[Violetvictory]

I was diagnosed at 8 months old. It will be 32 years in a few days.

[bbb]

I was 8

[kylemikkelson]

I was diagnosed on December 31,1984 with type 1. This year will be 29 years! Remember staying in hospital for 2 weeks with a view of a brick wall. Remember it took 2&1/2 minutes to check bg on machine. Seemed like forever. Have been through it all. On pump now and it has its pros and cons.

[richgetts]

I had become a type 1 diabetic back in 1974 I started on u-40 insulin beef pork insulin insulin has changed so much since then I've been on nph and regular ultralente and regular then I've been on the pump for the last 15 years love the freedom but because of so long being on it I got scare tissue all over my stomach and have had absorbtion problems now I was put back injections levemir and novalog I feel more free now I can take my shirt off without woreing about hoses hanging out of me and I feel like my sugars are in better control now I have been a diabetic now for almost 40 years without any complication

[fedj87]

I was diagnosed on November 14, 2012. Ironic is that day is national diabetes day. My older sister is a T1 Diabetic. So I pretty much knew all the symptoms. It all started during the time of hurricane sandy. I was always so thirsty. I drank gallons of water and orange juice but no matter what nothing quenched my thirst. I was never satisfied. I also had trips to the bathroom about every 5 mins or so. I decided to make an appointment with my doctor. She checked my blood sugar and it was 600. She called an ambulance. I had DKA. It was a very scary experience. I had IVs in both arms. During the night, my blood sugar went down to 43. The nurse gave me a little cup of apple juice. My sugar jumped right back up to 600. I felt so sick and tired.

[norehr]

Type1 diabetes. I was diagnosed when I was 4. It was very scary , but I was getting a lot of support from my fellow classmates from my kindergarten class. My symptoms included , urinating excessively and throwing up all the time .

[type1rachelle]

I was diagnosed with T1 in May 1999 - I was almost 18 at the time, and I'm almost 32 now, so I've had it 14 years.

I remember I had a throat infection first... my body must have been attacking my beta cells at that time. Two weeks later, I felt VERY fatigued, but was told it was just from the throat infection and antibiotics... then, I started becoming extremely dehydrated, always drinking a lot. I started carrying a giant water bottle around with me in school because I was fearful of not being able to drink when I felt I really needed to. I was always so thirsty. I thought at first I was just dehydrated, but I couldn't figure out why I was peeing so much as well if it was truly dehydration. Two weeks of this went by and I began losing a lot of weight. I lost about 15lbs within two weeks, and something had to be wrong because I was always so tired, it took me hours to get ready for school in the morning (I constantly felt like I had to lay down), AND I was eating SO much. I began to get extremely worried when I would wake up 5x a night to go to the fridge and drink a gallon of water to the point of vomiting.

I had no idea what was going on with me - my mom actually took me shopping because I had lost so much weight, I needed new clothes (she's totally crazy too - because she's overweight, she was very happy for me to be so thin, and she congratulated me saying "there's no such thing as being too skinny" - thanks, mom, you psycho)

I went to the Dr and my BG didn't even register on their meter so it had to be over 800. I was given an appt at the local hospital the next day where there was a whole diabetes team I could talk to. By the time I showed up there, I was near coma - couldn't even keep my eyes open, it was bad, very very bad.

I ended up staying in the ICU for a few days on an insulin drip in DKA - I was also diagnosed with Hashimoto's hypothyroidism which is also an autoimmune disease. It was funny though because here I am, a frail 5'2", 93lb skeleton and I'm being told I have hypothyroidism (a disease that's often attributed to weight GAIN).

The years that followed were bad. My parents were never much involved in my care because I was so adamant about doing it all myself, and I ended up having a bit of a mental breakdown with panic attacks and severe depression. I was put on NPH twice a day for my basal insulin, and R insulin to correct after meals that consisted of the exchange diet. This was only 14 years ago and it sounds like prehistoric times! Even then, I wondered why I was told to inject R insulin according to a sliding scale two hours AFTER my meals... I didn't understand why I wouldn't inject before my meals in order to prevent my BG from going that high. I wasn't put on Lantus and Humalog and taught how to count carbs until years later.

Eventually, however, I learned to take care of myself, and I began counting carbs, switched to an insulin pump (8 years ago), sticking to a mostly plant based diet and exercising everyday and I've never felt better in my life.

Now I don't see the disease as a death sentence in the least. It's just a pain in the ass - I have to manually do what everyone else's body does automatically - I can deal, it's not like I'm immobile or seriously ill. Diabetes CAN be serious, but it really doesn't have to be at all as long as you're somewhat on top of staying healthy.

[type1rachelle]

Originally Posted by richgetts

i had become a type 1 diabetic back in 1974 i started on u-40 insulin beef pork insulin insulin has changed so much since then i've been on nph and regular ultralente and regular then i've been on the pump for the last 15 years love the freedom but because of so long being on it i got scare tissue all over my stomach and have had absorbtion problems now i was put back injections levemir and novalog i feel more free now i can take my shirt off without woreing about hoses hanging out of me and i feel like my sugars are in better control now i have been a diabetic now for almost 40 years without any complication

respect!!

[abbeyroad]

I was diagnosed on August 15, 2002. I was 4 when I got it. My family and I were about to go to Bear Lake. I can't really remember anything except for that the hospital finger pokers really hurt.

[iheartdurt]

I was officially diagnosed with T1 one month ago. I am 30 years old. My BG was 657. I had been tested 2 years ago and was positive then but the doctor "mis-read" my numbers (315 at the time) and told me I was negative. After 2 years of problems, I went back in and insisted on another test. A different doctor confirmed that I had/have diabetes but wasn't sure if it was T1 or T2. My new doctor confirmed T1. I've lost 20 pounds in less than a year, had excessive thirst, was eating 5000+ calories/day - list goes on. I'm taking Lantus & Novolog - now to get my BG down to "normal" (still in the high 200's or low 300's). My endocrinologist estimates that I've had symptoms for 6+ years.