My Diagnosis

I’m not certain what I did to piss off my body to the point to make it think attacking my insulin producing beta cells was a good idea, but I like to think I was innocent in the affair. What I do know is I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on June 2nd, 1997 at the age of 10. Fortunate to me, because my younger brother had been diagnosed far earlier in his life, my mother took notice quickly when I began exhibiting typical symptoms of hyperglycemia (ie: excess of glucose in your blood). Particularly, I was perpetually thirsty (nothing will quench the thirst of a burgeoning diabetic), and I literally had to urinate every 15 minutes. She checked my blood glucose level to find it was far above that of someone with regular insulin function.

I was consequently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before hospitalization from DKA became necessary; by far, the most common introduction most type 1’s experience in their introduction to diabetes. From that point on, I began the regimen of twice daily injections of NPH and Regular insulin to act in the stead of the insulin my pancreas no longer made. NPH insulin is a “slow acting” insulin and acts to treat the base level absence of insulin in diabetics. Basically, this just covers the constant removal of glucose from the blood that any person requires even if they are fasting.

R is a “fast acting” insulin you take near a meal time that works to remove the sudden influx of glucose you experience when you eat any meal featuring carbohydrates (ie: bread, grains, sugar, etc.). There are different types of insulin and ways to administer it, but the typical prescription’s goal follows the outline above: You need to care for the base absence of insulin in the body, and then you need to also have the insulin care for the influx of glucose due to eating. Respectively, we refer to these different utilizations as the basal and the bolus. I’ll get back to these in the next entry.

But I guess this is the point where I should talk about how my life was never the same after that day or something. And I guess in a noticeable way it did change, but the truth is I’m a rather pragmatic person, even at the age of 10. Sure I had difficulties controlling my glucose levels at times, especially in my early teens (we’ll get to that later), but I felt better if I controlled my diabetes (which really means controlling your glucose levels). And there’s nothing to do about it for the present. So, I just sucked it up and got on with my life. That was a lot better than pouting about it.