My blood sugar was 420 today (very high for me) and when my blood sugar is high I have a tendency to become quite upset. I can't stop worrying that something really bad is going to happen when it's very very high, but normally I deal with it alright. This particular time I got very upset and was told by my mother to "grow up and stop crying". I found this very insensitive, because I was upset because I was worried about my health. She doesn't understand that my blood sugar having problems makes me feel hopeless and very sad sometimes. It makes me very angry when I'm spoken to as if I'm stupid for getting upset. Has anyone had a similar experience where someone just couldn't understand how you felt?
I find that the only people who truly understand how you are feeling are other T1D's. My aunt is also T1 and she is the only person that I talk to on somewhat of a regular basis that really understands how I feel. My parent's, siblings and fiance do fairly well with how I feel but I don't think they quite understand how crappy you feel when you are high or have a low!!! I sometimes feel like my 4 year old daughter is more understanding about my health than most adults are LOL!!!
Oh Anne, I'm right there with you. It's a horribly emotional experience when your blood sugar does something dramatic. We are told all the time how we are responsible for it, and how all these terrible things will happen if we don't control it. I completely understand how you feel, it's terrifying and frustrating, and downright unfair. I think anyone telling you to 'just deal with it' that doesn't have the disease is very insensitive. In the past when I have gotten this type of response I try to remind myself that they DON'T understand, and they never will. From their side they probably see it is weakness, but I like to picture how I think they would react if it were them. Usually it makes me feel better because typically the people that are the most insensitive would be the worst diabetics :-) Not to pick on my husband, but when he gets impatient because I'm low and scared, I usually laugh. If it were him he'd be on the floor moaning and crying and just devastated that people weren't running to his aid. Who's the stronger one now?
I hope it came back down and things are well with you now :-)
Oh. My. God. How awful. I am so sorry you had to hear that! Yes, sometimes people just don't understand - others have it worse, you just can't eat sugar (HA! The stigma) so it's no big deal, at least you can't eat stuff that's going to make you fat. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And sometimes people won't let me check my BG because they want to get something done first, it frustrates them because I chose the wrong time to check ... oh man. And I've had people say that I was using diabetes as an excuse to get others to feel sorry for me. To which I can only think, well, okay, dude: I would LOVE to see you try this for an hour. THEN we'll see who's making excuses.
Then I've had people with type 2 who thought we were, like, diabetes twins and could bond over our (or, in my case, my nonexistent) excess body fat. It's just. So. Crazy. You are DEFINITELY not alone.
Emily
Anne,
So sorry to hear about you mom not understanding. I was lucky enough to grow up with my dad having diabetes and we play a special game called what's your favorite thing people say, his is " you need to take better car of yourself" I like to tell people to balance a plate on a wooden stick and then try doing 5 at once without breaking a plate. They really just don't understand, and never really well. But as I've learned there are some people who are willing to try. My boyfriend has learned a lot, dealing with the moods that come with the sugar levels is one of the hurtles he has excepted and hands better than I could imagine. He makes me drink water if I'm high, even if I don't want to. He's learned to tell by the tone I talking in that something's wrong. And reminds me that I'll be ok. And I know when your high you just see organs failing and loosening your eyesight and all these horrible things but you just have to remind yourself that you are handling it and will do your best. Even with having my father it's pretty frustrating out there. But this seems to be an amazing place. Full of people who understand. If you feel like your mom could understand an example tell her something like this ( one of my person fears) - I want to have a baby some day but if I don't do well now it will effect me then. So even though it doesn't seem like much at the time cause you look fine. Too many numbers like that can add up and effect your future, and that's pretty scaring - unless of course if you have a crystal ball.
Good luck, hope that wasn't too long : D