Being diagnosed with diabetes when I was 11 years old was very hard. I got my treatment and education for diabetes at AI Dupont Hospital in Wilmington, DE. Everyone there did a great job helping me transition from a "normal" life, to diabetic life. As I have gotten older, I have come to realize that there are some things they DID NOT tell me and some things that misled me.
When I was getting my training with the diabetes educators, they taught me how to count carbs. They did not tell me that sometimes, no matter how accurate you are at carb counting, some foods will still make your blood sugar spike. For example, when I eat pizza and pasta I am pretty good at figuring out how many carbs is them, but within an hour my blood sugar rises higher than normal.
When I was discharged from the hospital, they told me I could have a 15 grams of carbs "free" snack. Which meant, I could eat something that wasn't more than 15 grams of carbs and I didn't have to give myself insulin for it. Looking back on that, it makes no sense as to why I could that! You would be surprised by how much 15 grams of carbs raises your blood sugar.
I was misled to think that I could eat whatever I wanted, when I wanted. I guess that is true but if I don't want my blood sugar to go through the roof, I really have to watch what I eat and make sure I count carbs as accurately as possible. For example, at parties there is usually a lot of delicious food and everyone snacks on everything. I have found that I can't do that without my blood sugar going through the roof. Even if I give myself insulin, my blood sugar still is high. I eventually lose track of what I eat or my insulin can't keep up with my constant snacking.
The major thing they didn't tell me was that insulin makes you gain weight. The more insulin you get, the more weight you are going to gain. When I was younger, I got about 50-60 units of insulin a day. Now, I get about 80-100 units a day. That is A lot of insulin being used and I have gained a lot of weight (40 lbs. in two years). The last few weeks or so I have cut my insulin down to about 65-80 units a day and I have lost some weight since this started. It's not a lot of weight but it's enough that I noticed! I watch to see how many grams of carbs I am eating, because the more carbs I get the more insulin I get.
I'm sure that there are a few other things that I could think of that the diabetes educators did not tell me or misled me about. If I think of them I will write another post!
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