Personal Narrative: My Experience With 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.

I am 18 years old now, 8 years since my diagnosis, and I have learned many things from encountering diabetes. I balance what I eat, with an occasional sweet to satisfy my sweet tooth. I’ve learned management. I balance school, sports, and other extracurricular activities with my

When most people look at me, they probably don't realize that every day I deal with type one diabetes. Which, is rather ironic considering that diabetes is a vast part of my life. Not a day goes by where I can just stop caring about my blood sugars or the carbohydrates in the foods I eat, even though doing so would be much easier.

I remember it like it was yesterday. The horror of it. She’s gone. I never thought in a million years it’d end like that. A stroke? After beating cancer, not once, but twice. Seriously? The doctors said she’d never wake up, never talk, never recognize me. Why bother keeping her on life support? It’s not her. My dad told us “she’s not going to make it.” My brother, dropping, fell to his knees. A guy 6’2” 220, lost it. That day ruined our family. Mom was the glue, the one who intervened when my dad went military on us. The one who always had your back and took care of us. But now, because of a nation’s lackadaisical attitude towards type two diabetes, she’s dead.

“But you don’t look sick!”-- Wow, thanks, am I supposed to take that as a compliment: that my chronic illness hasn’t yet affected my appearance? There is no real way to look like you have a chronic illness. Maybe when I’m in my back brace it’s more noticeable, or when I’m forced into my various other braces and supportive wraps it’s apparent that my body is in a constant war with itself. Newsflash: I am sick. I was sick when I was born, I am sick right now, and I will be sick when I die. I am, forever and always, sick.

Nearly 16 million people in the United States have diabetes, the disease classified as a problem with insulin. The problem could be that your body does not make insulin, does not make enough, or it simply does not know how to use it properly. Diabetes is also known as "diabetes mellitus".

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.

Now for the generous bunch in society I have excellent news. Remember last month at the diabetes fundraiser where you wanted to contribute a large sum of money; let’s say you wanted to contribute $2000 however decided instead that it would be wiser to contribute $1000. Albeit, at the time it may have seemed to be the right decision I’m here to explain why it is more feasible to donate twice the amount with it being even more fiscally responsible than donating half the amount. How is this possible? Let me explain. Now let’s consider two scenarios, the former being the more applicable one and the latter being more conspicuous however still considerable. Now imagine donating for the first time to a youth fundraiser, Being that you’re a first

The universe taunts us with the infinite mysteries it holds. Throughout our existence, we have bargained with the universe in order to release its secrets. But the battle isn’t over yet; especially health. Although people ripped these breakout cures and treatments for certain illnesses from the clutches of the universe, many still remain unknown/ ineffective. Personally, I want to uncover the details of diabetes from the universe.

My score is 239, which means I am at a moderate life crisis. According to Holmes-Rahe scale, I have a 50% chance of illness such as a headache, diabetes, fatigue, hypertension, chest, back pain, ulcer and infectious disease. I happen to have frequent headaches that appear to be stress headaches, and I was diagnosed with diabetes six months ago. Currently, having increased fatigue, maybe due to the lack of sleep. Additionally, started taking omeprazole six months ago due to a right mid-abdominal pain that my doctor believe could be an ulcer. I made changes in my eating habits and lifestyle when diagnosed with diabetes; however, I have long ways to achieving wellness.

My first day as a diabetic is coming to an end. I feel tired, but I do not know if it is related to the time that I had to wake up or the lack of food I consumed. I have friends who are diabetic and just by watching their daily routines I thought this experiment would be simple because they make it look so easy. Even though it is my first day I am beginning to realize that is not the case. As I am about to go to bed I am realizing I am hungry, fatigued, and my finger hurts from being poked multiple times throughout the day. The thing I have come to realize, besides the fact that I am overly lost on carbohydrate counting and exchanges, is that eating a sugar-free, low-carb diet is slightly expensive and complex. Being a college student, nursing student,

September 3rd, 2010. Quite an utterly unassuming day for most. On this day, I am eleven years old and I have a doctor’s appointment. I heaved myself out of my restful bed, and my stomach grumbled and protested along with me. The doctors previously informed me not to eat following midnight, and my absolute favorite meal is breakfast, so I was not too fond of this advice. Ravenous was the only word to describe how I was feeling. After proceeding through the motions of readying myself for the day ahead, I loaded into the car with my mother, and off we went. My mother’s face was haggard with perturbation, and her fingers gripped the steering wheel with a ferocity I had never distinguished before. She was petrified. I was too, but the

I made the choice to lower my sugar intakes because many of my family members suffered from diabetes and I wanted to lower my risk of developing diabetes. I stop drinking juice because I know most juices contain a lot of sugar, I stop eating candy, cookies, cereal and I lower my chocolate portions. One roadblock was the cravings, I was always thinking about the sweets that I was not longer eating and the marketing for sweets is everywhere tv and social media, what I did was I stop buying candy, cookies, and juices since I didn’t have it at home I couldn’t really do anything about it and eventually I stop craving them. Another road block was that around the time of the month I would crave chocolate day and night and I allowed myself to have a small piece and that was

I know that you are trying to help, but I need you to know that my life is much more complicated than the aspects that I let you see. Diabetes can be a very degenerative disease. Insulin helps us survive, but it doesn’t cure us. If we don’t live the textbook (nearly impossible, saintly) life of a diabetic, the consequences can be devastating. One-third of our lives could be cut-off. We can lose circulation in our feet and hands. Our organs can slowly corrode, and blindness is an imminent dread for 1 in 10 diabetics who don’t keep their blood-sugar under constant control.

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?