Let's think positive

[sweetlife]

Perhaps this never discussed here so raising this question with my answer to the best of my knowledge.
Q.What positive changes Diabetes made to you and your family's life?
My answer is
First of all I started beliving in God-next I came closer to my family,specially with my daughter and then I realised how lucky we are to have a medicine(read Insulin)for this system disorder else in other disease like cancer/lucimia/thelisimia etc..I would be total helpless.
I stopped complaining,not me my daugher is hardly complains may be becoz she gets maximum attentions,best healthy food like low carb,no sugar diet which is harmful for other humans in longer run.
Sorry for long answer but I could not express benifits I saw after she infected by T1 in a single line.

[davef]

I am healthier with diabetes than I was before diagnosis.

1. I gained a new perspective on life and (re)learned my priorities, no longer sweat the small stuff
2. I have lost over 60lbs
3. I have more energy and vigor
4. I eat a much healthier diet
5. I have made some very good friends on the forums

[foxl]

Definitely I am healthier. My boring diet has gained a great deal of variety, by necessity, but nonetheless I am enjoying foods MORE, without the fake-flavored fat-and-starch bags ... Fruit tastes sweeter, without the fake OR real sugar I was adding to foods ... unsalted nuts taste richer ... and spices, spicier!

I MUST EXERCISE. Therefore I do not guilty, waltzing out the door and leaving my DH to fend for himself with our three kids, ages 8, 6, and 5. And by golly, if I find to call my GF's WHILE exercising, so I do not get bored ;) , I get an in-depth conversation instead of constant interruption by aforesaid swarm o' kids! This dinstinctly enhances my mental function, which, too was notably impaired by high BGs starting about 6 months ago.

My ever-creeping lipids are now controlled not just by my dear Niacin, but an added Statin ... I feel a little safer low-carbing, for that (and yes, I know it may be a false security and maybe I will back down on those statins, sometime, just as I might be able to on the Actosplusmet).

I am being provided an opportunity to address my health ... and I am hoping the exercise and lower Bgs and close control will help me prevent progression to the Alzheimer's disease that robbed my parents of their sanity so young. So, yes, I view diagnosis as an opportunity, overall.

[Mich]

Hi Sweetlife,

I am a complete believer in being positive. I think it promotes better health too. Healthier lifestyle? Of course. But on the more thoughtful side:

Diabetes made me grow up quicker and more responsibly. There is no other choice for young diabetics. Almost by default, I became a lifelong educator I constantly meet people who want and need to know more about diabetes.

I'm proud of my husband and daughters who regularly meet people with so-called "disabilities" (visible and invisible) and see them people first.

I think I've made better decisions being diabetic. I've not tended to waste time and probably have taken risks I might not have taken otherwise.

Being a diabetic makes me know that people are deeper than what we see. I always err on the side of kindness to others.

Mich

[sweetlife]

Tx davef,foxl and mich for excellent points,btw I admit that w.out diabetes I could never find this beautiful platform filled with very nice people.
Shall appreciate feedback from others too.

[princesslinda]

I have to say that for me diabetes is a "mixed blessing," as I feel i'll live longer with it than I would have had I continued the excessive unhealthy lifestyle I had prior to diagnosis.

I also take less things for granted...family, health, friends have all become much more important to me.

Diabetes has made me well-aware of my own mortality, so I do treasure each day as the gift it is.

My diabetes has also made some of my family members more aware of how they eat, hopefully helping them avoid it themselves...or at least knowing how to better deal with it should it become part of their lives.

I think the forum has made me feel a part of something so much bigger than myself, and gives me encouragement and the chance to at times "pay it forward," helping others as I have been helped.

Yes, diabetes has tons of negatives, but there are far worse things that I could have had happen to me.

[sable_032592]

well, being diabetic has made me more aware of what i eat and what activities i do... as well as noticing how badly the world as a whole eats... my two diabetic comas (DKA and hypo) have made me realize how much we take life for granted...

when i was a teenager, both before and after i was diagnosed, i was a depressed angry person and there were times i thought about killing myself and i would say things are they came into my head... now, after having almost died, i realized how much i would have missed and how much i'd be missing...

granted, having any near-death experience can yield the same results, but i don't know if a car accident would have made me stop and see that i was being stupid with my life... when it's something within your own body that almost kills you, it's different...

i'm also more aware of what's in the food we eat...

the funniest thing i've noticed though... regular soda (pop) taste awful! the taste of pure honey or sugar is gross (the ER gave me both when i went low last weekend, yuk!)

as for my family, my father became T2 about 5 or 6 years ago and it looks like my mother is pre-diabetic (leading to T2), so by my being diabetic, i might have prevented or saved my parents from have serious health problems... since i know the signs and i have several meters, i can test those around me... by testing my father several years ago, i noticed a trend in his BS levels and the same thing is happenning with my mother...

also, one of my sister's children, her 3rd son, was drinking all the time when he was 12 months thru almost 2 years old, and he was always thirsty and his nighttime diapers were soaked, so i would check his blood sugar from time to time and his readings were normal, of course my sister got him checked by her pediatrician with full blood work... the problem was simple, the nipples on his bottles were hard to suck thru and when he was drinking with a sippy cup, he couldn't suck it out either, he had a sinus blockage, so his drinking was constant because he was only getting a little bit of liquid at a time and it built up over the day and came out at night, causing him to wet his nighttime diaper... really freaky but if i hadn't been diabetic, we wouldn't have known something was wrong...

i've also become the brain that my family comes to when it comes to medical things... any new meds, they ask me if i know the side effects, contraindications, etc... it's actually funny sometimes...