Thank you for sharing your experiences … particularly when it comes to police vs EMTs and firefighters dealing with the preponderance of medical emergencies.
I come from a fire-centric background. Why? I spent my career in an academic lab that had a wide variety of toxic, corrosive, and pyrophoric gases and other nasty chemicals. While we never had an injury or a serious release in my 43 years, ours was the only building on campus that EVERY firefighter and paramedic up to the battalion chiefs as well as all three shifts of the county HazMat team toured each year. Based on that, I had assumed that the FD and paramedics handled the great majority of medical calls … but I now better understand why police are frequently in that role due to all manner of encounters with the public.
Yes, everyone will recognize a Medtronic pump.
But, as you know, I wear an Omnipod and that is not often visible.
Remember when I crashed that car? 12 cop cars showed up - no ambulance.
The ambulance was busy and they had to send one all the way from the South metro to the North metro.
This is the call that came into dispatch (the EMTs told me in the rig and were laughing at the cops and trying to explain their behavior because I sensed their behavior was a little odd and I kept looking at them, and the medics could see that I was preoccupied and concerned about the behavior of that 1 police officer in particular - that guy has never liked me).
The call came in as this: Someone just got released from jail and is on a rampage crashing into cars on purpose.
That’s the call that the cops got. Now, I only rear ended 1 car at a stoplight, but that car also rear ended the car in front of them. So, there was mayhem and I drove away from the scene (stupid) - not sure why/how I did that. I rear ended that car right in front of the courthouse.
Then, I drove around the courthouse, trying to get off the busy road (I think). I was having trouble pulling off the road. I was in no condition to parallel park.
So, 1 of the cops assumed I was on drugs and was trying to flea. The other guys knew me and probably knew I was a diabetic (although I don’t know who, specifically was there because I only spoke to a couple of them afterwards) and were more reasonable. I was lucky that the other guys were there. I think that almost everyone on shift that day showed up because it was only 2 blocks from the police station. Like, every time I bump into one of those guys, they tell me that they were there that day.
I guess the most insensitive comments are along the lines of “I never realized that you were ever fat”
For the 20 years I’ve had T2 diabetes, most folks have zero interest after getting past the finger stick and injection before meals. If they ask further, I typically explain the difference between T1 being an autoimmune disease and T2 being that your body ignores the insulin the pancreas produces.
There has been some curiosity about my insulin pump, had it for only 4 months now. I typically point out that it make my life so much easier, around eating if nothing else. No more finger sticks and no more manual injections. I just have to get a good estimate of the carbs I’m fixin to eat and punch it in.
Does this mean you use a continuous glucose monitor, too? I agree about the convenience of a pump versus using multiple daily injections or MDI. I do realize that many people on MDI prefer the simplicity of MDI over pump therapy. I guess it relates to what you value in your daily routines.
I love the fact that my pump can remember exactly how much insulin I took and when I delivered it better than my tired memory!
It is the rare gluco-normal whose interest exceeds fingersticks and injections. When the opportunity presents itself, I try to tell people that these two items are the easiest, by far, of all the things I manage with diabetes! Before diabetes, that was the limit of my interest as well.
Great comment! I never realized how any of that worked. But, I operate on low-level paranoia - I assume that anyone who I might deal with in an emergency could be clueless.
My Medic Alert bracelet says “DIABETES TYPE 1. INSULIN PUMP. ALLERGIC TO PCN & SULFA.”
I called Medic Alert when I got my pump 3+ years ago, as their website didn’t have the words that I thought were necessary to update my bracelet online. (I have had a Medic Alert bracelet since diagnosis in 1986.) She told me that the pump & cgm info probably weren’t necessary, and wouldn’t fit if I needed the penicillin (abbreviated as PCN) & sulfa info. I asked which medallion had the most character space, and she worked with me to find a way to put as much there as possible, as I insisted on the pump info. In the end, there wasn’t enough room for the CGM part. I kept the PCN & sulfa allergy as I didn’t want emergency antibiotics to create worse problems (they go to sulfa if you can’t take penicillin, I was told).
I also had mine custom engraved with a woman at the State Fair. She also helped advise me with wording she thought communicated the most with the least number of letters. She is very, very good and I always go to her for med tags.
I have had people, who don’t understand type 1 diabetes, tell me that I must not have a serious case, because I don’t use a pump for control.
