I wasn’t going to post tonight. Then I checked my inbox and felt so compelled to comment about an issue I have touched on before.
I received this message from a 16 year old male, who is about to turn 17 in a few months.
He was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes 3 years ago.
From time to time, he tells how he checks his blood sugar levels with his glucometer, and they are normal.
He swears he doesn’t have Type 1 Diabetes, but his doctors assure him that he does. He even assures me that he drinks “normal” drinks and eats what he wants and whenever he wants, all causing no ill effect to his blood sugar levels.
The biggest mystery of all, is that this teenager proudly boasts that he hasn’t had to have insulin shots for almost his whole diabetic life, all excluding two months after he was first diagnosed.
He firmly believes that he does NOT have Type 1 Diabetes.
Somewhere, in this bizarre little scenario, this kid got his hands on a book entitled, ” The Dynamic Laws Of Healing“-a self help book written in the 1960’s. The boy (who would have been 13 at the time,) came away from reading this book rich with the firm belief that if the mind is powerful, and you truly believe that you aren’t sick, then the body will reject the fact that it’s sick and heal itself.
His last sentence was “I didn’t believe that I was diabetic after leaving the hospital, and to this day, I don’t take insulin.”
Ha.
I have a few comments that I feel must be made.
If you are sick enough to be admitted into hospital with symptoms that replicate Type 1 Diabetes, and the doctors’ can match your blood work with the physical evidence of ketones, weight loss, low levels of potassium…then YES. You do have Type 1 Diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes is a chronic disease, that never improves by itself, or goes away. Once your immune system mistakenly kills off those beta cells that used to excrete as much insulin as you needed in the good ole’ days, you can’t get those beta cells back. Not even the world’s leading scientists or experts in the field of endocrinology have worked out how to create such a miracle.(yet.)
It’s only just acceptable to make these claims,(given your tender age and all,) however it’s downright cruel to tell “your story” to those who live with the heavy burden of Type 1 Diabetes. Like the author of the book you read, every parent whose child has been diagnosed has undoubtedly prayed, questioned alternative healing, cried in their endocrinologist’s office…we WANTED to believe that the diagnosis was all a huge mistake, and that the doctors’ were wrong.
I even believed for a few hours that MY son wasn’t capable of having this silent devastation occur before my very eyes. There’s no doubt that it’s very traumatic for all parties when a child, or in my instance, a baby is diagnosed.
The only reason that I can think that you would have written to me with this load of hogwash, is that you were diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and had to commence oral medication. Perhaps you changed your lifestyle enough that you could live your life without the medication. (I’m being really generous here…. )
My son, with Type 1 Diabetes, lies beside me as I reply to your story. He is sleeping, and for tonight, his blood sugar readings are okay. Not perfect, not dangerous, but acceptable. I have nursed him through the perils of DKA, where I have watched with my own eyes how the body responds to not enough insulin. Without medical intervention, he would have died. HE WOULD HAVE DIED. NOT JUST MY SON, BUT EVERY CHILD WHO HAS TYPE 1 DIABETES. IF YOU REALLY HAVE TYPE 1 DIABETES, THEN YOU ARE WRITING TO ME FROM THE “OTHER SIDE.” There is no possibility you could have lived without daily insulin for three years.
No power of the mind, no mantras, no alternative forms of therapy are going to stop this cochroach of a disease from rapidly sending a child into a diabetic coma, with death closely following. INSULIN IS the only answer, it’s not even a cure, but it will certainly keep you alive.
Im going to recommend that YOU do some more reading. THIS book is a true story about the parents of an 11 year old boy, who believed in the promises of a miracle worker, and turned their backs on insulin. Their child died a horrendous death before their very eyes, 3 days later. Larry Parker, a good, Christian man, let his son die, because his faith was so strong, he believed that”His God” would cure his son of Type 1 Diabetes.
