I am on insulin injections, and have been from the moment I was diagnosed. If I didn't take insulin injections I would be dead right now. So basically I live in a great era. Because if you were diagnosed with diabetes a hundred years ago it would mean a death sentence. Thank you Banting and Best I owe you my
There is only one way to know you're a diabetic and that is through blood test/s. So when I was 15 and I was extremely thirsty, losing weight, having blurry vision and feeling uber lethargic, I asked my GP to check if I had Diabetes. At first he laughed... "no way could you have it, you don't have terrible skin and you're not fat".. well in fact I was very skinny, but luckily for me I insisted. And the day of the results my GP was shocked and referred me to our paediatician (yes the same one who diagnosed Liam and Jack, Dr Awesome himself) who said in these exact words that burn my brain today "There is NO DOUBT you have diabetes". I was then sent straight to our local hospital and spent a few hours in emergency while we waited for a bed in Paediatrics. I distinctly remember a nurse asking me if I wanted to give myself my first insulin injection or if I wanted the nurse to do it. Without hesitation I said "I'll do it!!". I just wanted to get it over and done with, seeing as though this was going to be for the rest of my life...
It is a major chronic illness that should be controlled tightly to avoid complications (such as stroke, amputations, blindness, heart disease, kidney disease etc). That is what I fear the most. I'm not fussed about injecting myself for the rest of my life... it's the complications that hang over your head. And the other thing I hate is hypoglycaemia. If I haven't eaten enough carbohydrates in a meal or have given myself more insulin than usual or I have exercised more than usual, I can suffer from a Hypo. Sometimes they can be quite scary, especially if driving, or you're asleep. I tend to get symptoms of: shaking, sweating, 'bright lights' in my vision, weak, panicky, hunger. The only way to treat these is with sugary foods or drinks.
I am looking forward to the day they find a cure!!
