Hello, My name is Heidi and I just joined tudiabetes last night. I thought I would share a little about myself.
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in August of 2006. I went for a sports physical one morning to my regular physician. I had to do a bunch of a test including a urine sample. They told me that they had found a lot of sugar in my urine and I was going to have to be admitted into Childrens hospital. Honestly my first reaction was embarrassment. I was so worried about what other people were going to think, instead of the big picture of “I was just diagnosed with diabetes”. I remember when the doctor walked out of the room and my mom started crying. We left the doctor and went to my parents buisness and told my dad. He took it alot better than I thought he would, but I know he was just holding alot back. I stayed over the weekend in the hospital. I learned everything in two days. I walked out of there eight pounds lighter, and ready to start my life over. When people would ask me how I was doing, I just said its like beginning to learn how to eat again. Its a whole new way of life. That year I started seventh grade. The hardest part was having to eat in the nurse’s office for the first part of the year. I lost out on the part of being able to social with other kids. Eventually my friends would take turns eating upstairs with me and I appreciated that very much. but it was still never the same. I learned to cope with it though.
Its been three years this past August. Somewhere along the line I took a wrong path. One day I just stopped taking care of my sugar. I gave my self random insulin shots. Never tested my sugar. Once in a while for a week or two I would be really careful and watch but then I went back to the same bad routine. I still fight with this today. For some reason I cant seem to get myself motivated. I want to get back on track more than anything. When I got on this site and read some amazing stories and learned alot about what others go through too, it really encouraged me to do the right thing. I have a good support system at home. My mom is a type 2 diabetic. She takes insulin shots though because some of her other medications raise her blood sugars. I have seen my mom go through some things from diabetes that I pray that I will never have to experience. I know what the long term consequences are, but I still dont feel motivated. I think I am just used to taking care of other people but not myself. I want to change my ways. I really would like to meet some people on here that I could talk to. Thank you for reading.
I was where you are now. I am now 43 years old and have great control. It took me a long time to realize that I was in charge of how well or how poorly I treated myself. There is a great sense of satisfaction in knowing that I have the ability, the knowledge, the resources and the team that make my diabetes only a part of my life, not my whole life. When I am in great control of my body, I have the energy and time to devote to all the fun things in life that make it worth the effort. You can do it too. 
Heidi,
Try to realize that if you don’t take care of yourself…you won’t be around to take care of other people. Take care of yourself and look at it as being able to take care of others. As the mother of a very young child with diabetes (7 years old) I am begging you to please take care of yourself. It hurts a parent so much when their child does not do the right thing. Help your mother by taking care of yourself to be there for her.
Hi Heidi,
Glad you found TuD, this online community is amazing at answering any questions you might have or just letting you know that you’re not alone. I myself lost touch with control for a year. I think that it is natural that every diabetic gets frustrated with having to do things that maybe others do not. It is important to take care of your sugars and this site helps me remember that sometimes. Beware though… it’s addicting:)
Make yourself top priority. You have a long and wonderful life that awaits you. Life and love, happiness are just too great to miss out on. You can do anything…just take a look around this site and see the amazing people that are great examples of living and managing diabetes and have a great life. Give yourself that opportunity, you are so worth it my dear.
Hi Heidi,
Welcome to Tudiabetes just reading you post and I can understand not being motivated seeing as diabetes is a 24hours 7 days a week kind of thing and having times that your not motivated I think is ok as long as you dont make it a habit,I have those days when I just have had enough or times when I just cry because I am tired of it all.
To be honest if you put in the hard work and effort it will be better for you later on in life when you wont have as much energy or time.
I hope you get that motivation back.
Hi Heidi,
Please try your best to get back on track, Talk with your mom who loves you about it and work together to figure out how to get you back on a routine again, With her being a T2 she should have some knowledge to pass on to you, you can even make it a competition between each of you to see who gets the better A1C each check up. Heidi I think after you get back into a routine it should become much easier for you as it is for me, The first thing every morning is to check my BS and then I follow my meal and insulin routine. I think you will find it becomes second nature after awhile… Good luck & let us know how you are doing we are all here for you…
Welcome I found high school and college was the most difficult time period to take care of myself… Having a routine now that I’m working full time has helped… and being independent but the motivation to do everything all the time is never there (There’s just too much to do to be the “perfect diabetic or person w/ diabetes” and not enough time…at least not if I want to actually live life and enjoy it!
I’ve never found fear of what will happen to be very motivating…or even long term “i want to be in good health/no complications at age 70” does little for day to day motivation-If this was enough to motivate a person… then nobody would be smoking or overeating or any other bad habits that lead to complications later in life…
Keep checking in here and talking…because knowing there are so many other people doing the same thing helps to keep me on track …
Setting small goals also makes it more manageable…like I just need to test as soon as I wake up… and not worry about what the number is (in the sense of whether it’s “bad” or “good”).
Maybe find someone to be accountable to here (check in w/ each other to see if you tested etc. whatever you work out between each other ~ like exercise buddies ;))
And it’s okay to be demotivated because diabetes is overwhelming and can be time consuming and it was never something you asked for…so it’s understandable that at times you’ll be demotivated.