I've been asked to speak to a children's diabetic support group

[Pampered_Princesses]

Hi, my name is Miranda. I'm 26 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 10. I am from a small town so growing up I was the ONLY diabetic around! I have been asked to come back to my old high school and talk to a support group for Type 1 diabetics and their parents. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I should say??? I need help!! There are only 4 kids with diabetes I think in my old town, but I want to make a big impression on them that they will remember. This is a BRAND new support group and this will be the FIRST meeting and I am the first speaker! Here are some things that I emailed the lady who is starting it....




Thanks so much for asking me to speak to the kids, I really feel honored! Hopefully I can get something good together that they will remember, if I change just one kids life i will feel like a hero! I had a REALLY tough time especially in high school and after. I guess I wasn't extremely bad in high school because my parents forced me to check my blood and since they would see the results I HAD to take my insulin...at least sometimes. But I was really bad about it. I remember the worst things was my parents MAKING me check my blood or I wasn't allowed to drive..which I realize now was the right thing to do! I hated my parents when I was in high school, I didn't see it was important to take care of myself. I just knew that someday even if I did take care of myself that I would go blind and have to have my legs amputated(that has always been the scarriest thing to me)! So I didn't think it mattered if I took care of myself or not. I am extremely lucky that I never had any perment damage to my body when I was younger..I kind of thought I was invinsible like nothing bad would happen to me then, as I'm sure the other kids do. I was extremly thin but I didn't not take my insulin to stay skinny I just didn't care, felt like I didnt have time, and most of all I didn't want ANYONE else to know I was diabetic. I never told anyone and wouldn't wear a medic alert ID which drove my parents NUTS! I was a cheerleader and played soccer so I was very active and sometimes when I did take my insulin I would have lows, but my closest friends always knew what to do. So it is VERY important that SOMEONE close to them knows what to do and how to handle it!

When I was out of high school I had one very bad trip to the ER and I almost didnt' make it, my blood tests showed fatal, but I pulled through and my mom and Dr MADE me to go rehab for about a week which I HATED! I would have rather died than go no living the way I was I just didnt' know how to stop.

I never wanted to have kids...or at least that's what I always said becuse deep down I thought there was NO way I could ever actually have one. I didn't think my body would ever be healthy enough to support another life. I owe it all to my husband! Without him I don't know where I would be today! He literally MADE me take care of myself or he threatened to leave me...if he hadn't I may not even be here today. He made me believe that I could do it when no one else could. And now I have 2 beautiful girls! Another thing that helped me was I found a new Dr in KC who is awsome and I got the insulin pump which is the BEST thing I ever did! I will definately recommend the pump to the kids, it truly is the best. It makes life SO much easier. I was going to a Dr in Columbia my whole life who NEVER wanted me to get a pump..he was set on his 2 shots a day and would not think about doing anything else. I didnt realize what a 'bad' dr he was until I found another one so I will be interested to see if any of the kids use him!

Anyways, sorry or rambling I just kind of wanted to share some of my story with you! Oh and I was 10 when I was diagnosed by the way. My blood was 850 and I spent a couple days in ICU in columbia and then 2 weeks in the hospital. My parents also sent me to a diabetic camp in columbia every summer which was great because it gave me a chance to meet other kids going through the same thing. I dreaded it every year and hated my parents for making me go but I loved it every year and it's something that I still remember as if it were yesterday. I'm not sure if they still have it anymore but I'll try to find out and see if I can get any info! Oh and I thought about seeing if I could find any of my old pictures...cheerleading, high school, whatever. That way they can see me then so maybe that would help them relate? If you have any questions or think of anything you want me to tell them let me know!

[Brensdad]

You might want to repost this over in the parents of children with type 1. You're more likely to get a big response.

[nibseysgirl]

Hi, my name is Miranda. I'm 26 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 10. I am from a small town so growing up I was the ONLY diabetic around! I have been asked to come back to my old high school and talk to a support group for Type 1 diabetics and their parents. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I should say??? I need help!! There are only 4 kids with diabetes I think in my old town, but I want to make a big impression on them that they will remember. This is a BRAND new support group and this will be the FIRST meeting and I am the first speaker! Here are some things that I emailed the lady who is starting it....




