Personal Narrative: Type 1 Diabetes

Living with a chronic condition not only effects the individual, but it effects the entire family. An adolescent living with a chronic health condition not only depends on their family for support, but also on support from their friends, classmates, and healthcare team (Rostami, Parsa-Yekta, Najafi Ghezeljeh, & Vanaki, 2014). Supporting an individual with a chronic disease leaves an emotional impact and can be financially straining as well. Families living with a sick child must find strategies to cope. Whether the coping strategies utilized are positive or negative, they leave a lasting effect on the entire family, as well as the child living with the condition (Woodson, Thakkar, Burbage, Kichler, & Nabors, 2015). Involvement of the parents in this situation is vital to the child’s future success in managing their illness (Landers, Friedrich, Jawad, & Miller, 2016). This paper will explore one family’s story of living with, and coping with, a child who has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D).

Almost all of my family on the mother’s side has had or are living with Diabetes. In 10th grade, I had to do a report on Diabetes. I also do walks to support those with diabetes.

Type 1 is characterized by the body’s inability to produce insulin. It is caused by autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic beta cells, which are responsible for producing insulin. There appears to be a hereditary link in people with Type 1 diabetes. Other factors have been known to cause Type 1 diabetes such as viral infections, toxins, and other environmental factors. Type 1 diabetes is the rare form, affecting about 10% of the diabetes population. Its onset usually occurs in people less than the age of 20.

I have been naïve to an epidemic that has been plaguing America for quite some time now. It wasn’t talked about or taught much when I was younger. I thought that this disease was for the geriatric population. In 2012, 29.1 million Americans were diagnosed with diabetes. 8.1 million went undiagnosed. (diabetes.org) Diabetes is a dilemma and the statistics for this disease is rising steadily. Per the diabetes association there are 1.4 million of new cases of diabetes a year. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the united states of America. Diabetes is not affecting only one group of people. Diabetes.org states that 208,000 Americans under the age of 20 have been diagnosed with diabetes. In 2014 I started a new job at a call center. Prior to this occupation I had never personally, that I knew of interacted closely with anyone suffering from this disease. I had never heard of the younger population developing this illness and I certainly never heard any first-hand accounts on how diabetes affected the body. I discovered just how prevalent diabetes were in young adults. I watched people between the ages of 20-27 be afflicted by this disease. They had to constantly watch their diet to ensure that their blood glucose wasn’t either too high or too low. I watched a 20-year-old female be in and out of the hospital because of this disease. I hope to inform this reader of the dangers of this disease and what to do to prevent it.

My instructor showed empathy toward the patients with diabetes; she emphasized her understanding on how challenging the diabetes disease process can be and the importance of following a healthy diet and the medication schedule. As a diabetes educator, she offered us valuable resources and also emphasized the need for more diabetes educators while encouraging those of us who were thinking about it as a career path.

I grew up with an older brother and sister. My sister is the oldest and she also has type one diabetes, diabetes is a life threating disease where your kidneys do not produce enough insulin. For the most part I could get through the day without my sister having a problem. But other days her blood sugar levels would get too low and when the happened she would start seizing up and sometimes we wouldn’t know but we would hear her hit the floor and when we heard the we rushed into action. We would put something into her mouth to prevent her from biting off her tongue and then we would dump tomato juice into her mouth and usually that would work, but sometimes it didn’t. And when that was the case there was a special shot we had for he that would

My mother has made herself a victim of diabetes II due to her sixty six pound overweight. She became overweight due to lack of exercise and poor eating habits. However, this is not the worst part of the story. My mother is the youngest of out five siblings, which inherited different or the same types of diabetes. Unfortunately, she was not the luckiest one of them. My mother also lost sight from one of her eyes.

Checking my blood sugar five times per day is what I hate about my daily routine. When I wake up in the morning, I have to check whether my blood sugar in the normal rate or not. Not only checking my blood makes me miserable, but also these painful insulin injections that I have to take before each meal and before sleeping, too. Another memory of my illness is counting the carbohydrates on my meals, like a crazy mathematician who wants solve the problem in an extremely quick way. When I see several delicious dishes on the table and I cannot eat one of them except that dish, which does not contain carbohydrates and sugar, my sensation becomes like a disabled person. Thinking of these kinds of dishes makes me feel hungry and my eyes cannot stop looking for that delicious food. What If I do not have diabetes, and I can eat whatever I want? Why am I different from my siblings? I have restrictions for everything in my life even my meals and activities. All of these questions need reasonable answers, but my parents always say, “Everything happens for a reason and because of a reason.” I still cannot distinguish between my life as a patient and as a normal person. My most vivid life experience is manifested through a battle with a medical condition: diabetes type 1.

