I know everyone on here has had a tough life but most of you really don’t know how lucky you really are. I was diagnosed at the age of 14 months so I’ve never known a life without diabetes. I’ve never had the excitment of going to sweetie shop or enjoyed an ice-cream without the worry of “ill pay for this later when my sugars go mental”. Since being diagnosed I’ve never really been stable. My body was reluctant towards insulin so it never really took the effect doctors expected. Every clinic I left crying from the age of 6 because doctors were constantly telling me I wasny trying hard enough and I wasn’t doing my insulin or eating proper when I really was. At the age of just 6 I ASKED to be admitted and put on constant monitoring to prove I really was doing what I was supposed to. Doctors couldn’t believe it when they actually seen I was doing everything I could and my sugars were still off the charts! No matter how hard I tried nothing worked… Why should I 6 year old have to worry about such things. When I was 6 I felt 26. I had no child hood. After so many year of my body resisting insulin it finally started to really take effect… I became realllly sensitive to insulin for about a year or so. One unit too much I would take hypo seizures one unit too little I would go into DKA. This eventually settled down.
On the 24th of September 2007 at the age of 8, I went into a diabetic coma only this time it was severe. I remember being carried in the door at A&E and set on a bed. At the door 2 doctors and 7 nurses met me and my parents and I was rushed to the paediatric ward. When I reached there I was connected to drips, insulin infusion, heart monitors, oxygen and a load of other stuff. The doctor told my parents to give him one hour to work with me and if I wasn’t improving then I would be sent to intensive care. Thankfully in that hour he managed to slowly improve my sugars and brought my ketones down from 7.5 to 6.8 which was a relief. I was hospitalised for 2 and a half weeks. It took me about a month to recover fully.
When I was 9 years old I was fairly stable with only 7 hospital admissions that year.
When I was 10 I was bullied at scjool being called fat and ugly and a load of other stuff. I searched online and found out insulin makes you gain weight so I stopped taking it. At first I took little amounts but it began to get worse and worse. I got into the mind set of well at least if I’m gonna die ill die skinny. I know it seems extreme but I was a 10 year old girl facing the problems of what now seems like an eating disorder although then it didn’t. My biggest fear in life is that I will die fat and at my wake (hopefully 80+ years from now) they will say “it’ll be a tight carry” (the coffin will be really heavy to carry). I looked at myself in the mirror one day and thought ‘I need help’. And that’s what I did, got myself help! I began to see a child psycologist who helped me overcome this eating problem.
At age of 11 and 12 I began to accept my diabetes for what it really is… A hurdle on my road to a hppy life. Although god has thrown these hurdles at me, he has taught me to jump them with pride and land on two feet.
At the age of 13 I started an online support group on facebook for teen diabetics which really is only currently used by local diabetics in my area but I hope it was prosper in the forseeable future.
So that pretty much is my life. I left out a few bits that are very emotional and personal to me but I think you guys now know the biggest end of me. I would love to answer any questions you might have and would love if you could leave a wee comment below it would mean the world to me. If you have any advise please leave it in a comment for me and I will reply promise.
I was thinking about starting a youtube channel to do vlogging about my diabetes and videos about what I carry everyday for diabetes or you know the usual diabetes related videos so I want to know what you guys would think if I did that?
If you’ve stuck it out til the end and read all this for me I thank you from the bottom of my heart! <3