Hi, new member here

I was diagnosed with T1 in 1984 right before my second birthday. My older sister also has T1; she was diagnosed in 1997 at age 19. In many ways, it’s good that we can commiserate with each other about a disease that most people don’t understand. Then again, I feel she’s been able to navigate the challenges better than I have. She’s almost never had an A1C over 7, while I rarely have one below 8.2. She has a Dexcom and all that, while I got sick of wearing an insulin pump after 17 years and switched back to multiple injections in 2020.

I also have serious a serious phobia of doctor appointments. I struggle with major depression in general, but anything health-related creates an overwhelming mixture of anxiety and hopelessness.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and learn from others here. I look forward to talking with everyone.

Thanks!

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Hello @Gemtwyst and welcome to Type One Nation. I wanted to say that I struggled with T1 for many years and my pain included anxiety attacks and depression. I hope you find a little peace and help here from the many hundreds of years of experience with having type 1. :shamrock:

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Hi @Gemtwyst and welcome to the forum! I’ve had Type1 for nearly 60 years and even after all this time I find some very helpful suggestions from the experiences the members share. Hopefully you will too and look forward to your contributions. There’s nothing wrong with injections - as you know a pump is not a miracle service that takes away the work but a miracle device that still requires work. I hope you and your doctor can find the right combination of doses and sliding scale that work to improve your numbers. Do you think virtual appointments would be more manageable? Your doctor might be willing to do those for some of your visits, for the sake of your comfort and mental health. Or you could have your sister or a trusted friend go with you. Just a few thoughts.
Again welcome, and looking forward to hearing from you!

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@Gemtwyst Welcome Anna to the JDRF TypeOneNation Forum! And congratulations with managing your diabetes for so many years, and indirectly, for giving your older sister a “head start” for her being ably to manage HER diabetes efficiently. May I also suggest that you attempt not to compare your diabetes management “success” with anyone else because each of our conditions are slightly different.

A pump in itself will not make your diabetes management more effective, and in-fact, it has been demonstrated that MDI [Multiple Daily Injections] especially when a CGM is also used is superior to pump dependence. Note that while “slowing down” in my advanced years I use an iAIDs [aa automated pump CGM integrated system] to help manage my diabetes. When using MDI, I urge you to throw out any “sliding scale” that may have been given to you because it is static and not necessarily timely relevant; instead use the simple arithmetic formula developed in the late 1970s and was the basis for the large worldwide DCCT Study that demonstrated diabetes management protocol that is now called MDI.

The formula, which can be mentally calculated with 4th grade arithmetic, is comprised of three parts:

  1. BGL Correction, which can be either “plus” or Minus": (BGL +/- Target - ISF)
  2. plus Food Bolus: Carbohydrate content of food [to be] eaten divided by your I/Cr for that particular time of day. Note that your Insulin, Carbohydrate ratio [I/Cr] most probably varies over the course of every day; a factor not effectively incorporated in prepared sliding scales.
  3. minus Active Insulin: This is the weakest part of the formula because it your best guess at how much of any previous bolus insulin might still be active in your body.

This formula is the basis for estimated insulin dose produced by the “Calculator” incorporated in all insulin pumps intended for use people with TypeOne Diabetes.

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Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who responded. I haven’t had a chance to check in for a few weeks.

Anyways, my most recent A1c came back as 8.8 …discouraging because I’ve actually been even more pains to do healthy things-- ex.
I bring lightly salted almonds to work for my snack instead of grabbing chips, I’ve been walking more even when the weather sucks, bumped up my overnight Lantus by half a unit…maybe the next reading will be better.

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Hi @Gemtwyst an 8.8% is better than a 9. What kind of number are you shooting for? I couldn’t get much lower than a 7 ( point something) on shots but everyone is different. Anyway, glad to see you come back. :slightly_smiling_face:

Welcome back @Gemtwyst . I know you don’t use a pump but do you use a CGM - and if not, how frequently do you test? Before CGM I checked with each meal and at bedtime, which was standard and fine art the time but my Dexcom had shown me all sorts of things can happen in between. Using a CGM could share some helpful light on what’s going on: maybe even changing the time of your basal insulin, or splitting it into two doses as some do, would help. However you really should discuss this with your doctor a) because you’ve been out of touch; b) because the pattern of your background insulin will make a difference.

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Hi Anna, I was diagnosed at age 11 and am now 25 years old. I struggle with diabetes-related sadness and anxiety and I experienced depression in college. I have not been taking the best care of myself and just went to get my blood drawn for an upcoming endo appointment. I fear that this will be my highest A1C reading ever and I had it above 8% the last time I checked. I used to go to my endo every 3 months but I haven’t been in over 6 months. I have been avoiding it.

I am writing to say hello back and share some of my struggles too. Diabetes has a very important psychological component and it feels like there is little support and understanding in general, so I am glad I found this forum and read your post so that we can be here for one another. so hello, we are in this together!

Hi there!

I’m pretty realistic. I doubt I’ll get to the “magical” 6.5 the doctors want, but I’d like to at least be able to consistently stay in the 7.5 range.

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Hi Cecilia,

I understand your struggles. I’m sorry to hear you’re experiencing this. You’re right, diabetes has a huge psychological component…even when dealing with the nicest doctors, there’s often an underlying element of “you’re not doing well enough”. I’ve avoided many appointments over the years, but finally got an appointment with a new doctor on June 9.

Hi Anna,

Sorry I’m so late to respond. Welcome to the Forum! I was 2 1/2 years old when I was diagnosed. So, not much older than you were at diagnosis. Diabetes isn’t always easy but it is manageable, I’m sure you know! I’ve never been depressed over having T1D myself, but I do get frustrated at times with it. I just try to remember that checking my blood sugar and taking insulin are not that difficult. There are others diseases that are much more difficult to live with. So, I remind myself that I am lucky when I feel the frustration.

I hope this helps, at least a little!

Pam K.
T1D 58 years and counting!