So, it is officially the last day of November. November is Diabetes Awareness Month. I'm talking about the awareness I couldn't find anywhere on my Facebook feed for the entirety of this month. I don't know why this frustrates me so much. Maybe it's because the ones who don't understand Type 1 Diabetes make comments like " Is that the one from eating too much sugar?" or "diet and exercise cures it, right?" Listen, as the month comes to a close I want to give you some numbers. I want to give you a few basic "do's" and "dont's" about this disease.
I have been a Type 1 Diabetic Since August 27, 2013. I was 15 at the time of diagnosis. I went 15 years being a "normal" kid; eating without counting, midnight snacking, and the only shot I got was my yearly flu vaccine.
This Month Alone: (approx.)
Finger Sticks: 363
Insulin Injections: 298
Carbs Counted: 6,170
Units Of Insulin: 843
On Average:
Sugar Was Too High: 84%
Sugar Was Too Low: 1%
Sugar Variance: 31%
Annually That's About...
Finger Sticks: 4,400
Insulin Injections: 3,600
Carbs Counted: 75,000
Units of Insulin: 10,000
In my everyday bag:
My Glucose Monitor, Test Strips, a Lancing Device, Extra Lancets (the tiny needles I use to prick my fingertips), Humalog Pen, Lantus Pen, Extra Cartridge Of Insulin, Pen Needles (tons), 2 Extra Bottles of Test Strips (50 each), Ketone Test Strips, Band-Aids, Neosporin, Glucagon, 1-2 Snack Bars, 1-2 Portion Candy, Wallet, Phone, and Keys.
My Medication:
Humalog: Short-Acting Insulin. I inject this at meals or when I need to correct for my high blood sugar. I know how much insulin to give myself based on the Insulin to Carb Ratio my Endocrinologist and I feel is best for me. Personally, I take 1 unit of Humalog for every 15 carbs I eat.
~Ex: 2 pieces of bread about 24 carbs. Divide that by 15. (answer:1.6) Inject 1.5u. (My injection pen only has a .5 unit min, I can't customize my doses to be exact.)
Lantus: Long-Acting Insulin. I inject this at the same time every night. Again, the amount taken is decided by your Endo. Personally, I take 15 units each night. There is a really long explanation as to why I take 15 and not 13, 12, or 20. The short version is a math equation told me to.
Glucagon: This is my emergency medication. I, thank goodness, have never been in such a severe condition that I have needed to inject this into my bloodstream. This is a life-saving treatment used to treat severe hypoglycemia (Low Blood Sugar). This is used when the person has become unconscious or unresponsive, the caretaker checks the blood sugar to ensure a hypo is occurring, then (for lack of a better explanation) stabs the leg of the ill to inject a fast acting amount of glucose- in hopes to bring them back to consciousness.
Ketone Strips: These are used to check the urine for Ketones, which is the stuff that can send a guy into a coma. Ketones are produced when the body starts to break down fat into energy. Usually, the body gets its energy from carbohydrates. If the body is unable to break carbs down, it resorts to the fat storage we all have. These are severe and dangerous things all diabetics have to be so careful of. Normally, when someone is admitted into the ICU with the t1d diagnosis they are in some form of Ketoacidosis. At its worst, Ketoacidosis is what starts to shut normal body functions down. So, with that said, I use these strips when my number has been over 300 on three separate fingers sticks after an insulin correction has been done.
Things I Would Like To Address:
Did you get diabetes from eating too much sugar?
~No. No. No This has nothing to do with sugar consumption. This is genetics.
Do you like do insulin, like, all the time?
~Uh, yeah. Every meal, every snack, every Starbucks drink, every time my sugar is high.
Your sugar is low... do you need insulin?""
~No. That's not how this works...that's not how any of this works. Insulin keeps my blood sugar under control. Give me insulin instead of candy while I'm having a Hypoglycemic episode and I could die. (Not even a joke. Like I could seizure and my body could stop functioning...please do not do this.)
"I'm worried I'm going to get diabetes... I crave candy."
~No lie, someone said this to me the other day when I told them I was diabetic. They meant it. I have no words.
"You don't look diabetic."
~I'm not sure what you mean? You mean I am not morbidly overweight? Wrong diabetes...but even then Type 2 can be hereditary, so I still don't know what you mean?
"I could never give myself a shot." "I'd rather die than give myself a shot."
~Here's the thing, that's the choice I make every day. If I stop giving myself insulin... my body will shut down. It is that serious. So yeah, I rather take my tiny shot at meals than end up on life support in a hospital bed because I couldn't handle a needle.
"How long will you have it?"
