Starting again

Hi so im sixteen and I have this urge to be truthful cause I sure as hell dont do it at home or with my doctors...
So for one reason or another I have stopped testing regularly, im supposed to test minimum 4 times a day but I could go through days, weeks even without. Even with my insulin I was being stupid, if I felt like my bloodsugar was high I just span the dial and took whatever I thought would make me feel better. Anyway it was possible for me to do this because I went without going to my doctor for checkups for about a year, however I had to go this time and the session helped things sink in. I could die if I didnt take care of myself. They said my eyes had deteriorated a bit and I already wear glasses so that scared me. Overall I feel that my body has deteriorated both internally and externally. Guys im ready to fix up but going without properly managing my diabetes has made it hard to gey back on track.....what im asking is can you guys suggest how I can start again?

I think it's great that you are here & the fact that you're wanting to be honest with yourself says a lot about where you are in your journey. I can totally relate to your story as I've been through it myself. How can you start again? I sounds to me like you already have! Just make the decision to start over & stick with it (surround yourself with support resources/people). Don't beat yourself up over what's happened in the past to get to this point. Just start with a clean slate. Diabetes is a fight that we fight every. single. day. It's not easy & it sucks! It's easy to get burnt out & want to throw in the towel. It's easy to do nothing. You are PRICELESS, IRREPLACEABLE, & CAPABLE!

Thank you so much for this! Its really motivated me, I may not get right back on track s5raight away but I can try and hopefully, gradually ill be able to have complete control over my diabetes?

It will be a process for sure but one that you are totally capable of. There's a sense of liberation in taking control over your diabetes (something that many people let control them). Set small goals for yourself & take one day at a time. A little over 1 year ago my life was out of control and so was my diabetes. One day I woke up & made the decison to change my life for the sake of my life. Since then my a1c's have been wonderful. Last one was 5.3! You CAN do this!

I think the following discussion really is so helpful, please read it

https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/worst-diabetic-ever-needs-help

you need to start with some small steps in the right direction. YOU CAN DO THIS. I've had it for almost 47 years, and for me at least, "complete control" is not possible. I do however, check my blood often. I don't look at it as a blood "test", because that might make me feel like it's something I either passed or failed, and that is not going to help me feel any better about myself. If it's a high number, I think, "wow, glad I caught that now instead of later, guess I'll take a correction". (and if it's low, I use it as an opportunity to eat some candy). I used to beat myself up mercilessly.

I agree with jriccardi, it does sound as though you've already started anew. You joined this wonderful community. We're got your back here, no matter how many times you might stumble or fall, there will always be a friend here to lend a hand (or an ear).

One day at a time brother! You need to take baby steps. Maybe this week, just check your bg in the morning. Then add checking your bg before bed, or before supper next week. Increase your checks slowly, and it will all come together. Join us here on the chatroom. It is a hard road to travel, but there are many here in your same journey! We are rooting for you and cheering you on. Your first step has already been taken. You have shared your decision to do something abut it, and that my friend, is the hardest step!

Hi there!
Many have gone through the same, you are not alone!!!
I responded to some blog posts by a girl called kelci with the same problems:
http://www.tudiabetes.org/profiles/blogs/i-am-struggling
http://www.tudiabetes.org/profiles/blogs/times-they-are-a-changin
http://www.tudiabetes.org/profiles/blogs/hear-me-roar
Maybe you can find some advice in answers there, i pretty much agree with the stuff said above.
If you need any help, feel free to contact me or join our CHATROOM, it is great talk going on there and much support!
http://www.tudiabetes.org/chat
Hope to hear from you soon, good luck
SC

You already have the #1 single most important thing you need: the determination to do it. Everything begins with that, and you're already there.

As others have pointed out, you can control it, it will control you only if you allow it to. The choice rests with you, not with it. You're in charge.

And as others have also suggested, take it in small manageable steps. Diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint. Just make one change at a time and you'll be surprised how soon it settles down and behaves.

Congratulations on taking charge! Let us know how you're doing!

