I am in need of support. I’ve had been a diabetic for about 8 years. I’m 16 and on some days I can deal with it but on other it’s like I’m completely lost. Please help. 
HI Samantha, @Sleard731 and a Warm Welcome to TypeOneNation.
Being 16 and having diabetes isn’t always easy - I was diagnosed on my 16th birthday - I certainly would like to help you, and there are many other people here who will offer you lots of support.
If you can open up a little and share your feelings and thoughts about how “you are completely lost” we can be more help to you. I know what I needed to wake me up and pay attention to MY diabetes was first accepting the situation I was in and then having a good reason - a goal. Is your family supportive? What about friends and school?
Write back and share little bits - there are many teens who visit here and they have both snapchat and Instagram chats with each other. When I was your age I too was lost and there wasn’t anything to read about diabetes, but somehow I’ve now lived more than 60 years by taking my insulin.
Thank you so much. Some days I feel like I have this under control but others it gets the best of me and I break down crying. My family tries to be supportive but they don’t understand the emotional part of all of this. They understand the medical side but never the emotional. I can’t say the same about school. They really don’t know alit about diabetes in general.
I don’t know where to go from here. Please write back. And thank you
Samantha @Sleard731, what you are experiencing is very similar to what I’ve felt many times over the years - and it appears more over whelming at some times. I get frustrated way too often especially when I think I’m doing “everything right” and BG checks appear ridiculous. What has really helped me most, and this took me years to really embrace, is that “numbers” are never bad nor are they good - they are really just pieces of data which we should use to make adjustments or corrections - and I just look at a number on my meter and say “in range” or “not in range”.
For instance, if I begin feeling woozy and I do a fingerstick and get a reading of 52 mg/dl, I don’t say “bad boy”, but rather say something like “time to suspend that pump and have something tasty to eat”. Then after getting to a point when I can think things through, I try to figure out the “why” this happened - just yesterday afternoon after a usual lunch I went out-of-range to 52 for no apparent reason so I was forced 
to eat a granola bar.
Another scenario, is if you consistently find your evening BG readings to be above what YOU think they should be, it may be time to look closely at your meal-time insulin:carb ratio and make an adjustment - have you discussed this with your doctor and is s/he comfortable with you making changes?
I’m really happy to hear that your family is supportive, that they are trying to understand. They can certainly become very competent, by observation, of the medical aspect of living with diabetes but they will never know the emotional part - for instance, I sense that inside you are ‘beating’ yourself with worry about your control and this concern is not visible to your family. Stress, even stress we try hard to hide, can cause havoc with diabetes management. I’ve been married for over 50 years and it has only been in the last 10 or so years that my wife has realized what I’m experiencing emotionally - and she is the one to, at least indirectly, tell me to forget beating myself up over “bad numbers” and just uses those numbers as guideposts. TypeOne Diabetes can never be controlled [there are dozens of factors that affect our BG - but with knowledge, understanding and patience, we can manage diabetes well.
Samantha, I’d be happy to help you work through how best you can manage your diabetes and live a full and prosperous life; you may message me anytime. And continue posting here and you will receive encouragement from many people experiencing similar feelings as you. Regretfully, the general public, school personnel and fellow students will never understand what is happening within you - living with diabetes is unique and special.
