Weddings and Diagnosis - Cathy van Oudtshoom

Weddings and Diagnosis

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It's great to have found this site - I have so many questions about diabetes.

My name's Cathy, I'm 28 years old and was diagnosed about four months ago - the day after we moved house and six weeks before our wedding! I had all the usual symptoms, including feeling awful and losing heaps of weight while eating everything I could lay my hands on. I finally worked out what was wrong (by answering an Internet questionnaire) and took myself off to the doctor. There I rated off the scale on her monitor, so she took a blood test and sent me home for the weekend - because she couldn't be bothered coming in on a Saturday to check the results!

I spent the next two days carrying furniture up stairs as we were moving. On Monday morning I was told to take myself smartly off to the hospital with a BSL of 45. At first diabetes was partly a novelty - lots of attention, new gadgets and plenty to learn. Then I was just so busy with the wedding and honeymoon that I gave it only cursory attention, and figured BSLs of 14 or 15 were fine on a regular basis. Besides (and this is awful to admit, but it's true) it kept my weight down for the wedding and I could eat pretty much what I wanted.

Then about two weeks ago I was really careless, and went out to dinner without my insulin - but never-the-less ate a huge meal, including two pieces of chocolate mud cake. I took my usual night dose once I got home, plus a few units of short-acting hoping to counteract the fact that I'd forgotten at dinner. Despite this, I woke the next morning at three feeling hot, sweaty and nauseous with a BSL of 30. No ketones (lucky, I guess) but felt like I had an enormous hangover for the next three days. It gave me a bit of a scare, and I decided I'd better start being sensible.

But it is hard to break habits - especially constant bad eating. Half the problem is that I'm so new to all this, that I have to be so terribly 'good' (including weighing and looking everything up) to get BSLs in the normal range. They seem to yo-yo up and down like mad. And high levels don't usually affect me too much (I know they're doing damage but I feel OK) - while hypos are awful! I've also put on about 5 kilos (in the last 2 months - thanks to insulin!) and find my insulin requirements have changed because of that. I'm waiting for the honeymoon period to end - which I'm told is likely to be soon. And my parents have elected themselves to the food police - not actually commenting on what I eat but being completely unsympathetic to any out-of-the-ordinary levels - after all, why would I be so childish as to eat badly when I know it'll cause problems? (This from two rotund people who are eating chocolate in front of the TV and vowing they'll diet tomorrow!).

My husband, however, behaves impeccably, and helps keep me sane. I know that diabetes is not the worst thing in the world to have - after all, when I was first diagnosed they put me in the emergency ward with a man in the late stages of bowel cancer - but it's still confusing, irritating and tedious. It also makes the future look a bit more complicated - especially the ideas of kids and travel. Anyhow, it's nice to have found somewhere to chat (and vent) and ask all those questions that come up when I read conflicting information. Bye for now, but expect to see plenty of me in the forum!