what I wish I'd known when first diagnosed as type 1 (just over two months ago)

What a great post, thanks @MollyBolt

I can track a lot of your list including 13 very strongly! I hate the eye tests. The first one I did I was well behaved and well warned including sunglasses. Trouble was I couldn't get my phone to work to help with an uber for the return leg home for start can't like ages

And just to add perspective, I now find the whole thing sooo much easier. People on this forum (lots of whom have posted on this thread) are so helpful and caring and understanding and and and...

But then again I had literally my worst sugar night since diagnosis last night. Combination of holiday temperatures (36 degrees here in Greece), unusual activities for me (paddle boarding), and just plain getting my insulin wrong

But hey how, I've pulled up alive this morning, sugar is back somewhere normal and I guess I've learned again
 
Flower said:
really didn't understand the forever nature of diabetes when I was diagnosed, I thought I'd get better and it would be a short lived illness. The Dr on the childrens ward gave me the optimistic "don't worry there will be a cure in 10 years" line trying to cheer me up but instead it suddenly dawned on me that T1 was here to stay and I would be taking it home with me.
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I still remember doing a lesson in a primary school where there was a 7 year old who has T1. They have the option of contributing or not drug in the session. At the end the girl said could she say something. She explained that she had just been on holiday, and had asked whether they could leave her diabetes at home. Her Mum had then explained that that was not possible and would always be with her. She finished her explanation with ‘And that’s just life’. I struggled not to cry at the time. I met her mum later and she was so proud of her daughter. When I feel fed up with it all (and that still happens after 16 years)I often think of her statement ‘And that’s just life’.

She also asked me at the end if she could give me some advice. She had spotted my panic when I couldn’t see where my bag, and my JBs, were. She told me I should get a back pack, then I would know where they were. On my back. I now use back packs.
 
As a fellow newbie I can relate to most, however my regime isn’t “real” at the moment as I’m on an NJ feeding tube.
Everything is currently worked out to that and runs pretty smoothly.

I now have some pancreax (creon alternative) so can start introducing proper food, so let the fun begin!!!:rofl:

I’m not a jellybaby fan, but the blackcurrant ones would be my preference, lemon would be lower down the ranking with orange at the bottom!
I use blackcurrant dextros, which I have now found in Homebargains at 99p for a twinpack.

And I would be a diet coke person, but my gall bladder doesn’t like fizzy drinks, so its vimto sugar free cordial for me.

The dreaded eye test is to come, so I am now prepared that its not going to be a pleasant experience.

I’ll add to the list the need for a bigger handbag to carry all my kit!
We were at a wedding yesterday and what a struggle I had to find the perfect sized handbag that was nice enough for a wedding and didn’t look ridiculously big.
I ran my feed overnight so I didn’t have to carry around my backpack too, but gone are the days of my cute clutch bags or camera bags :(🙄:rofl:
I know its trivial in the grand scheme of things, but I feel like a pack horse these days!!!
 
Love this post, a lot of insight there. Just to make you aware, you should get free flu and COVID jabs from your GP or pharmacy, no need to go private!
 
@MollyBolt very interesting post. Thanks side sharing.

Now on points 1 and 2 I actually use these as points to educate people, especially the good old “should you be eating that”. I the famous “my (insert random relative) had that…”, only once in all these years has it actually been a type 1, but I do start asking a whole bunch of questions and I even go unto the other less diagnosed types of 1.5 and 3.

5 - I’ve never liked any sweets, chocolate would have been my preference and I don’t care for fizzy pop.

11 - this is interesting as I do believe I am more in touch with my own body than most people I know which I believe is a positive:
I also do not take my body or current level of health for granted at all. I appreciate what I can do, and I know that it might not last. I try to make a point of doing what I love and enjoying as much as I can, I don’t mean big things but they might be big things if taken an away. My great gran lost her eyesight due to an accident in her 70s she’d been so independent and was fit until her 90s, she lived alone, went on holiday, walked her dog every day but she couldn’t drive and cooking and basic tasks took effort, she did it but it was all a faff and harder than before so I know that me now I string and able and that what I do can help with this, it motivates me so also allows me to enjoy life, even when diabetes is hard there’s joy in most days.

I wish I’d known a lot medically which I only learnt on my own, here or eventually via the right medical teams. The 10 year cure myth I would add to that list.
 
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