My Wake Up Call with T1D

So I'm now moved into my new apartment with my childhood best friend, that I swore never to move in with, how crazy. This is where the story gets motivational, I had stopped taking my medicine almost completely. I felt horrible all the time, but I was making good money at McDonalds. That was starting to get too much as well.

I eventually quit to take a job and the Chewy.com warehouse as a picker, easy enough. Well I was right, it was easy, but, I got lazy. I would call in, or leave early, mostly because I was too worn out and tired. My sugar was always high and my state of wellness was dropping lower and lower. I got fired for sleeping on the job and not working, and that really screwed me. I wasn't making money, I got behind on bills, I couldn't make rent, I didn't know what to do. After about 2 weeks of not having a job, I found one at a Walmart neighborhood market by my apartment. It was my lucky break.

Not taking my insulin didn't just make me tired and groggy. I was also in excruciating pain, my legs were almost always cramping, my depression got worse, I got glasses due to failing eyesight, I got a bruise on my leg that I don't know how it got there, but it's permanent. It's actual nerve damage that won't go away. I have needle point holes on my legs and stomach from were the body won't heal right anymore. My fingers tingle in pain due to repeated stabbing to test my sugar. It had reached down pretty far. But it could get worse.

There are people out there with amputated limbs, frequent stroke victims, and some people have died from not taking care of themselves. And I didn't/don't want those things to happen to me.

So I decided to turn it around. I started taking my insulin more frequently. At first once a week then more then more. I got to where I would take it probably 5 days in a row before I missed one, at one point I got to were I took it every day for about 2 weeks. Sometimes twice a day, then most days I was taking it twice if not more.

I missed 2 days within the first month at Walmart but haven't missed one since. I was doing good with my insulin l, everyone was proud of my progress. I'm excelling at my job, on the 28th of February it will have been 2 months. This being the early morning of the 16th.

Within the last month, I've taken a turn for the worse. I've slowed back down on taking my insulin, which I believe a correlation is related. Every time I start to do good at something, my diabetes is neglected, every time I take care of myself other important things are neglected. I still take it a few times a week though. I donate plasma twice a week and take it before that, which is bad for my diabetes in the first place, but I need the money, badly.

I still get pains in my legs, neck, and back, and get a little groggy sometimes, but it's better than before when I got really low. Over the entire 3 years I've had T1D, I've only had 3 low episodes and only went to the hospital for 1. I've had more highs than I can remember though, I'm definitely hyperglycemic.

I'm still behind on bills but I've made a new arrangement with my car payment, my insurance drops my bank account in the hole every month, and me and my roommates are working on rent. I paid 200 last month and I'm going for 400 this month. Everyone is supposed to be getting a raise to $11/hr stating this month, which will take affect on our first check of March. That will help tremendously (for me that's a $2 raise since I'm still new.)

I guess the moral of this story is, "do as I say not as I do." And I'm saying I'd you're unlucky enough to be diagnosed with diabetes, rather it be type one or two, take care of it. It could be your legs, your mind, or even your life. Losing your life isn't what you want to do. It's really not that hard to take care of diabetes. Yes, I know it's annoying, but it's makes you feel so much better, and can help you live a lot longer. So stay healthy, take care of yourself, and live a long prosperous life.

This has caught up to my current time frame, as time goes on I hope to add more insight into the life of a diabetic, so hopefully again in the future...

To be continued...