regarding the last ? (Marjuana)

[crazycostgem]

Actually I just wanted to respond to the last question noted about Majuana and the use of it for Diabetics.  I am 23 yrs. old and have been a Brittle (Type 1 Diabetic) since I was 19 months old.  Of course I have had my experimentations with booze and Majuana and can tell you first hand that smoking pot is all fun and dandy for the first few times when your body is strong enough and able to cope, but unfortunately because our bodies DO NOT contain a normal immune system and we are prone to most infections if not careful, the fun and dandy about smoking pot does not last long!  The last time I smoked "the feel good, giddy and relaxed in the moment" drug, was the last time I swore I would ever do it again, because it took my body and my immune system 3 months to recover.  I felt so lethargic and so unable to move or to process anything that would come my way that I was afraid to sleep at night because I was afraid I wasn't going to wake up.  I know it may be hard now not to give into temptation amongst your friends, as all you want to do is have fun, without being an outsider, but there are alternatives to having fun and through this you will find out who your true friends really are and discover that they will respect you more than ever in the long run (for they may be too immature to right now) for sticking up for yourself and what is going to make you feel good and healthy.  Sincerely yours, crazycostgem

[JDRF-Team-LRS]

Crazycostgem,
Thanks so much for posting your experiences here for all to share and think about.  I've come to see that the "job" of teens is to test boundaries while living in the safety & security of the nest that parents provide.  The "job" of parents is to establish safe boundaries, make our values clear, set reasonable expectations for our children to aspire to, and to develop nearly infinite patience as our teens do their job! ;-)

Those of us who've already lived, tested, and survived our teens years likely did the equivalant of what today's teens are doing.  If we were lucky enough to have parents who cared about us, we also endured the lectures and the sermons and the punishments that left us rolling our teen-eyes and yearning to spread our wings and fly out on our own.  And what didn't kill us made us stronger, wiser, and able to impart good values and reasonable expectations on our children.  They *will* reject them (at least for a while) as they discover who they are.  They will come back to them when they've matured, as surely as the rivers flow to the seas.

One of the interesting comments by a teen poster in the other thread really impressed me, too.  He wrote of how he tested his blood sugars even when drinking, and he's shown his pals how to test him, and how he really trusted most his pal(s) who wouldn't be drinking.  

That's so very cool at many levels.  First, here's a young person who, while testing the boundaries *is* taking steps to be responsible.  And more cool is that he recognizes that the best among his pile o' pals, the one(s) to whom he turns when he really wants to feel safe & secure ... are the ones who AREN'T DRINKING!  

And most cool of all is that the non-drinkers are not ridiculed, but they are admired and entrusted to help him stay a bit safer.  From where I sit, this admiration is a huge maturity step for a "drinking diabetic" because he is already recognizing that very cool, and very fun, and very crazy, and very admired, and very wonderful to be with CAN easily co-exist in a person who chooses not to drink.  

Sometimes it takes just a bit longer to evolve the maturity to not binge drink (which also wreaks havoc on pancreases) & to not get drunk.  When adults engage in binge drinking and when adults only drink to get drunk, they are diagnosed with drinking problems.  With luck, teens who choose to experiment with this behavior can "choose" their way out of it, too.

It seems that many teens (and many adults with drinking problems) will drink to try to ease some deep pain or sadness or fear.  Diabetic teens must deal with all the usual teen stuff PLUS they may have years & years already of living with a chronic disease.  I have no doubts that my own college drinking and drug experimentation were bandaids I mistakenly thought would ease my stresses.  I didn't and wouldn't listen to anyone who told me what I eventually discovered myself.  The lesson for me was wrapped up in the discover process.  I suspect it's like that for many teens today, too. It's just that I'm now among those who'd give so much to be able to spare them the pain ...

IMO, when emotional maturity is finally reached, those of us with chronic diseases can blossom into spectacularly full and compassionate folks.  Our roads to that place is often rocky, however.  

The drugs & alcohol may quiet some pain & fears for a few hours, but when the fog inevitably lifts, our reality remains there, just as it always has been.  In the end it's our courage to face our reality and learn to cope with our challenges that brings us into adulthood, contentment and happiness.