Dealing With Diabetes - Why I Put Up With It

02/20/08 General

By Corie Richter, PA, RN

Diabetes taxes my time, emotions, patience, and money. Why do I put up with it?
Because I can do three things with a chronic illness:

1. Let it take over my life
2. Go into a deep depression and wait to die
3. Control my own destiny.

I will not be defeated by an illness I have the tools to control, even though better control and a cure is probably not in the near future.

I think of my grandfather who lived to the age of 87 as an insulin-taking diabetic before medication was available for type 2 diabetes. He lived a regimented life dictated by the disease. He was a stronger man than most. 

On the other hand, my father(also a type 2 diabetic) was rather cavalier about it all. He ignored dietary precautions,  got little exercise, popped an extra pill or two when his face turned red, and died a few months after turning 50.

I was diagnosed as a young adult and have been on insulin for more than 30 years. But technology has made my life with diabetes better and easier than that of my progenitors.

I no longer need to make my schedule fit the half-life of insulin because I’ve been a “pumper” (insulin pump user) for 10 years. The device permits a continuous infusion of insulin that mimics the normal pancreatic cycle, and I program in boluses (extra doses) according to what and when I eat. Pump users don’t have to deal with needles every day or mixing insulins. Also gone is the use of pork or beef insulin; it is recombinant DNA without the worry of allergic reaction.

Some people with diabetes use glucose sensors that monitor blood sugar levels without the need to prick skin.

In addition to these treatment advances, research is being conducted with sensors to imitate normal pancreatic activity and stem cell studies may lead us to a cure. There’s hope for a bright future.