Before my question--- my situation: 27/M/San Fran, CA - I have not been diagnosed with Diabetes... I was scared because I was feeling tired and having some symptoms of Diabetes, and had some abnormal (yet inconclusive) readings on a blood glucose meter from Walgreens. Anyway, I went to a doctor.... I ended up never taking the blood test since I was scared of the results (stupid, yes)... I just couldn't take the stress of waiting and dealing with the results, especially since I am fairly sure they will just tell me to do diet and exercise, since if I DO have high blood sugar it's likely pre-diabetic or at worst, a low level of diabetes...
Anyhow--- before this "scare", I worked in a home office and barely exercised... drove everywhere I needed to go, and ate whatever I wanted. I did not have a healthy lifestyle. I have since made a commitment to healthy living--- I have been eating healthy everyday (except for that little holiday stint... why must family cook so many desserts??) and exercising 45 minutes a day, 4-6 days a week. I am starting to feel pretty good, and realize that maybe becoming pre-diabetic will force me to get in shape and be healthy, and maybe I will be better off this way anyway.
So this made me think--- have any of you found that since becoing (pre)diabetic, you have changed your lifestyle for the better substantially? Perhaps to the point that you feel like you are in better shape & health than before your diagnosis? Has Diabetes encouraged you to improve yourself?
I encouraged me to improve myself. In like 2005, I was getting older (37...) and hit 275 lbs on the scale and started working out and paying more attention to what I eat. It's not *all* the diabetes but I'd een obituaries of 40 year olds in the paper listing the JDRF or ADA as the beneficiaries and it served to inspire me to change.
I'm a type 1, so this doesn't totally apply to me, but I think having type 1 diabetes does make me pay FAR closer attention to my health. Compared to those I see around me, I definitely eat healthier, exercise more, and just do a better job of managing my overall health. I know being a type 1 diabetic does take some years off my life, so I'm pretty committed to doing just about anything I can to balance that out.
Living with T1D requires a HUGE amount of discipline and I think that discipline does carry over into maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I never find it too hard to make lifestyle changes when necessary or when I think it will improve my health. For example, about a year ago I really felt I was eating too many carbs. My numbers were all over the place and I had a feeling (based on past experience) that cutting back on the carbs would help (even though my endo didn't really agree with me - the conventional wisdom with T1 these days is that we can "eat anything" assuming we take the correct amount of insulin to match the carbs we're eating). I thought it would be hard giving up the periodic rice, bread, and pasta, but it really wasn't. I just did it.
I am also a T1, and like MyBustedPancreas stated living with this disease has definitely given me loads of self control and discipline. This has carried over to so many more situations than just the Diabetes.
I also find myself less afraid of change, or new situations. When I was diagnosed I began to exercise on a regular basis, which lead me to discover that running is something that centers me, it has become a very important part of my life. And that is so valuable, I can't even put it into words. I truly doubt that I would have discovered this without Diabetes. So for that, I am thankful to have it.
I think most diabetics would say diagnosis has had some strange, positive side-effects to their lives. I was diagnosed in middle school, and I think it teaches you a large amount of responsiblity that most people really don't have to deal with until they enter adulthood. On top of that, I think diabetics ( or most people with chronic conditions, for that matter) at generally better at rolling with life's punches.
So yeah, I would say it definitely has it's upsides.
I've been Type 1 since I was 9 years old. I do think having diabetes has given me much more responsibility than my peers and, as a result of that, I think that I've "grown up" a lot faster and in some ways am more determined/disciplined than many. Of course, the cost of that being I had to live through multiple daily needles, strict dietary regimens, severe lows, and years of accumulating damage to my body's cells from blood sugar fluctuations. And, in my opinion, I've had many other life experiences that could have provided the same "benefits" to my outlook/personality as diabetes.
So it's hard for me to tell whether diabetes has somehow made my life better. I think I would be healthier today, at age 30, if I hadn't had diabetes for the past 20+ years. My family in general is quite health conscious, and in recent years so are my friends (I live in BC where health is a pretty trendy thing), and so I think I would still be eating healthy and exercising even if I didn't have diabetes—in fact, it would make things like exercise a whole lot easier. And I certainly think I would be more easygoing/spontaneous in general (I often get accused of being "too serious" by friends).
So, overall I don't think diabetes has had any overwhelmingly negative impact on my life, but nor do I really think it's had that much of a positive impact, either.
