Diabetics unite! we've got nothing to lose but our Hba1cs!
One thing i have learnt about types of diabetes is that they're all as rubbish as each other. I leant this when i went to the British Museum meet last year and talked to loads of people there, thanks to Tez, Ange, Northy, Shelly, Nicky and all, and discovered that both type 1 and type 2 have their drawbacks (and i was going to say benefits, but really, i can't think of any, except maybe free prescriptions, but i wouldn't need the drugs if i wasn't diabetic...grrrrr). Type ones have to test, and workout insulin doses and inject, they can have hypos which sound pretty scary. On the other hand, as a type two, if i have a hyper there's not a lot i can do about it except drink alot and wait for it to go away. I can't make changes to my medication so have to manage my blood sugar by what i eat (guesswork, thanks to my PCT...).
I'll confess, sometimes i do feel a little paranoid about being type 2, but this really isn't the fault of anybody here. All the type 1s i've met have been very supportive and interested in my tales of woe. If i feel that being type 2 makes me a "second class diabetic" it's because of my own hangups and the perception of diabetes in the media or amongst the non-diabetic public. That and i'm slightly paranoid anyway... Yeah, i work in a hospital and still sometimes think that my colleagues think "oh well, Rachel can't be that bad, it's not like she has to have injections." I think this might be because the non-injecting public think that injections are the worst thing that can happen to you..(Really, i'd rather inject insulin than have an insulin supossitory, imagine what they'd say about THAT in a busy restaurant....hehehe), but you guys all seem to cope with it, and well, i had an insulin dose once and it wasn't that bad, i managed to convince myself that i could handle it myself, seeing as i had to, only to be told i didn't need insulin and got the metformin instead.
I wrote a poem about it, one day when i'm feeling very brave i might let you read it, but it's not a patch on Northy's stuff.
I did go to another forum once, it wasn't as nice as this one, i was newly diagnosed and the no-carbers were really militant in the "you'll die if you eat bread ever again!" way. They scared me, after all i'd just been told to give up sugar, the thought of losing my second favourite food group as well was just too much. Thankfully here we all stick to the rules, what works for one won't work for all of us, try it if you like and if it works that's great, but find what works for you.
Cripes this is going on a bit bout you've raised a lot of questions... Posts, it's really nice to be able to post a long, self pitying, "oh! I hate being diabetic!" post once in a while, just posting it makes you feel better. What's better still is when somebody replies, even if it is just to say "I'm sorry you feel like that, i hope you feel better soon", and if you have advice or support that's even better, but don't not post coz who think you have nothing to say. Just knowing that i'm not alone, and that other people are out there, going through what i am and coping and prospering is fantastic.
It's also lovely to post spomething in reply and hope that you've made a little bit of a difference and find that you have.
Love to you all folks...
Rachel
