Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

Everyone deals with things in different ways, because they’re completely different people. Like other people, diabetics are the same. From what I’ve seen there are four broad categories that people drift in and out of when faced with a diagnosis of chronic illness (this is not definitive, it is simply my musings). They apply not only to diabetes, but any event and it's difficult to fit into one entirely because our responses change daily. - Over-analysers * These diabetics seem to be rare, but I was absolutely one of them when I was diagnosed! They are so consumed by monitoring their diabetes that they take way too many tests a day. They check their level, analyse it, worry about what it will be in two hours and spend that two hours thinking about it. The over-analysers may have brilliant control over their condition, but they’re missing the point of managing it well: TO LIVE. It’s important that these individuals socialise and don’t refuse to do things because it may br...

This has always been a massive topic among teen girls, and I’m seeing it become incredibly prominent over Facebook lately. Women and men are presented with unrealistic expectations in regard to how they ought to look. The media portrays a so called “perfection”, a perfection that is impossible to live up to. For diabetic girls in particular, this pressure of having the “perfect” figure is prevalent, and damaging. Taking insulin causes weight gain, undeniably. This is a healthy gain when balanced with exercise and a good, balanced diet. However, many girls are attempting to stop this weight gain by taking less insulin. Doing this causes blood sugars to rise, causing the body to resort to consuming its own fat stores, causing many young girls to fall into Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA can cause coma and eventually death, all in the name of attaining that “perfect” figure. Manipulating something as important as insulin carries so many dangers, and it saddened me immensel...

As I sat on my laptop, applying for allowances through Centrelink whilst simultaneously looking through bank account options, it suddenly dawned on me that I’m entering the adult world. I now understand why people whinge about Centrelink after having spent hours on the phone with them and filling out an application that took well over the estimated 30 minutes. I understand why people get annoyed at the banks and their convoluted details, because nothing is simple when it’s run by the government or the banks.  This understanding dawned on me when I’d confirmed for the third time, that no, I do not have a live-in partner or children, and no, I’m not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. STOP ASKING. But this new world isn’t just about governments and banks, turning 18 means that I leave my team at the children’s hospital, and I’m not sure I’m ready yet. It’s said that when you share a life changing experience with someone, a connection is established. Strangely eno...

Recently, I took part in a diabetes trial where new technology is being developed. Here's a run down of the current technology I use. This study is aiming to develop a system that can stop insulin delivery at a particular point to avoid hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar). This makes use of sensor technology that can measure your interstitial blood sugar (that's the level of sugar in the fluid in your tissues) and this connects with the pump to tell it what your level is. The technology also predicts what your level may reach, looking at the gradient of your rise or fall. Simply, the pump stops you from having a hypo and alarms when you do. The trial was meant to be carried out in two stages, however as I couldn't meet the criteria for stage 1 I don't get to try out this new technology without doing stage 1 all over again. I was fasting from 11pm the night prior and arrived at the hospital at 7am. I'd been wearing a sensor (who I fondly named glitch). Let me tel...

I finished the HSC today I get my formal tickets and reference when I sign out on the 18th and then that's high school, done. I guess I'll technically be unemployed.... yikes There were some interesting diabetes mishaps throughout the exams, but right now I'm going to sit down and catch up on some sorely missed television Back to blogging after my holiday!

So, I'm not angry about this (wow what a change!) I just want to somehow break a stereotype, or at least have someone, somewhere, challenge this stereotype. I'm very lucky to live where I do, with the family I do. I have so much support that I've never felt like I've gone without. However, it has to be acknowledged that in the area I live, there is a certain mentality that is present. You're not expected to go on to university. You're supposed to go to TAFE, or get a job. You're supposed to have a boyfriend and plans for the future. I don't have a boyfriend, and I don't plan on getting full time work, I don't plan on going to TAFE. I plan on going to university, and a very prestigious one at that. I didn't choose this uni by its name, unfortunately for me it was the only place that offers my course. My second choice means I'll have to move house and drive for an hour each day to uni. I mention the prestige of the uni because with ...

Well if there's anyone out there, hi! I'm right in the middle of my HSC, five exams left until I can finally finish high school for good and add my other subject's notes to the shredder (I wasn't kidding, this is English) But I thought I'd share some fantastic news with those of you that still pay attention to my little blog. Somehow, I managed to get an early offer/scholarship into uni. Yep.... even I'm not sure how that happened. It was nerve wracking and hard work, but somehow I managed it. So now, I don't have to get as high marks as I once did and if I fit the criteria I am guaranteed a place in the course and made an offer in the first uni offer round in January! I would also like to mention a lovely girl, who I didn't even know read this blog. She's kind hearted and sweet, not to mention driven and intelligent. I first admired her for her brilliance in the acadmeic arena, but as I spoke to her more, I have grown to resp...

