FACES of DCO Diabetes Week Blogs: Mikki’s story

My name is Mikki, I am 48 years old and live in Ayr, Nth Qld.

I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes about 4 years ago and have struggled with this the whole time. I also have Bipolar Disorder and suffer Anxiety attacks regularly.

I have 2 wonderful children, a daughter, 21 who has given me 2 beautiful grandsons, and my son is 24. They are my life and what keeps me going in life.

Recently I have developed the onset of Heart disease and also struggle with high cholesterol. I take a multitude of tablets morning and night and now a long acting Insulin shot at night.

The hardest thing for me is facing the fact that I can’t have the foods I love to eat anymore. It is a struggle as I have a sweet tooth and no self control. I am obese and have a back injury making it hard to exercise. Some days are so dark I just want to curl up in bed and forget about life.

I spend my days at my laptop doing surveys or playing on Facebook and also reading stories on the Diabetes Counselling Website. I also like to research new recipes to incorporate into my diet.

Being in a rural town, I am isolated from Specialists like Dieticians and Diabetes Educators, Podiatrists etc. I see them every 6 weeks or so depending on the need. It’s not their fault as they have a wide area to cover.

MikkiStumbling onto Diabetes Counselling is great as I can write to them late at night when I can’t sleep. I am grateful to them for the support I need and will continue to use them again.

2 Comments

  1. Sally on July 14, 2013 at 7:40 am

    Hi Mikki,

    Thanks for sharing your story with us. I’m so glad you found this place where you know people will understand what you’re going through. And how lucky are you to be a grandparent of such beautiful children 🙂

    With best wishes, Sally.



  2. helwild on July 14, 2013 at 11:56 am

    Love your photo Mikki. Thanks for sharing. You are going through a lot. 🙂 That is so true about how useful it is to have somewhere to talk to people who ‘get it’ late at night. 🙂