I never truly knew how diabetes effected people until someone very close to me was diagnosed with diabetes within the last year. So I set out on this project to meet the people who have to deal with it every day, their are no breaks for them, it is something that has to be thought about and taken care of constantly. These are just seven of the 18.8 million people in America who have been diagnosed with diabetes.
The normal blood glucose level (tested while fasting) for non-diabetics, should be between 70 and 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).
Jeralee was diagnoes with type two (non insulin dependent) diabetes within this last year. Her eyesight had been making some abnormal changes, when she went to the eye doctor they told her she should go get tested for diabetes, and sure enough the test came out positive. She knew of no one in her family who had diabetes, but after telling her three brothers about her diabetes she found out that all of them were on the same medicine for diabetes that she was being prescribed meaning all of them to be either borderline diabetics or in denial of their situation. During the first part after being diagnosed while getting her diet under control, her eye sight was changing constantly and her body lost a lot of weight. Within just months of learning she had diabetes she was able to go off the medicine that she had been prescribed for her diabetes as long as she keeps up her diet, in other words she worked so hard that she had basically reversed her diabetes. The one food she misses the most is sour dough bread.
Tiffany, who is now twenty-five years old was diagnosed with type two diabetes when she was two years old. Her mom noticed the signes when her little girl was begging to drink more water constantly. Tiffany shared with me that for a while in her life she struggled to maintain her blood sugar level, basically out of denial. A couple years after graduating from high school she had diabetic retinopathy (which is what causes those with diabetes to go blind) and had to have surgery, although it didn't impair her vision this experience and being an expecting mother a few years later, is what made her realize that she needed to take better care of herself and maintain her diabetes. She now wears an insulin pump to help her to maintain healthy and to make sure she takes her insulin when needed. If she were here right now she would tell you that diabetes affect EVERY aspect of your life. Tiffany is a mother, wife, dancer, and cosmetologist.
Alex has had type one diabetes for twenty one years. He was diagnosed at two years old. After losing a lot of weight and being extremely thirsty all the time while on a road trip his mother noticed something was high and tested his blood sugar levels, they were too high to even account for on the test strip. He got an insulin pump eleven years ago to help him better take care of his diabetes, his insulin pump is pink :) Before that his parents would have to come to school to give him shots, in which he got about five times a day. When he was younger Alex blood levels got so low that it caused him to have seizures a couple of times, this was the cause of a defective pump that was not giving him enough insulin.
Krissy is now eight years old and was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was three. Her mother noticed the signes of her being extra thirsty all the time and needing to go to the bathroom, she knew those signs due to having a sister (Tiffany) and a father who are diabetic. Krissy use to have to take five injections a day, and now has an insulin pump. Each year in school when Krissy gets a new teacher they have to talk with the teacher to make sure she knows what Krissy can eat, she also has an aid at school who checks her blood sugar level throughout the day. Her mom said that diabetes effects everything, you constantly have to be thinking about it and making sure her levels are okay. "You can maybe go two hours with-ought worrying about it", and then you have to check on her and make sure everything is okay.
Angelina is a twelve year old girl who found out two years ago that she is type one diabetic. She was eating and drinking a lot, but also losing a lot of weight, that's when her mom decided to take her to the doctors when she was diagnosed with diabetes. Two of the foods she wish she could eat more of is chocolate and dough-nuts. She gives herself insulin shots about five times a day. She says that when her levels are too low she gets shaky, hungry, and can't remember things. When she is too high she it causes her to be in a bad mood and have headaches. Diabetes effects her life constantly because she can't just eat whenever she wants to, she has to check or take insulin first. Since Angelina cheers for 3 or 4 hours a day sometimes she has to bring food and her insulin to practice.
Glen who is now 81 found out at age 60 that he had type two diabetes. He claims that in the beginning he was in denial because he didn't feel like he had a problem, so he didn't take care of it. He takes 5 different medicines for diabetes and also has to take some high blood pressure medication because of his diabetes. Not only does he have to worry about taking care of his diabetes, but he says that it makes other health problems worse. Their is nothing in your body that diabetes doesn't effect. Both him and his wife (pictured below) have Diabetic Neuropathy which cause severe pains in your feet at night that come and go, and also numbness in your feet.
Anne and her husband both have diabetes, she makes sure to take care of the both of them and make sure their blood sugar levels ar where they are suppose to be. She has had part of her toe amputated because of diabetes. One of the signs of her oncoming diabetes was the burning and stinging she could feel in her feet. She worries about losing her eye sight because her sister when bling from diabetes.
The above picture is a bottle of blood test strips and insulin. That bottle of insulin come only about a quater of the way full and costs $100.
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