Hi sylv
Please dont feel alone because soon you will be so au fait with diabetes you will begin to think the opposite and think EVERYONE has got it. Which we have, on this forum. However, I know what you mean about the feeling.
Whats important to know, once you get over the initial shock, is that you WILL feel better. After only 2 days of symptoms and going to my Doc to tell her I thought I had diabetes and her reassuring me it couldnt be that because I was 33 , I got called 6 hours later to go to A and E and admitted for nearly three days.
Lots of type 1's have similar stories and if its any consolation (and I remember it well, it was only Sept last year so know that it feels there will NEVER be consolation again) I cried for about 12 hours and then for much of the following few weeks. Still got the odd wobble (christmas set it off big time) but slowly but surely you get there.
My fear of complications is what knocked me on my backside, not least cause I was healthy before dx, didnt smoke blah blah blah. COuldnt believe how UNFAIR it was that i was now at risk of x, y and z. You are right to be fearful because complications are a reality of the condition but by no means inevitable. You have seen what bad control of diabetes can do, because I can guarantee that the people you see have probably not been taking care of themself. Its this that motivates most of us to do the best we can and the more you come across people the more you will realise that unfortunately taking control is not as common as you would think.
Life is not over, its just changed. For some who were on a slippery slope health wise, its for the better. I dont fit that category but life does go on - I promise.
Last night i was at a bbq, eating and chatting with friends and drinking with friends til 2am.
Its a steep learning curve being diabetic and sometimes is qute frankly a gigantic pain in the ****.
But, and please know this,. you are not alone. Everyone in this forum is or has been at the same point of you. There are people here diabetic for over 30 years with no complications and they didnt have the tools we have now.
So, weep, rage at the world. Read the forum and come back to us with questions. Tell us what insulin you are on, Private mail the people you think could help you - they will answer.
Chin up.
x