Big truck hits little car. Big truck won.

The accident didn't change my perspective on life or on myself. Never asked "why me?" Never prayed from my "foxhole." Shit do happen. I didn't become bitter or more compassionate. I was just me, rolling, fortunate to make my living from the neck up. (But I do hate the inventor of stairs

Epilepsy, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Celiac Disease, Raynaud's Phenomena, Lupus, partial agenesis of the corpus callosum...

Multiple intermittant anxiety neurosis, deep depression, very hard to tolerate.

I have a slow acting, incurable cancer. (lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma - bloody mouthful!) which was diagnosed 3 years ago. I don't know when it will strike, only that it will, eventually. Has it changed my perspective on life? No. Why? because I've already survived being shot by a man bent on killing me, crashing a pickup truck into train, escaping from Uganda as the leading car in a chase involving their secret police, and holding off a gang of 6 robbers whilst armed with a bow and arows, plus lots of lesser incidents. We have to die sometime, anyway.

Cancer survivor 5 years. We have a Cancer Support Group and an Autoimmune Diseases/Chronic Diseases Support Group here.

I suffer from severe chronic depression. It isn’t responsible for my atheism, but it was certainly the catalyst to my skepticism that lead me there.

Yes. Suddenly, the stuff that seemed so important before, didn't matter anymore. I am now living one hour at a time, and I'm grateful for any time I feel OK.

Sorry, for the mistakes and unfinished sentences, thoughts of my previous comment.

Panic attacks and depression change everything

I'm a big skeptic of doctors, pharmas and healthcare in general. I try my hardest not to visit doctors. I work, I go to a pharmasiThey don't want you dead, nor healthy, but sick so you'lI depend on them for the rest of your life.don't go I dthe're more concerned

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (TID) nearly 31 years ago. It changed everything.

I do not look at food the same way. Enjoying what I am eating is no longer the objective -- if it happens, it's a bonus. Food is medicine. I must be aware of what I am eating and how much of it I am eating, with the objective being to accurately estimate how many grams of carbohydrate I have consumed so I may dose with an appropriate amount of insulin. I can pretty much eat how much I desire of "free foods" (foods with 0 carbohydrate, such as some raw vegetables and, technically, most meats,) but even then I need to be careful not to fill up on that before I have consumed the carbohydrates.

I do not look at activity the same way. Increased activity naturally lowers the blood sugar. You can think of it as activity making the insulin more efficient, leading to a larger drop in blood sugar per unit of insulin. This is good, as routine activity helps reduce ones insulin requirements. However, this is also bad because unusual activity also helps reduce ones insulin requirements, meaning that if you have taken the normal amount of insulin for the amount of food you have eaten, but then do something strenuous that is out of the norm for you, the activity will still drive the blood sugar down. If you don't plan and prepare for the extra activity, the blood sugar can drop to dangerous or even deadly levels rather quickly.

I do not look at travel the same way. It is absolutely imperative that I pack whatever supplies I will need for the trip, especially if the trip is to a remote location. Realizing that you forgot your blood glucose meter or that you didn't bring enough insulin will shorten or completely abort the trip. When it comes to diabetic supplies, especially insulin, there is no "well if I've forgotten something I'll just get it when we get there."

I must always maintain awareness of how I feel. High blood sugar, while unhealthy, kills you slowly -- but it WILL kill you. Low blood sugar is far more dangerous and can sneak up quickly. Typically, high blood sugar, at its worst, will take a few hours before it forces the body into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) or, as it is more commonly known, diabetic coma. Severe low blood sugar can kill you in minutes. There are physical symptoms that most diabetics can detect, but typically by the time you detect them you are already experiencing low blood sugar -- meaning time is of the essence. This is why T1D patients typically carry a form of sugar.

It took me years to overcome the fear of going to sleep. Many (or most?) deadly low blood sugar episodes happen while one is sleeping. The part of maintaining awareness of how one feels? That is virtually impossible to do while one is sleeping. The hypoglycemia symptoms will normally wake me up, but by that time the blood sugar has often already dropped into dangerous territory. I have been hospitalized for severe middle-of-the-night hypoglycemia. Many T1D patients develop a fear of sleep because of this.

I saw something the other day that really rang true. It was an Internet meme on Facebook, saying that most people think T1D is just something you have to worry about when you eat. While it is true that part of having T1D includes having a specific mealtime routine, the fact of the matter is that someone with T1D has the condition 24/7 day after day after day. T1D treatment always includes a lifetime of insulin injections/infusions because the T1D body does not make it. With that, comes the risk of hypoglycemia -- sometimes hours later.

I'm really just scratching the surface here, but T1D is truly a life-changing diagnosis. With a life-changing diagnosis comes a dramatic change in ones perspective on life.

I have to come to accept that not everyone with a disability can be like those tales of inspiring heroes who overcome their disability to fulfill their dreams. That many times, no matter how hard you persevere or how much passion you have, they are the exception not the rule.

I have Chrinic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, sometimes CFIDS, or new term SEID --Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease). The cause is unknown; there is no cure; some doctors don't even accept it as a diagnosis. For me, it's like a bad case of flu: body aches, weakness, lack of physical and mental ambition. I am not symptomatic all the time but never know when I will be. It can be for days on end, a day here and there, or part of a day. It crept up on me for about five years and finally forced my retirement before I intended. We are having some success in alleviating symptoms, but there are days when I feel like a limp dishrag.
It has taught me to take advantage of the good periods that come and appreciate the meaningful people in my life.

I was morbidly obese. I had diabetes. I was going to die. So yeah, I’d say it altered my perspective.

yes, I am a retired electrician , worked for 35 years, my body is so badly broken I have both shoulders fixed, back fixed, both knees get shots every 6 months both hands are so badly arthritic I have to ware braces on them, I'm 66 years old, Now I'm gona sell my house and go live it up a little , moving across the country, if I wert so badly broken up, I would have probably worked until death !