[Mick]

Nejeda--

At one point in my early teens, my mother commented to me (on my 14th birthday, no less) that I had somehow skipped my adolescence and jumped right to middle age--she said I acted more like 41 than 14, and questioned that maybe I had reversed the numbers in my age by mistake!! (lol--yeah--very funny, mom!) That's what growing up diabetic does to us, and I never saw it as something "wrong" with me. Yeah--I DID grow up fast. Yeah--I was way more mature than my peers, more serious and more responsible. I had life-and-death decisions to make several times every day while other kids my age were deciding which socks to wear... That's our fate, and I believe all of that helped me to become the person I am today--growing up diabetic certainly shaped my personality. I did manage to get my adolesence back--I became a High School teacher and have stayed with teens for the past 30 years! I also have my own kids--my youngest is just your age--and he's also counting! (haha--so am I!) But the demands of our disease at a young age makes us strong, self-disciplined, self-reliant and empathetic--and maybe somewhat stubborn too. Sound familiar? LOL! How about obsessively organized and compulsively neat...? Optional traits for our peers, survival tactics for us.

AND--at some point you will find it all coming together into a "self" which is smarter, more grateful, more confident and happier than your peers--and then you'll no longer feel apart from them, but only pity their lack of direction and motivation. You have been given a gift, and now it's up to you to open it with the care and thankfulness it deserves. You have all the tools you need, and you are becoming the best "YOU" that you can--it'll just take a while for the rest of them to catch up with you. Look at it this way--you got a head start!

I also JUST (3 days ago!) switched from Lantus to Levimir, and it's taking me a while to get my feet back on the ground and my sugars at all stable. Stick with it, be smart about it, keep writing everything down and we'll both get it figured out soon--you prolly before me...! Next--the stress factor... yeah, that's a killer. I've handled that in one major way, and that is by Meditation. I learned to do Meditation right after I finished high school, and as soon as I did, I wished I'd had it all during High School, cuz that's what got me thru college--and grad school, and... well, and life in general. Whether Yoga, or Zen, or whatever you figure out--there is some good meditation practice for you to learn and to benefit from. I urge you to research and explore that possibility.

Keep me posted on the Levemir switch, and we'll check in soon,
Michael
T1 since 1966

[SugaryOne]

I'm fifteen myself, entering sophomore year. Having been with diabetes at age four, and having my sister diagnosed with severe autism shortly after that, I definitely feel like I'm ahead of my peers.

Other kids that I have talked to at diabetes camp generally have the same thing to say about it.

It's a rough path to finding yourself, but just hang on. You'll discover that soon enough your peers will mature.

[Nejeda]

Originally Posted by Mick

Nejeda--

At one point in my early teens, my mother commented to me (on my 14th birthday, no less) that I had somehow skipped my adolescence and jumped right to middle age--she said I acted more like 41 than 14, and questioned that maybe I had reversed the numbers in my age by mistake!! (lol--yeah--very funny, mom!) That's what growing up diabetic does to us, and I never saw it as something "wrong" with me. Yeah--I DID grow up fast. Yeah--I was way more mature than my peers, more serious and more responsible. I had life-and-death decisions to make several times every day while other kids my age were deciding which socks to wear... That's our fate, and I believe all of that helped me to become the person I am today--growing up diabetic certainly shaped my personality. I did manage to get my adolesence back--I became a High School teacher and have stayed with teens for the past 30 years! I also have my own kids--my youngest is just your age--and he's also counting! (haha--so am I!) But the demands of our disease at a young age makes us strong, self-disciplined, self-reliant and empathetic--and maybe somewhat stubborn too. Sound familiar? LOL! How about obsessively organized and compulsively neat...? Optional traits for our peers, survival tactics for us.

AND--at some point you will find it all coming together into a "self" which is smarter, more grateful, more confident and happier than your peers--and then you'll no longer feel apart from them, but only pity their lack of direction and motivation. You have been given a gift, and now it's up to you to open it with the care and thankfulness it deserves. You have all the tools you need, and you are becoming the best "YOU" that you can--it'll just take a while for the rest of them to catch up with you. Look at it this way--you got a head start!

I also JUST (3 days ago!) switched from Lantus to Levimir, and it's taking me a while to get my feet back on the ground and my sugars at all stable. Stick with it, be smart about it, keep writing everything down and we'll both get it figured out soon--you prolly before me...! Next--the stress factor... yeah, that's a killer. I've handled that in one major way, and that is by Meditation. I learned to do Meditation right after I finished high school, and as soon as I did, I wished I'd had it all during High School, cuz that's what got me thru college--and grad school, and... well, and life in general. Whether Yoga, or Zen, or whatever you figure out--there is some good meditation practice for you to learn and to benefit from. I urge you to research and explore that possibility.

Keep me posted on the Levemir switch, and we'll check in soon,
Michael
T1 since 1966

You know those really corny parts of bad movies where the main characters finally realize something they should have a while back in the movie, and the heavens open up and there is a chorus of angels singing? Yeah... that kind of happened here.

