My New Adventures... if you can call it that

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Hi everyone!

It has been some time since I’ve written a blog on tudiabetes! Where to begin…

Well… let’s start all over.

I’ve been in denial all these years… Since being diagnosed on October 24, 2009, I was fully aware of all the risks and complications diabetes can play in my life. I’ve struggled to control my sugars… especially the cravings, and have to admit have cheated… I’d eat a diabetic approved meal, but end up destroying myself by indulging in ice cream, or chips, or some sort of snack.

I was stubborn and bullheaded -- I was convinced that my doctors were all wrong.

There’s hardly any history in my family of diabetes. My grandmother was diagnosed 3 years before I was, and then my uncle a year before me… so no way did I have it. So on with my life I went… work play work, no time to check my sugars, no time for meds, no time for anything… just deteriorating

Why am I finally accepting it ... well, mostly it's because I'm tired of battling with myself.

I’ve felt it all – from the dizziness, to having no energy… from hot/cold sweats to waking up in the middle of night of thirst… to interruption at work because of needing to run to the rest room… let alone, my medications!! How inattentive I was!! I’d frequently forget… or, I would know that I would need to take it, and then shrug it off. My husband started to notice that I wasn’t checking my bg#s, er at least it was less frequent… he also noticed the decrease of pharmacy visits and expenditures.

Then off to the ER I went… at least 4x in 2010 and 2 so far this year.

I was miserable – I was scared to see my endocrinologist, just because I feared of what he might say… so I didn’t go see him. More months passed, and I refused to see him… then my husband and I changed our insurance, and sure enough, I couldn’t go see my endocrinologist.

I’ve been checking my sugar sporadically, here and there (just because I’d be curious)… most of it reading above 200… I started to get scared… No more ER for me –> so I tried to control it. I started counting my carbs again, started to eat right, exercising, even made sure that I was taking my medication correctly … but still couldn’t get it under 200. I thought, “maybe I should skip meals” (and you all know that’s a no-no) – that didn’t help, it just kept going up, then roller-coasted down, then back up again. I thought, “I’m definitely doing something wrong…”

FINALLY, I broke down, I needed to find a new endocrinologist. My PCP had refilled my prescriptions for me until I could find a new one. This past Saturday, I saw my new endo – she was great. I was able to speak with her about everything. I brought in all of my logs and my diaries that I’ve written. She got a full view of what I have been going through – although she was concerned. She had asked me what type of Diabetic I was and I looked at her funny and asked, “what do you mean? I’m Type 2, DUH…”

I’ve been on oral medication these past few years and have been sticking to that regime… she went through my log books again and started to ask questions:

Is there a history of diabetes in your family? No - my grandmother was diagnosed a few years before I was and my uncle a year before me.

How much do you weigh?
Well, I’m 5’ … so a little overweight maybe at 152…

And you were able to control your sugars when you were first diagnosed?
Yes, at least for a few months… until I started to cheat and could care less… BUT I’ve been trying to control it since I’ve gotten some scares a few times…

Has your medication started to work for you even when you cheated?
Well… it worked for a while, even when I cheated or have forgotten, but now it’s weird! I can’t seem to get it below 200.

.... Then she started telling me about LADA ....

She changed my medication and gave me paperwork to get confirmation on my diagnosis. UGH!! How I hated to donate blood to the hospital vampires!

So I sulked all the way out of her office to the pharmacist. And sulked some more at home, and of course at work…
I started taking the medication she had given me – it was working!!! I hadn’t seen my sugar go below 200 until NOW! It’s still high, hovering around 160, but I’ll take it! I took the medication for the next few days, and then looked in the mirror – I looked like a puff ball! I let my swelling persist for the next couple of days until I couldn’t take it anymore… back to my endo I go. Apparently, I’m allergic to the meds she had given me and should have contacted her sooner (well, I wanted to make sure it was the medication that I was reacting too…eesh…).

SOooooOoo…

NOW, she changed my plans and am on Novolong… UGH, some MORE needles?!
She had given me the pens and I was happy – until I was told it was still something I’d have to stick myself with… so the MA came it and started to give me instructions and showing me how the pen worked, when to use it, and how many units I’d have to administer.

But you know what, as much as I hate needles (and I don’t care what anyone says, it’ll always be hard to get used to needles) this is what’s going to make me feel better. In conclusion, I need to get healthy not only for myself, but for my family.

I’ve suddenly got the urgency in keeping myself healthy… wish me luck guys!!
I need all the encouragement I can possibly get!

