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How to deal with brittle Type 1 diabetic self-medicating, depression, bad nutrition?

R

Re-sister

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Family member
Treatment type
Insulin
Greetings. I'm new to this forum, so I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right space.

I'm at a loss. My 54-year-old sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 13. She has always been considered brittle and is insulin-dependent (1-2 shots daily). She no longer has health insurance, so she refuses to go to the doctor (and she thinks she knows more than the doctors, since "it's her body"). She is unemployed and living with our 80+ year old mother and 50 year old brother. She may test once or twice a day with a glucose meter. She has had a partial foot amputation, cataract surgery, and is currently losing her sight.

She is often depressed, has wild sugar swings, and eats poorly (typical meals include yogurt or a donut, french bread pizza, hot dog or microwave fettuccine alfredo). She gets little to no exercise.

This is very hard to watch. The entire family is tired of fighting with her. She is belligerent when her sugar is out of whack (usually) and she will lash out at everyone.

So I have two questions:
1. Is it possible to help her?
2. Are there any support groups out there for families of diabetics like this?

Thank you for any feedback you can provide.
 
I don't live in the UK, but I found this on-line:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/How_we_help/Local_support_groups/

Also, if you hang around on this forum there will be people to offer you direction and support. There might be some links on here also for local families of diabetics support groups.

Welcome and hope that you find some assistance. Sounds like you can be going through a rough time.
I have a buddy who grew up with his father having these diabetic episodes, like you describe your sister as having, and it sounded very hard to deal with. Not to mention the pain the diabetic themself is going through.
 

Thank you. I'm actually in California (US), but I will look into similar sites. I just hurt for what my sister and my family is going through. It's hard on all of them. I know she's not doing this to hurt anyone, and I know that she is suffering from the effects of this disease. I just want to help her and thereby help the rest of my family as well.

It helps me just to know there are people out there who understand. Thank you so much for your post.
 

I live the US too, a native New Yorker, currently living in the Midwest.
You might try your local hospitals for these support groups, as well as searching the web.
Last ditch effort might be to try contacting the local "Anonymous" 12-Step groups, as they deal with codependents and care-givers whose lives are affected by others ailments/problems.
Good luck to you! Keep coming back here too, lovely people here.
 
Hi. It's very sad to hear of your sister's problems. I guess this is one of those occasions where the UK's NHS would be able to help at no cost. Your sister obviously needs mental health support as well as medical. I don't know about support in California but having lived there for a while I know there are caring organisations there. I do volunteer work (in IT) in the UK for a mental health charity and they provide help for depression, anxiety, provide counselling, CBT and so on. I would hope there may be a similar charity in California? From a medical aspect you already realise that her diet needs radical change. A full T1 really needs 4 shots daily i.e. at least one 24hr and three mealtime rapid insulins. May be your sister is on a mixed insulin which needs less thought but doesn't provide the best level of control as the 'Basal/Bolus' regime. I hope you can find some mental health support that your sister will accept
 
I agree with the advice here but disagree with the suggested insulin regime. I am full type 1 and have 2 humulin I shots a day and only 6 units at that. I have been t1 for many years now and have done away with rapid insulin by being careful what I eat. My levels NEVER go above 8 and are 95% of the time in the 5-6 range My HbA1c was 5.5% or 37 and I never have hypos. I agree with help for her depression but she really needs to sort her diet out as hers is clearly (and literally!) killing her
 
Hi onchy. I stand corrected ref the insulin. I hadn't realised there was such a variation in T1 insulin needs. I'm officially 'T2' but actually a LADA but always assumed my pancreas wasn't totally moribund but I need Rapid as well as Basal for main and intermediate meals to stay below 8-10 mmol. I keep my carbs sensibly low as well. Many T1s on the forum seem to inject 5 times/day so there is obviously an incredibly wide range of conditions; interesting.
 
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