Ok, so having realised there is a whole load of things that I don't know - whether through ill-advice or my own forgetfulness (understandable over 19 years!!) but probably both.
So far, I have spoken to my diabetes team and they have been great. Initially the appointment was to talk about problems I was having with my eating, so this came out of it as well. They have enrolled me on their own version of DAFNE (Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating) which I am attending one day a week for 4 weeks during October - I'm very excited about this.
I have also used an online learning programme to try and get some more facts about diabetes - http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/ I need to go through this in a lot more detail, but I am hoping that this and the DAFNE course will work off each other and I should come away with a much better understanding of what it is I am supposed to be doing.
One way or another I am addressing my problems and also my need to re-educate and accept my diabetes. My knowledge of diabetes, in all it's detail could probably fit in one or two paragraphs these days....but how could I ever hope to manage something I don't truly understand??
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Why am I here
I thought I'd start with why I'm here; why am I blogging.
I've had T1 diabetes for nearly 19 years now. I had just turned 10 when I was diagnosed, in my final year at primary school. At the time my parents took responsibility for my diabetes management - they were the ones the doctors, consultants and dieticians spoke to about caring for me. I'm not sure if I was too young to understand really, or if it was just too much to take it. My parents did my injections for me (at this point I was only on 2 a day) and were responsible for counting my exchanges (yep, that's how long ago it was....carbohydrates were counted in exhanges, not CHP as they are now).
For years I suppose I grew up with my diabetes being managed for me. I don't really remember the ins and outs of it all, but my control was good, I was rarely in hospital unless I was ill and I was generally doing ok.
When I was half way through secondary school, I was put on MDIs and it was at this point when I really took over my own care. The freedom of being on MDIs was amazing, I had choices, and I could eat if I wanted, or not, rather than being forced one way or the other.
That was just over 10 years ago now. It's only in the past year or so that I have been introduced to the online diabetic community and just how much support there is out there. For all those years I'd lived with diabetes on my own. I didn't know any other diabetics, and I didn't have any friends who also suffered. I suppose I just got used to living with it, but not letting it get in the way. In finding the online communities and so much vast amounts of information, I realised there was a whole lot I didn't about, and lots of things I wasn't doing. I'd gone from an annual check up which consisted usually of 'have you done your blood tests, what units are you taking and are you exercising?', to information overload. There was this whole world out there! It was then that I realised I hadn't had any 'new' information about diabetes or managing my own diabetes since I was diagnosed. I slowly started realising things had changed....when had people stopped counting exchanges??, when had diabetes specialists stopped telling us we should have a mars bar for a hypo??, when did pumps come in (I hadn't even known they'd exisited).
And that's where I'm at now. I have a feeling it's going to be a long road, but a worthwhile one.
I've had T1 diabetes for nearly 19 years now. I had just turned 10 when I was diagnosed, in my final year at primary school. At the time my parents took responsibility for my diabetes management - they were the ones the doctors, consultants and dieticians spoke to about caring for me. I'm not sure if I was too young to understand really, or if it was just too much to take it. My parents did my injections for me (at this point I was only on 2 a day) and were responsible for counting my exchanges (yep, that's how long ago it was....carbohydrates were counted in exhanges, not CHP as they are now).
For years I suppose I grew up with my diabetes being managed for me. I don't really remember the ins and outs of it all, but my control was good, I was rarely in hospital unless I was ill and I was generally doing ok.
When I was half way through secondary school, I was put on MDIs and it was at this point when I really took over my own care. The freedom of being on MDIs was amazing, I had choices, and I could eat if I wanted, or not, rather than being forced one way or the other.
That was just over 10 years ago now. It's only in the past year or so that I have been introduced to the online diabetic community and just how much support there is out there. For all those years I'd lived with diabetes on my own. I didn't know any other diabetics, and I didn't have any friends who also suffered. I suppose I just got used to living with it, but not letting it get in the way. In finding the online communities and so much vast amounts of information, I realised there was a whole lot I didn't about, and lots of things I wasn't doing. I'd gone from an annual check up which consisted usually of 'have you done your blood tests, what units are you taking and are you exercising?', to information overload. There was this whole world out there! It was then that I realised I hadn't had any 'new' information about diabetes or managing my own diabetes since I was diagnosed. I slowly started realising things had changed....when had people stopped counting exchanges??, when had diabetes specialists stopped telling us we should have a mars bar for a hypo??, when did pumps come in (I hadn't even known they'd exisited).
And that's where I'm at now. I have a feeling it's going to be a long road, but a worthwhile one.
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