Diseases can be one of the most traumatic experiences one can go through on a day to day basis. While many people may experience this, there are many that do not. Everyone can sympathize to the struggles associated with diseases, but few can empathize. This is why I am writing. I want people to know not only the obstacles I had placed before me, but also, how I have conquered over them.

Now eleven years have passed with me having diabetes and I have learned a lot from it. Obstacles are always going to occur in my life but I need to stay persistent in order to overcome them. Like how I also started to comprehend that there will always be ignorant people but ignoring them is the best solution. No matter what happens I am like everyone else and I am capable of doing anything in life as long as I put in hard work to achieve my goals. I feel and know diabetes has changed my life in a positive way because I learned from it and thanks to it I been able to meet other people with the same disease as me. Knowing am not alone makes me feel positive and grateful for life seeing how my doctors are there for me makes me want to achieve

I figured after being diagnosed at 16 as long as I kind of ate correctly that the pre-diabetes would be ok. My parents only occasionally when they saw that I gained weight would mention to me that I may want to eat healthier or exercise. At the time I would get aggravated with them because they did not show me how to do this, or even offer to help pay for the healthier foods or a gym membership. Having type two diabetes is harmful because it can lead to more serious diseases. The last harmful thing that could happen to me is if I would die because I chose to not take care of my

My father’s side has a history of type II diabetes. From my grandma to my dad and other relatives they all suffer from diabetes. My dad past away from kidney failure one of complication of diabetes. That’s why I’m careful of what I eat and

Diabetes has been out for thousands of years and still no cure. researchers and scientist have been searching and searching for ways to overcome this disease but nothing yet. Everyone goals are to either improve, prevent, or cure this disease. Diabetes became very known around the seventeenth century because of a high percentage of people was found with sugar in their urine and blood. Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases that affects our society worldwide. The average person in this world does not know anything about this disease. The diabetes association said “In 2013 the estimate of 328 million people had diabetes throughout the world”. Society today need to be aware of what we are up against with this disease.

It’s obvious that my emotions are a determining factor in how I act on a day-to-day basis. That’s why I chose something emotional as my topic, something I know can and does affect millions and millions of people across the globe- diabetes. My fellow peers may ponder, “Why is it emotional for him?” Well because, many of my dearest and closest family members have been severely affected by this horrendous condition, and it strikes a deep fear in me that one day diabetes might take its toll on me and my life. The first prime example would be my grandfather. I always loved my grandpa, we used to go fishing together all the time whenever I went to his house in Arizona. But he was an ill man even though his spirit said otherwise. He suffered from Diabetes and lost his life about five years ago. It was a tragic moment for the whole family because he was a main figurehead and symbol of the whole family (obviously, he was an elder). On the other side, my aunt’s situation and experience was extremely similar. My aunt was a caring and fun woman, very different from all my other aunts because she had a personality like mine. She loved art, music, movies, etc… And little did I know that she was suffering from diabetes as well. Once I had the realization that she had diabetes, I was on high alert, but it was to no avail. About two years ago, the thing that happened to my grandfather three years prior, happened to my aunt, and I lost her as well. Now, it’s obvious that many people

When my family and I found out that I am diabetic, it has changed my life. Now I have to figure out how many carbs I am going to eat and I also have to watch on what I drink. When we found this out, I thought this was going be the journey of my life. I was just hoping that things weren’t going to get any worst than it was. The first day of arriving to the hospital it was just about sunrise and the streets were crowded and it was also very cold. I got my bags in the room and laid back and watched tv about every hour a new person came in and checked up on me. So I was getting pretty bored just sitting there watching tv, because there weren’t really any good shows. I just stared and kept on turning the channels so I decided to set up my Xbox. It was just about the afternoon so we ordered food and it was alright not the greatest though. There were just endless amounts of blood being drawn from my I.V.Even though it was getting pretty annoying I am not going to lie. So I watched a movie then fell asleep counting; it was practically ten o’clock.