Diabetic- wondering if i should do nursing

hi, i am a 19 year old diabetic and was accepted into a lvn program , i am currently in a medical assistant program but would probably drop it to do nursing.. mine goes from one extreme to another... im just wondering if anyone out there would warn otherwise on nursing or if your doing ok with it? im trying to decide either to stay in this program or do nursing.. any advice etc would help

[Jules A, MSN]

If you are interested in being a nurse I'd say go for it!

[truern]

I'm also diabetic...I just watch what I eat at work (snacking is soooo contagious!!), monitor my BGs, and take my insulin as needed.

You can do it!!

[talaxandra]

I work with a couple of nurses who have T1 diabetes. As long as you make sure you eat regularly you should be fine :)

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

In my class, there was a young Type I man who was the best diabetes educator we could have had. He had battled his disease since the age of three, and he taught us so much about life with diabetes that we'd probably never have learned from textbooks. During the course of our program, he was hospitalized once for DKA; we visited him and got real-life lessons in how insulin drips worked. He shared with us his daily struggles in managing his wayward blood sugars. Then, toward the end of our last semester he got an insulin pump and gave us a demo in class.........what a great teacher!

So YES, I say "go for it"---you may have a tougher time managing the demands of nursing school and nursing itself than the average person, but it can be done, and as my classmate so aptly demonstrated, it can even be used to further the education of your fellow students. Take care of yourself, and best of luck to you!

thank you all for the encouragement i really appreciate it

Y should being diabetic stop u go for ur goal and dream. My grandmother is an rn and she is diabetic and that hasn't stopped her. She's been a nurse for years since my father was a baby go for it u won't regret it good luck

[frann]

my dd is also type 1

I very much prefer seeing a type 1 as a CDE-certified diabetes educator

somehow they can motivate her much better if they know more than the text book diabetes.

I won't lie to you nursing is hard. there have been days when I don't get lunch until 2pm

but if your on a pump you can eat whenever

[newbiepnp]

I just got into nursing school on my way to become a Certified Diabetes Educator and I've been Type 1 for 27 years! Absolutely you can do it. The first adult Type 1 I ever met was my friend's mom who was a pediatric nurse and had been Type 1 since the age of 12. Diabetes shouldn't limit you on anything! Just take of yourself and test, test, test.