Thanks so much for asking me to speak to the kids, I really feel honored! Hopefully I can get something good together that they will remember, if I change just one kids life i will feel like a hero! I had a REALLY tough time especially in high school and after. I guess I wasn't extremely bad in high school because my parents forced me to check my blood and since they would see the results I HAD to take my insulin...at least sometimes. But I was really bad about it. I remember the worst things was my parents MAKING me check my blood or I wasn't allowed to drive..which I realize now was the right thing to do! I hated my parents when I was in high school, I didn't see it was important to take care of myself. I just knew that someday even if I did take care of myself that I would go blind and have to have my legs amputated(that has always been the scarriest thing to me)! So I didn't think it mattered if I took care of myself or not. I am extremely lucky that I never had any perment damage to my body when I was younger..I kind of thought I was invinsible like nothing bad would happen to me then, as I'm sure the other kids do. I was extremly thin but I didn't not take my insulin to stay skinny I just didn't care, felt like I didnt have time, and most of all I didn't want ANYONE else to know I was diabetic. I never told anyone and wouldn't wear a medic alert ID which drove my parents NUTS! I was a cheerleader and played soccer so I was very active and sometimes when I did take my insulin I would have lows, but my closest friends always knew what to do. So it is VERY important that SOMEONE close to them knows what to do and how to handle it!

When I was out of high school I had one very bad trip to the ER and I almost didnt' make it, my blood tests showed fatal, but I pulled through and my mom and Dr MADE me to go rehab for about a week which I HATED! I would have rather died than go no living the way I was I just didnt' know how to stop.

I never wanted to have kids...or at least that's what I always said becuse deep down I thought there was NO way I could ever actually have one. I didn't think my body would ever be healthy enough to support another life. I owe it all to my husband! Without him I don't know where I would be today! He literally MADE me take care of myself or he threatened to leave me...if he hadn't I may not even be here today. He made me believe that I could do it when no one else could. And now I have 2 beautiful girls! Another thing that helped me was I found a new Dr in KC who is awsome and I got the insulin pump which is the BEST thing I ever did! I will definately recommend the pump to the kids, it truly is the best. It makes life SO much easier. I was going to a Dr in Columbia my whole life who NEVER wanted me to get a pump..he was set on his 2 shots a day and would not think about doing anything else. I didnt realize what a 'bad' dr he was until I found another one so I will be interested to see if any of the kids use him!

Anyways, sorry or rambling I just kind of wanted to share some of my story with you! Oh and I was 10 when I was diagnosed by the way. My blood was 850 and I spent a couple days in ICU in columbia and then 2 weeks in the hospital. My parents also sent me to a diabetic camp in columbia every summer which was great because it gave me a chance to meet other kids going through the same thing. I dreaded it every year and hated my parents for making me go but I loved it every year and it's something that I still remember as if it were yesterday. I'm not sure if they still have it anymore but I'll try to find out and see if I can get any info! Oh and I thought about seeing if I could find any of my old pictures...cheerleading, high school, whatever. That way they can see me then so maybe that would help them relate? If you have any questions or think of anything you want me to tell them let me know!
Miranda,
Thank you so much for your share. I am new here as well as new to Diabetes. My daughter is 11 and has just (1 wk ago) diagnosed with Pre Diabetes and its anticipated with her numbers going up each time we test that it wont be long b4 we are on the road to insilin as well. My daughter is doing very well with all of this and has taken it very seriously but is a bit "look at me ...but Mom dont tell anyone ..I think they said that is the honeymoon period. We had our first education today and have seen the endo Dr twice so far. We are quite happy with her and her team. We are blessed to be able to have a early diagnosis (with really no clear cut symptoms but a very smart pedi who took a peek at her numbers "just on a hunch" Thank GOD. My daughters numbers have been up and down but no higher than 238. We have been told we are very lucky to have it happen this way vs the ways we have heard about in the last week since diagnosis and also what you went through. I am very grateful..Scared but so very relieved that I do not feel the least bit alone even though I dont know a soul where I live(we just moved from FL to GA in Oct) ...My daughter is looking forward to joining a support group, checking out some online chats for kids and all the websites we have talked about, we have a long road ahead of us but TG we found help even when we didnt know we needed it and IT WAS A LIFESAVER...WOW...brings tears to my eyes just thinking about if it had been another way another time...
Anyways, I am the one rambling now..(LOL) good luck with your speaking engagement and I bet you will be awesome..Stay in touch and please if you have anything to share that I can pass on to my daughter( or use myself) please feel free to PM me or look for me on myspace or AIM or YAHOO...
Best of luck..
Lisa

[GaPeach]

Miranda,

First, I would share all the positive things that you can such as remembering that your child is a child with diabetes that must be cared for, however, diabetes is not your child. Diabetes must be managed, it does not have to control.

Next, I would share almost word for word your post. Parents need to understand how you thought - especially as a teen.

Be sure to share what you feel in hindsight your parents should have been firm with you concerning (i.e. testing before driving, carb counts and insulin).

I know that if you share from your heart, it will be perfect.

[Ellen]

I love hearing how far you've come - bravo.

Are there going to be children in the audience? If so, I would not speak about the fear of complications, amputations,going blind etc. and all you did that was not good for your health. What if there's someone newly diagnosed there who doesn't have those fears? Why instill them? A support group, to me, should be to support, empower, and ultimately give hope. If it's solely the parents, that's a different story.