My brother was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 13. I remember that week like it was yesterday..
I was in a play called "Hello Dolly", and for those are you who are familiar with it, its in a time period that had lots of puffy skirts, big hats, and pig poofy sleeves. So as you can imagine.. it usually took us a while to get our costumes on and our makeup done.
That week my brother had been staying home from school because he had become abnormally tired and he was throwing up all the time. Every day it seemed to get worse no matter what medicine my mother gave him so she decided to take him to the doctor.
When the doctor examined him, out of instinct she felt that she should take his blood suger and it was over 800. (An average person should be around 100). So he was sent strait to the Emergency Room.
During that time we were having our final dress rehersal for our play, meanwhile I had no idea what was going on with my brother at all. I just thought he was home with the flu, until my dad called me and told me that he needed to pick me up immediately. To say the least I was an absolute wreck, but thankfully my directors were very understanding.
He ended up staying in the ICU for a few days, and was in the hospital for about a week before he was able to come home. Now he has a pump which is perminatley in his system. Basically its a tube that goes under the skin that gives him insulin so he's able to have food without going too high or too low... We found out that he had actually showed signs of having it, long before we even could've guessed. We always knew something was wrong, because he wet the bed until very very late in his life and we knew that wasnt normal.
Its hard to see my brother the way he is sometimes. He hates drinking diet soda but he's forced to because normal soda has way too much sugar in it to make him take. He's always having to think about his health nowadays, and he always has that nagging thing in his mind that tells him that if he doesnt take care of himself he could die.
I just wish that he didnt have to deal with such a thing. He wanted to possibly go into the military when he was older, but now because of that, it isnt even an option.
I know your brothers situation is totally different from mine. He is lucky not to have gone into a diabetic coma with a glucose reading of 800. It is very hard being diabetic especially if you like to eat. I use to be diabetic. Many people ask me even doctors how is that possible. Well I became diabetic because I had hypertension and I was slightly obese. The doctor at the time told me that if I lost weight that the diabetes would go away and sure enough it did. Now I am afraid to get too heavy I weighed about 234 pounds then so I try to keep my weight below 200. It's even hard doing that because I love to eat. When I was first diagnosed I was sent to the nutrition class twice because I was not comprehending what I could not eat and eating in portions. Like I said your brothers situation is very different a appears to be more serious. Tell him to keep his chin up and eat right and take his medicine. I know easier said than done. I test myself every now and then just to make sure it does not come back even if I am under 200 pounds. I do understand the frustration and worry.
yeah my brother has the genetic form of diabetes because he doesnt really struggle with his weight, and actually when he was diagnosed he was very very thin.
Yea your brother is an amazing kid. I remember when we went to the Call he had to check it quite a bit I felt so bad for him ya know. It hurts to see your loved one's suffer.