{"id":124084,"date":"2024-11-10T03:46:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-09T20:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124084"},"modified":"2024-11-10T03:46:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T20:46:30","slug":"diabetes-identity-and-the-number-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124084","title":{"rendered":"Diabetes, Identity, and the Number 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_88806\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-88806\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westsiderag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/October2011Gus.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-88806\" src=\"https:\/\/www.westsiderag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/October2011Gus.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\"\/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-88806\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo from my sophomore year of high school, a few weeks before I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>By Gus Saltonstall<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I do not make wishes when the clock hits 11:11.<\/p>\n<p>While many have lucky associations with the number 11, it holds a very different place in my world.<\/p>\n<p>On November 11, 2011, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, on 11\/11\/11, I found out that I had an autoimmune disease with the number 1 in it. The diagnosis happened in the morning, and my family tells me it was just after 11 a.m. when the doctor delivered the news.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, I had recently turned 16 years old. I was 6\u20192 and weighed just 125 pounds. For the prior few months I had a strange set of growing symptoms that I had written off as nothing too serious or not connected.<\/p>\n<p>I was thirsty all of the time. My eye sight had worsened. My skin was drier than usual. My feet tingled every once in a while. I was so tired.<\/p>\n<p>When we noticed the weight loss, we went to the doctor. A normal blood sugar sits between 80 and 120. Mine was 585. We were immediately sent to the emergency room. The doctors said I was lucky to have not fallen into a coma.<\/p>\n<p>On that morning, I remember my dad calling his office to tell them he would not be in on that day because, \u201cmy son was just diagnosed with diabetes.\u201d Even now, I also remember having a visceral negative reaction to him sharing my new found condition.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t want anybody to know.<\/p>\n<p>The aversion to people knowing about my new diagnosis stayed with me. It took a month to tell my closest friends. As the time went on, it would continue to badly bother me if a friend or family member told somebody new that I was a diabetic. I wanted to control that information.<\/p>\n<p>On some level, it was shame.<\/p>\n<p>The idea that if people knew I had diabetes, they would think of differently, they would think of me as sick, they would think of me as lesser.<\/p>\n<p>As I went through the end of my teenage years and into my early twenties, it seemed like I could group others with Type 1 Diabetes, which generally gets diagnosed in adolescence, into two groups. Those that I felt made it large parts of their identity, posted about it on social media, and would be quick to share about the disease; compared with those where you would never know they had diabetes unless you stumbled into them at a doctor\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n<p>I used to have a strong opinion on these differing approaches, but what I\u2019ve realized is there is no right or wrong formula to living with a chronic condition. People need to find what works best for them. But, I know I\u2019ve struggled with how much to make diabetes a part of my outward identity.<\/p>\n<p>I already have multiple pieces of equipment hanging off of me, I already have to change my insulin needle every two to three days, I already have to count my carbs before every meal, I already have calloused over finger tips from checking my blood sugar, I already have to keep a constant companion of cranberry juice with me where I go, and I already have multiple apps on my phone constantly running to help me best manage.<\/p>\n<p>With all that, how much do I really need to talk about it?<\/p>\n<p>But, I\u2019ve also come to learn learn that having any sort of shame over a medical condition is neither fair to yourself nor productive in helping you best manage whatever that condition might be.<\/p>\n<p>So, as we approach November 11, 2024, which will 13 years of living with my diabetes, I\u2019m glad to say I no longer shudder at the thought of sharing this all with you.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/westsiderag.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=5772ebf2a0a585445f1188785&amp;id=f50755d5f9\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westsiderag.com\/2024\/11\/09\/weekend-column-diabetes-identity-and-the-number-11\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A photo from my sophomore year of high school, a few weeks before I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. By Gus Saltonstall I do not make wishes when the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124084\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}