Hi everyone, this is my first post here so I'm sorry that it's a personal rant/question but I don't know where else to go to find help.
My little sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes since she was 14 years old, for a few years after her initial diagnosis everything went smoothly as she learnt how to manage her condition, however in the past couple of years things have changed.
She resents having to inject herself and take insulin and the majority of the time she refuses to do it. She will do it occasionally when me or my mother specifically asks her to but in the past year I seen her take the initiative and inject herself ONCE, and I see her every weekend. She typically eats a high sugar/carb diet and will eat, for example, a couple packets of crisps in a row or a medium sized bag of sweets at once without injecting her insulin. She is now 18 and as an adult we can't control her, she has to make her own decisions, I just don't know how to help her and encourage her as when she tells me how unfair it is that she has Type 1 diabetes and will have to inject for the rest of her life, I have no response. FYI, she knows the severe risks well, but can't seem to bring herself to care.
Also exacerbating this problem a lot is the fact that she has (I believe) depression, she exhibits most of the symptoms which I recognise because I myself used to have the condition. However she is not currently on anti-depressants. Recently she and my mother moved house and now live in a different area where she is not yet registered with the doctor, we have been encouraging her a lot to go register and explain her symptoms to the doctor, she has been taking baby steps towards it and recently visited to drop her registration form, however she has to return to the doctor and make an appointment which she has as of yet failed to do.
On top of this she is unemployed and spends basically all of her time alone and at home. She rarely talks to friends outside of internet friends. The fact that she is failing to take insuling must make her mental conditions worse. I think she understands that but she is so far down the spiral she is finding it extremely hard to break out. I have lost a lot of sleep worrying about her, I am always supportive of her but it doesnt seem to make a difference, I'm lost and don't know what to do. Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this? I would be really grateful for any suggestions or advice at all because I just want to help her any way I can.
My little sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes since she was 14 years old, for a few years after her initial diagnosis everything went smoothly as she learnt how to manage her condition, however in the past couple of years things have changed.
She resents having to inject herself and take insulin and the majority of the time she refuses to do it. She will do it occasionally when me or my mother specifically asks her to but in the past year I seen her take the initiative and inject herself ONCE, and I see her every weekend. She typically eats a high sugar/carb diet and will eat, for example, a couple packets of crisps in a row or a medium sized bag of sweets at once without injecting her insulin. She is now 18 and as an adult we can't control her, she has to make her own decisions, I just don't know how to help her and encourage her as when she tells me how unfair it is that she has Type 1 diabetes and will have to inject for the rest of her life, I have no response. FYI, she knows the severe risks well, but can't seem to bring herself to care.
Also exacerbating this problem a lot is the fact that she has (I believe) depression, she exhibits most of the symptoms which I recognise because I myself used to have the condition. However she is not currently on anti-depressants. Recently she and my mother moved house and now live in a different area where she is not yet registered with the doctor, we have been encouraging her a lot to go register and explain her symptoms to the doctor, she has been taking baby steps towards it and recently visited to drop her registration form, however she has to return to the doctor and make an appointment which she has as of yet failed to do.
On top of this she is unemployed and spends basically all of her time alone and at home. She rarely talks to friends outside of internet friends. The fact that she is failing to take insuling must make her mental conditions worse. I think she understands that but she is so far down the spiral she is finding it extremely hard to break out. I have lost a lot of sleep worrying about her, I am always supportive of her but it doesnt seem to make a difference, I'm lost and don't know what to do. Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this? I would be really grateful for any suggestions or advice at all because I just want to help her any way I can.
