1800! I didn’t know that was possible!
I had to do the math for American numbers twice: 534.6! Oh, my goodness. (Multiply your units by 18 or divide ours by 18.)
That’s a huge number. You must feel so much better now.
I’m a T2 so mine was very gradual – I was diagnosed when I was not much higher than 126 – but over the years my self-care and doctor support has waxed and waned, and I’ve had a few highs in the high 400’s to low 500’s. I felt like I was dying, even though I had lots of insulin on board and didn’t go DKA. The thirst, the headaches, the feeling of perpetual exhaustion and the crushing, crushing depression…yep, it feels like a prelude to death.
Self-care is hard work, but it’s truly a breeze compared to feeling that awful – a walk in the park.
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful video. It made me cry, of course. Every time I hear about someone being diagnosed as a child, I cry. Diabetes sucks for all of us, but for a kid. Sheesh. At least I got to live to my 40’s before someone hung this Sword of Damocles over my head.
Sometimes life is SO unfair.
Huge hugs, JeanV
I was off the meter when dx’d…I honestly can’t remember anymore what the bloodwork brought back as far as a reading, but my a1c was over 14%. I thought I had the flu…the nurse said I should have been dead - at the very least in a coma - she couldn’t understand how I was still walking around like I was fine, let alone driving myself to a doc appt. Doc said if I hadn’t come in, if I had canceled again (I had already canceled twice before bcause I was afraid of what they would tell me - stupid, I know) and gone to sleep that night, I wouldn’t have woken up in the morning. How did I feel when the nurse came in & said “Well, the good news is, I’m the diabetes educator here…the bad news is - you have diabetes”?..pissed off, scared, helpless, confused, worried…the whole gamut. My main concern was, and continues to be, my son. I worry that I won’t see him grow up & start a family…I worry that he’ll end up with diabetes, or that his kids will…I worry that he’ll get stuck taking care of me…That was/is my experience…
Very well done video Rachel, thanks for posting.
392 (21.7). Actually I was quit relieved I had been very ill for a month, had been misdiagnosed my first trip to the doc, and was getting worse not better. Wound up spending 6 days in the hospital and in a way this eased me into my new life. The diabetic diet they fed me in the hospital was very similar to what I had been eating, I could have pancakes for breakfast I just had to put sugar free syrup on them. Over the next month as I educated myself and tested to see my reactions to various foods I gradually figured out pancakes weren’t going to be on the menu any longer (I’m T2 on diet, exercise and metformin)
I was in the week before Christmas, got out 3 days before Christmas. It was the third day home when I found out all the great holidays foods I could not have.
Wow I hear about some going into like a como state…I am happy that you came out ok. I never passed out but once I slept for 3 days…It couldve been the morphine but does that count…lol
That sound like me when I went into the DKA stage…I thought I had a stomach flu I threw up for like 24 hours straight. Then the next morning I finally asked someone to take me to the emergency room because at that time I already knew I was a diabetic, just didnt know what type apparently. I lived where I worked so tried to walk to the car but couldnt because I was in so much pain from my kidneys shutting down on me…A neighbor not knowing who I was seen me laid out on the walk way called the leasing office and said there was a homeless lady on the property…LOL…I was looking a little scary I would admit but homeless, LOL!!!
1800!!! Wow!
Nothing like severe dehydration from throwing up to add to the fun. We were in the same boat. My husband said the nurse had a hard time inserting the IV line.
A homeless person–lol. She could have called you a junkie. Think that’s what I looked like.
I had about six different spots for my IV line…That was about 3 years ago I still have the marks and my veins are still in hiding…lol…It is so hard for them to find my veins since that visit…
Yes he couldve…I told him later it was me and he was so shocked…My hair was all over the place and I was laying on the ground with a plastic bag plus he was a few floors above me so I am sure I looked very odd…But my thing was I was clean and well dressed so I didnt understand. I mean just because I decided to take a nap on the ground all of a sudden that makes me homeless…LOL
Another funny thing was apparently my back was hurting me so bad that after the 3rd morphine shot I was still in pain so I tried to lay on my stomach while hooked up to everything. I was pulling machines and I had wires all crossed around my neck…I really dont remember that but I thought it was hilarious…lol
Hmmm, Let’s see it was so long ago. LOL Kidding!!! Aug./08 wasn’t feeling good at all. My vision had gotten so blurry I was basically blind, Peeing like a river every hour, could not drink enough water and couldn’t taste sweet. Had a thought pop into my head right after asking above for help!! “Check your blood sugar” Mom is type 2 so I borrowed her meter. And was unable to get a reading. That stupid meter just kept blinking “!”, “HI”. Less than an hour later I am in ICU, DKA, bs of 672, a1c of 13.2, 52 years old and new member of Club 1.
It was the summer after 6th grade and I was 11 on vacation at my grandparents’ in Florida. The week before July 4th I was getting weaker and weaker and finally didn’t want to go outside anymore to play. I woke up every morning and ate a peach, threw up and then began my day. I was drinking tons of anything that was liquid, and in fact found a letter a few years ago i wrote to my parents that summer that asked my parents if they thought I drank a lot because my grandma had said something to me. On July 5th my grandma found me lying in a cold shower, still conscious but not feeling good. She told me to get dressed and we were going to the doctor. I collapsed somewhere while getting dressed and remember getting carried down to the car where I kept complaining I had to pee. Finally woke up in the ICU I think the next day with all sorts of tubes out of me. Parents flew in from California. A little overwhelming. Ended up I weighed 70lbs., my sugar was 1250 (69.4) and was in the hospital for 8 days. I remember drinking that yucky liquid potassium and shooting my roommate with water with syringes they left for me to practice on an orange. They wouldn’t let me out until I could give myself my own shot. No finger sticks yet, just urine dipsticks at the time. Welcome to diabetes.
1800! Got me beat.
What a wonderful video! I LOVE the drawings, and you make everything so clear! Keep on drawing and making videos! 
Rachel,
What a great video! Thanks!
have you heard of any other “older” person becoming a member? I asked my kids’ endo if i was at rick and she said no. I was 48 at the time.
Yes, adult onset of Type 1 is much more common than they thought a few years ago. I was diagnosed at age 58.
Hi Jeska, Thank you for you comment, i hope only the best for you .