I gladly stand corrected… thank you!
However your grammatical fetish aside, (which for the record I acknowledge your corrections and my eggregious mistakes) what is your view, your experience about bad memories re: your diabetes prey tell?
What is your perspective concerning the ghosts of diabetes (events) past ???
Stuart
Hello Jujubean:
Thanks for taking part.
Do you remember these events truthfully only when or right after being “low”? Its a strange phenomina… don’t understand it.
Stuart…
We all remember at least some of the traumatic experiences in our lives - diabetics and non-diabetics. It’s human nature. I have had severe lows, embarrassing episodes, fear of going blind from retinopathy, and emergency trips to the hospital. The key to living a happy and peaceful life is using them as an opportunity for self-growth - learning how to transform those experiences into consciousness. I write in greater detail about this on my blog: The Conscious Diabetic. One post in particular that may strike a chord is: Listen to your body. Here’s the link to the blog: http://theconsciousdiabetic.blogspot.com/
Just remember - it’s all a process.
people always remember the bad stuff just like the remember the really good stuff… I’ve done things like cry about diabetes after explaining how hard it is to my husband (very emotional, because spouses can only see or understand so much at first). But i remember going to the hospital, dry mouth, passing out, to waking up to somebody saying “if you didn’t come when you dd then you could have died.” Well i didn’t die, and i wasn’t aware of my situation, so i said huh well i’m still alive. I was actually relieved to hear what was wrong with me after feeling awful for god knows how long. I think the only bad memories i have serve to make me be a better diabetic of sorts… warning not to act like that… There is one momment i felt embarassed of sorts… a new girl in my mix of friends saw me injecting and flipped out. I was mortified at what she said “oh i would rather die then do that.” It was the one time i had somebody freakout like that, everybody else was open or cool with it. not sure how to end this…
Thank you for taking part…
Bad event memories as “warnings” against us ~letting it~ happen again ? That perspective is so laden with unwarranted and undeserved self loathing and blame that it is literally a scary perspective to me.
“Then you would be dead Maria…” said without malice, or anger, only said with a genuine smile IMHO is the way to answer that kind of over reaction/foolishness.
If any of us had that ability to not do this diabetic stuff, do you honestly believe any of us would still freely do so? I do not think so…
now i hate lows, but once i was sleeping and had a low. In my dream i went to go get me something to eat and i choose double choco chip cookies. But alas i woke up and i was still low, the taste of chocolate only in my dreams 
As someone who works for the JDRF you should tell them from me and I think most diabetics would agree if they won’t back promising research like Faustman the least they could do is whatever it takes to get Smart Insulin into our hands in fastest possible manor. I realize it will have to go through rigorous testing before approval but I would assume JDRF has enough cash if cash is what’s needed to speed things up. Its by far the most feasible solution in combating what makes diabetes a nightmare to live with that they have invested in and should be their Priority. IMO the AP which is their priority and so excited about will still use conventional insulin which will always be a threat. Also it will be an even much bigger financial burden then we already have. At the rate things are going it will soon be nearly impossible to stay alive let alone manage diabetes for the average person. Just some food for thought. Bless you.
I am the opposite of most here as the highs are way more bothersome then the lows. I’ll take a low any day of the week. I also don’t get the typical symptoms most people get in either state. Generally no shaking, sweating…etc. I did get those when I was a kid but rarely experience those ever anymore. When I’m low usually go through some kind of mental disturbance and my emotions run haywire in a bad way. This could be anything 80 or lower. When I get high I could get similar symptoms only I usually physically feel much more irritable almost like the feeling of novocaine through my entire body with added starvation. In the end the lows are much easier to fix. When I am high its usually a dreadful few HRs.
Over the past 30 years I’ve had some bad stuff happen… DKA Coma at initial diagnosis and weeks in the hospital recovering. ER trips and 911 calls for hypos, etc. I’ve had some scary hypos that didn’t turn into an ER trip but were not fun events either. I remember one time my bg was so low my two eyes wouldn’t point in the same direction. Other times I’ve had mini-seizures while still semi-conscious. Scary stuff for me. And I’m sure for my wife too.
