Do the "recovery" threads ever get you down?

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helli

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Whilst I am happy for those who manage to "turn around" their type 2 diabetes, it does sometimes feel like salt being rubbed into my Type 1 wound when I am having a less than easy day with hypos.
I am usually a positive person who looks for solutions and is stubbornly determined not to let my diabetes change my life, stop me doing anything or get me down. On the rare occasion when I get out of bed the wrong side or when I am not so positive, the "lose 15% of your body weight and stop being diabetic" messages (I am paraphrasing/making it up) feel like another unintentional dig at my imperfect body

Please don't change the discussions on my behalf (or other forum members who have a condition which cannot be cured today) - I started this thread to say that I am happy for those who are able to "recover" and I really mean it. I am just being grumpy today.
 
Well I can certainly empathise with you on this. For the most part I am able to keep my T1 reined in. Like you, I don’t begrudge those individuals who’ve achieved success in managing/reversing their T2. But those success stories can become a little jarring on those days when my blood sugar refuses to behave no matter what I do.
 
helli said:
Whilst I am happy for those who manage to "turn around" their type 2 diabetes, it does sometimes feel like salt being rubbed into my Type 1 wound when I am having a less than easy day with hypos.
I am usually a positive person who looks for solutions and is stubbornly determined not to let my diabetes change my life, stop me doing anything or get me down. On the rare occasion when I get out of bed the wrong side or when I am not so positive, the "lose 15% of your body weight and stop being diabetic" messages (I am paraphrasing/making it up) feel like another unintentional dig at my imperfect body

Please don't change the discussions on my behalf (or other forum members who have a condition which cannot be cured today) - I started this thread to say that I am happy for those who are able to "recover" and I really mean it. I am just being grumpy today.
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The fact that the two quite different conditions are stuck with the same name really doesn’t help. As 90% are diagnosed type 2 most of that media is aimed at us, not you. I guess it gets exhausting trying to hold that thought ahead of the ones that make you feel attacked on top of all the other difficulties like hypos etc.

Whilst I wouldn’t want to juggle what a type 1 has to do in a million years, we do get fed up too if we don’t want to settle for drug managed deterioration with the constant food restrictions made difficult in a carb obsessed environment that we can’t just inject for (and yes I realise getting that just right is harder than it sounds), or the blame attached to type 2 for being “fat and lazy” and bringing it on ourselves.

I guess what I’m saying is diabetes in whatever flavour it comes is lousy. The negatives and poor messaging makes us feel worse and you’re perfectly allowed to feel hard done by and grumpy and envious of different situations from time to time. Have a good wallow for a short while and then praise yourself for being able get back to being positive most of the time and getting on with life despite the type 1. That’s an achievement worth celebrating.
 
For me, I still feel it uplifting to read that some people are winning the battle, even on bad days, and that might be Type 2s who have achieved remission or Type 1s who are clearly having a good spell.
I am sure it is equally challenging for Type 2s who are trying to be really strict with their diet to read of Type 1s eating cake and injecting insulin for it, especially if they haven't had cake for months or years even, in order to achieve that remission.

I don't think either is less difficult, so for me, anyone who is succeeding is a reminder to me to keep plodding on because sooner or later I will be back on an even keel and winning more battles than I lose again. The tables will no doubt turn for you @helli, hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
 
Thank you for your comments. I was certainly not after sympathy.

I wanted to highlight one thing which was probably lost in my first post
helli said:
Please don't change the discussions on my behalf (or other forum members who have a condition which cannot be cured today)
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I wanted to give a shout out to those with Type 3c, MODY and type 2 who are not able to achieve remission/recovery/.. and any other type of diabetes.
As @HSSS said 90% of people with diabetes have type 2. It often feels like Type 1 is "forgotten". It must be even harder for those with the even less common types. Equally, remission may not be possible for everyone with type 2.

