Humolog.
I was 4, almost 5, when I was diagnosed so I don't remember that much. I remember being thirsty ALL the time, getting up in the middle of the night to get water from those plastic sippy cups :) Every night I would wet the bed and eventually I slept with my parents on the floor. My mom realized I was acting weirdly, but the day or so before I was diagnosed my dad when to Manila, in the Philipines. On the afternoon before I was diagnosed, my friend and I were going to have cupcakes and watch Mikey Mouse, but instead I went to the doctor and they told us to go to the hospital right away. My dad came home on a flight the next day. I don't remember much else except ironically, my friend's baby sister and I shared a room, and after about 4 days I went home. My blood sugar was 529, btw I think.
I went to Disney World with my sister and my aunt when I was 10. I got in so much trouble because I was constantly asking for water (you can imagine how expensive THAT was) and urinating at just about every bathroom I could find. I remember I had a piece of cake and drank 8 glasses of water with it. My aunt called my mom and told her to take me to the doctor. I was wearing white blue jeans and a blue shirt (it was the early '90s)...I never wore that outfit again.
My blood sugar was 600, and I was sent straight to the hospital. I was told I wouldn't live past about 30, and given a scary baby doll to practice giving myself shots. It was so boring! But man did I get presents! :P
I can understand about not wanting to wear that outfit again! And I can imagine that it would be expensive! My parents actaully gave me gatorade. They felt so bad about it later but honestly how would they have known????
Wait, they told you you wouldn't live past 30? Ok that is crazy!
Wow, it's really interesting to read everyone's stories! I'm the only type 1 I know! :)
I was 12.. feeling kinda tired.. lost about 20lbs.. and then I completely lost the ability to see! I mean, my vision was so blurry, I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face.
I went to my family doctor for an eye exam and he asked if I'd do a urine test. I was over 800. I'll never forget - he kept looking at me, just amazed.. and asking how I felt? Did I feel like I was going to pass out? He told my dad to take me home, pack some jammies and then go IMMEDIATELY to the hospital. My poor dad was traumatized. He found out he has type 2 diabetes last year and called me almost crying. He says he feels like now he can understand a little bit of what we have to deal with now.
Luckily my eyes are super fine now.. don't even need glasses. :)
~B~
My son lost 10 lbs in a week. He looked like a skeleton. He was very emotional too. The doctor thought he had strep (which he had the previous week). They checked his level of dehydration and found the keytones. We caught it pretty early too.
Doctors appointment :) My Mom sprung it on me one afternoon; she knew I wouldn't want to go if she told me before hand. I was very stubborn back then, and, ironically, I couldn’t stand doctors. Couldn’t stand shots, either.
We'd just gotten back from a family vacation. My parents told me years later that it had been a "last fling" in a way; a final solution to get our minds of my symptoms before they took me into the doctors and confirmed all the concerns.
I had lost a ton of weight. So much, in fact, that I think I may have been skinner then than I had been my entire life (skinny, not meaning ‘weighed less,’ meaning literally thin). I dropped to about 116 pounds; none of the clothes I’d bought not even a month before I went in didn’t fit the first day I wore them. I had to either wear the skirt I’d bought, or some hand me down jeans that were two sizes smaller. Literally, I went backwards in clothes sizes and was wearing last year’s and the previous year’s clothes.
Like everyone else, I was drinking a ton and going to the bathroom a lot. I could feel my hipbones strangely well. I remember asking my Mom once if she was sure everything was all right, seeing as we all had the sneaking suspicion that it was not. Of course, she reassured me that it was, but when we went to the doctor’s office that afternoon, they announced that they believed I had diabetes.
Naturally, I cried for a while. I remember feeling mad, and was convinced the doctors were wrong. Of course, they weren’t.
My family drove me to the Hospital that same night. I hadn’t eaten for hours, but all they would let me eat were some crackers (and that was before I was admitted to the ER – here, they wouldn’t let me have anything except for diet soda – an alien-beverage to me at the time). That was the only time I’ve seen my Dad cry; I still feel awful about it, not because I feel like it was my fault or guilty. I guess it’s just more that it really broke my heart to see.
One of the things I remember most vividly is sitting in my bedroom, looking around the room in the dim light and thinking What do you bring when you go to the Hospital?? They had told me at the doctor’s office that I wouldn’t be coming home for a while if I did have diabetes. So, I packed all I knew to bring: some clothes, and my stuffed animal.
I spent the night in the ER until about 1 or 2 am. Then, they finally moved me to a room; everything looked so distorted that night! I was exhausted. I wasn’t released for four or five days; even then they weren’t planning on releasing me because I still had ketones, but my parents, I think, convinced them that we could handle it at home. Besides, I had to get back to the outside world again :)
Being diagnosed with diabetes was definitely one of the most bizarre experiences in my life. Looking back on it I feel sort of bad for my family; I think the disease is just as devastating for the victim as it is the people around them. I was really reserved after that; lots on my mind, lots to do and grow up about. I kept it mostly to myself, didn’t say much of anything to my friends. I still don’t.
But more today more than ever I feel like that diagnosis was “a blessing in disguise,” as they say. Not only because I have learned so much about myself and became a stronger person, but for the smaller things, too. I’m very excited and thankful that I have the opportunity to be online at Juvenation so I can meet all these amazing people.
It has been such an amazing opportunity to talk with you all and finally get the chance to talk about my diabetes without feeling out of place :)
I found out I had diabetes on HALLOWEEN of 2000. I just got back from trick or treating with my friends and my mom was waiting for me with a blood glucose meter from Walgreens. Over the previous month I lost over 10 lbs, my hair was falling out, I was very thirsty and going to the bathroom a lot, and I just looked plain sickly! We checked my BS and it was 496... and I didn't even get to eat any of my candy!!!! My parents took me to the emergency room, which then after a few hours there I was transferred via ambulance to another hospital about 45 minutes away where there was a pediatric endocrinologist. so about 2AM, my endo came walking in and told me I was officially type 1 diabetic.... woo? haha.
Alyssa,
It IS nice to talk with people who understand :) I really enjoyed reading your post, and yes - I think it is just as hard on the family of the person with diabetes as it is on them!
~Becky~
Yeah, well, I lived in a pretty small town. Plus, I think the doctors wanted to scare me into taking care of myself. They went over and over all the bad things that could happen to me- feet missing, going blind, all my organs would stop working... It scared the crap out of me.