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What were the circumstances that led to your initial diagnosis? What is your story? I was working as a waitress and started feeling tired all the time, then i started feel thirsty, then i went the bathroom almost every hour, i had constant yeast infections, i lost a lot of weight but didn’t notice because i was exercising, and i had mrsa before being diagnosed. I didn’t know anything was wrong with me because i thought this normal feeling because of all he hard work i was doing as a waitress (long days, stress). I went to my local Urgent care and told them my friend and I though i might have diabetes, they tested my sugar, gave me some pills, and that was that. I didn’t take the pills because i really didn’t know the seriousness of diabetes. Couple of days later i started feeling really sluggish, my mouth was dry to the point it was peeling, my breathing was shallow, and i slept all day. I didn’t go to the doc because i didn’t have insurance, my friends convinced me to go to the ER. I was to weak to argue. I think i passed out a couple times and when i woke up i was laying in a hospital bed hooked to IV’s. They said i almost went into DKA and could have died if i hadn’t come sooner.
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How did you feel at first? Scared? Guilty? Ashamed? I felt sick for a long while. I was scared of eating and waring myself out. I didn’t feel ashamed because i didn’t do anything to cause my type 1 diabetes. It was kind of exciting at first, in a weird way, because it was an answer to why i was sick and there was a solution to fixing it! But i didn’t realize how hard it would be.
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What kind of education or instructions were you given once you were diagnosed with Type 1 DM and by whom? (Nurse, Dietitian, Doctor?) A Diabetes Educator visted me while i was in the hospital and gave me some literature. She told me that I would have to take shots, count my carbs, and number one starting rule was to cut cola. She said i could call her anytime. I think i was supposed to fellow up with my er doc but he had no openings. So i really didn’t have any doctor guidance, just the diabetes educator.
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What is your daily routine (monitoring, shots, etc) from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep? I’m supposed to check my sugar before and after meals. Take three shots of humalog a day and a shot of Lantus at night. In between i monitor how i feel, and try to avoid hypoglycmia with snacks or juice (personally). I have to write down my carbs, the amount of insulin taken, and my sugars before and after meals. I try to every 3-4 hours, amongst my 3 meals and 3 snacks.
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What are some situations that require you to change this routine? (Going out for drinks, traveling, work schedule, etc.) Since i work third shift I sometimes have to wake up early or stay up later from work so i can run errands for things open during the day. Sometimes i don’t want to take my medicine and that changes everything and leads to me not testing or taking the right amount of insulin, this can effect me for days to months that i do this. Sometimes at work i have to postpone eating because my break is different, i could fight this if i wanted. But i hate to have my diabetes be a inconvience to my work ethic.
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What are you concerned most about regarding your health in the future? Losing eyesight, amputated leg, the usual horrors but these seem so far away that i don’t really let it sink in my head that this could happen, could be because i’m still a new diabetic and I’m young (my body fights it better now). I worry about yeast infections and urinary tract infections.
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How has living with Type 1 DM impacted your relationships with others (romantically, friendship, family, children, etc). Hasn’t really impacted it in a bad way. It’s something you either they have to accepct or they don’t and you move on. But sometimes when you felling bad you might act out against loved ones. They might not have diabetes but they have somebody who has it, and that can make it just as hard for them to see you suffer.
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How has insurance (and dealing with insurance companies) impacted your life, health and general outlook? I don’t have insurance. The only insurance i had didn’t include diabetes because i was “pre existing.”
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Anything else you’d like to share.
things i notice: misconeptions from others about what you can and cannot do (or eat). The doctors i’ve encountered don’t have time for diabetes, and you will waste alot of money till you find a good one. Being diabetic is expensive, especially if you don’t have insurance and have to pay hospital bills out of pocket. Because of that i’m sure alot of people avoid going to the doc or er, i do. Alot of diabetics deal with denial, guilt, and anger. Alot of new diabetics are told the basics and then let out in the real world with no raft. I try my best to do pay and get help for my supplies but i always find that bills not related to diabetes go ahead of everything else. I can’t afford to be broke because i need good food, good medicine, and a good job to pay for it, But it’s a bit like the snake eating itself when it comes to all that. Without food i can’t take my medcine, wiithout medcine i can’t take shots for my food, wihtout insurance i can’t afford to see the doctor or get the supplies i need, without money i can’t do anything.