If anything when I think of those “bad” events I actually wear them as a badge of honor. I’m not happy that they happened but I now know that they aren’t the end of the world and I survived them.
I’ve had a zillion doctor visits and a bazaillion individual bg tests in the meantime. I do have a certain amount of doctor anxiety but when I’m done with the checkup I’m happy that I’m still around. You’ve been at this 40 years so you must get the same congratulations from all the docs who are surprised that a T1 is still around and kicking and doing pretty good (if not perfectly… we’re never perfect.)
What bothers me more is the constant worrying about bg all the time. Some days I feel like I’m hypo even when I’m not. Other times I’m worrying that because of hypo unawareness maybe I’m low and and I just don’t feel it. That really drives me nuts.
So overall it’s not the individual events that bother me, but a more vague worry about what I don’t know at the present, and about the future.
On the thought of “hold on, just get thru this check out line”: in a hypo with adrenaline release this is surprisingly common. The adrenaline gives you a strong strong urge to keep moving, don’t stop. But what you really need to do is to stop, take a minute, bring the bg up, and then move on.
I read about T1’s driving while hypo and while I don’t exactly feel sympathy for the results I do understand how they got there. The urge of the adrenaline is enormous, and being in a car (Which is all about MOVING to begin with) doesn’t help any.
Heck no, they want blood and more blood, CLEARLY there must be something “wrong” being from my generation of diabetics. They do not offer congradulations… I would love it if they did…
I get the “You don’t have complications? Your eyes are fine!! No kidney damage You are not fat!! Your heart and cholesterol levels are fine!!! Come look at the woman still living and not deteriorating with 42 years diabetes!!” Sounds like a circus sideshow.
I get this mostly from medical personnel in hospitals I have gone to have tests done; and on my infrequent hospitalizations or for ER visits for non-diabetic issues, such as a rib contusion from a tumble down a flight of stairs a month ago). I have had ER doctors and some nurses tell me they have NEVER met a healthy long-term diabetic and they are amazed…
God BLess,
Brunetta
Uhg NO! I’ve been a Type 1 now for 36 of my 47 years and some of the bad stay with me but now I laugh at them…Like the time I passed out and seized in jury duty. Guess who they NEVER called back? Or the time I passed out and seized in a Kroger! The hospital has gotten to know me so well that one time I had passed out and my husband came in, the lady working the ER looked at him and said "Your wife is in (whatever room). I had a sleep over years ago for my daughters ended up passing out (yes seized) and woke up to 9 little girls giving me Gluagon! Testing did help (when they came out with it) but it just happens to me alot without warning. ( I’ve had it so long that I get no warning now when I start falling etc usually passing out with a seizer involved!)
Hi Doris, I am sorry to hear that you have seizures. I am assuming they are from lows? I was wondering, do you use a CGM? Your daughters sound like very smart, capable girls! I wish you well, and hope you have a good day today!
Over the last 20 years, my “past events”, particularly lows, are remembered like one remembers snippets of a bad dream right after you wake up. But they don’t go away. I’ll get that ‘bad dream’ memory flash, sometimes perhaps a memory trigger like walking across a parking lot where I recently had an extreme low - in that case a memory flash of stumbling across a pay phone, being drenched by the rain - and I didn’t have the sense to pick it up and call 911. These ‘bad dream’ memories can be triggered by something as innocuous as seeing an ad for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and remembering the low I had in a motel room in Vermont when traveling across that state when I was 6 months pregnant, 20 years ago (I wonder if I don’t like to buy B&J ice cream because of the price or because of the memory).
Sometimes it is just a memory flash that seemingly just comes at me for no apparent reason. It happens, but I don’t dwell on them. However, these experiences have played out as significant events in my life. They have, in part, contributed to who I am today. Admittedly they do burden me to some extent - for I do tend to play the “what if” game (I try not to) or worry about how others worry when I have had an extreme low.
As for high events, I’ve never been hit by DKA or anything I haven’t been able to handle. I just deal, and move on with it.
So I believe in general, the answer to your question is that I never get rid of unpleasant memories. I don’t dwell on them, but they are there like that bad dream that won’t go away.