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photography student would like to hear your story

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friendlymanjohn

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Hello, my name is John Arthur i was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in May 2006 and I am a photography student at Portsmouth university. I have just started to work on a project about my Diabetes one of my ideas is to portray how i felt when i was diagnosed. I would also like to include text or even sound/music with the images. I would be very interested to read, or hear, how you felt after being diagnosed, wether it be the day you found out, weeks, months or even years after. If anyone is interested in helping me out please send you stories, poems, songs etc. to [email protected]

Thank you for taking time to read this.

John Arthur
 
g'day John, what an interesting sounding project. I haven't written anything specifically about my diabetes, but have started on insulin in the last 3 weeks and hopefully soon will have enough peace of mind to put some thoughts together.
Do you have any of your photos for viewing online? Myspace etc? Is your project for a university assessment or your own journey?
Check out some of mine at http://www.bruce-long.com if you feel like it, in the meantime I'll keep your project in mind and make some contribution to it.
cheers for now
b
 
I'd been told over the phone I had diabetes and I didn't believe it. My first reaction, on my fist visit to the diabetes nurse, was "I can't <b>have</b> diabetes.I need my health for when my Mum dies. I've got to stay healthy to look out for my disabled brother when she's gone." I remember a single tear trickling down my face and being stunned. It might seem an odd first reaction but even now I worry so much that if I ever end up with diabetic complications,I won't be able to do the things for my brother that he needs.(He has cerebral palsy and epilepsy).
 
Hi,
well, I was 4 when I was diagnosed...but I do remember it really well. teh GP told my Mum something sad...I was playing with the toys in the corner. My Mum was a little upset, took me home and gave me a T wix bar. Funny what you remember!
I then spent a week in hospital..where the scariet thing for me was having an xray. To this day, I have no idea what that was about! The only other things I remember was that my Grandma gave me a nice book, and my cousins weren't allowed in to see me.

Things look very different when you are 4. Bizaarly, I don't remember the injections at all!
 
I was diagnosed last year, I remember being told by the nurse in my GP surgery that if I wasn't admitted to hospital I would end up in a coma! At this point the 'D' word was not mentioned!!

I spent 4 hours in A&E and I remember my BS was around 27 - but after starvation came down to about 18 - I thought 'well thats ok - can I go home?' finally they took me up to the ward. I remember the curtains pulled round my bed and I could hear the nurses outside going 'type 1' but I didn't think they were talking about me.

When they came round with food, the nurses said 'She cant have any sugar' and I thought what are you on???? Also the following day at breakfast they expected me to eat shredded wheat with no sugar on!!!!

It was the next day that the consultant - who I dont mind admitting was totally gorgeous, :)sat on my bed and broke the news that I was type 1, but I was so busy staring into his dreamy eyes that he could have been saying we're going to amputate you limbs and cut your head off!!

The 3 days I spent in hospital was a blur and I was still thinking I had a cold that would clear up in a few days!!!! As soon as I came home it hit me like a lightening bolt! Then came the tears, and the why me, I also remember feeling a sense of bereavement for the life I had before diabetes.

But 1 year on I'm ok, my BG are generally between 4.8 - 7.3 which I think is good. And I still get to see Dr Throb from time to time :)
 
Oh Debra, I did laugh at your post.I can remember being in hospital once and the dishiest doctor ever sat on my bed.I don't think I took in a word he said but he didwonders for my morale.:D
 
My reaction was along the lines of I knew it! My mother,sister,brother,nephew all were/are diabetic (mother and sister are dead). I recognised some of the symptoms and asked the doctor to test for diabetes. I then felt pretty fed up because I thought when I had cancer 12 years ago that I had had my share of serious illness. I'm not too affected by my diabetes at the moment but do get scared about future problems that could be coming my way. My sister had a pretty bad time with her diabetes as it wasn't diagnosed until she had problems with a foot sore not healing. Her life was pretty miserable as she seemed to get all of the complications - watching her suffer has made me apprehensive but I do try to look after myself and keep positive.
 
I guess I was surprised but not surprised! I had been seriously overweight for a good while,my ankles swollen up every day,Iwas breathless (but then I smoke so no surprise there!)I am not one for going to the doctor at all but I actually went because I was suffering severe stress symptoms and actually got signed of work for a fortnight.The doc,however did not stop there and sent of a battery of blood tests,about half an armful!My blood pressure was approaching meltdown as well.I was told to come back in two weeks after my 'rest'.Back I went to be told that blood sugars were high and I would need a fasting glucose test(great for the blood pressure BTW!)Took the test,it was high===type 2 diabetes===oh joy!Did a lot of thinking over the weekend 1.lose the weight!!!but how?Came to the conclusion that I ate too much(well Do'hhhh!there's a surprise!)after children had flown nest I was still cooking for 5 so portion size was priority.Out went anything sugary,fatty,basically all the goodies you just LOVE!and I've done it! Two stone lighter my Hba1c is now 6.7as apposed to 8.6 my BP is down to 128/78 and my cholesterol is 4.5.I have not stopped losing weight but have slowed down,hope to lose more if possible and aim to stay off medications as long as possible.

Knowledge is the key to control
 
When diagnosed I was relieved to discover the cause of the tiredness etc which went back about 4 years - I don't visit the doc often.

However, when I first met the diabetic Consultant she very pointedly said that I was heavier than I should be. I replied that my weight had been stable for more than 30 years and in any event I was not overweight - I was undertall. Her reply was, that no matter what I thought I obviously ate too much and no matter what people thought if they were overweight it was only because of what the put in the mouths - followed by "Not many overweight people came out of concentration camps, did they". Point taken!
 
Thank you so much to everybody who has replied so far & i'm sorry i haven't been on here again to say that sooner! my only excuse is tha i don't have an internet connection at home. It's good to hear that some have gained heart-throb doctors and somehow seems like a bit of a consolation to the loss of the pancreas!!

i've seen that some of you had a similar experince to me which was the question of 'Why me?' did anyone also feel quite lonely, although it was my first time living away from home. at the time as if there was no-one to talk to about because you didn't feel they'd understand? but did the people who also have diabetic siblings, parents etc. find it a comfort know that people did understand?

Has anyone else produced any art that tackles the subject of diabetes? and did you find it cathartic in anyway?

Thanks again for reading
 
Hi John, yes I felt incredibly lonely, because it was a lightening strike for me as I have no diabetics in my family. I started worrying that I have now become the 'link' and I worried for my little boy. I felt very isolated and felt that the only person I could talk to was the diabetic nurse - poor woman!!! She keeps a constant supply of kleenex in her office!

My family tried to be supportive but I still feel frustrated because no matter how much they try they just dont understand.:(

On a positive note - I have appointment to see Dr Throb in a week - so I can pretend to be really thick and get him to explain everything again, really slowly, so I can spend more time looking into his baby blues! I'll be gutted if its his registrar[:(!]
 
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