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Jamie - Type 1 Diabetes
Diabetes Diagnosis and Treatment – Type 1
I discovered I had type 1 diabetes when I was 12 years old. I would get hungry and go to eat, but I couldn't do it. I'd look at food, and the food was completely unappetizing. So I would take a couple of bites, and then I'd immediately get up and go to the restroom. This went on for weeks. I lost 20 to 30 pounds and got really skinny. We kept going to the doctor. The first time, they thought I was trying to play hooky, because they couldn't really find anything. No temperature. So, we went back to another doctor. He runs a test, and they take me straight into the hospital ICU.
My life really changed all of a sudden. At first, I didn't accept it. I didn't want to deal with it; didn't think I had it. I really just didn't know what to do. I felt like I was a different person. Everything was just completely confusing. I had people coming in, showing me different devices. I found out I was going to have to start giving myself shots two times a day. I was going to have to start taking my blood sugars and doing all these things that were completely not normal to me. Because you're like, wait a minute. I don't want to stick myself with a needle! I don't want to have to stick myself six times a day just to figure out how much sugar is in my blood. I don't even understand what this is for. They want to put me on a diet, and I'm 12 years old! Then they took me off to this diabetes boot camp for two weeks. And in boot camp, they told me I have to do all these things, like measure how much I'm eating. They told me that I can't eat sugar anymore. You've got to be kidding me. No more sugar? I can't have the cereals that I used to have? I can't have the soda pop that I usually drink?
The potential consequences of diabetes for me in the short term are low blood sugars. If you get a very low blood sugar, you can go into a state that's like a drunken state. You can become belligerent and confused. And the bad thing is it's like you're in a black box. You know what's going on, but you can't convey the message out. You can't answer simple questions. For example, the other day and I was at a low blood sugar, and a friend asked me, “Do you want a Sprite or Coke to get out of this?” I couldn't even answer.
The long term consequences of diabetes are amputation of your legs, or heart failure… Just about anything you can think of: blindness, kidney failure. So it's something that you really have to stay tight on, and make sure that you're maintaining it well.
Before DiabetesAmerica™, I really wasn't managing my diabetes that well at all. But the real problem was that I thought that I was. But the blood sugars were just going haywire. And I really didn't know what the problem was. I was on a different type of insulin and I was taking the wrong amounts of insulin. I was taking long-acting insulin once a day. And I was taking shots of short-acting insulin four to six times a day. Every time my blood sugar would go high, I'd have to give myself a shot. And my blood sugar would go high and low all the time. I was testing my blood sugar six to eight times a day, at least. I had to keep a tight track on it to make sure that I didn't fall out from a low blood sugar. I was blacking out; I was having convulsions. And these things were happening at regular places, like at work. I was scared I'd be driving the car and have the same thing happen. It was a scary experience. I kept logs after logs after logs, but the only thing I could was really do was document the problems, because it was almost like they weren't solvable. I'd give my other doctors all this data, but they would just look at it and would tell me everything was fine. Then they would tell me to come back in six months.
I found DiabetesAmerica™ when the endocrinologist refused to prescribe my insulin until I came in for an appointment. But he couldn’t see me for a couple of days. I didn't know what to do, because I might run out of insulin. So I called my general practitioner and he says, “I can't prescribe that for you. You need to see your endocrinologist!” So I went on our insurance web-page and I started looking through the endocrinologists. And I see this DiabetesAmerica™. I'm a diabetic. This is specialized for me. I thought, “I might as well give them a call and see if maybe they can give me a bottle of insulin. And if they can get me a bottle of insulin, maybe I'll give them a try.” I called them late in the afternoon and I drove there as fast as I could after I got off work. The doctor saw me, handed me a bottle of insulin, and asked me to make an appointment for a full evaluation. I've been seeing them ever since.
DiabetesAmerica™ Diabetes Treatment
At my first full visit to DiabetesAmerica™, they changed my treatment system. They adjusted the insulin. I thought, “That's crazy. My other doctor had it set.” But things started to level out. I still had low blood sugars early in the morning, so they had me sit down with two educators. They changed the systems in which I eat. The previous endocrinologist had me on a food exchange system. The educators said it was too difficult. You don't need to deal with that - just count the carbs. It's so easy. They told me all these little tidbits of information that I had no idea about. And it was wonderful. It was truly wonderful.
DiabetesAmerica™ is different from my previous care providers because it's more tailored to my specific needs. And everything is all in one spot. I go in, I get to see dietitians. I get my eyes checked. I get everything here in one place. And it's all specifically tailored for me. At my other doctor, it wasn't that way. I had to go a different building for blood work. I even had to go to a different building to see a dietitian. I had to go a different building to see an eye doctor. I had to go everywhere else to see everybody else. Why do you have to run all around the place when you can just go to one simple place to get these things done? I don't have to take another day off work to go get these other appointments made and met. So it makes a tremendous difference.
