Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

Phew, blog week has been pretty demanding so I'm looking forward to getting back to my style of posts! Now I'm meant to link the blogs I've stumbled across thanks to diabetes blog week, and they're pretty amazing! 1) k2 at http://diabetesaliciousness.blogspot.com She's brilliant, there aren't any other words for how amazing her sense of humour is. As always reading her posts has made me smile. 2) Meri at ourdiabeticlife.com is inspirational and gives me a bit of a look into what it must be like to be a mum of a diabetic.  Now that this blog week is over, I thought I'd share todays diabetes drama! RD presents: that time I accidentally OD'd on insulin ... so this happened last night! So it was 10.30 and time for my blood sugar check. I'd been the perfect student, totally prepared for todays exams and heading to bed early. But no, I made one mistake. Typing my blood sugar into my insulin pump, I sat with bleary, glazed eyes attem...

The title is pretty self explanatory today! Now, I'm not artistic, seriously, there isn't one artistic bone in my body. So when I saw this I cringed. But in the spirit of blog week here you go- my attempt at art without actually doing anything artistic! (To the non-diabetics out there, the blue circle is the symbol of diabetes, mine is made up of insulin pump infusion sets. The t1d of course is for type 1 diabetes and is skillfully (not) crafted out of blood sugar test strips)

Well this is REALLY late but here goes ' Just like  in the movie , today we’re doing a swap. If you could switch chronic diseases, which one would you choose to deal with instead of diabetes? And while we’re considering other chronic conditions, do you think your participation in the DOC has affected how you treat friends and acquaintances with other medical conditions' Switching chronic conditions....  Simply put, I wouldn't. Honestly, I am so lucky to only have diabetes when I have heard of and witnessed far worse. Yes, I have to manage my blood sugar, carbohydrates an insulin, but I'm living a relatively normal life free of pain, for that I am grateful. I think it's important to take a step back sometimes, and realise that things aren't so terrible, and that chronic illness can make you a stronger person in the long run. Is it a perfect life? No. But my life is what I make of it, if I dwell on the bad of course it won't be brilliant! How has the...

' We don’t always realize it, but each one of us had come a long way since diabetes first came into our life. It doesn’t matter if it’s been 5 weeks, 5 years or 50 years, you’ve done something outstanding diabetes-wise. So today let’s share the greatest accomplishment you've made in terms of dealing with your (or your loved one’s) diabetes. No accomplishment is too big or too small - think about self-acceptance, something you’ve mastered (pump / exercise / diet / etc.), making a tough care decision (finding a new endo or support group / choosing to use or not use a technology / etc.).' My accomplishment would have to be going on my very first diabetes camp.  It was a frosty morning in Newcastle as we waited for the bus to take us up to Queensland (I'd never been before!). I looked around and didn't know a single person, but we all shared something in common, our type 1 diabetes. I soon made a friend, happens pretty quickly when you're stuck on a bus for ho...

On to day 3 and to quote bittersweetdiabetes.com ' Today we’re going to share our most memorable diabetes day. You can take this anywhere.... your or your loved one's diagnosis, a bad low, a bad high, a big success, any day that you’d like to share.' My most memorable diabetes day? There's so many, but I guess the most memorable is probably the saddest and the most difficult, the day of my diagnosis. We received a phone call in the early hours of the morning of May 5th 2010 from pathology, telling us that my blood sugar was WAY out of range at 40mmol/L. However, instead of directing us to the emergency department asap, we were told to wait until morning and not to wake me. Looking back on that, it's a bit of a miracle I made it through the night. The sense of fear I felt, you can't really explain. I spent the morning questioning what I could've done wrong to have diabetes (after some googling of symptoms it was my first guess). I thought I had ty...

'Recently various petitions have been circulating the Diabetes Online Community, so today let’s pretend to write our own . Tell us who you would write the petition to – a person, an organization, even an object (animate or inanimate) - get creative!! What are you trying to change and what have you experienced that makes you want this change?' A petition: To the know-it-all celebrity TV hosts Dear celebrity know-it-all, I RD, am writing this petition in order to put a stop to your reckless antics. You prance around as though you know far more about my diabetes than I do, which by your obviously flawed logic, isn’t remotely correct. You assume that I have brought my diabetes on myself. You assume that I can cure my diabetes by eating well and jogging around the block every day. You assume that everything is my fault. If you could take a moment to get off your moral high horse, I’ll happily correct you. But you don’t, because you’re right. You’re ALWAYS right. ...

So I just found out about D Blog Week and signed up, though I will be running a little late (just a day :) ) Day 1:  Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one's daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don't see My health care team? It's pretty amazing. I'm lucky enough to be constantly supported by diabetic educators, dietitians, counsellors and of course my endocrinologist who really is one of the best in his field. They know so much about my diabetes, but sometimes you have to wonder, what do they actually know about me, the person? I wish they could see the support I constantly have around me, and how much their guidance has influenced me. I wish they could see how their lessons have helped me manage day t...