Type 1 Diabetes and Catholic Inspiration

[mamagoose]

Hello,

I am struggling with type 1 diabetes. It is a chronic disease with an overwhelming, at times, treatment. At least 5 blood glucose readings a day, carb counting, and delivering insulin at the right time and with the right dosage. There is a lot of failure. I try to keep myself in a very tight range, but I seem to keep messing up. I want to get my blood sugars really stable and low, as normal as possible, to get pregnant. It’s hard.

So I am looking for scriptures, prayers, stories, saints, anything to help me keep at it.

Thank you!

 

[Latias]

Hello,

I am struggling with type 1 diabetes. It is a chronic disease with an overwhelming, at times, treatment. At least 5 blood glucose readings a day, carb counting, and delivering insulin at the right time and with the right dosage. There is a lot of failure. I try to keep myself in a very tight range, but I seem to keep messing up. I want to get my blood sugars really stable and low, as normal as possible, to get pregnant. It’s hard.

So I am looking for scriptures, prayers, stories, saints, anything to help me keep at it.

Thank you!

Fortunately, I have not experienced morbidity yet. As for me, I usually test about 6 times a day, and I use fast acting insulin to immediately correct ANY blood sugar above 100 (without compensating for a meal) in addition to compensating for meals, so my blood sugar stays around 80-110 most of the time.

I do not know if there is any Catholic inspiration I could give you. But there is a good evidence from molecular biology and epidemiology that chronically high blood sugars will lead to morbidity (I understand this because of my academic background in molecular biology and the sciences in general). It is not that hard, you are not dealing with a physiological addition such as smoking tobacco.

Regarding “Catholic inspiration”, the reason why I manage my blood sugar is surprising secular and uncatholic. I do not find much utility in suffering from the morbidity of the disease in the future, so I have to manage my blood sugar. I do not want to suffer, nor do I want to “offer it up”! But my remarks have much less to do with flippant treatment of the Catholic teaching’s of suffering than expressing my visceral fear of suffering.

---

Hopefully, you will find something more inspiring than my Gregory House like perspective on human suffering. You have to look at Catholics who lived after Banting’s discovery.

 

[mamagoose]

Fortunately, I have not experienced morbidity yet. As for me, I usually test about 6 times a day, and I use fast acting insulin to correct any blood sugar above 100 (without compensating for a meal), so my blood sugar stays around 80-110 most of the time.

That’s amazing.

 

[Latias]

That’s amazing.

I thought you were just a “Catholic”, not a neophyte.

I apologize for what I said in my previous post that could be considered abrasive. You should just ignore that. I am apologizing because I realize that you are a neophyte, and your faith may be sensitive (mine was) and I do not want to damage your ardor which is quite invaluable.

As for me, I just feel numb and lukewarm. I feel like that I do not have the ability to please God with my sincere efforts and I often miss Mass. I am afraid of my own capacity to suffer both physically and psychologically (but diabetes management has little to do with this).

The price for this aggressive management is a higher than average number of lows (perhaps an average of 1.4 times a weak for a reading < 55), but I do not do anything imprudent such as injecting myself with fast acting insulin before I do to sleep using using > 10 IU of glusine. I do not eat many carbs too.

---

Well, now that I am thinking clearly, I was anxious about T1DM during my first Communion, but the spirit assuaged those concerns.

 

[Bonnie]

Hi Mamagoose -

I’m a T2 diabetic. Over a year ago I “discovered” St. Pauline Visintainer, the patron saint of diabetics. I’ve been asking for her prayers & help daily ever since. You can get information about her from saintpaulinecenter.org. I don’t know if they ever fixed their e-mail, so you may have to write snail mail - Saint Mother Pauline Visintainer Religious Foundation • P.O. 115, 1150 Chestnut Street • Kulpmont, Pa. 17834
or call them at 570-373-3350.

I am not able to take Metformin & with her help I’ve gotten my BG lower with diet alone. Something I had not thought possible 2 years ago!

 

[TheHolyTrinity]

Hello,

I am struggling with type 1 diabetes. It is a chronic disease with an overwhelming, at times, treatment. At least 5 blood glucose readings a day, carb counting, and delivering insulin at the right time and with the right dosage. There is a lot of failure. I try to keep myself in a very tight range, but I seem to keep messing up. I want to get my blood sugars really stable and low, as normal as possible, to get pregnant. It’s hard.

So I am looking for scriptures, prayers, stories, saints, anything to help me keep at it.

Thank you!

I have a friend who is type 1, her solution to keeping her blood sugars stable is exercise. She states that it burns off the excess carbs and stabilizes her blood sugar levels therefore not requiring large doses of insulin. Worth a mention as you are struggling. It may pay to discuss with your doctor about the options of a pancreatic transplant at some stage.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer is the patron Saint of ordinary life.

I hope things go well for you.

God bless
THT

 

[mamagoose]

Hi Mamagoose -

I’m a T2 diabetic. Over a year ago I “discovered” St. Pauline Visintainer, the patron saint of diabetics. I’ve been asking for her prayers & help daily ever since. You can get information about her from saintpaulinecenter.org. I don’t know if they ever fixed their e-mail, so you may have to write snail mail - Saint Mother Pauline Visintainer Religious Foundation • P.O. 115, 1150 Chestnut Street • Kulpmont, Pa. 17834
or call them at 570-373-3350.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer is the patron Saint of ordinary life.

Thank you for these suggestions. This was the sort of feedback I was hoping for. I am somewhat of a type 1 veteran. I have had the disease for over 20 years and I have no complications. My struggle is to keep my blood sugars between 80-120, with no lows and never higher, even after meals. I have been getting up to 140 after eating which is OK for type 1s, but not for pregnant type 1s according to my OB. And I have had some lows down to the 60s too. Also bad for a future baby.

