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Diabetes Discussion
Type 1 Diabetes
explaining what it's really like to live with Type 1
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<blockquote data-quote="Electra Darling" data-source="post: 2271559" data-attributes="member: 525551"><p>Hi, I’m new to the forum. I’ve had diabetes for 18 years, diagnosed when I was 12. I’ve been on an insulin pump for 15 years, and am self-funding CGM at the moment. I also trained as a doctor, and until recently was working as an orthopaedic surgeon (I have since quit in favour of an alternative career).</p><p></p><p>I think we are taught diabetes pretty terribly at medical school. Almost all doctors, except for the diabetes specialists, are terrified of prescribing insulin and changing insulin doses, because it’s a very unpredictable drug which behaves differently in different people. When I’m explaining to colleagues what it’s like to live with diabetes, I start by reminding them of how nervous they are around insulin, and then tell them to pretend they’re 12 and it’s their own body that they’re treating.</p><p></p><p>Type 1 diabetes is one of the only conditions where doctors give us patients the control over our own medication doses. They tell us that it’s our responsibility, that we can never take a day off, and when our HbA1c goes awry most doctors, in my experience, blame us, the patients. Even the language “what’s your control like?” puts all the onus on us to manage our incredibly complicated condition, and sets up inevitable feelings of blame and shame when we struggle. </p><p></p><p>I’m sorry to be so negative when so many others here are so positive and upbeat, but my honest answer to the question of what it’s really like to live with type 1, is that it’s exhausting and disheartening and demoralising, and I would give anything just to have one day off.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Electra Darling, post: 2271559, member: 525551"] Hi, I’m new to the forum. I’ve had diabetes for 18 years, diagnosed when I was 12. I’ve been on an insulin pump for 15 years, and am self-funding CGM at the moment. I also trained as a doctor, and until recently was working as an orthopaedic surgeon (I have since quit in favour of an alternative career). I think we are taught diabetes pretty terribly at medical school. Almost all doctors, except for the diabetes specialists, are terrified of prescribing insulin and changing insulin doses, because it’s a very unpredictable drug which behaves differently in different people. When I’m explaining to colleagues what it’s like to live with diabetes, I start by reminding them of how nervous they are around insulin, and then tell them to pretend they’re 12 and it’s their own body that they’re treating. Type 1 diabetes is one of the only conditions where doctors give us patients the control over our own medication doses. They tell us that it’s our responsibility, that we can never take a day off, and when our HbA1c goes awry most doctors, in my experience, blame us, the patients. Even the language “what’s your control like?” puts all the onus on us to manage our incredibly complicated condition, and sets up inevitable feelings of blame and shame when we struggle. I’m sorry to be so negative when so many others here are so positive and upbeat, but my honest answer to the question of what it’s really like to live with type 1, is that it’s exhausting and disheartening and demoralising, and I would give anything just to have one day off. [/QUOTE]
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