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Thank you so much:heart:
You got this, Samantha. We all feel the same way, and we get through it knowing others are going through it too. My favorite tool in my get-through-it toolbox is learning how to laugh it off. My family is the same way as yours - always wanting to help, researching everything about the medical side, offering food 24/7, always asking how they can help. Only years of re-training taught them to first offer help with my EMOTIONS instead of my physical state because I am more than this stupid disease. (Unless, of course, we’re like at 38 and shaking and can’t get to the OJ fast enough, then they can help with those physical symptoms first and emotionally support us later). Take this example: if I check my sugar and say out loud “oh good grief, 280 again” they used to freak out and say “oh my gosh what can I do to help?” But years of me responding with humor and anger to each challenge thrown my way taught my friends and family how to make it easier to bear. We respond with all kinds of sass and humor: “stupid, dead pancreas” “gee, Colleen, you’re SO HIGH right now.” But it required me showing by example. Unfortunately, it means you have to be the grown up in so many situations, even with all kinds of adults trying to help you they’re still following your lead. Try to laugh it off. Follow #t1d on instagram, follow some diabeauties who inspire you who also laugh it off. Buy that awesome T1D apparel that takes pride and pokes fun at a disease that is part of your daily experience but nothing to do with who you are as a wonder woman. Wear your T1D like a badge of honor, because it won’t stop you from doing anything you want to do and it won’t get in the way of who you are! YOU GOT THIS! …We’re all your biggest fans and we LOVE you!
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Hi Samantha, I am sorry for your situation. My daughter was diagnosed when she was 13 (she is turning 27 next october), just when her body hormones were skyrocketing. It was extremely frustrating for all my family, The problem became so serious as consequence of her negation to accept her health condition that she went many times under surgery for complications of her uncontrolled diabetes with A1C above 16 for many years, also she had a couple of times hipoglicemia, one just after a open lung surgery, she almost died she had been for a week on coma.
The only way she got an improvement when she started to use a hybrid loop insulin pump from medtronic the Minimed 670G. That was a life saving device for my daughter.
If you can get that pump I definitely recommend you, of course if you do not have one yet.
That gave us a peace of mind. By the way she is in about 15 month with the pump and her A1C levels are under 7 between 6.5 to 6.8.
My daughter even has almost a normal life.
I hope it will help.
Have nice day. If you have any question let my know. Thanks
Wilson Beltran
Hey there, I hear you. I have been a diabetic for 14 years now. I’m 32, and some days I do the same thing as you. My breakdowns usually start after I get a bill in the mail, or after a severe low.
I’m the only one in my family that has it, so they understand nothing about it, but they try to. Just know that you are doing a great job, and have tons more compassion, and understanding than they do. It makes you a better, and empathetic person.
Diabetes can become soul-crushing, if you let it. You can’t be a perfectionist. You’ll feel like crap some days, and just not want to deal with it, but trust me, it is better to pro-actively wrestle with your diabetes on a daily basis, than to let yourself go and ride the BG roller-coaster. You can’t change your history, but you can do better today and going forward.
Hi Samantha,
I’ve been diabetic 24 years. Sometimes it does feel overwhelming. I Understand your frustration with your parents because as you know no one understands but you what you are going through. If you get sick your sugar goes through the roof, if you are playing sports with any of your friends that takes any kind of running or strenuous action …your sugar goes down. If you are stressed that affects your sugar too. Whatever you eat or drink you have to account for that with insulin… most non-diabetics think that what we have is 100% easily controlled if only we would control it. As you know they don’t have a clue. But the keyword is control. And that is where we do have some power. Our disease is controllable. We have to make a commitment to doing just that, controlling it. It is very frustrating and difficult.I know that . And it’s almost like getting into a routine. We can control our diet. It’s really not that hard to eat healthy. That too is a choice . If we want to eat some ice cream we can. We just take a few more units of our insulin …In reality our only difference with everyone else is we have to be more cognizant of our activities and our diet. Other than that we are just like everyone else. It is Something we have to watch 24/7… and you will get into routine if you’re not already into a routine monitoring yourself. It will never stop you from doing what you want to do. Enjoy life . You are young and being a diabetic is really not so bad…Your low carb diet and More vegetables you will actually be healthier than your friends. It’s not the end of the world And like I have pointed out it is manageable. You have a lot of good advice on this forum…Don’t bum out about it…You will be fine. Always look forward to your next day. Always look forward to your next day.
Hello Samantha, I’m a 21 year old shoes been a T1D since I was 9 months old and I can definitely understand who depressing it can be, especially during high school. If you want any advice, tips, or just someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m always willing to help