SInce I’ve joined this community I am sorry to say that I have read more negative comments about diabetes than positive.
Why? Don’t you ALL realize that you have a CONTROLLABLE disease? You’re not dying of cancer (although I do know there are a number of people who are suffering from additional ailments besides diabetes here and this is not aimed at you), but for the majority… who suffer from diabetes only… DIABETES IS CONTROLLABLE!
I’ve been Type 1 for 36 1/2 years. I was diagnosed at the age of 2 1/2. I’ve lived an amazing life. Don’t get me wrong, I have my days. I have HIGH days and I have LOW days … both mentally and physically for both. But, I work with a man who is dying of prostate cancer. He was told in March 2006 that he had maybe 6 months to live. That was almost 3 years ago and he’s still here fighting. He comes to work each day now wearing a morphine drip. He told me today that the pain on a scale of 1 (good) to 10 (bad) is a 20. You see, his cancer has metastesized (spell?) into his bones. He is dying a slow and painful death. I’m going to die too but today, I live with a disease that I can control.
Sure, we can all sit around feeling sorry for ourselves and drive ourselves crazy with carb counting, BG numbers, etc… etc… but for goodness sakes people, take a look at the world around you. There are SO many worse things out there! You’re alive! You have the ability to control this. If you don’t have the best doctors holding your hands you have a GREAT community right here of many wonderful people who can help.
SMILE! You’re alive. Yes, you’re a diabetic. Whop-di-freakin-do! Move on! LIVE! You could get hit by a car tomorrow. Then what?
Sorry.
You have lived with this your whole life. Meaning it has BEEN your whole life. You have known nothing BUT Diabetes for your whole life. Makes it a lot easier to accept and deal with. Sucks for it to happen to a little kid, but after all this time, you are going to tell me you have not at all come to grips with it? Keep the whop-di-freaking-do to yourself, Sunshine.
BTW, I’m Bi-Polar too, you want me to just “Cheer Up”?
YAAAY finally someone agrees with me, its so true erin, the mental part that goes along with disease is important too, a positive outlook makes so much difference; i think this disease has made me a genuinely healthier person overall, its is completely controllable and a healthy attitude makes all of the difference.
Another point… as I sit here and think about this.
Johndeaux - you’re right. I have never known any other way of life. I did 6 injections for YEARS. That was fun? NO. I’ve been on injections or a pump my WHOLE LIFE. I would have loved to have had a few years off, but no such luck. So, what have I done? I use my pump. I live my life. I was diagnosed with bi-polar. After 6 years on some serious meds I learned that the tighter I kept my sugars to 100 the better I felt. No more meds. NO, I’m not being manic today, but seriously concerned with how sad so many of you are.
i totally agree with you Erin! a positive outlook makes all the difference. I am on the cusp of Stage 4 CKD. a kidney/pancreas transplant is in my future… not possibly… IT IS IN MY FUTURE! am i dwelling on it? no i have other things to do. like the dishes and the laundry and making dinner for my family and helping my daughter get through culinary school, and so many OTHER things to let diabetes get in the way. life is for living! so, i’m on a pump, and everything that goes into my mouth is counted and BS tests are done 12 times a day… and that’s just life.
I admit that I am guilty of writing negatively about diabetes a lot of the time. And yet there are times when I feel like you do Erin. I wish I could stay up and positive all the time and honestly I have gotten a lot better then I used to but sometimes I just get down.
My father used to have a saying. “What is a pebble to one can be a boulder to another.” I find that sometimes diabetes can be like a giant rock weighing my mood down, my outlook on life, and my attitude and other times it is a small pebble that I can just carry along and deal with.
I am going to keep looking back on this post when I get down and need a kick in the shorts to get going. But sometimes I just need to cry about it.
George and Landileigh and JohnDeaux-
Don’t get me wrong. I am not standing here waving some kind of banner. I do have days where I HATE this disease, but I have to step back and look at things that are so much worse! My friend is dying. According to the doctors, he should be dead.
I cried yesterday. I was low… 38, 58, for over 2 hours. I couldn’t get out of it. But, once it was over, I stepped back and realized I’d done it all to myself. I put away “Christmas”. I was in my jammies and was not feeling like i was exercising, but I was. I got low. Okay, I eat, I move on. But, yes, I did cry after the 4th glass of Orange Juice. It has it’s moments, but we’re living. Life goes on.
I’m not giving up! Like Landileigh said, I have to feed the kids, do the laundry, clean the house, and get up to go to work each day. Yes, I’m lucky I have a job. I thank God for that daily. My next door neighbors (husband and wife) both lost their jobs just before Xmas. Life goes on. Each day they get up and they look for a job. No, I’m not a goody-2-shoes. I’m human. I’ve never known anything but life with diabetes. I have learned to control it. I don’t let the diabetes control me (at least not for long!.. max 2 hours LOL!
