Comment by Trudy on July 30, 2011 at 7:58am

Hi Beibhinn. Your greatly improved A1c is evidence that the pump gives you far better control. Maybe you could ask your doctor to speak to your mother, or take your mother along on an appointment, to hear for herself that you are doing well. With or without your doctor's spoken approval, your A1c speaks for itself and your mother and family need to try to understand that. Keep repeating it like a broken record! And keep up the good work.

I myself go back and forth from pump to MDI because of having so few good sites for infusions, and I can tell you that my monitor tells me exactly what you are experiencing -- pumps are a great help for keeping good control.

Comment by Beibhinn Burke on July 30, 2011 at 8:19am

Thanks Trudy!I'm going to try to keep positive!xx

Comment by Theresa on July 30, 2011 at 8:31am

I think you need to do what you believe works better for your diabetes management. Sometimes when people are upset they say things that they really don't mean. I find it hard to believe that your mother would ever stop supporting you. Maybe she is just worried about you and things came out the wrong way. I like the idea of her coming along to a doctor's appt. so that she can hear for herself how wonderful you are doing. For me, finding time to exercise is so hard. I think if I had a friend to exercise with it would help me. Maybe you could ask a friend to be your workout buddy. Good luck!

Comment by Doris D on July 30, 2011 at 9:47am

You do what you think is right!!! You know how you feel and what works for you. Nothing against your mum but she dosen't know what it's like being a diabetic. Yes you probably need to exercise more but I've been a Type 1 foe 38 years (almost August 10th will make it 38 years) and I started pumping23 years ago. My family always tried to put themselves in my shoes (expecially my mom) but like my peditrisian told her long ago "You'll never know how she feels alll you can do is try but you'll never get there. I see diabetic kids all the time and have been told by the kids (and the older diabetics too) that I just don't understand and I'll admit I don't" And that came from a dr. The dr I have now wil tell you that "noone is a textbook case of diabetes. Every diabetic is different" GOOD LUCK!!!!! Ok put my 2 cents worth in now that I got it out of my system you do what you think is right.

Comment by Lila on July 30, 2011 at 11:06am

Beibhinn-
Moms mostly love their daughters but the mother-daughter relationship can be really difficult when it comes to body image issues. My mum spent most of my childhood telling me I was fat and ugly and that no man would ever want me. Lovely! Amazing I emerged from that with any self-esteem at all. In fact when I was little she used to call me a fat sow, then slapped me when I called her a bitch. That always struck me as a little unfair, after all if the shoe fit... (both ways!)

The most important thing from your point of view is that you have much better control now and that is really the most important thing!

And re your BMI, first of all BMI means nothing at all. Lots of athletes have a BMI that is overweight or even obese. BMI is pretty meaningless.

I know the quickest way to lower my own BMI would be to simply stop all my insulin. Imagine my wonderful, thin corpse in the emergency room with DKA. No thanks, I'd rather have good blood sugars and a little tummy grease.

Comment by latvianchick on July 30, 2011 at 11:26pm

Pump, injections, they will all cause weight gain. Too much insulin is stored as fat, but the opposite, not enough is death, so what does she want? To kill you?

You could do something, even a little, about the weight - going for a short walk will help several times a day and gradually building that up. I say this presuming you can walk. Cutting down the bolus and letting your sugars run a bit higher will help as well - not a lot, just see if you can do with a little bit less.

Low fat protein will help to fill you up but have no effect on your blood sugars.

Have you had your thyroid checked?

I am sorry for your problems - it really does hurt, doesn't it? But what your Mum is doing is rather destructive and is actually emotional blackmail. My Mum has done this to me on occassion too - wouldn't take me on holiday unless I had my teeth out .....

Rise above it. Your doctor must know about your pump and wether it is best for you.

Comment by mistressbinky on August 1, 2011 at 4:53pm

Find an article composed by a reputable Endo, diabetes organization, or CDE with the benefits of the pump and print it for her to read. Print at least three from three different sources. Maybe she should escort you to the doctor and state her concern.

Comment