Challenging aspects of having Diabetes:
Other than the hardship of having to take medication and all, the hardest thing for me is the knowledge that this is permanent. It would be much easier to deal with injections and other problems if there were an end in sight. Knowing that things will likely be this way all of my life is frustrating in the extreme.
Sarah, 23 years old
Frustrating changes
I hate getting my fingers pricked and I hate being late for school all the time.
Stephanie, 10 years old
I don’t get candy whenever I want
Sometimes it is hard because I don’t always get candy or sugary treats whenever I want like my brother does.
Caitlin, 14 years old
Oh yeah, you can’t have this
I can’t eat as much sweets as normal kids. I can eat them, but I just can’t eat as much. It gets really annoying when like teachers at school are passing out candy and they say, “Oh yeah, you can’t have this. You can have a pencil instead.” It’s like, well, I can have it. I just can’t have as much. It also gets really annoying needing to explain it five million times to every single teacher.
Julie, 14 years old
It gets annoying when people stare at me
It gets really annoying when people stare at me, like when I’m in the nurse’s office when they stare at me when I’m doing my blood sugar. It just gets really, really annoying.
Julie, 14 years old
The hardest is when there is something you see that you really want to eat and you can’t. It will be like every once in a while that I’ll splurge, but I don’t do it a lot. I think that is the hardest thing.
Alisha, 20 years old
Problems on a small level
I don’t think diabetes has ever gotten in the way of any major activity I wanted to participate in, though it does sometimes cause problems on a small level. For instance, it has happened several times that I was asked spontaneously to stay for a meal or overnight and couldn’t because I didn’t have my medication with me.
Sarah, 23 years old
The hardest part is the first few years
I think the hardest part for any diabetic is the first few years. Once you are diagnosed it becomes really important to pay attention to everything your body tells you. At first it is such a new thing that I found great difficulty in interpreting what my body tells me. After fifteen years, it’s second nature to me.
Mary, 25 years old
Sometimes my diabetes gets in the way of chocolate cake
Sometimes my diabetes gets in the way of chocolate cake, which can be upsetting. Aside from that, I have never had an experience where I’ve been kept from doing anything I wanted to, including going back to school for a graduate degree and traveling the world!
Mary, 25 years old
Rewarding aspects of Diabetes:
In some ways, I think having diabetes has given me better perspective about some things. I know for sure that having this condition has shown me things about myself and what I am capable of dealing with that I had no idea existed.
Sarah, 23 years old
Healthier habits
I eat more vegetables than I used to and I play more sports.
Stephanie, 10 years old
The Clara Barton Camp
I go to the Clara Barton Camp and I’ve met some friends there that also have diabetes that I can always talk to. So that helped a lot.
Julie, 14 years old
I’m taking care of myself
I used to not really care about diabetes, but now that I’m growing up, I’m taking care of myself. I try to keep my blood sugar under control because when I was little my blood sugar used to be like 400 or 600 and right now I’ve got my blood sugar under control so it’s in the 100 range or lower. It’s at the point where the doctors are rewarding me. They gave me new monitors and stuff.
Andre, 18 years old
For myself, having diabetes has shown me that I have the ability to deal with problems I couldn’t have imagined earlier in life.
Sarah, 23 years old
I’m living just as well as if I didn’t have diabetes
I wouldn’t use the word “rewarding”, but it can be very satisfying to know that I am living with diabetes and living just as well as if I didn’t have it.
Mary, 25 years old
Diabetes has always been just part of being me
I don’t think my life has changed because of the diabetes, but I do think that my life has, in a manner of speaking, grown up around it. Diabetes has been a part of my life almost as long as I can remember and living with it has always been just part of being me. I think that at this point in my life I am a much healthier person because of it. I am very conscious of both what I eat and what I do.
Mary, 25 years old