Any positive aspects to having diabetes ?

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EmmaL76

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1.5 LADA
Well I have one.. son comes home from his first cooking lesson at big school with what can only be described as an abomination with a sticker on it that says pear pudding. Now I love him dearly, his little face beaming with pride although it looked as if it had been at the bottom of his bag all day or maybe sat on. I say sorry son, remember mums diabetes I can only have a nibble but dad will have a really big piece when he gets home :D
 
Oh I love it! If all else fails, use your diagnosis as a get out of gaol free card!!
 
I have never used diabetes to avoid food. I have used it the other way.
We were taking a flight home just before Christmas. It was a morning flight and the plan was to get a pub lunch on the way back from the airport.
Unfortunately, the flight was diverted and we had a 2 hour wait on the plane followed by a 3 hour coach ride back to the airport where our car was parked with no chance to purchase any food.
Whilst we were sitting in the plane, I sidled up to a member of air crew fully aware that their shift had just been extended and they had a plane full of unhappy people. I politely asked if there was any way that I could get something to eat because I had diabetes. They surreptitiously gave me a couple of muffins (with Type 1, I don't eat low carb) and asked me not to let anyone else see as they could not do this for the whole plane.
My non-diabetic boyfriend was very grateful - he was more in need of sustenance (the second muffin) than I was.

But, in general, I don't like to take advantage of my condition.
This is especially true wrt work where I don't want my colleagues to feel I don't pull my weight.
 
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Sort of, i get an extra 5 minutes at start of lunch at work so I can do my bloods and 5 minutes a couple of hours later as well, so I get a nice little break(sort of).
 
Recently I was at a folk festival and was able to stay late into the evening and go to a concert (with a free ticket too) when everyone else went home to get something to eat. I also got free parking as I was able to walk from the very outskirts of the town, the rugby club, into the town centre and back again.
I was not back home until after midnight!!
Not bad at 70 years old.
 
I’m now very much more conscious of what constitutes a healthy diet than I was before I was diagnosed. I’m not just talking about carbs and their impact but also about all the valuable macronutrients too. My diet is healthier than it’s ever been and apart from having diabetes I'm healthier too.
 
Ohhhh yessss.

Better understanding of food, nutrition, vitamins, minerals, water!!

Better understanding of the NHS and how to drive the beastie.

Better understanding of how to drive T2 into remission (although this may not be possible for all)

Reduced squeemish/fear reaction to BG testing, needles, blood tests

Better understanding of meds and food supplements.

Fitter, healthier, more energy. Healthier than I have ever been in my life !

It forced me to get off my backside and do some exercise. In all truth it forced me to have a real good look at my life and lifestyle and to work out a better way forwards in all areas of my life.

Much slimmer, look younger (honest 🙂 ).

A real appreciation of taste, texture, flavour, etc of foods I used to take for granted. Meals are now much more interesting, fun even.

Discovery of new foods, new recipes, new meals to enjoy.

renewed interest in cooking.

Greater awareness of supermarket tactics.

Big down side.... none of my clothes fit anymore !!
 
EmmaL76 said:
Well I have one.. son comes home from his first cooking lesson at big school with what can only be described as an abomination with a sticker on it that says pear pudding. Now I love him dearly, his little face beaming with pride although it looked as if it had been at the bottom of his bag all day or maybe sat on. I say sorry son, remember mums diabetes I can only have a nibble but dad will have a really big piece when he gets home :D
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I love that Emma

I used to get offered samples of students’ cooking. I always told them that I would save it to have at break/lunch/to take home. Nothing to do with diabetes, just how confident I was that they had washed their hands! Some offerings looked more promising than others.

However I did succumb to cakes covered in smarties, when they brought them in. I always based the lesson on their cakes. It is amazing how much Maths can be included in cutting/tasting a cake, including working out my carbs, and how much insulin I needed for it, making sensible estimates as a safety check, …

with regards to sensible answers to your question, we get a full Mot every year and I am confident that things would be picked up quickly if any problems arose.
 
The only benefit from having diabetes that I can think of was that I was classified as disabled at work, so I couldn’t be chucked out on inefficiency grounds when I was being intermittently plagued by ulcerative colitis. Wouldn’t look good for the Civil Service.

Got a rather delicious early retirement on health grounds, with the pension dynamised up to the full retirement at 60 amount. Now, even the DWP think I’m disabled, and give me some of my Tax back in the form of PIP, then have the cheek to say it’s not taxable.
 
Guilty confession. I am currently on a “medieval sleep pattern”. I awake in the early hours. I get up to have a 3/4am breakfast, deliberately having a sugar topped bowl of cereal which makes me drowsy enough to get back to sleep an hour or so later. I don’t like it, but I dislike the experience of feeling tired all day otherwise.
 
Oh I forgot, because I have lost weight and the diabetes is in remission, i no longer sweat a lot like I used to. In fact it is quite hard for me to break into a sweat now. And of course I was sweaty and very quickly smelly. No longer the case. I feel clean, smell clean!!!

And

I no longer have to drink copious amounts of water or got to the loo all the time.

And

I no longer constantly crave sweet carby things
 
Although my diet hasn’t changed that dramatically since diagnosis, how I eat has definitely improved.
 
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My huge relief when I got my DX and, thank Geebus, it was ** just diabetes **.
 
Eddy Edson said:
My huge relief when I got my DX and, thank Geebus, it was ** just diabetes **.
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I can associate with that, I was upset when I found out I had diabetes, then because I’m a bit off a strange case I had many tests for some horrible things. I said to myself Christmas Eve whist having gene testing carried out . please let it just actually be diabetes ! So when I’m struggling and it can be a struggle… I think of that time xx
 
EmmaL76 said:
I can associate with that, I was upset when I found out I had diabetes, then because I’m a bit off a strange case I had many tests for some horrible things. I said to myself Christmas Eve whist having gene testing carried out . please let it just actually be diabetes ! So when I’m struggling and it can be a struggle… I think of that time xx
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I know the feeling I got Diagnosed a few months after a major head injury (victim of a hit and run) so i was worried about bleeds and hemorrhage etc so it 'just' being type 2 was a relief (sort of).
 
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