1)My symptoms were: extreme thirst (I was drinking about 2 gallons of water a day), frequent going to the bathroom, and weight loss. I don’t really know if I was more sluggish or anything, because I’ve always been a VERY lazy person, lol. Anyways, I convinced myself that the reason I was drinking so much was because I just LOVED water. And I was peeing a lot… well… because I was drinking so much water! And, I lost like, 4 lbs a week for about 3-4 weeks… while eating ice cream a few times a week. And, it just wasn’t very likely that I was losing this weight naturally, because I wasn’t trying hard to lose it. But, I wasn’t surprised by the weight loss, because I’ve been trying to lose weight this past year. So, I was just thinking that suddenly, I was having awesome luck in losing weight! Lol. But, my mom was a nurse, so she was suspicious of everything, and started questioning me being diabetic. So, a few days after she put all the puzzle pieces together, she figured we should have this looked into. There’s a man at my church who has type 1 (only person I know with it), and my mom asked him to test me before church started. Well, my BG was 511, so we ran out of the church at went to the ER. I stayed in the ICU for 2 days. I was told that if I had waited even another week or two, I could have gone into a coma. So, thank you, mom, for being worried! You had a reason! Anyways, my A1c at diagnosis was 15.9 I think my Endo told me that my A1c was nearly the highest she’d seen a patient at. (A good guess at why I got type 1: I had pneumonia in the spring. I guess that the cells on the pancreas is similar to that of pneumonia. So, when my body went to attack the pneumonia, they also attacked my pancreas. Now my pancreas is dead… )
2)Seriously, I wasn’t that scared! I guess I didn’t know what I was getting into. I had no clue that there was carb counting involved! And, because I knew very little about the disease, I had nothing to scare me. Lol. Well, in the ER and ICU, I basically just sobbed. I had no clue what to think. And, sometimes, I feel a little ashamed. I know that I had no control over getting this, but… there are people who don’t know the difference between type 1 and type 2. And, they think that I must have type 1 because I “let myself go” or “ate too much sugar”. Hah! no. So, even though I shouldn’t be ashamed, I am ashamed enough to not tell people… because I don’t want them to assume. And, I feel guilty a lot of the time, because of how much the medical bills are. Even with good insurance, money is tight. And partially because of me. So, I feel like a burden. In general, I don’t get very emotional about my diabetes, but every once in a while, I have a break down.
3)When I was diagnosed, I was visited in the ICU by my new Endo and my CDE. And, after I left the hospital, I visited both of them later that week. I got just about all the education I would ever need. They’re very efficient… and I got a good education right away.
4)Daily routine = test about 4x a day + anytime I’m suspicious. I test before breakfast, lunch, and dinner… and also at bedtime. But, if I don’t feel well, or I’m curious, I’ll test more. I don’t eat snacks unless I REALLY have a craving. It’s not very often that I got low enough where I’m eating snacks often. In general, I try to eat less than 50 carbs a meal. If I could do 40 carbs a meal, that’d be ideal… because 120 carbs a day would be good for me. That’s the minimum I’m allowed to eat a day (because my CDE said if I eat much less than that, I would be starving my brain), and at 120 carbs a day, it’s still easy for me to lose weight. So… all’s good! I’m on Humalog, and I use an Omnipod.
5)I go high, then low, when I exercise at all. So, if I don’t feel well while exercising, and I check and it’s 140-150, I know that it’s about to drop back down. And, when I mean drop… it probably goes down to 60ish. Not really low, but not good to stay at. So, I usually have to eat something afterwards. I don’t go high very often (the highest i’ve been since after the first week of diagnosis was 190… after eating and not taking insulin), so I rarely change things up.
6)I’m not concerned about much. But, I really want to keep my A1c good. Also, in a few years, I hope to get married and have kids. So, I’m concerned about health problems that may come being pregnant and diabetic. But… I’ll cross that road when I get to it. Oh, and I’m not at all worried about those freak stories of losing limbs… there’s no way I’m even close to that state of health. And, there’s no way my family would ever let me get there.
7)Diabetes isn’t actually THAT big of a part of my life. I mean… it is. But, I don’t involve my friends or family w/ it. I’m pretty quiet about it. And… I don’t date, yet. So… we’ll see how diabetes works into that… in about a year or two.
- Insurance has been pretty good. But… my dad will probably be laid off in a few months. So… things may change! But… yeah, insurance has been pretty good with working with us. Right now, all of my supplies are shipped directly to my house for a discount price.