If you can read that book, and come back to me and say that you STILL don’t need insulin, then you don’t have Type 1 Diabetes. In fact, the only reason I bothered to reply was for the simple fact that if ONE person saw your false allegations somewhere online, and decided, “YAY, I’m going to do it..if this kid can, I can..I can stop my injections!”…then it was worth sitting up on a bitter winter’s morning and swapping book titles.
Sara said,
21 July, 2008 @ 4:02 am
Wow! What a crazy story. I went for about a year between my initial diagnosis and starting insulin but that was only because they thought I was Type 2. I think that ‘kid’ is either a liar
, having a crazy long honeymoon, or is one of those weird in-between types like MODY-3 or something.
Kathy said,
21 July, 2008 @ 4:36 am
Oh, you mustn’t let these kinds of comments get to you. For your sake (and your blood pressure!), it really helps to filter them out. I feel awful for all the stupid things my parents must have heard over the years, it really is the worst form of torture. No one need defend a diagnosis! Seriously, I wouldn’t waste another moment on this person.
Kate said,
21 July, 2008 @ 4:56 am
Kathy,
Seriously, my wasted moments were purely for the unprotected, naive and innocent who may read fraudulent stories like these and take them as gospel.
Sometimes, the shock of diabetes diagnosis can really make people believe anything that they want to believe. My wasted moments were for them, too. People need to know, (as some diabetes educators don’t take the time to inform parents or teenagers) that things are never going to be the same again, and no crappola in a 40 year old book is going to benefit them or their kid. Ever.
Kristin said,
21 July, 2008 @ 5:00 am
Yes, I have heard stories like this before and I find them sad and infuriating.
After diagnosed I heard of an athletic young man with type one who did not want to be dependent on any medication. So he didn’t take insulin and ONLY ate lettuce. He lived by himself and was found dead in his apartment. DKA.
Living with type 1 diabetes brings enough struggles. I think I’ll take my insulin and pray for strength to keep a healthy lifestyle!
AmyT of www.diabetesmine.com said,
21 July, 2008 @ 7:52 am
Wow, Kate. These kind of stories always knock me out. Thanks for highlighting this!
btw, I happen to be Jewish, and we believe that God is behind the discovery and development of life-saving drugs like insulin. In other words, there’s no contradiction between modern medicine and being a good, moral, faithful person. Take the meds you need!
All the best,
AmyT
Lesley said,
9 August, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
Kate,
Due to a trial net study for family members of type 1 diabetics, my 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in February of this year. It almost feels like she doesn’t have diabetes or they misdiagnosed her because she currently only takes 8 units of Levemir each morning and nothing when she eats. Some days she “forgets”her insulin until later in the day and her numbers are still good. I know she has diabetes, I saw the numbers during the tests and I’ve watched her insulin go from 4 units to 8, but it is so simple to manage for her that it seems like she doesn’t have it. I know she does, but she may have the longest honeymoon ever! She was diagnosed without a symptom and the doctors at the hospital didn’t really know what to do with her. I’m thankful that her care is easy to manage for now, as my 9 year old also has type 1 and the last 2 years have been years of extreme unsymptomatic lows and bighighs. Since the pump a few months ago, life is good! Still living with it, but it’s much simpler to handle for her and me.
grace pettit said,
15 June, 2009 @ 2:31 am
I hope this reply gets out there.
Type 1 diabetes is a horrible thing to have to endure. I myself do not have it, but my father, age 63 does. He has lived with this disease since we was 12 years old. I ahve been present on many occasions to get him out of insulin shock. It has been a handful of times it was so far past the point of honey or orange juice doing the trick, that we would have to call the ambulance. 2am sirens blaring. I was just a child when I used to hear the commotion; too young to understand what was happening, why my father was so confused. He literally wouldn’t know who he was, who any of us were anymore. The amount of fear was so extreme. Once injected, he would come back to normal and feel embarressed and apologize. Once he even got into a car accident because he had worked late and didn’t get his levels to normal.
I have watched the stress this has put on my mother for the 30 years of marriage. This is something that no one should have to endure. It is hard for all the people in the person with diabetes life. I can’t imagine being the mother of a child who has it, to have to dispense the medicine. I fear that it may be something I will have to experiance though, since it is genetic.
