Really pleased!

[Lady Willpower]

I am so pleased to have read loads of different posts and all the stories are so different also. Having come across so many doctors in my time, 46 years, I have asked them on many occasions why they expect my diabetes to match what it says in the books. My point is that we are all so different so why should our diabetes and it's control be exactly what the book says it should be? As I was born with diabetes, which at that time was as rare as you could get, I accept that knowledge of diabetes care of a newborn was scant at best but as I grew they still thought that my sugars, which at the time were only tested when you went to the hospital and daily checks were by urine testing, should be the same as adults and if they weren't the same as in the book it was me doing something wrong! How times have changed

 

[Northerner]

I think it is one of the great strengths of the forum that people come to realise that diabetes is a very 'individual' thing, but at the same time we have a lot in common, whatever the type or length of diagnosis. We've also found that a lot of people who have had diabetes for many years can still learn from those newly-diagnosed, because of their exposire to the most up to date treatments and thinking 🙂

I imagine you have experience at both ends of the spectrum, with your daughter being diagnosed at birth. That must have been very upsetting for you, but I suppose you at least had a good understanding of diabetes so there was less fear of the unknown.

 

[margie]

I am glad that you are feeling at home here (thats what I sense from your post). I think the problem is that some Drs cling dogmatically to theories. Sometimes theory and practice match and sometimes they don't. There are so many factors that can affect your blood sugar that I imagine very few people match the text book. That's just a guess on my part.

 

[Lady Willpower]

Well upsetting doesn't come close lol She was five weeks early and I had already been in a coma for three days as they couldn't get my blood sugars to rise and when she was 10 days old and I had to give her her first insulin injection I hid in the bathroom and cried all day, she was so tiny!! I thought that it would be much better for my daughter having me to understand but it worked the other way and she hates it and has been in ICU five times with DKA, all 5 times I nearly lost her so sometimes it works in your favour and sometimes not. Of course the difference between care of myself back then and care for newly diagnosed people is a complete world away and I learn new things all the time. My mother still frowns and goes off on one if I dare even look at a chocolate and says in a stern voice 'you are not allowed that' bless her lol I often don't know how she coped back then as she hadn't even heard the work diabetes and all of a sudden she had a newborn with it, I can't believe how scared she must have been.
I do tend to test quite often during the day as I find my blood sugars do their own thing no matter what. Sometimes I find that it doesn't matter if I do the same thing and eat the same thing for a week my blood sugars can be different and go high for no reason and I have sometimes spent up to 6 hours battling a hypo, not wonder I am overweight lol Everyone on the forum seems to be so tuned into their diabetes and are doing the right thing it is just fantastic!!

 

[robert@fm]

The problem is that there's no such thing as "normal" -- there's only individual idiosyncrasy. 🙄 Hence why there's too much nonsense spouted, even by those who supposedly should know better such as doctors.

 

[HOBIE]

Nice to read what said about things & so glad to hear your possitive attatute ! I call the old times THE PANNEL PIN DAYS (needles) & you are right we are all different. 😎

 

[Robster65]

The rule of empiricism is if what you see doesn't match what the theory says, then either the theory's wrong or your interpretation is.

Some doctors don't seem to understand that all theories must match observations. Not the other way round ! 🙄

It is a far cry from the days of urine tests and glass syringes but I sometimes feel that the more technology that is available to us, the harder it gets to match the expectation for tighter control. And it's us who punish ourselves for the shortfalls.

Sadly, the tools for control such as pumps and CGMs tend to remain elusive despite the desire to live longer and healthier. My big hope is that the prices will one day drop and we'll all be given the chance to show what we can really do.🙂

Rob

 

[Copepod]

Great thread, Lady Willpower!

Also agree with Robster about mismatch between theories and observations by medics and between expectations and results in ourselves.

Times change - and I know how lucky I am not to have been injecting insulin like my school mate and neighbour who was diagnosed aged 12 years in about 1978; it was November, because it was his thirst & drinking lots of fizzy drinks at a bonfire party that lead to diagnosis. However, I remembered how he just got on with things and was a good sportsman - rugby in his case - when I was diagnosed.

It's not just that people vary in how their diabetes affects them, diabetes also affects people differently depending on their priorities in life. I chose not to have children, not because of diabetes, but because I didn't meet the right person until I was 35, some 5 years after diagnosis, and him spending several months each year in Antarctica wasn't the best start to family life. So, I got mildly irritated, to put it mildly, when a new consultant at my hospital clinic sent out leaflets about pregnancy to all women of child bearing age and asked for comments. She probably wasn'y expecting me to say that I had told clinic staff every time they asked why I wasn't planning a pregnancy, didn't want her leaflet and would be far more interested if they had something more of interest to me about endurance sports. To her credit, she understood - and asked me to come to speak to clinic staff about expeditions, independent travel, kayaking, adventure racing, mountain marathons etc.

 

[Blythespirit]

A fantastic, thought provoking thread! I can see we are going to enjoy having you here Lady Willpower! 🙂

Some great points have already been made. I hate meeting new docs or nurses. Because I'm Type 2 and have a little weight that I neither want or need but wont take the hint and go no matter what I do, new HCP's always assume that I'm just another Type 2 who isn't interested in my own health and well being. Then I get 'the lecture,' Sigh.

It was just the same when my children were young. Weight and progress charts! My Health Visitor gave me a book about it. I told her that they hadn't written a book about my child, thank you very much! XXXXX