Pancreatic transplants have major downsides. I am in good enough control that I’d rather not go down that path.

So I was hoping for suggestions on scriptures to read, prayers to say, and saints to ask for intercessions to help keep me motivated and not medical advice (I have a fantastic endocrinologist and diabetes educator for that).

 

[mamagoose]

It is not that hard, you are not dealing with a physiological addition such as smoking tobacco.

Thank you for sharing your perspective. It made me cry a bit because it IS pretty hard for me right now. That’s why I came to this forum to ask for help. I didn’t come here to feel invalidated. But it is silly to expect empathy on an Internet forum, even on a supposedly Catholic one.

 

[Bonnie]

It made me cry a bit because it IS pretty hard for me right now.

Remember, that guy is male (I think). Generally not good at empathy.

I know what you mean about it being hard. I’m on a low carb forum & so many people say the diet is wonderful because they feel no hunger & the pounds drop off. Not for me, tho. I’m still hungry between meals - sometimes extremely so - and I’ve been stalled on my weight loss for months now. It’s taken longer than some of those who “brag,” but my blood sugar is getting under better control. So there are some good things.

 

[blueshells]

Hello,

I am struggling with type 1 diabetes. It is a chronic disease with an overwhelming, at times, treatment. At least 5 blood glucose readings a day, carb counting, and delivering insulin at the right time and with the right dosage. There is a lot of failure. I try to keep myself in a very tight range, but I seem to keep messing up. I want to get my blood sugars really stable and low, as normal as possible, to get pregnant. It’s hard.

So I am looking for scriptures, prayers, stories, saints, anything to help me keep at it.

Thank you!

When I get exhausted,I like to go back to Acts 20, 2 Timothy 4, and 1 Corinthians 9. There’s something inspiring about thinking about like as a race–that I need to keep striving and I can’t be complacent, and I need to keep going. Run so as to win!

And it DOES get hard. Suffering is hard, and we are meant to struggle and strive for heaven. Sometimes, for whatever reason, our cross gets a little off-balance, or our muscles get just a little too tired, or the knot in the wood digs in too much, and we fall. It’s okay. Please, don’t hesitate to reach out for help–even Jesus needed help carrying the Cross to Calvary.

I will add you to my prayers! I would also perhaps recommend St. Therese of Lisieux: she had physical struggles, but what particularly strikes me about her for you is how she struggled with the steepness of the stairway to heaven. She felt too small to climb the same stairs as the great Saints, so she decided to create her own “Little Way”.

 

[NeedsMercy]

Hello, mamagoose. The two saints that I’ve prayed to are St. Josemaria E. and St. Pauline. I’m going to give you a little more secular advice, though. I’m a Type 2 diabetic and found it really hard to get my bg levels to where my endocrinologist wanted them. I take metformin, but not insulin. Months ago, I became a vegan for ethical reasons, but found that the vegan diet is **amazing **for lowering glucose levels and A1C. My A1C went from 7 to 5.5 in 3 months. It hasn’t been this low in years! I just started reading one of Dr. Neal Barnard’s books and he makes a lot of sense as to why veganism would help. You might want to try researching him and his books. If one’s blood sugar is absolutely, positively skyrocketing out of control, one could try bariatric surgery, even if one is not overweight. Gastric by-pass surgery has been shown to completely eliminate diabetes. Period. No one knows why yet. Drastic, I know, but diabetes, esp. Type 1, really stinks…

 

[BigRedpg51]

Mamagoose, remember that St. Paul asked God 3x to remove the thorn from his side, but God told him that “My grace is sufficient”. I, too, am suffering from a poorly controlled illness – intermittant blood pressure spikes – and sometimes I almost pass out because they come on with no warning and so suddenly. But I’ve come to the understanding that God knows what I’m going through…and He knows what you are going through. Everything is either ordained or allowed by Him. There are no “accidental times” when God ‘misses’ something happening to us…He always knows.

My suggestion to you is to offer your suffering up to God, and ask Him to unite it with the sufferings and death of His beloved Son, Jesus – for the salvation of souls. Abandon yourself to His mercy, and see where it leads.

Also, have you considered using an insulin pump? They take a little while to get used to, but they will help you greatly in maintaining your insulin/sugar levels much better.

accu-chek.com/microsites/combo/combo.html?epromo=MDAKGM1359&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=search%20|%20ub%20|%20pumps&utm_source=bing&utm_keyword=&utm_content=insulin%20pump%20|%20accu-chek%20combo%20system_learn%20about%20the%20accu-chek%20combo%20system%20and%20see%20how%20it%20helps.#for_you

 

[maggiedoc]

I must have pushed a wrong button… to continue:

Type I Diabetes is a condition requiring you to think and choose more times per day than almost anything else. Some mistakes are inevitable but every choice is a new start. The spiritual challenge is to avoid discouragement and to press forward. For this we all pray for each other. If you are working on perfect control in order to proceed to pregnancy, be aware that blood glucose control may be quite different in pregnancy, plus it is more than usually important then to avoid low readings. Your efforts now will certainly help you to cope in pregnancy, but I would as your doctor(s) if better control is needed before pregnancy or if your present state is fine. and know that we are praying for you.

 

[maggiedoc]

OK, so the first part of my reply disappeared…
The original post and the first reply sounded as if good control in order to avoid future problems is a very negative motivation. I do not this it is . What you are really doing is taking the best care you can of the body that God has given you. That is a very Positive way to honour our Lord.