I am so glad you are here @TiaG. My son was diagnosed when he was 2 also and I find your experiences to be so close to my own. I read your posts often and get so much value from them.
So nice to finally āmeetā you, Kaelan!
You give us all so much inspiration and courage to tackle diabetes head-on! If you can do this, and you so obviously can!), then we all can!
Welcome and glad youāve joined the group!
Welcome aboard
Hi all, John58 here. Really glad to see this great forum come alive. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting!
Iām north of Seattle, just turned 60 this year. Diagnosed LADA/Type 1 in summer of 2014 with an A1C in the 14+ range and the classic symptoms. Luckily I got on insulin quickly and got decent control without a lot of problems, including putting back on the weight I had lost. Iām an MDI fan using Tresiba and Humalog. Self funding a Dexcom G5 (long story but my appeal with insurance is still alive). Iām 35 years married, 3 grown kids (2 in Seattle area and 1 in Victoria BC) and 1 grandbaby. Rather than blab too much, Iāll list a few highlights:
-
I am the youngest of 5, grew up in NJ. Found the east coast sort of oppressive and moved west straight out of college, found a job, grew roots, etc. Never regretted the move.
-
My parents are both still thriving, living in the old house in NJ at age 96. Their accepting attitude about everything old age throws at them amazes me and I try to honor them by striving for that attitude about life in general. And they seem to have brainwashed me to always stay busy juggling multiple projects, plans, activities, etc. Works for me but makes me a sporadic poster here.
-
My diagnosis coincided with my retirement. I try not to let D run (or ruin) my life but find that it takes a lot of dedicated time to manage this. When I was working I was sort of a workaholic and shudder to think how hard it would have been to find that extra time.
-
Iām active in ways that suit my interests, but have never been a gym workout guy. My main interests are (a) playing ice hockey 2-3 nights a week. Thatās why Iām a night owl sometimes. Just played tonight, got home midnightish and my brain/body think itās high noon; (b) I converted a Sprinter cargo van to a camper and so far am putting about 10k miles per year on it, mainly western US and Canada. Next trip is Vancouver Island to see my son and d-in-law. Ā© my wife and I travel to hike. We generally will skip the cities and find some nice areas to hike. Last trip was in the Dolomites hiking hut to hut at high altitude.(d) my non-hockey workouts when I am in town are usually landscaping related. The summer I was diagnosed, I had been working my butt off building a retaining wall by hand labor (ten feet high, big wall). For about 6 weeks, I attributed my symptoms to the extremely hard work I was doing. Little did I know. Most recent project was a paver patio at my daughterās house.
-
Diabetes-wise, I feel like I am in a steady state lately. Tresiba helped immensely, I had some ups and downs on Lantus. Dialed in with basal and bolus. Time will tell how long that good vibe lasts but Iāll enjoy it while itās here.
Mike aka mikep.
Live between Baltimore and DC with my wife and 3 boys. Coach a ton of youth baseball and basketball.
Diagnosed when I was a freshman in college at 19 years old. Best shape of my life, nobody else in my family had/has diabetes . . . just the hand I was dealt.
Have used Medtronic pumps and used Omnipod for over 10 years before moving back to MDI after the release of Afrezza and Tresiba. Also use Novolog in combination with Afrezza.
Oh yeah, my Dexcom G5 is my diabetes road map on this crazy journey.
@mikep Good to see you Mike! You were one of the posters who got me more interested in my short tenure over at that other site. Thereās so much more I need to learn about the new treatments youāre into, like Afreeza and Tresiba. Iām glad youāre here to help!
@docslotnick Thanks and great to hear!!!
Happy to help and share my experiences in any way I can.
Welcome friend!!! Glad to have you as part of our community. Great people with big hearts here.
Nice to see you Mike!
Thanks Mike! Iām glad to be here.
Hello. Iām a lada type 1 diagnosed 1.5 years. I have always been an endurance athlete. I have no family history of diabetes and was quite shocked to realize I was a type one after suffering for on and off for over 6 years. I can still remember the first time I became āillā. Right after eating a huge lemon bar.
I live in Moab, Utah. Itās great, but no endocrinologists here. I try and educate myself as much as possible. Forums have been great for this.
Iām on MDI of lantus and humalog. Iām interested in a Cgm , but not a pump
at this point.
I adopted a low carb high fat diet almost immediately after being diagnosed and my last A1c was 5.8.
Hey Dean, nice to meet you!
Eric
Hi, Dean! TCOYD (Taking Control of Your Diabetes) is holding a 1-day event in SLC this weekend. vI live in Eastern Idaho and will be attending.
https://tcoyd.org/national-conferences/saltlakecity-ut-2017.html
Funny, @Dean, when my son was diagnosed I was flabbergasted. I knew it was āgeneticā and I was sure he couldnāt be diabetic since we didnāt have any in the family,
@Dean Welcome aboard! A CGM will change your life!
Welcome Dean! Before my son (now 3) was diagnosed (a year ago), neither my wifeās nor my family had a history of Type 1 diabetes either. This community will be unlike any other you will find with regards to diabetesā¦why? Because the people on this community are absolutely the most informed, intelligent (ok, maybe not me, but everyone else!!!), helpful and kind people youāll find anywhere.
My son started off on MDI / Humolog and Lantus, just like you, then, because I never slept afraid he was going to die in his sleep, we finally started him on a CGMā¦my life changed after that device was put on his body. Knowing his BG levels every 5 minutes (itās not always correct, but normally itās in the ballpark) really helped me finally be able to get a decent nights sleep. I still find myself waking up multiple times each night, but these dayās 7/10 times itās just a quick glance at the receiver, a content sigh, then back off to sleep. On the occasion his receiver indicates he may be going low, I check his sugars, then either suspend the basal insulin and/or give him juice (fortunately he sips juice from a straw without waking up). Without the CGM, I was literally checking his sugars every hour because I was so afraid that he was hypoglycemic.
Then we introduced the pump (last August), and that has really made things easier as well. As you can imaging, the .5 unit increment was WAY TOO MUCH for our, then 2 year old (they still are), so the pump (we settled on the Insulet Omnipod because we didnāt want the tubes dangling) has really made our lives easier. We install a new one ever 3 days, fill it with insulin, then just program the PDM for every meal, correction, and any basal/bolus adjustments we make can all be made on the fly, through the device.
These two devices have really made caring for our son so much easier. Itās still not easy, but weāre learning to adjust and we come here to learn everything we can to give our son every chance at a wildly successful adulthood / life.
Your A1C is GREAT! Because our house has a lot of people in it (my wife and I have 5 sons), and because heās only 3ā¦we kind of give him whatever heāll eatā¦healthy, and something not so healthy. With toddlers, you kind of have to roll with the flow and make decisions on a meal-by-meal basisā¦planning never works for our son because as soon as we planā¦he decides heās not eating X, or Y.
Hope you stick aroundā¦there are so many people year with decades of experience, and pretty much anything you need to know, someone here will probably know it.
Again, welcome!
:thick_unibrow: Pleasure to meet you
I was also LADA type 1 with zero family history diagnosed totally unexpectedly with an a1c over 11 and fasting bg at 400ā¦ i really didnāt see that one coming. Glad to have you here.
Whatās up @dean
First off, welcome. I too was dxād out of the blue, no family history, best shape of my life at 19.
I was on pump for years and recently moved to MDI with Tresiba, Afrezza, & Novolog. You should definitely give CGM a shot. It is a must for me. I use a Dex G5.