I know people understand what I'm talking about, but you hit it on the head! And your advice helped.

I found with the levemir that my sugars kept dropping, and they would stay low, so I had to back off on the amount. My doctor had me on 100 units of Lantus, and now I'm on 70 units of Levemir... is that odd?

[Nejeda]

Originally Posted by SugaryOne

I'm fifteen myself, entering sophomore year. Having been with diabetes at age four, and having my sister diagnosed with severe autism shortly after that, I definitely feel like I'm ahead of my peers.

Other kids that I have talked to at diabetes camp generally have the same thing to say about it.

It's a rough path to finding yourself, but just hang on. You'll discover that soon enough your peers will mature.

What's diabetes camp like? I was never given the chance to go...

[Mick]

Nejeda--

100U of lantus??!!?? 70U of Levemir??!!?? These are hugely disproportionate amounts of insulin. There is a very well-known formula, based on body weight, for figuring insulin dosage for type 1s, and when I plug in your 70U of Levemir (never mind the 100U Lantus), I get an answer that tells me either you weigh in at about 430 lbs OR you are extraordinarily insulin resistant (or both--many 430-pounders would become insulin resistant fairly quickly). OR--even worse--your doctor just has so totally messed up your dose, and has NO idea what he's doing... well, that possibility is too frightening to think about... Just for an example of this formula--I weigh 138 lbs (give or take). For kilograns, divide by 2.2 = 63 kg. Multiply that by .5 = 32, which SHOULD be approximately your TOTAL DAILY DOSE, basal PLUS boluses. Depending on what you eat, something between half and three-quarters of that total will be for basal, and the remainder in bolus. Half of 32 = 16, which is exactly my Levemir dose. My mealtime boluses run about 3U at breakfast, 2U at lunch and 11U at dinner = 16U total bolus. Although this formula is not perfect, it can be a fairly accurate predictor of proper insulin dosage IF you have normal insulin sensitivity. I am in grave doubt that your dosing could possibly be even in the ballpark of correct. I know extremely overweight, extremely insulin-resistant type 2s who do not need quite that much insulin. Your roller-coaster readings might be an indication that your dosage is incorrect. If your correction and bolus ratios are more in the 'normal' range (1U to lower your glucose by 50mg/dl, 1U to metabolize 15gr. carbohydrates), and they seem to work as expected, this would be a strong indication that you do, in fact, have a normal sensitivity to insulin--which leaves your massive basal dose unexplainable.

Look CAREFULLY at what I have told you and PLEASE get back to me on this.
Michael

[sugarfree76]

I try to live by the philosophy ''You don't know jack until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes''

I'll share a story:

When I was first diagnosed in 6th grade, I felt sorry for myself for the first few days. I lay in the hospital bed in the pediatric ward (my mom thought being around others my own age would help). Well, I had a room all by myself.
To pass time, I counted the owls on the wallpaper. There were 714 of them. I also watched Larry King Live because nothing else was on.
At night, I would hear cries from down the hallway. The nurse told me that there was a girl down the hall that was in pain. I wanted to see her, so the nurse wheeled her down to my room, to visit. This poor little girl was in an accident that took her arm and her eye. She was in SO MUCH pain. I NEVER complained from that day forward. I will NEVER forget her face...EVER!
Everyone has it bad. Some have it even worse.
I say STFU and play the game of life. We all have our own crosses to bear!

-Michael

[Tim_Roy]

Yeah. When I was diagnosed, the kid in the bed next to mine had cancer. So while I sometimes fought with the nurses about the shot, I didn't get too down in the dumps about my problem. I was vaguely aware that my new friend Chucky might not have all that long to live...

Diabetic camp would have been a good thing. You could probably go to Clara Barton (in Mass near Camp Joslin) or find another camp much closer to you. Some of 'em are co-ed. But seriously, it's a good idea to meet some diabetics your own age. I had loads of fun at Camp Joslin when I was a kid, and they actually got my sugar under better control than I had at home.

And if you enjoy it, you can check into their CIT programs and maybe end up with a nice summer job throughout college. Diabetic camps are LOOKING for mature diabetic young adults like yourself to take care of the next batch of brats, ya know?

Here's a list of diabetic camps in Pennsylvania. I don't have to tell you how to find camps in NY or OH if that's closer to you. Good luck!

[SugaryOne]

Originally Posted by Nejeda

What's diabetes camp like? I was never given the chance to go...

It's fun, I've been going to the same one for about 9 years now. It's usually a week in the summer where you get to integrate with other kids your age with diabetes. At the camp, everyone is "normal" and "test and shots" don't get a second thought.

It's fun just to go and experience "being normal" for once.

[Nejeda]

Normalacy... that has such a different meaning now.

[Tim_Roy]

The lengths of sessions vary between and within camps.

I recall Joslin having two and three week sessions. For some odd reason my Mom wanted me there for as long as possible. A little vacation for her, perhaps.