Personal Narrative: My Cousin With Type 2 Diabetes

The most significant difference between the regular insulin and the rapid acting insulin is the onset. The onset for rapid-acting or lispro is 10-15 minutes, and for the regular it is ½-1 hour.

The individual I chose to observe is my cousin who is a 24-year-old male who was diagnosed with type1 diabetes since the age of 14. But before being diagnosed with type1 diabetes my cousin was healthy teenager that would eat just like any other teenager, but his life drastically change right away after being diagnosed with type1 diabetes. He now suffers from weight lost, nausea, body pain, and is insulin dependent. Being insulin dependent was one of the biggest changes in his life, because he had no idea what was occurring to his body and was not inform about diabetes. It took a while for my cousin to get used to the changes that were occurring to him as a teenager, but now that he is older and cautious about his disability, he lives a healthy

n Mendenhall et al.’s, Speaking Through Diabetes, the authors examine how social suffering may be embodied in diabetes using Kleinman’s concept of cultural narrative. They consider how epidemics achieve social significance, through patient experience and symbolism in everyday narrative. Patients tell their illness narratives to explain their suffering to others but also use narratives to make sense of illness experience for themselves. The use of explanatory models and beliefs about an illness helps patients makes sense of the illness in a particular context. As Mendenhall et al. highlight, Mexican explanatory models often identify stress and extreme emotion as the main cause of diabetes.

My life wouldn’t be considered normal. My parents were immigrants from Pakistan trying to create a better life for them and their children, and they’re the only ones from their families to move to America. They moved from New York, to Richardson, and lastly to Rockwall, Texas in 2005. I was born in 2000 but when events in my life truly started shaping me was in the summer of 2004.

When I was five, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Even though this was a truly terrible event in my life, there were people who were extremely helpful to me. Obviously, my parents, other family, and friends helped me through the situation, but I am eternally grateful to the nurses. They made me feel like everything was going to be ok as it was happening in the moment. They were the reason I made it through the ordeal. Since then, I could always picture myself going into nursing so that one day, I can be that same trusted support system for someone else.

My mother’s cousin had type 1 diabetes. He didn’t take control over his disease. He never took shots, he was a drunk, and he never tested. My mom’s cousin never saw the importance of vigilance of diabetes. He died at the age of 51. He did significant damage to his organs which resulted in a short lived-life.

In this paper, I chose to do a how to on something that I hold dearest to my heart. Which is how to be a diabetic. I’m 18 and I’ve had to come to terms with a lot of things that I never in a million years thought I’d have to deal with. It’s nice to share this information others any chance I get to just spread awareness. Some people may think that this couldn’t happen to them, but if your careless about your health. It could happen to anyone.

On July 14th 2010, when I was twelve years old, I was rushed to the hospital because my blood sugar levels were 407. Before my mom had observed that I was rapidly losing weight, drinking a great amount of water, and was continuously tired. My mom was worried that I had type one diabetes because others in my family has diabetes.

Throughout our lives we are asked the question, “Do you believe in magic?” A majority of people answer no, knowing that bunnies cannot simply appear out of thin air and that people cannot be sawed in half and be put back together without harm. I am part of the minority that would say yes, I do believe in magic. I do not believe in the magic mentioned previously, as I cannot be deceived by sleight of hand tricks and optical illusions. But, I have experienced magic, a rare kind that not many get to experience in their lifetime. It’s the magic of a place, my home away from home, Clara Barton Camp, a camp for young girls with Type 1 Diabetes.

During Christmas vacation, three weeks before my 4th birthday, I began eating more; more than I had and more than I should. I was always hungry, extremely hungry. Hungry, thirsty and tired, painfully dragging myself to and from day to day activities. I gorged myself with food, yet my pants became looser, arms thinner and stomach flatter. The world swirled around me; I couldn’t stand without stumbling. On December 23, 2001, I entered the hospital kicking and screaming, tired and alone. Since that day, I haven’t seen food the same way.

Did you know that an estimated 11.2 million Americans age 65 or older are living with diabetes? That’s 1-in-4 adults over the age of 60 that will be diagnosed with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Those who have already been diagnose with the disease have already learned how to many their condition over time. Even after to adjusting your lifestyle over time due to the disease, the initial diagnosis can be overwhelming. As loved ones and caregivers, you want to provide them with the support and help they need to continue to enjoy a healthy, happy life. The Woodlands Family Care Centers has a few helpful tips that can you avoid or delay complications that are found to be associated with diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease that runs on both sides of the family. On my father’s side, I have an aunt and grandma whom have recently been diagnosed with diabetes. On my mother’s side, my grandpa along with many of his siblings has had diabetes as long as I can remember. I also have a few uncles with prediabetes. Prediabetes is when a person has a higher blood sugar level than normal but isn’t quite high enough for the person to be considered diabetic. Each one of my family members that have diabetes has been diagnosed as Type 2. Type 2 diabetes does run in families, it has to do with genetics as well as children following in the footsteps of their parents. Adults with children are constantly setting bad habits and may not even realize it. Eating healthy and getting exercise is a habit that everyone needs to learn. According to the American Diabetes Association, if you have type 2 diabetes, the risk of your child getting diabetes is 1 in 7 if you were diagnosed before age 50 and 1 in 13 if you were diagnosed after age 50. A child 's risk is also increased when the parent with type 2 diabetes is the mother, and if both parents have type 2 diabetes, the child 's risk is about 1 in 2. Although neither of my parents currently have diabetes, the disease could still be passed on as the years pass by, my younger brother and I could still be at risk for developing diabetes, which is why I am taking every precaution I can at the young age of nineteen.

Back in July I found out that I have diabetes, and ever since that day I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to change my life. I’m not going to act like I haven’t looked for quick fixes, because I most definitely did. I am not going to say that I have been making all the right choices since I found out, because I most certainly have not, but I am definitely searching for the way. My current goals are to make sure I get my A1C down to below 7%, lose 20 pounds, and change my eating habits. The first thing that I need to do is slowly wean myself off to many high sugar, and high carb food items. I do not need to eliminate them completely from my diet, but they should be consumed at a minimum. After I wean myself I can focus on adding higher

There are many individuals who are diagnosed with type two diabetes who do not truly know what it is, or chooses not to take it seriously. My grandmother is someone who has suffered with this for over twenty years, and still fails to realize how important it is to maintain good habits to stay healthy and alive. The cause of this disease is from being obese, and for my Nanny that was a hard thing to accept. Although she was married and seemed to be happy to others, that was far from the truth. She suffered from many years due to an emotionally abusive relationship. When she was diagnosed with diabetes the struggles and abuse seemed to grow worse. She found out that my grandfather had been cheating on her with various women and divorced him immediately. A few years after she was diagnosed with diabetes, she allowed her blood sugar to get dangerously high and ended up in the hospital. Since then she has been obsessive with keeping it low, and sometimes too low. She also became obsessive with losing extra weight she had, but did not handle it in the proper way. Instead of problems with high blood sugar she now has problems with low blood sugar, and we have almost lost her several times. This is an example of someone who is not properly educated on the many factors that come along with type two diabetes and how to cope with it appropriately. It is our job to inform those who suffer from this life changing disease on proper ways to deal with type two diabetes before

I could feel the acid in my throat; I desperately needed water and couldn’t keep any food down. I had felt like this for the last three months but no one believed me. I started to doubt it myself, my mom said I was fine so why wouldn’t I be?