I am working on a project for my biology class about Type 1 diabetes, and one of the things I have to include in the project is an answer to this question: "What is it like to have the disorder?"
Now, I could easily answer this question myself, but I don't think I'm allowed to insert my opinion. So, I was wondering if anyone on here would be willing to share a few words on what you think it is like to live with T1. It doesn't have to be anything lengthy, just something I can take a quote or two from. It might be nice to maybe get an opinion from someone who has been living with T1 for a long time, as well as someone new to the disease.
If you want to give some input, then just send me a message or post it right on this discussion.
Thanks. (=
|†~*Sarah*~†|
P.S.- If you want to give me something, if you could get it to me ASAP that would be great. My project is due on Wednesday (yes, I'm procrastinating...), so anytime soon would be great.
Living with Type 1 Diabetes is ...exhausting. It consumes all of my energy at times. It is inescapable. I have been T1 for 20 years and I am still learning how to live with it. It means educating others in order to be safe. I must always tell people about my disease in case I have a hypoglycemic episode and need help. Always seeing the look on people's faces when I test my blood sugar or inject insulin is something that will always remind me how not normal I am. Diabetic complications haunt me because I know that no matter what I do or how well I control this disease, it is still an incurable disease and those complications are my future. The scariest part is that I don't know which ones will be my fate.
Each and every Type 1 Diabetic out there knows that we can do everything right and still have highs and lows. We fight a battle against our own bodies because our bodies are misguided and attacking themselves (autoimmune). It is frustrating, time consuming, exhausting, empowering, neverending and our reality. It is the hand that we have been delt and the one that we must live with. So, we do just that. We educate ourselves about our disease and our bodies. We fight for control. We educate ourselves and others. We seek out the best doctors. We perservere and continue. We never give up. We live our lives to the fullest!!! We live, appreciate, test, inject and know more about our bodies than most.
To be a child with Type 1 you must learn responsibility ASAP.
Know that knowledge is the only power over diabetes. If you can learn how food affects blood sugar levels, and be responsible enough to take insulin for the food you eat - you can control this disease instead of it controlling you.
I would say the tough part of it is that it is like a math that isn't consistent. Some days 2+2 = 4, other days 2+2=6. There's just so many variables that come into play when trying to control blood sugar.
I've been living with diabetes for 39 years so I thought I'd throw in a little analogy:
Comparing a Type 1 diabetic to a non-diabetic "normal" person is like comparing a car with a manual transmission (stick shift) with a car with an automatic transmission except that the difference is much, much greater.
A diabetic person has to do "manually" what a normal person's body does automatically, and that is select the correct amount of insulin to properly metabolize the sugar and starches in foods into energy. As a diabetic you surely come to appreciate how remarkable this process in a normal person's body actually is! There are so many variables -- such as the food you eat, the exercise you do, any other illnesses you might have, the stress your under -- that often professionally-trained endocrinologist and diabetic educators become confused and slip up.
At best, diabetes is challenging... at worst, it's downright frustrating. Managing diabetes requires a lot of education, a lot of concentration, and a lot of experimentation. When you succeed, you can feel good, but when you fail you feel bad... both physically AND emotionally. And, of course, there's always fear lurking in the background that if you don't manage your diabetes well complications will set in. (if you don't drive your stick shift car correctly you might wear out the clutch... or the engine.)
On the brighter side, if these is one... as a diabetic you really learn to appreciate and respect the wonder and miracle of the human body, especially when it works automatically and correctly. You also get to meet all the wonderful folks on Juvenation who have learned to appreciate life as much as you do.
I'll email it to you, but I'm warning you: it's LONG. It's also in very big font because it all went on a tri-fold poster. You can read it if you want, but don't feel like you have to read the whole thing. (=