Oh, and PS – I just got my labs done today… so I won’t really know what type I really am until I see my new endo for the results…

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OK, now my turn to share,
I have been a diabetic since 16 years old. I was flying, or training to fly airplanes, I was close to getting to fly solo, but, you can’t do that after being diagnosed with T1. Maybe it was a GOD sent?
So, I decided to goto college, got a BA in Psychology. Which didn’t get me anywhere really? Was on shots for a while then got on the pump, Animus first, now, minimed Paradigm 723 pump with a CGM.
I am allllllllllllllllll over the place with the numbers. Was 450+ last week, then bottomed out. CGM says it is 223 right now?LOL, nope297!
I need the CGM because I do not feel highs, or lows AT ALL!
It sometimes says that a low is predicted! I guess I should check it a reframe from taking sugar? which I do, if I have a glucometer around, but if it is 4 am and it alarms, I just have a bottle of tabs next to me, so chow down on like 3 of em.
I doubt that I will ever be in full control? At this point in life I don’t really care either! That’s why they call it medical practice, because they are just practicing to get er right:)
I have been through a very bad car wreck, with lots of rehab along with it, so, diabetes, I will always be a pin cushion to try to stay in range, but it works good for like 24 hours, then back to a rollercoaster ride with BS!
Tell me whats the point of a carelink, if you are the only one, that sees it?
I might try to get move involved with pumping and with an CDE when I get down to Nokomis, FL 34275 from NJ. Everything is kinda all over right now, so I dont have time to do mostly anything, til the move!
Still looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but I keep coming up to, a pot of candy:(

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Good luck Rissa! Glad to see you’re making some progress. And the Novalog pens are reeeaaally easy. Less painful than putting in a contact lens. Some might say easier than a fingerstick (sometimes).

But the results will be so worth it. I wish you the best!

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:slight_smile: Welcome home RissaMae :slight_smile:

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Welcome to our world! One of the hardest things about being diabetic is accepting the fact that you truly are diabetic. Each of us in our way has denied it some time in the past.

Now that you’ve accepted the fact, have made the personal decision to get (and hopefully stay) healthy I with you the best of luck.

If you forget to check your BG or your insulin, don’t beat yourself up over it. We’ve all done it. Just fix it and move on. It gets easier with time but there will be setbacks. Don’t let it get you down.

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Hi RissaMae… and thanks for updating us all on your latest odyssey through Type 2D. You write well and it’s easy to read the frustration and fear sprinkled in your blog but Fear Not! Encourage…Encourgage… The big step was getting a new endo and getting her up to date on your history. Like you I tend to ‘balk’ at new drugs when I first get them and it’s usually challenging to finally find the right mix at the right time with the right combination of everything else… but it can be done. You just need to Hang In… be patient with your medics - they’re only human… and with yourself!
One of my biggest beefs (beeves?) with MDeities is not knowing the results of the plethora of tests they all seem happy to put us through. There have been times when I’ve simply ‘sworn off’ the next bunch of tests knowing full well that nobody will ever get back to me about it anyway… so why bother? One thing I have tried that often works with blood/urine tests especially is to add my email address (or fax number) to the actual requisition page. Where it says to notify the doctor and how, I add my own email address there, or a fax number if that’s how they render their findings. If I wait for the doctor to get a round tuit, it never happens… even when the results are defining!
Tests and readers of those tests have been the bane of my medical existence for years. The same results can have entirely different interpretations by different docs! I’ve had broken ribs that didn’t show up on X-rays at all until months later AFTER I’ve been struggling to breath all that time. We can’t assume that everyone else is doing their job as well as we would like.
At the time of the test, ask the technician how long it takes to acquire the results and then FU! (that would be Follow Up… dirty minds everywhere!) Don’t LET them LET you fall 'tween those ever-widening cracks in the system. That’s YOUR blood they’re screening. You have a right to know what information it reveals - even if you only get the same print-out the docs do. At least then you can get those weird numbers translated by someone else in the office or using the net. I happen to have a friend who is a doctor (currently recovering from a devastating illness) and he’s been reeeeally handy at translating most of that medical terminology on the lab reports.
We need to be pro-active in our own care - it’s a fine line between taking an interest in your own medical treatment and obsessing on everything the medical professionals say to you. I’m still learning to keep my balance on this narrow little beam!
So Hang-in, girl… (encourage, encourage)… You’re young 'n bright and if that’s your picture there, hot too! - So don’t let a little diabetes drag you down.

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How are you doing now?

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GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

That sounded like an absolute roller coaster ride! Keep up the amazing motivation, because i’m sure that whether or not you get further complications you’d rather be able to say ‘at least I tried’ then ‘I should have done something in the first place’.

Good LUCK!

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Happy Birthday RissaMae! Hope you are well!
I’m just reading your blog now. How did the lab tests work out?
Joanne