The facilities at DiabetesAmerica™ are absolutely outstanding. They have a wonderful waiting area that has Internet access and all sorts of books and other materials that you can read while you're waiting to be seen. I get a lot more time at DiabetesAmerica™ than what I used to get at my previous doctors. I would say a visit to DiabetesAmerica™…I'll spend at least an hour or maybe sometimes a little bit more. And it's because I'm going in and they are taking care of a couple of different things. I'm usually seeing between one and two different people, usually a doctor and then an educator. At my other doctor, I'd go in, I'd spend about 30 minutes and it would be just be boom, done. Now that is quicker, but the treatment just wasn't as efficient, because I would have to make other appointments.
Having just one co-pay is a tremendous financial benefit. I don't make a lot of money. And I like to be able to save money with that being the case. Being able to go to one doctor, which is really three or four, makes a huge difference because you're going in there, you're paying once and you see everybody. It saves hundreds of dollars a year.
Since becoming a patient of DiabetesAmerica™, my health has essentially made a 180. My care went from being completely horrid, off the charts, highs in the 300's, and lows in the 30’s, all throughout the day. I had convulsions. I went from not having any control to a completely regimented control. And a more enlightened way of being able to eat and do other things that I didn't even know I was able to do.
DiabetesAmerica™ has made me feel completely empowered in managing my control. They told me how to eat things that I didn't even know how to eat before, like sushi. Things you don't eat all in one sitting. You just browse and have a piece here and there. Or to go out and hang out with friends and have pretzels, just on a whim. Before, I really didn't do that. I ate only at specific times of the day. And it did not change whatsoever. After having that change, it was just wonderful because I'm able to go do whatever I want. And feel like a normal person. I don’t have to deal with the strict regimens.
I think the staff at DiabetesAmerica™ is tremendous. I think that each person here adds a different, unique power and great wealth of knowledge that they have to offer to the organization itself. Some of the educators know how to take care of cholesterol and things like that with particular foods that you would eat. Others are more specialized in dealing with pumps. Others are more up to date with the newest technology. And all the doctors are just tremendous. They monitor you. They change the settings on your pumps and they get everything all together the way it really needs to be.
Diabetes Care - Cutting Edge Technology
The medical care at DiabetesAmerica™ has truly impressed me. They're always at the cutting edge of technology. When I first started coming here I said I would not get a pump until the pump can read my blood sugars. Sure enough, DiabetesAmerica™ was able to find one of those pumps in a testing program. They were able to get a continual blood sugar monitor on me. Just a couple of weeks ago, they showed me another pump that doesn't even have tubes - you can hide it completely and nobody can see it.
The education program here has also impressed me tremendously. They show you how to use your pump. When I first started, I was attached to the educators because I didn't know what to do. I've got this new thing on me and I've got no idea how to operate it. But they took me through everything. Now I can set my pump and I can do everything at the click of a button.
The nutrition program at DiabetesAmerica™ strongly impacted me. They showed me how to eat different types of food and what they would do to me. For example, foods like avocados would raise my HDL which would lower my LDL, the blood cholesterol levels. They showed me flaxseed in my oatmeal might help me out in the mornings just to get the extra Omega 3's. It was really a cornerstone in the way that I live my life. And the education that I got in the carb counting was a tremendous change from the way that I was doing the food exchange program. It was wonderful. For example, you pick up a thing of cheese you're like, “What is this? One protein, one fat, one milk? What am I having here?” So you kind of just guess. With the carb counting, I was really able to take what I was doing more straight, full on and completely control myself.
DiabetesAmerica™ also showed me how I could make simple lifestyle changes, like exercising, to improve my diabetes management. Before DiabetesAmerica™, I really didn't go to the gym at all. I just figured that I got enough exercise running around at work which was completely inappropriate. Now I’m going to the gym four times a week and I'm running two miles a day. And it's really made a great change in my life. And it's all because they just tell me, “Hey, you do this; you can lower your cholesterol. You do this; you have less of a chance of a heart attack. These things are going help your body be stronger and help you be stronger.”
What I was the most afraid of are the things that most diabetics would be concerned about. I was afraid of leg amputations, I was afraid of going blind. I was concerned about having a heart attack because if you look at the top causes of death, like heart attacks and strokes - they can be associated with diabetes. I was afraid of going into a low blood sugar while driving the car and getting in a car wreck. Before DiabetesAmerica™ I was lost, struggling. Now that I've found DiabetesAmerica™ I really feel like I've found a home because it's got everything that I need, right there. You can handle this disease one of two ways; you can ignore it or you can tackle it head on.
If I could thank DiabetesAmerica™, I would want to thank DiabetesAmerica™ for the care and the attention that they give me. I would to thank them for the extensive work that they put in each day and night. I'd like to thank them for the ability to be able to call them 24 hours a day and get help. I would like thank them for being so innovative and ahead in technology. There are not enough things to thank them for. I could thank them for my diet, the way my lifestyle has changed, the reason that I'm exercising now. Because it's truly all because of them. So essentially I thank DiabetesAmerica™ for my life.
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