Dear Dad, You're a wal, but you're my wal :) Whilst you may fit almost every category in the stereotypical Australian image and make a great example in demonstrating Australian culture in my society and culture classes, there's a lot more to you than surf, bbq's and NRL (although with that Manly obsession I've got to wonder sometimes!). You're smart, smarter than you give yourself credit for. You've taught me a lot, not just things like maths and driving but also how to communicate with other people and learn to take initiative. You're funny, always making me laugh when I need it most. Plus you give great hugs- but I think that's a pre-requisite of being a dad. For my diabetes, you're amazing. You wake me every night (even if you fall asleep you come in later on) to check my blood sugar. You get up out of bed at 3am to come and wake me up to check again if I need it, even in the middle of winter in the freezing cold. You do my set changes...

(Forgive me, I'm sick so this might be disjointed. Normal posts will continue when I'm well again!) Lately, I've had some serious problems with my blood sugar being a little high. I got a massive shock a few months ago when my HbA1c came back higher than its ever been, despite my reasonable good levels. I've tried for months to bring them down and finally with the help of my diabetes educator have made some progress. But I found out why my A1c has gone up, and it isn't entirely my fault like I previously thought. My blood sugar meter and its test strips are inaccurate. There are standards not just in America but here in Australia as well that state the accuracy of these test strips must be in a 20% range, meaning it can either be 20% higher or lower than the actual blood level and released on the market. My blood meter was sent to me in the mail from an established company that also manufactures my insulin pump. This meter was sent to all eligible type 1 diab...

This post was supposed to be a rant to end all rants, however, I'm too tired for that and will write it on Sunday. For now, this is what diabetes is like on a bad day. I'm sick, I'm tired, my diabetes educator won't get back to me and my blood sugars are wreaking havoc. For the past few weeks as you can see in one of my last posts  I've had some diabetes drama. High blood sugars all the time kind of drama. Yesterday really was a diabetes rollercoaster, my levels starting moderately high in the morning, crashing down in the afternoon and going all the way up to 21 by night (guess who got up at 3am again). I've talked about how lows feel before, but high blood sugars are terrible. - You're tired - You're thirsty - You feel really sick - Energy? What is energy? - Pins and needles - Dizziness - You blog about how crappy high blood sugars are to distract yourself from the crappy high blood sugars - As shown above, you lose all logical thought I...

My first blog request from my favourite Type 5 asking for diabetes puns, jokes and pickup lines. These are terrible and have been found from stalking the internet, only two are my own because I'm not clever enough to think them up... or perhaps my sense of humour is a little more sane 1) The diabetics got on very well, you could say they glucose 2) Can you check your blood sugar? Because I would love to know your number 3) You're just my type 4) You're like my needles, ultra-fine 5) A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down..... unless you're diabetic 6) You're so sweet I need a dose of insulin 7) Did it hurt your pump... you know, when you fell from heaven? my own creation and the title of my major work 8) Sweet sensationalism 9) What does one meter say to another? HI-LO One I frequently say 10) Dude, I'm so high right now

I present you the disaster that was last night/early this morning and prompted me to return home and sleep for a solid hour 6pm: Dinner was a bit of disaster, so we had to go and get McDonalds. I calculated approximately 80 grams of carbs for my meal, taking a huge amount of insulin to cover it. 7pm: Blood sugar- 9.5. This was a little low considering the amount of carbs I'd just had. Due to my fear of the dreaded hypo, I decided that I should have a juice box- 30 grams of carbohydrate. However I'm really clever and completely forgot the delayed effect McDonalds has on blood sugar, shooting it sky high a few hours after eating. Now I had anoher 30 grams on board, with no insulin to cover it. 9pm: Feeling pretty sick, but pass it off as being tired from the past few weeks of exams. 10pm: Blood sugar- 24.5 (normal range is 4-7). At this point I was pretty concerned, checking for Ketones (acidic substances that the body produces when there is no source of glucose, meaning...

Dear Diabetes, I think we need to sort out a few things, because you really haven't been behaving yourself lately. I've made you a comprehensive list of my concerns and would like a reply and action to be taken as soon as possible. 1) Stop with the high blood sugar levels in exams. Just stop it. It's not nice, I don't like it. Whoever gave you the idea that blood sugars of 15-17 were ok during exams is an idiot, because it's just not. You've been here for going on four years, you know better. 2) Now onto the fake low blood sugars. No diabetes, I'm not low when my blood sugar is 7, stop over reacting. Not being able to treat symptoms of a low is terrible... because I'm not actually low. Seriously, I'd love to eat stacks of jellybeans and chocolate, really, but you're going to have to deal with having more insulin when I do. 3) Ok, I understand that you and pizza don't get along, really at 25 grams a slice I don't blame you. But PLE...

If you manage to follow this, well done. My list of scary yet exciting things that I have to think about: - Moving on to a new hospital setting. At 18 you change from the Children's Hospital to the regular no more holding your hand through diabetes adult version. - I have to learn how to adjust the settings on my pump, because no one will help me once I change hospital (there's a lot of math and it freaks me out) - New uni choices. This one is massive! In the past few weeks I've decided on a new back up university, which is a 2 hour drive away from where I currently live. This will mean spending at least four days a week at my grandparents place and taking the hour drive from there to uni every day. This has my head spinning as whilst I'm excited about it, it could wreak havoc on the blood sugar levels from all the stress and the driving and the new place with the new people that I don't know and maybe they won't share my Harry Potter obsession and even...