Maybe a reminder to all of us that we have "a broad church" in terms of members of this forum.
 
helli said:
Whilst I am happy for those who manage to "turn around" their type 2 diabetes, it does sometimes feel like salt being rubbed into my Type 1 wound when I am having a less than easy day with hypos.
I am usually a positive person who looks for solutions and is stubbornly determined not to let my diabetes change my life, stop me doing anything or get me down. On the rare occasion when I get out of bed the wrong side or when I am not so positive, the "lose 15% of your body weight and stop being diabetic" messages (I am paraphrasing/making it up) feel like another unintentional dig at my imperfect body

Please don't change the discussions on my behalf (or other forum members who have a condition which cannot be cured today) - I started this thread to say that I am happy for those who are able to "recover" and I really mean it. I am just being grumpy today.
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Rest easy. A Type 2 can't 'lose 15% of their body weight and stop being diabetic'. It was established in 1955 by research by someone whose name I have forgotten that losing just 10% of you body weight improved CONTROL of Type 2 significantly. That was because with the loss of weight, especially fat cells, what insulin the pancreas was able to produce was better able to meet the demands placed on it. Since then, 1955, 'lose weight, moderate carbs and increase exercise' has been the mantra dealt out to every newbie. But there is no escaping a secure diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. And Good Control is the only viable objective.
 
Burylancs said:
Rest easy. A Type 2 can't 'lose 15% of their body weight and stop being diabetic'. It was established in 1955 by research by someone whose name I have forgotten that losing just 10% of you body weight improved CONTROL of Type 2 significantly. That was because with the loss of weight, especially fat cells, what insulin the pancreas was able to produce was better able to meet the demands placed on it. Since then, 1955, 'lose weight, moderate carbs and increase exercise' has been the mantra dealt out to every newbie. But there is no escaping a secure diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. And Good Control is the only viable objective.
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There's been more research since 1955!
 
Burylancs said:
'lose weight, moderate carbs and increase exercise
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Sorry but that is simply not true.. base all meals around starchy carbs is still part of the mantra today.
If your diet is 15% protein and you follow the guidelines for 30% fat then 55% of your diet must be carbs.
"moderating" carbs has really not caught on yet event hough it may have helped millions to do so.
 
Anyone remember the car radio playing the Ian Dury record - 'Reasons to be cheerful - Part 3' which I admit, I never have for most of my life - until right now ! (1960 something, was it before or after the advent of Radio 1 in Sept 1969 so maybe R Caroline North? Dunno) Anyway - the thing that always struck me was that I reckoned 'Part 1' must have been that the listener must still be alive in order to hear Part 3 ! And Ian Dury wasn't without his own health probs either, was he!

Cheer up, please, @helli - I know all last year I had a real case of 'Diabetic Distress' and hence thought to myself that nobody would give a stuff if I committed suicide but the early training helped ie 'God helps them that help themselves' - so I didn't bother doing that. As it appears to me, it's actually less effort NOT to, anyway, in my book.
 
I totally get this @helli - it used to bother me a bit just after diagnosis when I was struggling with the life-longness of T1. I’ve made my peace now, so I don’t mind anymore, but I find things get to me more when I’ve been having a bad few days at the diabetes coalface. We’re all on the same sea but in very different boats. What is more likely to bother me now is people who make ignorant assertions about T1 and/or insulin when they have no understanding of what it takes to keep a T1 body together, every single day.
 
As a Type 3c ( pancreas removed due to pre cancerous tumour) I’d rather have diabetes than be dead! I’m a pretty well controlled diabetic, thanks to insulin and a Libre on prescription. it’s my complicated internal system that gets me down. Numerous gastric problems ( not least the lack of digestion enzymes) because of two major operations due to my rubbish pancreas, I now have adhesions, which in turn caused a bowel obstruction which limits my diet and means I can’t eat out very often and worry when I do. But I’m still alive and for that I’m very grateful. It is what it is.
 
trophywench said:
Anyone remember the car radio playing the Ian Dury record - 'Reasons to be cheerful - Part 3' which I admit, I never have for most of my life - until right now ! (1960 something, was it before or after the advent of Radio 1 in Sept 1969 so maybe R Caroline North? Dunno) Anyway - the thing that always struck me was that I reckoned 'Part 1' must have been that the listener must still be alive in order to hear Part 3 ! And Ian Dury wasn't without his own health probs either, was he!

Cheer up, please, @helli - I know all last year I had a real case of 'Diabetic Distress' and hence thought to myself that nobody would give a stuff if I committed suicide but the early training helped ie 'God helps them that help themselves' - so I didn't bother doing that. As it appears to me, it's actually less effort NOT to, anyway, in my book.
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Helli:

I envy Type 2s. Many of them can cure themselves, but there is no way any Type 1 can.