~Right now, forever. It's not going away. The JDRF is trying to find a cure, but we don't have one yet. Honestly, I don't think I'll see a cure in my lifetime.
"What caused it?"
~ The doctors don't have an answer. We still don't know why some people have it and other don't. I know that, personally, three months before I was diagnosed I fell on stage at a dance recital and chipped off a piece of my spine as well as compressed most of my lower vertebrae. I have had one of my many healthcare providers feel that it brought my diabetes to the surface due to the nerve endings in my back being put under so much stress. However, it can't be proven. The key word here is "brought", I was going to find this disease whenever it decided to pre-ent itself. Like I said, there is nothing you can do to cause Type 1 Diabetes. Its in your DNA.
"What's the difference between Type 1 and Type 2?"
~Simply, T1 is an auto-immune disorder ceasing the excretion of insulin from the pancreas, while T2 is insulin resistant. Type 1 Diabetes is essentially the body doing its job to fight off bad guys too well, attacking the beta cells in the pancreas. Type 2 Diabetes is usually presented in those who are severely overweight, their bodies have a harder time producing insulin. (Note: T2 Diabetics can go into remission if they follow their diet/exercise plan. If caught early enough, they have a chance of starting their pancreas up again. However, some T2's become insulin dependent for the rest of their lives)
"My grandma is diabetic."
~Listen, if I say that I am Type 1, even if your grandma is T1, please don't try to relate to me. That sounds so harsh, but to a diabetic it feels like you no longer know how to communicate with me. Diabetes is not a personality trait!
"Can you eat that?"
~I can eat anything... except for poison. I can't have poison. As long as I give the correct amount of insulin for the meal/snack/ICECREAM, I can eat it.
My personal note:
You may not have gotten this far, but thank you to those that have. I would just like to give a personal story on my T1. Like I said, I was diagnosed a little over three years ago. Three months has passed where I knew something was wrong with me, but I was too scared to find out what. I would guzzle water, soda, tea, juice, etc. It would NEVER be enough. I would have a legit panic attack if I left the house without a full bottle of water in my bag. I had to have it. My body craved it. If you've never felt this feeling of thirst, I don't think you'll ever truly understand how crazy it makes you feel. Even though, I was consuming so much water, I was severely dehydrated. My skin was starting to dry out. BAD. I remember getting out of the shower, drying off, and just rubbing (what felt like layers) of skin off. My hair was falling out too. Not like I woke up with a head of hair on my pillow, but WAY more than the usual when I'd brush it, shower, or tie it back. I remember that the smallest tasks would make me SO tired. I would literally walk from one end of the apartment to the other and have to take a break in between. My legs felt heavy. I had such a hard time lifting anything, my backpack (containing one binder, one notebook, and a pencil pouch) would kill me by the end of the day. During this time, I was also learning my competition dance pieces. I am never one to ask to go to the restroom or get water during a rehearsal, but I couldn't help it. I had to have both. I was never one to sit out of a rehearsal, but I would get so tired, nauseous, and dizzy I had to. OH, and the crazy Charlie horses, because I was so dehydrated, would happen at all hours of the night. I'd wake up to go to the bathroom (which happened 6-8 times a night) and just have to limp my way. I think the chronic Charlie horses were what actually drove me to the Urgent Care Center. So, to skip ahead for times sake, they do a finger blood sugar test at Urgent Care, it was 500-something. They utter the sentence I will never forget. "Yep, you have type 1 diabetes sweetheart." "Okay", I thought, "what is that?" They put me on an iv full of saline ( I go through 5 bags before they let me hydrate on my own). I got insulin through that IV, too. I was rushed to the ICU/ECU, where I stayed for 5 days learning about how to take care of myself all over again. Personally, it didn't hit me until about three months after my diagnosis. I thought, "I don't have this disease. My blood sugar is fine. (At the time I was actually dipping low a lot) The insulin is unnecessary. So... I went off slowly. Five months later, I was back in the ER. Readmitted into the hospital. Same T1 Diagnosis. If you have ever met me, you know I'm pretty stubborn... once again, after moving to California I was in the ER. They gave me a drip of Humalog, told me to take my meds, sent me home. I've accepted this. I am a Type 1 Diabetic. I am strong. I work hard every day to keep myself in range. I visit my Endocrinologist every 3 months. I call in to adjust my treatment when I need to. I remember that even when you do everything right, you can still end up too high or too low. I do hope that one day there is a cure. For now, I inject, test, count, and correct.
If you know someone that is diabetic. Show your support. Tell them you know that days can be tough. Wear a Blue Circle on your wrist. Tell them you love them. Us T1D's are strong, but we could use a little encouragement once in a while.
