I’m 17 years old, I can’t control my blood sugar, and I’m so scared. My doctor tells me I have to do something, and my mom threatens me with stuff like “You’re going to die at the age of 20.” Everyone keeps telling me about how this person or that person died of diabetes and how I will too.

All I want to do is cry. I don’t know how telling me this will help me! I just feel even more scared, and I still don’t help myself. If you can give me any suggestions, it would make me feel a little better. I’ m only 17, and I don’t want to die this young. My blood sugars are always high, but I don’t want to take my insulin.

Is there any surgery out there? I heard there was something for like up to five years then you get another one, but I can’t find it! Please help.

Fear is not an emotion that can help you right now. I regret that everyone is trying to scare you into good blood sugar control. However, I am worried that you feel so powerless. You are at an age at which you must make some difficult decisions. One of those decisions is to take control of your diabetes and not let it control you.

I strongly encourage you to find a local person (a counselor, a doctor, another teen with diabetes) to talk to and to get perspective from. You are soon going to choose a profession, a school, a job, and a spouse. You need to be as healthy as you can to make those decisions wisely. Please, please take control and find someone objective who you can speak with about your fears and make a plan to win!

We will help all we can but you have to take the first steps. Call the local American Diabetes Association or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and seek their assistance. Diabetes always wins if you ignore it. Take it on — you can do this!

CMB

[Editor’s comment: You might have heard about the islet cell transplant surgery that was reported a few years ago (see Alberta Foundation Reports on Successful Islet Transplants). It’s highly experimental, although initial reports have been very promising.

WWQ]