Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Looking for Advice

I mentioned last week that I was asked to write an article about supporting people with diabetes.

The article will be geared to support workers who work with people who have a developmental disability but, let's face it, diabetes is diabetes.

Today's blog is short but really important and I need your help.

What do you want people to know about supporting someone with diabetes?

What are some frequent misconceptions that people have about diabetes?

What are some frequent misconceptions that the medical profession has about people who have diabetes?

Tell me about some great ways that you have been supported and some downright awful ones.

Tell me about the things people say to you that inspire you to be a little bit better and the things that people say that make things worse.

I will be writing about types 1 and 2. I know a lot about type 1 and a lot less about type 2.  How do you explain type 1 or type 2 diabetes to people in a way that they understand?

I have a rough draft already about what I want to talk about but I am one voice in the diabetes choir and I want to add as many voices as I can.

So leave a comment and add a few notes to the music.

Pretty please.

1 comment:

  1. I thought about this a lot before writing a few comments down.

    Misconception with respect to the insulin pump: insulin pumps manage everything for you. Pretty much everyone I know thinks that now I have a pump I no longer have to test or worry about how much insulin to take. I spend a lot of time explaining that it is not a replacement pancreas, more like a car that I have to control and drive. It does what I tell it to.

    Bad experience(s): The first one that comes to mind is the day I was diagnosed. When being admitted to the hospital they brought my sugars down very, very fast which in turn resulted in damage to my nerves throughout my body, particularly my feet. My new endo was shocked to hear how they had done this and told me I was lucky I did not suffer a heart attack or brain damage as a result. This haunts me. Another bad experience would be my first Endo telling me I would have to give up long distance running and any other kind of intense sport now that I was diabetic. I was devastated (and found a new Endo fast).

    Good experience(s): It was a few weeks after being diagnosed and I was experiencing a lot of very high blood sugars through the day, high enough that I was spilling ketones. No one had let me know what to do in these cases and I had no idea how much insulin I would need to help correct. I did not know how much one unit would bring me down. I must have injected myself 10 times or more, 1 unit at a time with no success. I called the University of Alberta Hospital and they put me through to the Endo clinic. I spoke with a doctor who went over my numbers for the last week, estimated an insulin sensitivity factor and gave me a plan on how to get my sugars down. She was extremely caring and patient. The next day she called me on her day off with her kids to see how I was doing. Blew me away how she really did care! Also my new Endo telling me he would support me in any of my athletic goals and help me along the way.

    I have lots more I could write, if you want more let me know and I will email you! These experiences just stick out in my mind. Good luck with the article, very exciting!

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