how many people have been in diabetes denial?

I was diagnosed at 30, although I think I had been diabetic for quite a lot longer.
At diagnosis I was told I would almost certainly be on insulin by the end of that year.
Not understanding diabetes or the treatments I assumed that being on insulin meant I would not be able to eat all the sweet things that I liked, so spent the next 6 - 9 months eating like there was no tomorrow.
Then I was told my dietry control was excellant - whoopee
I carried on eating all the rubbish, bread, curries, ice cream etc.
Got put on a pill - didn't bother me, after all the pill was going to control it for me.
another pill, then a different type of pill.
Get the picture?

About 12 years after diagnosis I was told that I was maxing out on pills and I would have to go onto insulin if I didn't take control, this scared me.
Luckily I was working with a low-carb fan who was Type 1 - Hi louisa
I tried it and it worked.
The Diabetic clinic told me my reading were much better but that I had to eat what they recommended and not to do this 'faddy' diet.
I stuck with the 'faddy' diet for a few years but had a relapse, can't remember why.

Eventually about 3 years ago, again because I was working with a diabetic, Hi Jenny , I did some blood tests and was horrified with the numbers I was producing.
So back to Low carbing
Stuck with it until I had my usual Xmas fall of the wagon.
This time though I couldn't get back on it.
I did the low carbing but my test numbers would not come down
I was put on insulin about May this year and since then I've been much more in control.

I have tried to analyse why I never took it seriously and came up with these reasons.
Diabetes and its treatments were never really explained to me.
The only times I felt bad with diabetes were when my readings were low, or if they dropped fast - so keep them high
I didn't know any other diabetics to ask advice (also no internet)
I'm an idiot

I don't know how typical I am but now I'm in control, I think this time I can stay the course.
I know I've been lucky in that I've had very few problems, I just hope that it stays that way.

I was diagnosed not long after having my daughter at 24.At the time I was suffering with anorexia and depression and didnt want too accept it was happening.Its only recently I have started too take my diabetes seriously.I have been hospitalised too many times for dka as I let my blood sugar run too high.But now Iam suffering the consequences off not listening too my doctor and nurses advice earlier.I now have problems in my hands and feet and my eye sight has got worse.It really not worth it.

I am glad i have found this site and this thread. I was only diagnosed recently and it was by accident it was discovered. However as i wasnt feeling ill I havnt been taking it seriously. Apart from a scare with my eyesight. When overnight it changed dramatically.For a couple of weeks I was very good with the diet but seemed to have slipped again. I have never had a sweet tooth always prefering savoury to sweet.But now im craving chocolate and biscuits. Im not sure if its because i cant have the them or if i am really in need of the sugar rush. My BG is always between 8-10 .I know thats slightly higher than it should be but i dont know if that is likely to cause me any problems further on, Im at the eye clinic tomorrow soi hope that may shed a bit of light for me

Well, I was in denuial for 10 years...and have teh complications to prove it. Again, sheer stupidity. I was diagnosed at 4, and becasue my Mum was in control, was OK (by 70s and early 80s standards, until I hit 15 or so, when I discoved drink, adn boys, and partying etc etc...and I continued like that until I was diagnosed with retinopathy.

It is a constant shame to me that I was so stupid...yes, it really will happen to you. For teh past 10 years I have been pretty good, and like the the op, improved dramatically when I got pregnant. I have stayed "good" (by teh hosptals measure..although I am still working to get my HbA1C down from 7.1.

I know that much of the damage is done, but, to carry on at all, I have to believe that keeping teh best control that I can for now on, will mean that I have teh best life that I can. Having children really put things into perspective...although they are only 2 and 4, I am wanting to see them grow up, get married and have children of their own...and there was no way that I could do that in denial.

I have to say, that one of the things that helps me, is this site...so thank you all for helping me stay "on teh wagon!" :mrgreen:

Yup.

What did it take to get me out of denial? Every complication you can name and 2 years on deathbed.

I was diagnosed a few years ago at 18. At first i did everything I was told and after never being able to get it right completely put it to the back of my mind, skipped injections, ate what I liked, drank and didn't test for the best part of 1.5 years.

Then my vision went, painful tingling in my arms, hands, legs and feet never went away and I started losing weight rapidly and my body stopped digesting food. then I figured myself,that everything that was wrong were complications from glucose levels off the scale. I knew I had gastroparesis. I weighed just over FIVE stone. I don't see how it couldn't have been more obvious to anybody, my hba1c was 17 but I got a piece of cr*p doctor that insisted it was all PSYCHOLOGICAL and there was nothing physcially wrong with me. I was left like this for over a year with him rejecting me access to a gastroenterologist and opthamologist on a daily basis.

Only when I was forced to see THREE?? different psychiatrists in the SAME day who ALL concluded to him there was nothing mentally wrong with me and their advice: to do PHYSICAL investigations that I was sent away to see a gastroenterologist who right away, diagnosed gastroparesis and autonomic neuropathy. Nerve conduction studies showed all the neuropathy and within a minute of the opthamologist looking in my eyes I needed lasers immediately. I had several bleeds, hemorrhages and macular oedema in both eyes.

It's been a long road to recovery, I really did draw the short straw. I got my hba1c back down to 6 fairly quick. Now I'm too ill to work, never out of hospital and have only just turned 25.

Look after yourselves folks.

I would say I have been in denial.

After the initial shock of diagnosis [2 years ago at 43] I managed, through diet and exercise, to get my hba1c from 10.3 to 6.2 in 3 months but since then i've been that busy congratulating myself that its gradually crept back up to 7.3 and I now find myself on 1500mg of metformin per day and with what might be the beginning of kidney problems

I've always viewed heart attacks or strokes as almost an occupational hazard given my lifestyle and family history, but I must say the prospect of having kidneys failing, blindness or an amputation does chill me to the bone somewhat.

Will it be enough to make me get up off my ****?

I was in denial for about 2 years. Not until my Hb1Ac went up to 7.6 and my GP put me on sitagliptin did I start to test. I have now managed to get my Hb1Ac down to 6.0 in the past 6 months. I am now more careful about my diet, wish my OH would help out by not buying cakes which are too much of a temptation for me
I also stupidly thought that if I take the meds, I don't need to make any effort into cutting back on all my luxury foods :roll: wrong