Friday, May 18, 2012

Going to the circus!!

Blog Week Post #5

Today let’s borrow a topic from a #dsma chat held last September.  The tweet asked “What is one thing you would tell someone that doesn’t have diabetes about living with diabetes?”.  Let’s do a little advocating and post what we wish people knew about diabetes.  Have more than one thing you wish people knew?  Go ahead and tell us everything.


            

            I try to explain what it is like living with diabetes is like going to the circus. There is always tricks that seem to work to get the blood sugar down and other times it does not work well at all. There is the clowns which is basically the hurtful or misguided questions you run into. Such as I hope you can get things under better control so you don't have to use an insulin pump or hopefully you can lose more weight so you won't have to use insulin anymore. The animals which are kinda of like the sky rocketing blood sugars you never know which way they may be heading at times. Then there is the acrobatics involved in dealing with finding new pump sites or dealing with the frustrations of ripping out a pump sight. Walking the tight rope is like trying to make sure you have calculated the correct insulin dosage with the proper amount of carbs. If you miss guess your high if over estimate you low which could get you another visit with everyone's favorite EMS friends.
                                                    
           I wish more people understood how frustrating a chronic illness can be. I hear all the time all you have to do is this, this and this but it really is not that simple. Diabetes equals math which is not much fun especially when you make errors. There is so many aspects to think about and everyone's way of dealing with their diabetes can also vary. what works for me might not work for the next person and it's just trial and error. Then there are the really hard days where you have a bad low and your tired all day. I could eat the same meal from yesterday and dose the same and get a completely different result. There is so many things that diabetes can effect including your mental health as well. Getting burnt out is quite easy and not easy to try and explain burnt out to a Dr. There is also the positive aspect of diabetes such as the ability to handle quite stressful events with ease. There is also the aspect that I find that I am more compassionate of others as well. Mostly I wish people would understand that even with a service dog I do everything any normal person would do. My life is some what different in that yes I have struggles with low blood sugars and need a dog. Once your dog saves your life you understand that how easy it would be for you to die from a low. there is a sad statistic that 1 out of every 20 diabetics will die from a low blood sugar. I know my own family hates to hear that statistic. Diabetes only stops you if you let it.

                                                    

 

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