I am also sick to death of the fact that most people, even otherwise well-educated people, confuse Type 1 with Type 2. Ok, it's understandable given that 90-95% of diabetics nowadays are Type 2; but it means huge misunderstandings we Type 1s are constantly having to correct. Salt in the wound indeed. How I wish that the use of the term 'diabetic' could be BANNED. When the media are writing about or speaking about Type 2 diabetes, SAY TYPE 2 DIABETES.

Jenny:

So sorry to hear of your bad time. Maybe you already know this poem by Dorothy Parker?

"Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live."

Always cheers me up! ; )

Finally, for our Type 2 cousins who are making the real, difficult effort to reverse your condition: you have my sincerest admiration and thanks. You are not only helping yourselves but helping us. The more Type 2s do what they can do to cure themselves, the more funding will be available to try to find a cure, or at least less burdensome treatment regimes, for us Type 1s.
 
I understand what you mean @helli

I think I made my peace with no-cure-for-me many years ago. Even if some of the snazziest new research bears fruit I genuinely don't have any expectation that it will apply in my case.

And when diabetes is being a particularly massive PITA for a day (or week, or month or decade) it can be a frustrating and frankly exhausting condition to have to drag around with you 24/7.

I'm torn between excitement and encouragement from reading accounts of forum members who manage to restart their pancreatic function and can cope with carbs again like @travellor, or who simply find a way of eating that they enjoy and which perhaps would always have suited them better than standard advice like @Drummer

But I do worry slightly as more and more people are able to achieve non diabetes BG numbers with no meds (which can also be described as remission) either by weight loss or by low carb - because research shows that this isn't possible in all cases, and for some people T2 will remain stubbornly progressive.
 
helli said:
Whilst I am happy for those who manage to "turn around" their type 2 diabetes, it does sometimes feel like salt being rubbed into my Type 1 wound when I am having a less than easy day with hypos.
I am usually a positive person who looks for solutions and is stubbornly determined not to let my diabetes change my life, stop me doing anything or get me down. On the rare occasion when I get out of bed the wrong side or when I am not so positive, the "lose 15% of your body weight and stop being diabetic" messages (I am paraphrasing/making it up) feel like another unintentional dig at my imperfect body

Please don't change the discussions on my behalf (or other forum members who have a condition which cannot be cured today) - I started this thread to say that I am happy for those who are able to "recover" and I really mean it. I am just being grumpy today.
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So are you being “grumpy” due to due to BGs or “something” else.?”

T1s are in a “minority.” But I’m in another minority inclusive of just me. Do these topics highlighted ever get me “down?” No.
But it seems to “ring, with you. So please spill. (Elaborate.?}

It’s not fully clear what you are trying to say. You come across as a confident individual with a “message.” In the posts to other T1s. But not how you present this topic.
 
@Satan’s little helper there is nothing to spill.
I am human. I have days where things aren’t as great as they usually are.
There are days when I get more frustrated by bureaucracy at work, There are days when I get more frustrated by a persistent injury which is triggered by exercise. There are days when I don’t sleep as well as I would like. There are days when it rains non stop when I had planned to take friends out sightseeing. There are weeks when I get more hypos. There may be days when I have personal problems that I don’t want to share with strangers.
I usually overcome these days or weeks by giving myself a little kick and recognise the value of formal processes at work, remember I can exercise far more than many at my age, sleep better after a day of exercise, enjoy our beautiful greenery thanks to the rain, raise my target BG to improve hypo sensitivity, but still do not want to share my personal problems.

Just because I have these days, doesn’t mean I do not consider myself an optimistic person who wants to enjoy life.
 
We all get bloody sick of certain things sometimes and grumpy/annoyed about whatever.

To me, that's just one of life's little idiosyncracies frankly - and therefore absolutely does not require any particular investigation since it's entirely normal human behaviour!

I'm personally having a rant about one of the British female gymnasts so that when she smiles, her top and bottom teeth meet so exactly to me she appears to be baring her teeth at the assembled company. That of course would be daft hence I'm 100% certain she isn't - BUT ...... I'd just rather not look at her face thanks. She's blooming good though so I just have to get the better of me if I want to carry on enjoying watching gymnastics on telly. Utterly inconsequential to the forum, but simply not, to this particular member!
 
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