Hi Mentha: Yes, taking care of oneself really is a lot of time-consuming work! I should also say, I have now had Type 1 diabetes for 15 years. Diabetes sucks. When I have a bad low, I sometimes say, “I hate this f***ing disease.” But I can also honestly say I am happier than I have ever been in my life. When you are first diagnosed, cut yourself some slack…for a LONG LONG time…or just forever. You have gotten some good advice from some really caring people here. Take the support, and I know that you are going to be okay.
Hi Mentha,
Learn to manage your diabetes. That’s your priority. Learn how your diabetes affects you through different situations in your life and how to deal with those situations. With good control, you’ll feel better and perform better. With bad control, stressful situations, like 50% of grad school, are just 10 times worse. How much better you feel after you get control just depends on how well you felt before.
I was diagnosed Type I about 2 months before my 21st birthday. The diagnosis threw me for a loop because I was attending community college at the time, planning to transfer to a 4 year to finish my B.S. before enlisting in the Air Force. I was told I was disqualified and found myself really lost as to what to do next and really uncertain about my future.
After that, every change I made in my life seemed to be siginificant in one way or another.
The first thing I did was postpone my plans to transfer to a 4 year. I needed to get control of my diabetes. I decided that getting back into competitive track and field would be good for my health so I stayed an extra year at the CC to compete. It was really difficult manageing my diabetes, school, and athletics but I decided that it was something that I would have to learn to do if I was going to have any kind of future. It paid off, big time. I felt better than I ever felt before, I ended up having my best competitive year ever, and was offered an athletic scholarship to UC Irvine.
With the support of many great health care providers at the university, I really learned how to manage my Diabetes through a lot stress and uncertainty. I don’t think my A1c ever got higher that 5.2 and I spent most of my first 5 years as a diabetic in the mid to high 4s. Physically, I felt fantastic 90% of the time. I competed at a high level and was able to continue to compete nationally and internationally for a couple of years after I graduated.
I eventually went on to grad school to work on my Ph.D as well. That was, indeed, really difficult and I just couldn’t take care of myself the same way as I did as an undergrad and an athlete, but I made the effort. Luckily, I had wonderful advisor and very understanding committee so I still managed to keep my A1c under 7. I ended up abandoning my dissertation, but that was not a diabetes related decision.
After grad school, my diabetes management started to really suffer and went from mediocre to non existent for a few years as I struggled to find a suitable career, missed endo appointments after the endo I had for 18 years retired, blew out my achilles tendon training, then struggled through a couple of years as a new teacher. I felt like crap all the time and still ignored warnings from my new endo, my opthamalogist, and GP until I got hit with a retinopathy diagnosis and a fairly recent microalbuminuria diagnosis that I’m stressing about.
I’m back on the wagon with my a1C back down under 7 for the last 8 months and a stable regiment again. At 45, I feel good, way better than I did with bad control at 35. Nowhere near as good as I did as a 25 year old diabetic with excellent control, but hey, that’s where you could be now. =)
I was diagnosed at the age of 21, just before my last year of college.
Diabetes affected my life in many ways, but I don’t think it has really decided my career choices.
I started a PhD program 2 years after being diagnosed. I’m in my fourth year and planning to defend next academic year. I actually find that the flexible schedules that exist in the academic world have been quite helpful for my diabetes care ( or maybe this is only in social sciences??).
I know that in the first year, diabetes took up a lot more time because there was so much to learn. I think that you will settle into your rhythm and I would recommend sticking with your plans 
But if you decide you aren’t interest in academics, then there is NO shame in that! But I would not let your diabetes decide – you should!
I can definitely relate to this. When I was first diagnosed, diabetes was ALL that I could think about, all that I talked about, … this WILL change.
Diabetes will always be a central part of your life, but in my experience, it will not need to stay THE central thing in your life. I needed that time to adjust and grieve as others have said, but since then, I consider diabetes like a part time job that I have to do, but it doesn’t stop me from having other jobs and goals!
I also saw a psychologist for the first year after diagnosis. She was not a specialist in diabetes, but still it helped me tremendously to vent my emotions weekly with a neutral person. I highly recommend it!
Thanks for all the replies, everyone. It’s nice just to get some normalization through other people’s experiences.