#bad diabetic

[daybydaydiabetes]

Just demolished a chinese takeaway, some mint choc chip ice- cream and a diet coke. 

Take that.

[cheesedust]

How did you realize your blood sugar was low?

Me: well I was reading in bed when suddenly my left leg and foot below the knee started tingling. It didn't immediately click though, so I figured it out 20 minutes later while smacking my foot and trying to come up with reasons for the tingling.

[indecisivespoonie]

Bad Diabetic

I find it remarkably odd and unbelievably horrific that I have a disease you can be "bad at." The number of times I have heard doctors, friends, strangers, refer to someone as being a "bad diabetic" astounds me. I have even had this term used against me. This usually comes down to a few things: inability to tightly control blood sugar at all times, a "high" A1c, not always keeping up with the unbelievable high number of demanding and painful maintainance tasks. What's funny to me is that I have never met a truly "good" diabetic. Those who I've seen come arguably close did not also get to be people. To manage this disease with any success it has to consume you, body and mind.

Because our pancreases have failed, our brains have to do the work of two organs. We dose all our own medication even though we don't have medical degrees. Doses that need to change by the day, by the hour, by the minute. To ask this of someone with nearly any other chronic illness would be unheard of. And yet here we are. We diabetics do it. A remarkable feat particularly when you consider how doing 99 things right doesn't matter to our bodies if we get one thing wrong.

I'm proud of us. We are resiliant, beautiful beings. It's not possible to control every aspect of our existence and no one should demand it of us or demean us for imperfection. There are no bad diabetics, just people who don't understand the challenges of our reality.

I will not let their ignorance define me.

[theneedyneedler]

“Bad Diabetics”

I’ve heard this term from… everyone. Everyone from regular ol’ folks to EMTs, nurses, people in specialty fields and general practitioners in social situations, parties, and stree…

I finally shined up my “bad diabetics” post a bit and got it out there. I don’t know why I was feeling so self-conscious and weird about it. About my honest experience and clearly that of many of us! Hopefully people read it. If even one medical professional or caregiver reads it and becomes more understanding to those they serve I’ll consider it all worth it.  This shit sucks guys. All I want to do is make it even the tiniest better for any one of us. There is a lot about my life, and life with diabetes that is hard... if I can help any of us it just makes it all feel a little more worth it. (The long hours at hard jobs because I need health insurance and money for supplies, the misunderstandings, missing important events, the pricks, the blood, the cotton mouth... all of it.) 

[cheesedust]

Cleaning out old kitchen drawers and I find these

They're still good right? Waste not want not and all that.

[cheesedust]

Ok, I need honest opinions here. If I give myself a bit too much insulin before entering a pie eating contest making myself low in order to demolish the competition, would it be considered cheating?

[scottdainty]

Diabetes burnout again. Nothing new here.

[itslaladamnit]

When you think you had a pretty healthy day and then remember you ate 5 doughnuts...