Sometimes I joke to my parents that they must have really not cared about me because they were never involved with my diabetes management.
I was diagnosed at 12 and right off the bat wanted to do everything myself. The worst part about having diabetes to me was the fact that at school I had to go to the nurse’s office before lunch and when people found out and made me feel different. When I was first diagnosed I memorized the “calorie king” book front to back so I wouldn’t have to take it with me anywhere, checked my blood sugar with my meter about 3-4x a day, gave my doses for all meals as secretively as I could, and really just tried to just fit in. I tended to run a bit on the higher side and looking back in my health data my A1cs were typically in the 7s or the lower 8s. Not too bad with the tech I had and the attention I gave to it. I delayed using a CGM until my junior year of college and getting my first pump until after I finished undergrad. To this day, I have nobody following me on dexcom.
I write this because we’re all different and we all want different things. If my parents tried to help I would have been so aggravated and when people paid attention to the fact that I had type 1 diabetes, I was angry. I didn’t stop anything, I continued competitive cheerleading, didn’t change my diet, did as I pleased with my friends, went on vacations, etc. This is what was best for me. We all want different things and the best thing largely varies from one individual to another. The best advice I can give as a still relatively young person with diabetes to parents is to talk to your kid/young adult about how they feel and what they want. Some kids/young adults might want you to manage everything for them, some might want a split, or some might be like me that wants to do it alone. Of course, it wouldn’t be safe to just pass the management off to most and education prior is a must. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how I’m alive with the lack of adult supervision I had. But most importantly, we’re all people and diabetes comes second. If you can’t achieve your goals because of diabetes, then something isn’t right with how things are being approached.
Just like we all don’t want to eat the same diet and like the same movies or ways to socialize, we also need individualized diabetes management plans to fit each individual’s particular needs. That’s the great thing about IDS, is we all live it and get that. We don’t tell our patients they have to eat a certain way or have to have perfect glucose graphs. We strive to help everyone achieve what their goals are (and also weigh in on what’s going to prevent complications). For a customized plan, give our office a call to work with people that get it. :)
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