Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

Sometimes you can do everything right, and diabetes just throws you a curve ball. Why? Because that's what it does. I carb count everything, do the right amount of fingerprick checks, insulin doses- you name it I do it. I'm on top of this diabetes thing, and it was fairly smooth sailing. But that's not how diabetes plays. For the past week my levels have been rising way above the 4-7 target. I was struggling to get a level under 13 let alone 7. I've been up in the 20s for no good reason, taking double the amount of insulin I usually do, but nothing worked. There's not a nice way to say it, high blood sugar makes you feel like crap- beyond crap, crappiest crap to ever exist kind of crap. You're thirsty and nauseous and tired and grumpy and not even bothered to move because that would involve effort. They stayed up despite correction after correction,18+ and not budging on Monday night. In a last ditch attempt to avoid a hospital stay I got up again and ag...

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...

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...

well I went to see my endo today (endocrinologist, a doctor specialising in the care of diabetes and other hormone related disorders). As usual, he was brilliant sorting out everything and helping me immensely in aiding the daily plight of managing blood sugars and insulin dosages. But this time, well the stress has got to me and my HbA1c (the three month average of my blood glucose, was the highest it's ever been. We aim to have it below 7% and usually I'm well under, but this time was different- 8.7. Now for a lot of people, this is a great A1c, but being the perfectionist I am, it's a bit of a let down, but maybe a sign to slow it down with the stress. I take six hsc subjects, each intensive and demanding it its own right and whilst I am aiming for a high ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) to get into my desired course at uni, it might be time to ease off a little and focus on myself, rather than school school school. So yes, my A1c isn't somethi...

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...

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...