meant getting someone to look after my husband and a nanny for the 2 children. However when both children were at senior school, and I was 47, I went to University to study for a degree in Dance which was both very physical as well as academic.Three years later I graduated with an upper second class Batchelor of Arts degree. During my last year at Uni I auditioned at the Royal Academy of Dance in London to do a post graduate teaching course which would give me Qualified Teacher Status to teach up to GCSE and A level dance. I was accepted which meant daily train journeys into London and 3 placements at schools and colleges. I qualified at the end of that and have worked as a teacher ever since. Since my husband now employs his own carers I am also able to work on cruise ships during the school holidays providing activities for 8-12 year olds and teenagers (profile picture was taken in the Canaries during one of the cruises). This is also very physically active role with various sports and dance most days. Work starts between 9 & 10 am and finishes between 10pm & midnight. Husband has now retired, A few years ago he had an operation which gave him use of his hands once more so he cooks for me (he absolutely loves cooking) so I have a hot meal when I get home from work which he has prepared. My days are always well planned with regard to diabetes and I always take my own food to work so I always know exactly how much cho I am consuming. Like others I do get angry when BMs are not what they should be and make me feel like s**t but I just take corrective action and carry on. I have gone back onto pork insulin which works better for me (I found human insulin manufactured in lab was not giving me definitive hypo symptoms). After the birth of my second child I also became hypo thyroxic so take levothyroxine daily-- I do find that that can muck diabetes balance up somewhat. Life is not simple, no one seems to understand the vaguaries of diabetes management. I am so old now that GP thinks I am type 2 and tells me that if I eat sweet things my body will produce more insulin and I will become hypo--never quite know what I should say to that so just inwardly smile!!!! Have a morbid fear of doctors so try to see them as little as possible and absolutely hate diabetes check ups......but am compliant!! I tell people I have diabetes, when I get to know them or if D. comes up in conversation but they always seem to forget..........!!!!!!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prancer53, post: 1192858, member: 85578"] I have had diabetes since the age of 8 which totals 57 years. I did the wee testing and glass and metal syringe bit and felt eternally grateful when blood testing and multiple injections became the norm because life became so much easier. I tend to always eat the same amount of cho for meals because it works better for me. I plan my days around diabetic requirements and usually find I can manage ok. Frankly I can't imagine life any other way now--if I was cured tomorrow I would still eat the same cho at mealtimes (maybe I'm kidding myself)!! I have always done what I wanted to do and never considered that I was unable to do anything because of diabetes. In short it has never stood in my way. When I was a child my mother sent me to ballet lessons "to keep the sugar down". I loved dancing and at the age of 16 auditioned for a London ballet school, was accepted and given a full grant by my local authority. For 3 years I did classes all day, every day, each 90 minutes long. I found I needed to cut my insulin dosage down dramatically whilst eating a lot more cho. At 19 I joined for the Italian Operetta Company and stayed there, as a dancer, for 2 years. I was offered a 3rd year in the company which I accepted but on a visit home I decided not to return. I then worked as a dancer and taught dancing. I married but we had only been married for 6 1/2 years when my husband had an accident and broke his neck after which he was in Stoke Mandeville hospital for 6 months. I used to stay away from home for work but after his accident I needed to drive many miles every day instead, as he couldn't be left on his own, as well as look after him. The life and daily management of tetraplegia is exceedingly complex and time consuming and there never seemed enough hours in the day. I used to worry about what an earth would happen if I had a nocturnal hypo because my husband was no longer able to get out of bed (I had to lift him into his wheelchair from bed and back from wheelchair to bed and also into my car) to get me some sugar. I often used to eat more than I needed before bed because it was the only thing I could do to ensure I didn't go hypo overnight). He did go back to work though and we both were working full time until I had children,, 7 years after his accident which is when I gave up work. I had the usual hypo problems with pregnancy and can remember getting home one night after a long drive and falling asleep. It turned out I was hypo so my husband rang the doctor (no paramedics then) but realised that because I was unconscious I wouldn't be able to answer the door to the doctor so hubby had to ring a neighbour and ask if he could pick my mother in law and deliver her to ours because she had a key so could let herself in and then let the doctor in!! No one had explained about the types of hypos that would occur in pregnancy and the doctor had told me to put my insulin up by a large amount. After that I always put my own insulin up throughout both pregnancies and devised a method of doing so which was safe for me but also kept my HBA1C at between 4 and 4.5. My first baby was born naturally weighing in at 7lbs and the 2nd (also without any intervention) was 6lbs 7 ozs which I was very pleased about because I was told I would have big babies!! I didn't return to work because it would have meant getting someone to look after my husband and a nanny for the 2 children. However when both children were at senior school, and I was 47, I went to University to study for a degree in Dance which was both very physical as well as academic.Three years later I graduated with an upper second class Batchelor of Arts degree. During my last year at Uni I auditioned at the Royal Academy of Dance in London to do a post graduate teaching course which would give me Qualified Teacher Status to teach up to GCSE and A level dance. I was accepted which meant daily train journeys into London and 3 placements at schools and colleges. I qualified at the end of that and have worked as a teacher ever since. Since my husband now employs his own carers I am also able to work on cruise ships during the school holidays providing activities for 8-12 year olds and teenagers (profile picture was taken in the Canaries during one of the cruises). This is also very physically active role with various sports and dance most days. Work starts between 9 & 10 am and finishes between 10pm & midnight. Husband has now retired, A few years ago he had an operation which gave him use of his hands once more so he cooks for me (he absolutely loves cooking) so I have a hot meal when I get home from work which he has prepared. My days are always well planned with regard to diabetes and I always take my own food to work so I always know exactly how much cho I am consuming. Like others I do get angry when BMs are not what they should be and make me feel like s**t but I just take corrective action and carry on. I have gone back onto pork insulin which works better for me (I found human insulin manufactured in lab was not giving me definitive hypo symptoms). After the birth of my second child I also became hypo thyroxic so take levothyroxine daily-- I do find that that can muck diabetes balance up somewhat. Life is not simple, no one seems to understand the vaguaries of diabetes management. I am so old now that GP thinks I am type 2 and tells me that if I eat sweet things my body will produce more insulin and I will become hypo--never quite know what I should say to that so just inwardly smile!!!! Have a morbid fear of doctors so try to see them as little as possible and absolutely hate diabetes check ups......but am compliant!! I tell people I have diabetes, when I get to know them or if D. comes up in conversation but they always seem to forget..........!!!!!! [/QUOTE]
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