Hello there! I still have readers, even though I'm not here that's nice... thanks!! I won't be blogging until after my HSC trials which finish on the 8th of August I'm sorry! Trials are giving me a lot of diabetes stories, and I'm only two days in! 6 exams to go....

Roaming around the Internet in relation to type 1 brings up a lot of hits! First it's the facts, wikipedia, webmd, betterhealth- you know, reasonably accurate information. From there it goes downhill into the sensationalist articles and the supposed 'diabetes cures'. But the you come across forums, blogs and yahoo answers. I was amazed to see so many questions about type 1, with masses of people fretting that they have it. As someone who can understand health anxiety, I can see why they may be concerned, but reading through these fears makes me feel so sorry for these people. So today I will make a comprehensive list (that by no means replaces the advice of a medical professional) to possibly ease the worries of those who think they may have type 1 diabetes. 1) If you are drinking a lot of water, you're not necessarily diabetic. You're quite possibly dehydrated. Trust me, if you have type 1 your water consumption is far beyond normal. I'm not talking a few b...

'Out damned spot!' A pretty iconic line in the Shakespearean play Macbeth, where Lady Macbeth experiences night walking and paranoia, washing her hands of unseen blood in her sleep. Now whilst I may not be as murderous as Lady Macbeth, I can understand her issue with having blood on your hands. I promise, whilst it may look as though I've been moonlighting as a hit-woman with my blood-stained hands, this isn't the case. What happened is some more pump mayhem, well cannula mayhem to be exact.It's gross, it's rare and it's terrible- it's called a 'gusher'. I was treated to one of these Lady Macbeth moments a night ago as I changed my insulin set. Usually, pulling out the cannula isn't an issue, it's like ripping off a band-aid. But this time, it was intense. After taking off the sticky white cannula, I was treated to what a stream of blood that wouldn't stop. Once I got past the whole 'AAH I'M HEMORRHAGING' bit, I was ...

I'm tired I studied for seven hours today There is construction work going on I'm hungry It's dark in my room and blogging is just not going to happen So today I give you dot points: - I had a hypo (YAY, fear over!) which wasn't easy considering you have false hypo's when your level has been high, ie. you feel like you're low at around 10mmol/L, when really you're not low until under 4mmol/L... and there's nothing you can do about it - The HSC is getting ridiculous and I can't wait until it's over, these last 80 days or so of high school could not go quicker This diabetic is sleepy, brain dead and possibly low. But like a dedicated blogger, I post on Mondays... I always post on Mondays *zzzzz*

A lot of people take things way too seriously, and I'm pretty guilty of that myself at times! Diabetes is something that's serious, and whilst it's important to stress it's life threatening nature, it's also essential to step back and laugh at everything surrounding it. So carrying with the theme of looking on the bright side of diabetes, here's a list of 'diabetes perks' - Mandatory lunch breaks - People hold your stuff - Putting wagers on what my blood sugar will be - People's faces when they offer you food and it dawns on them you're diabetic (note I refuse the food not because I'm diabetic but because I'm gluten and lactose intolerant... yay me :) ) - Insulin junkie jokes - Freaking out members of the general public by saying loudly 'I'm high' - Getting out of sport... you know, just in case you drop low (I swear I only did that once, I promise it was legitimate) - Scaring your friends with dark humour i...

Hypo's are no fun, they're the kid that comes to your birthday party, eats all the cake, teases the other kids and leaves without so much as a how do you do. Which in kid speak translates to hypos are evil and will never be invited to your birthday party again. They feel awful, everything spins, you feel nauseous, extra dizzy and if you're still conscious, panicky. You turn pale, you sweat and your eyes glaze over. Not a lot of fun huh? Well, I haven't had a hypo in a few months, which is very strange for a diabetic. But it's got to the point where I'm afraid of having one, that maybe it will happen when I'm asleep and I won't wake up (yeah my brain is such a drama queen, but it is a possibility). So as a result I've been dialling back my insulin at night, you know, just in case this kid comes to the party during the night and knocks over a few chairs. But that leaves me with high blood sugars all day, ranging from 10 to 20 (so much for between 4 and...

To the author, Your article whilst I'm sure well intentioned, was a major blow to the type 1 community. For those that don't want to follow the link, it concerns JDRF's (Juvenile Diabetes Foundation) use of jelly babies in the promotion of Jelly Baby Month, a fund raising time of year for type 1 diabetes. The author believes that jelly babies should not be sold and that it is hypocritical and AWFUL for their use in promotion. Now, from what my mum says you're actually really great in regards to nutrition and perhaps this article was not meant the way it sounds. But Ms O'Meara, I have a bone to pick with you. 1) Thank you for distinguishing between type 1 and 2- really most sources of media don't do this and I appreciate that. BUT the following comments, despite your insistence that you understand the difference, do not demonstrate that.  'To me it’s a little like looking for a cure for mesothelioma (lung cancer) and selling cigarettes to raise funds t...