I’ve heard the horror stories from those who lived through this disease in the past…there isn’t any way in hell I’d switch with the old-timers.
I think more challenging today, for kids, young teens, (and their parents) because of the much greater impact to daily meals, activities. As a child, other than a once daily injection, I was treated the same as my siblings. Except occasional force feeding of orange juice in the middle of the night when I had a sweaty forehead. And I hate OJ to this day !!
My diabetes was “in the closet” for the most part, except for those I told. Much more difficult to do that today for kids and young adults. Kids having frequent visits to nurses offices for BG checks, or pumps visible or beeping at awkward times.
Yes, I think easier today to be informed, and find support, and medical tools to attain excellent control, minimize complications. But more “invasive” on so many daily choices and activities that I did in a carefree manner in my teens and young adult years.
My early years were simply set it and forget it, until I was settled in my career.
Those diagnosed in early teens probably have it the toughest. Just my guess.
2 Likes
This is no different than how we’re dealing with Liam, today. Besides the mandatory things necessary to take care of him (pump for insulin and cgm for bg monitoring), he’s no different than his siblings and they do everything exactly the same. Of course part of those mandatory actions are the occasional middle-of-the-night sugar shoving.
If you asked Liam’s brothers, they’re even slightly envious of Liam’s diabetes. Liam gets way more “smarties, sweet tarts, skittles, candy in general” than his brothers because of the low treatments.
Only if you allow them to be. We have thus far, and we continue to avoid these invasive daily choices. It’s going to be more work on his mom and I to figure out how to make situations work, but that’s our job. He shouldn’t be punished because he got a disease he didn’t ask for, and doesn’t want.
As much as possible, we are working to make sure him and his siblings are exactly the same in how they are treated and what they’re able to do with their lives.
Maybe just my terminology, but invasive was for BG checks, sensor changes, pump changes, more attention to meal timing, etc that would not happen without diabetes. You refer to them as mandatory.
And it is wonderful that in all other ways, they are all treated the same !!!
2 Likes
For me it is a bit of both. It is easier to manage now, easier to control fluctuations and easier to manage or work with the vagaries of life. But it’s more challenging in that it’s more in-your-face, constantly. For most of my life, my diabetes was easy to forget, not just because I saw it as just part of me, like being blond or having weak ankles, but because outside of doing a couple of injections a day, it didn’t really intrude, you didn’t have to think about it much, unless you went low or you had too much cake and spent the night peeing. Now with the flood of information we have, it’s just constant. As a kid, if I was going out to play after school, all I had to think about was making sure I had a sugar bag in my pocket. Today, if I’m going out to play after work, I have to start planning hours ahead with temp basal, I’ve got to keep an eye on my CGM and make adjustments while I’m supposed to be having fun. There have been times since returning to the pump a year ago and getting a CGM that I feel more exhausted by my diabetes than I’ve felt in my whole life before that. But it’s still easier, if that makes sense.
4 Likes
yeah, I can definitely understand the differences now that they’ve been put like that. All of the new technology that is most definitely HELPING overall health, is also causing a lot more time to be taken away from just living (not worrying about contraptions)
1 Like
YES!!! That’s what I meant by invasive.
2 Likes
@Beacher, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head - makes total sense to me. I grew up as you did with my T1D in the background. My parents never woke up in the middle of the night. There were no BG checks, etc…As they say, ‘Ignorance is bliss’. I am very happy to have the tools that I have now, but I don’t think I would change growing up without them. It’s true that my BGs were probably high most of the time, but we didn’t know, so we didn’t worry. Maybe less stress counteracted the high BGs 
3 Likes
Yes, it was definitely easier then. Just take a couple of shots a day and pee on a stick once in a while and totally forget about it.
But there is a price to pay. Trips to the emergency room when my Bg crashed, average Bg in the high 200’s/low 300’ s or higher, not even able to remember my first year of dental school.
Today’s technology might be more invasive on everyday life, but it’s well worth the 20 or more years of living.
2 Likes
Ok, maybe intrusive would have been a better word.
causing disruption or annoyance through being unwelcome or uninvited.
synonyms: intruding, invasive, obtrusive, unwelcome, pushy; meddlesome, prying, impertinent, interfering; informalnosy, snoopy
2 Likes
Hi Claudndaye, I know some kids like to have a numbing cream put on before the site changes . When I was a school nurse there was one called Emla cream. We put a blob of it on and covered it with a clear dressing like opsite or tegaderm about a half hour before the injection. When it was squished out under the dressing it was a flat white blob the size of a quarter. Then cleaned off with alcohol before the insertion. Also at diabetes camp, some kids like to ice their skin before. And I saw a cute little buzzy bee thing advertised a while back for injections. It vibrates and competes with the pain nerve response is my understanding… sorry it is so hard for him. And you.
2 Likes
Totally makes sense. As @Lisa says “ignorance is bliss”. I’ll say that it was easier on MDI with no CGM use and just fingersticks 10x a day. We just didn’t know how crappy the control was. Now with the CGM and the pump you can make these micro adjustments all day long so diabetes is always there, alongside you.
But @ClaudnDaye, I think Liam will just have strategies to deal with all the knowledge, and you and @ErinElizabeth will have been such a help to him developing a strong sense of how he’ll manage as he grows up. I like @Beacher’s suggestion that it’s like being blonde or tall or whatever. A trait one lives with because it just IS.
I didn’t know there was a club for years lived with! That’s exciting. And I like the idea of you and @Tia being there with your sons. 
1 Like
Yeah, when it was actually brought up that it actually is a lot more work then I remembered/realized it. I’ve grown so accustomed to it, that it really just IS. I don’t even consider of the extra work that’s required (the mandatory things) as invasive anymore because they’ve become standard operating procedures…but when one steps back and analyzes it, all these “mandatory” steps are definitely invasive and I can see how “ignorance is bliss” would definitely be a LOT less work!
It’s crazy how one “adapts and overcomes” (as the Military says), when faced with new challenges. I remember @TiaG previously indicating she doesn’t remember any longer what it felt like “pre diabetes” and I guess that’s where we are now…we’ve just got so used to everything required that there really isn’t any other state of being for us and all these steps are just what they are.
Thanks @PegE! We have tried numbing cremes for him but they don’t work…they inevitably caused large areas of swelling, redness and tenderness that bothered him more than the shots even do. Plus, they actually took recovery time! We just dig in, get it done and move on. When he’s older and can communicate a bit more about the kinds of pain he’s experiencing (if he’s experiencing any from the shots), we’ll definitely look again into giving the numbing creme.
1 Like
That is totally true, we can’t really remember the pre-diabetes times, or at least how it felt. That said, whenever we just have our non-D kids we do notice how much lmore relaxed we are and how simple things are. We’re just multi-tasking much, much less.
And when we are hanging out with new people and they see our regimen, we briefly see things through their eyes and realize it looks like a lot to deal with.
3 Likes
Did Joslin remove the 10-year award? When I look on their site now, it looks like it only starts at 25 years. 
I did see a site that recognizes “kids” with medals at the 10 year milestone (for those like Samson and Liam and others who were diagnosed very young).
2 Likes
Looks to me like the 10 year is still there! I’m just a couple years away from the 25 year mark, but the application form says I’m eligible for 10 years. I had no idea this award existed!
2 Likes
The one I linked isn’t the Joslin medals. I don’t see 10 years there and I was sure they offered them in the past. I was looking forward to doing the paperwork for Liam in another 1.5 years
3 Likes
Ahhh yes, I see. That would be a shame if they truly did get rid of it!
2 Likes
I’m planning to do the 50 year 
in 7 years.
4 Likes