I also had a boss inform me that my diabetes wasn’t the serious kind, because I was doing so well. He was on his way to sit with someone who had just lost their second leg to diabetes. I can understand his confusion.
I think it’s common thinking and rational to some extent to gauge the difficulty of any human challenge by the perceived effort of the person engaging in that challenge. What’s often overlooked is that a high level of skill and competence at any task often appears to take much less effort than it really does.
Managing any form of diabetes well requires a lot from the individual. Knowledge that my challenge can get much harder does elevate my motivation to a high level. I can’t imagine dealing with losing a second leg to this scourge.
It’s a shame that managing diabetes well can mask the apparent degree of effort involved but I’d much rather enjoy the better health it wins instead of the admiration of a more casual observer.
It’s one of the reasons I like participating in a peer support community. I respect what you do, Marilyn, because I know just how hard it is!
Sorry, I hadn’t been on line in a couple of weeks Terry4.
Yes, I’m using all the technology I can get my hands on, that makes sense today.
I’ve had the Dexcom CGM starting with the G5 and updating to the G6 as soon as Medicare would let me. I looked at the pumps when my C-peptide met Medicare’s requirements for pumps.
I’ve stopped using sDrip as the tandem pump and the G6 covers all the info I used it for. I also stopped using other tracking tools with the pump and CGM working very well together.
I found folks that I shared a meal with would often ask as I was doing a finger stick, calculation of dose, and a following injection with a pen. I had started out going to the bathroom to do this and gave that up very quickly. Very hard to keep clean in that environment.
I can’t think back to a time where I have been so annoyed by the Normies (the Normals) as now. They are really driving me bat ■■■■ crazy with their ‘thoughts’ and ‘perspectives’.
Maybe you could just look at those offerings of thoughts and perspectives about your diabetes as simply their desire to help you with the burden that is diabetes. If possible, educate; if not, smile and nod.
Your right. I gotta remember that they are all doing much better than I expected, too.
I didn’t believe, at the start of this pandemic, that they would be capable of any behavior modification. They have made a lot of changes in a very short period of time.
The discussions that are taking place about health & illness are quite varied. I just don’t know how this experience will impact long term perspective about health & illness. Maybe in 10 years we will be able to see what happened as a result of this healthcare event.
I was 36 and went on a strict diet and pills even though I was at a normal weight. Even doctor assumed it was type 2. Of course with 300 blood sugars I lost weight until I got on insulin. My mother kept mixing it up and thought I was overzealous about caculating carbs.
I clearly tell everyone that I have Type 1 and explain it. It was only called juvenile because that made it more a appealing for fundraising.
When I was on shots and keeping my diabetes a secret, I swear, that seeing a needle in my purse, a fellow teacher thought I was a drug addict.
Speak up and educate! I am getting a new medical bracelet.
I really don’t like the use of the unspecific word diabetes, which is 7 different diseases, 4 of which do not affect blood glucose.
Diabetes means siphon - as water runs through, insipidus means tasteless and mellitus comes from the Latin word mel - honey.
Then there are the 3 main types of diabetes mellitus, autoimmune type 1, Pancreatogenic type 3c and insulin resistant type 2. Then there are those others like MODY, etc…
Everyone with DM are at risk for diabetic complications. The therapies differ, but we’re all in the same boat. I was diagnosed 32 years ago with type 2 DM. Over time I have lost a lot of Beta cells needing to use long insulin and finally a pump.
This brings up another gripe, type 2 DMs that use insulin have failed.
It’s even worse than that.
Type 1 is thought of as a terminal illness and type 2 is regarded as your own fault because you eat too much.
Of course everyone wants to tell me what I should or shouldn’t eat. Or ask me “ Are you sure you can eat this?
I’ve been type1 for 35 years and it doesn’t end.
I used to keep it a secret too because people do suspect you are taking drugs.
Or something like” omg he has it so bad he has to take shots!!! “
Or “ you could be cured if you take some tarro root tea and reset your gut with fasting. “
“ How can you be diabetic and not be fat??”
“ Is it ok if I eat cake in front of you?
“ How did you catch it?” Is that person still alive. ?
How about the:
Don’t you think you should…?
Wouldn’t it be better if…?
Are you sure you can…?
Why did you not take less…?
Why did you not take more…?
You don’t need to eat now, we will be eating in…