But no longer.
I am a firm believer of the power of thought.
I am not suggesting people get on their knees and pray that God will take away their child’s sickness and believe it. That is not the appropriate way to go about things, also considering, God doesn’t quite hear our prayers like that.
There is a way though.
My father takes an entire cardboard box full of herbal supplements a day. At least 30. I’m not sure what they all are, but I am aware that they do help tremedously. He is 63 still working a manual labor job, bright and cheerful despite his illness, and still very healthy all things considered.
He was in a skiing accident about a decade ago, and though all the doctors said he would need surgery to walk again, he recorded his voice with a self-hypnosis tape and healed his leg through the power of his mind.
Considering he employed this technique with his leg, I have wondered if he has ever considered it for his diabetes. I’m sure it has crossed his mind, but since it has always been considered as a non-curable disease the thought of curing himself probably seemed impossible. I believe that no thing is impossible.
I have recentley discovered a new method of healing. It is called Theta Healing (this book is on Amazon.com by Vianna Stibal)
Theta healing is a type of healing that works with brain waves. We have 5 types of brain waves. Beta: a normal communicating wave Alpha: The wave length people go into when they are healing Delta: a deep sleep wave Gamma: Extremely fast brainwave state (between 500-3000 per second) and Theta: A deep medatative state. When Gamma and Theta are combined, amazing things can happen. That is when women lift up cars to pull children out from under them. Amazing things.
However, when one just sits in a Theta state, deep healing can occur. This is a state where you “go up” to the seventh plane of existance. This is the Creator plane. Where the Creator of All That Is resides. When you go here, is it like going to God’s doorstep and saying “Hello God, You will heal me, (or this person) and I will witness it, and then it will be so. Thank you”
When you literally “Go up and seek God” then you are being very specific. God can do anything. This is not the same as praying. This is literally making a command, a special request to God, for a healing to occur, and if you witness it, you are not doing it, just asking God to, and then you witness is. You watch the illness being removed and resolved in the body, and then you watch it being replaced with Divine Love and infinite light, then it is so. Spontaneous instantanous healings can occur. Believe it!
I found this method not long ago, and I live 2500 miles away from my father. He is coming out to visit in July, and I am sending him the literature prior. Perhaps he can do it within himself before I even see him.
You could do it every day if it would make you feel better or believe that it could be possible.
I’m not saying everyone has to believe in this. I’m just saying to open up your consciousness a little more to the idea.
The world is changing. Soon, there may not be a way to get all the medical supplies we need. Finances are running out. My father fears the recission because he may not be able to afford the very thing that keeps him alive. Why should we have to pay paper money for another day to live.
Believe that your mind is the greatest thing that you have. It was what we were given from creator to be able to sustain a biomecinism to amazing. It is proven that the size of atom mirrors the size of a solar system. This is not coincidence. Our mind has more synapsi firing every second then there are stars in the sky. We are living walking breathing thinking everyday miracles.
We can heal ourselves.
You can watch God heal your child right before your eyes. And you can believe it as you see it happen.
Janek said,
15 June, 2009 @ 5:42 pm
Grace,
Thank you so much for your comment. Kate, Lance, and I are all firm believers in both how powerful positive thinking and reaffirming thoughts can be, even at times when you feel like it’s the end of the world. Of course, however, this cannot actually heal diabetes.
Positive thinking and meditation have been some of the tools that I have used through my depression, and they have been beneficial. Nonetheless, they have not solved my problem, just help me cope with it better. To solve my issues, I needed to confront my parents, deal with my study, and I’ve now been taking antidepressants for the past 8 months.
Readers, I concur with Grace. Trust in the Lord, and he will be there for you, to aid and assist you. Miracles also happen, when the angels and saints may intercede and pray with us for our return to health. Nonetheless, however, we cannot forget the aid of modern medicine in helping us to improve our lives and reach a point where we may have a quality of life.
Please, pray. But, don’t stop seeing your doctor either, and always take your medication.
Regards,
Janek