Thanks so much for taking the time to post this. I have been struggling lately, but am determined to have a positive attitude. Who has time for anything else Keep up the good work on your quitting smoking!
A positive attitude does help to make a difference. I always try to keep in mind that I’m the only one who can choose what attitude I’m going to have for the day. It’s always good to be reminded that things could be worse.
That said, one of the common side effects of diabetes is depression. Depression isn’t something people just get rid of by deciding to quit feeling sorry for themselves. When I was first diagnosed, my hormonal levels were very out of whack, and I was actually suicidal. This is not something I write or speak about often, but I share it because it was real. It’s not something I could just ‘snap out of’’. It was a medical issue that required intervention. It took many weeks of intensive therapy to get my bgl’s and hormones corrected, and when that happened, I started to feel like my usual happy self. My father, also diabetic, died in the hospital while sick with three terminal illnesses, all side effects of poorly controlled diabetes. It was a lengthy, painful, undignified way to die, and he wasn’t at all cheerful.
I’ve come to realise over the years that having a good attitude and striving for good health is all good. And I’ve also realized that we all have our own paths to walk, and that everyone’s diabetes is different, that the resources we have to achieve and maintain good control vary significantly depending on so many factors some beyond our control (like HMO coverage in the States, for instance), and that I have more success at inspiring people around me by being empathetic and by being an example than by berating them for where they are at on their path to wellness.
I don’t agree with that line of reasoning, JohnDeaux. From my perspective, that’s like making the argument that someone who grew up orphaned has it easier than someone whose parents died later in their lives because they never knew a life with parents.
A low while you’re driving or a high while you’re working…these things aren’t easier because they’ve happened to me for longer. Every day brings a new challenge - both for the newly diagnosed and the old veterans at this.
I admit that I am sometimes impatient with the recently diagnosed because of the “poor-me” thing, as if their disgust at being ‘in my boat’ reflects some judgment on my quality of life…but then I remember that it has nothing to do with me. They are just dealing with this new part of their life and the death of what they’ve known. And that’s hard for any of us, regardless of personal triumphs and defeats.
I am more like Erin, Landi, Jill, etc., in that I have my bad days and then have to say, okay, this is my life. I have an amazing journey I’m on and this is just a part of it. I have challenges that others in my life don’t have. And I should be sensitive to what their struggles are, too. So I tell myself when my mother-in-law complains about her own recent “not diabetic, just insulin resistant” status. “You don’t know how scary these lows are,” she says. And it ticks me off because it seems insensitive. Does she not realize who she’s talking to? But then I have to understand that what she means is “you don’t know how scary these lows are FOR ME.” And that’s absolutely true.
100%…that is what gets me through…“It could always be worse.” I’d rather count carbs and deny myself something at mealtime than go through Chemo and always be worried that “it” is coming back. We have access to treatment and knowledge and support.
I’d be curious to know the percentage of us here that deal with depression…it seems very common. While depression, especially bi-polar, can’t be willed away, there is treatment. We have choices…options…so many people don’t in dealing with what they are dealt.
Constant pain is a tough one…that is wearing and depressing, but tightening our BS control can help lessen those complications. There is no cure for diabetes and controlling it is tough, but it could be way worse.
I don’t know, I get upset when I get upset. usually I don’t think a lot about it. Poor me? Well yeah sometimes. Good for me? naw, I don’t see much good in having diabetes.
Positive attitude? Unless you have one you are pretty much doomed. That don’t mean I like it, but heck I guess it beats the alternative most days. I am really a pretty positive person who has something he hates. So I have exhibit both hate and indifference. It has been that way for 34 years.
Oh dear John,
Poor you.
Hope you are having a better day today!
Hugs from someone else who has diabetes, (among some other not so easy to treat illnesses).
~salty.
One of the things many here don’t have is good support…we all need a place to vent at times,and people who can be non-judgemental and supportive through it…this is that place for many. so we can all help each other get through those roough times when we can’t be positive.
I have a very good support system–yet there are times when I feel I don’t want to further burden them…and vent and whine here…it haelps me be positive the rest of the time.
I hate having multiple treatable diseases—and it beats the alternative–but somedays it is very overwhleming and positive thought just is not my reality…
Its because we all experience the same things that we can pick up one another when we fall. Its because we relater to each other that allows us perspective. I may have only been on shots for 6 months now but, look how far I have come in 6 months. Six months ago I was dreading shots and I got very down on things. Then I came here about a month after being diagnosed and thought to my self I have been positive with my life until now this will not change my attitude. I have been a very positive individual ever since. The only negatives I now have is with the billing departments that do not process payment properly and fighting with insurance companies. My diabetes will not slow me down… In fact as a result I am taking better care of my self now than I did a few years ago.
Keep up the good work on your quitting smoking!