My goal is sort of to kick diabetes' ■■■ every day. I obviously won't get rid of it but I try to do the best I can. If my number is where I want it, I did it. If it's not, I can still beat it up by doing my best to get it where I can. I think I ended up in a decent headspace because I went to college a year and a half after dx and the clinic there was pro-testing, 7x/ day was the rx (c. 1986, which, in retrospect, was a lot for the era) and I kind of got into a cool groove wanting to know what my BG was because I uh, was in rock bands and stuff and was up late a lot doing that and didn't want to keel over. I still keeled over a couple of times but survived but, what I've come up with now, that I'm old is that I will have much more success with diabetes, a sneaky and evil opponent, by knowing what it's up to and testing a lot:

• wake up, test bg
2) before eating test BG
3) before driving to work test bg
4) 2 hours after eating test bg
5) lunch test BG
6) 2 hours post lunch test bg
7) drive home test BG
8) get home, run 3 miles...oh wait, don't forget to test your bg!
9) post-exercise maybe, maybe not, maybe eat dinner and, you guessed it, test BG
10) 2 hours post dinner, test BG ****AGAIN****
12) stay up late? Maybe squeeze in another one, what if you have errands to run, what if you want to exercise more (when it's nicer out, I'll run 6-7 miles during the week, more on the weekends...a lot of times, I'll run a long run on Saturday and then a 20ish mile bike ride for fun, speed and recovery on Sunday...there's several extra strips in there...).

The routine can vary but knowing what my BG is doesn't. Give it a try and see what you can do!!

Hiya, cupcake!

First, don't let this get you down... you're not dead, right? :-) So you can turn this around!

I'm a type 2, but I went through something very similar over about 18 months. Got depressed, stopped treating my diabetes, treated the depression with food, and all hell broke loose.

Now I'm treating my D like a T1 would, I have a pump and a CGM, and am achieving nearly non-diabetic BG results. I feel great!

If you have insurance that will cover a pump, I would urge you to strongly consider it. For teens, I recommend the Omnipod simply because it is generally easier to deal with, hassle-wise, for young adults that are juggling so much already (and I use it, and am a big fan). However, you'll get plenty of spirited advocacy for tubed pumps from users here, and it's all good information.

Regardless of what pump type, if you're will to put in the effort up front for the learning curve, a pump can actually make managing your D much much easier than with injections. This convenience (i.e. going out for pizza? Push a few buttons on your controller, you're done!) really helps people be more compliant with treating their D as needed.

Regardless of what you do, though, you must get back on the wagon. This is serious guano. It will be a burden your entire life -- something PWD's just have to wrap their mind around and make peace with. And making that peace is critically important, because the burden of properly treating D and staying healthy is minuscule compared to the burdens diabetic complications will bring.

It's become my observation that dudes with goatees wearing undershirts playing guitar do a lot of ■■■-kicking.

Hi SCCC....you are adorble. You know you got this. Just keep coming here for support.

Right on man! Maybe it’s semantics but there’s nobody deserves an ■■■-kicking like diabetes!

I was 17 when I went off the rails and I stayed off for a while. How did I get back on track? First I had to want to get back. Second, I needed a reason. Wanting to get back is an important thing. Finally as many have said, take baby steps. Do little things. Test once or twice a day, adjust your blood sugar, keep a log, if you are not on a pump inquire about one, if you are ask about a CGM. These things were enough of a change to prompt me off my butt.

Finally, every diabetic I know goes off the rails. Before I got in trouble my doctor said something important to me and maybe it will be important to you. He said, when you are sick and tired of being sick and tired you will take care of yourself. It is true, I had to get sick and tired of being sick and tired and when I did I made the needed changes.

Believe me, you can do it. I believe in you, now, the question do you believe in you?

good luck

rick

You know you are not alone. Lots of people have gone through this. Being a teenager is a really, really hard thing to go through when you have diabetes. But it is never too late to get things on track and we would be happy to help. But you also have to realize, doing this is 90% mental. We can give you a really short and precise set of steps to do in order to take care of yourself, but you need more. You need to get your head around having diabetes and your relationship with the condition. You are different than everyone around you. You need to "out" yourself, maybe not with your friends, but at least yourself. You can't go through life thinking you don't have diabetes. Never a day goes by when I don't have to understand and accept that I have diabetes and have to do stuff to take care of it. Sometimes many times a day. You need to do this too. And you need to take this and incorporate it as a priority in your life and act on it. Every day. Then over time, all these individual steps that you take, testing, injecting, counting carbs, they become routine and you may not regularly think about them. But underneath, you need to always be clear about things. You have diabetes, you want to live a long, healthy, happy life and you absolutely must make this a priority and do it. I know you can do it.