Wednesday, February 10, 2010

What exactly does that mean?

This article about a T1 girls death is very upsetting. For MANY reasons.... "DID NOT TAKE CARE OF HERSELF" CLICK TO READ THE STORY

So what exactly do people mean when they say someone with Diabetes "didnt take care of themselves" ???? This poor girl was dx'd with Diabetes at a TERRIBLE age for change...age 13. She died at age 26.....Diabetes complications killed her after 13 years? She didnt take care of herself? Meaning what? Was she a terrible carb counter?She ate Cheetos every day? She never brushed her teeth? Never went to the doctor? Didnt TRY to manage her disease? Was she DEPRESSED? She forgot to take her shots? She chose NPH as her treatment instead of newer insulins? What does "did not take care of herself" mean exactly?

She didnt work out every day? She had "brittle" Diabetes and couldn't avoid extremes? She ate french fries? Ice cream? She laid around all day and smoked cigerettes? Did she do drugs? What exactly does her mother mean when she says her daughter didnt take care of herself??!! PLEASE DO EXPLAIN!!

7 comments:

Joanne said...

Strange, I wish they would have elaborated.

One question I have about what you said (and I'm not trying to be confrontational about it, I truly want your opinion and I know how things sometimes get misunderstood when it's typed out instead of spoken), is about choosing the NPH as treatment. We use NPH with Elise (had to as when she was first dx we needed to dilute both types of her insulin and we were told you couldn't dilute Lantus), and aside from the strictness of it, we manage Elise's diabetes with quite a bit of success.

Now that we're off diluting the NPH, we've thought about moving to Lantus, but things are going pretty well right now with her numbers, so I say if it ain't broke...

I'd love to hear what you have to say about NPH. I know pretty much EVERYBODY out there hates it, but mostly because of the schedule thing. What's your take?

Kelly said...

After posting my post, I knew you would question my talking about NPH! :)

My Dad lived on NPH for over 30 years....it worked for HIM....what I meant by mentioning the NPH is that SO many people think fast acting, pumps or carb counting is the ONLY way to go. I disagree entirely...everyone has their own lifestyle and what works great for one may not for another. I, for example, could have great results from just one shot of Lantus a day if I managed it right....My thinking is, maybe this girl in the article was on one shot a day. Maybe her MOM thought that was "not taking care of herself"...but MOM didnt have to live her daughters life either, maybe a set eating plan was right for a girl who's 13....

I wish articles (or people) would define what makes a good diabetic. Really. Who's to say!!?? Everyone's definition of taking care of oneself is different. Some restrict carbs. Some avoid fattening foods. Some dont eat red meat or processed foods. Some eat a set amount of carbs, some excersize like feins and some dont. I think its sad that ANYONE judges anothers self "care" habits.....

NPH? Works GREAT for alot of KIDS especially. Sorry Joanne, I should have defined what I meant by the NPH comment! I'm with YA! If NPH works for you...dont change it!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe the mother is saying "she didn't take care of herself"....the girl was 13, where was her mom? Was her mom involved in this process? Obviously not. Did she take responsibility for making sure her daughter was taking care of herself? NO! I'm sorry but as far as I am concerned, yes, that poor girl, but her mother deserves the pain she is going through. If she wasn't involved in her daughters diabetes, what makes anyone think she is actually grieving the loss of her daughter?

Joanne said...

Gotcha... no prob! I still feel like such a newbie at this and wonder if I might be missing out on some vital information! I love hearing about other people's points of views and experiences.

Thanks for responding and I understand exactly what you mean.

phonelady said...

You two are so right what defines ones not taking care of theirselves . and yes what works for me may not work for someone else . I love my humalog and will not change just because some dr wants me too . Oh well thanks kelly and joanne you two are super women and moms .

Shamae (Ghost written by Loren her hubby) said...

I just hate generalizations. I know I probably drive people nuts because I'm such a curious soul. But when I have a conversation with people I tend to ask a lot of "dig a little deeper questions" because the surface answers just so satisfy me. (lol ask Wendy. She has been the recipeint of my endless questions recently.) I like to know stories behind stories, etc. Like this girl. I want to know more about her. 13 years seems awfully quick to die from complications. Hmmmm

Lynnea said...

Thanks for this post. I am like you and wonder what it means to be a "bad diabetic". I read a lot from the facebook page mentioned in the news article. The last couple years of this girls life were horrific. But I found a clue into her management prior to all of her complications...the mother writes:

"She was 13 when she was diagnosed and she wanted to pretend she didn't have it. The worse thing she did was not do her blood sugars. She would go by "how she felt" and give herself insulin. She'd go days sometimes without checking it."

This statement means a lot to me. I can't imagine going days, let alone more than 4-5 hours without checking our sons blood sugar.

The family hopes that this girls story will educate people to what diabetes does to a person that doesn't care for themselves. I believe her story would work well with teenagers diagnosed or anyone reluctant to care for themselves.