Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

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...

Concerts are awesome. Simple really. But the thing is, diabetes and concerts just  well they just.don't.go. I don't know what happened between them to cause such a terrible mismatch, but in short their relationship is very VERY messy. Basically, being a t1d is a pain at times because you need to be able to check your blood sugar... kinda hard in a mosh pit.  There are three methods of sugar checking in a concert. 1) The Balancing Act: We've all done it, finger pricker in the mouth, sugar meter balancing on the arm and test strips flying everywhere. Obviously not one for the weak hearted, or the uncoordinated 2) The 'You Owe Me A Favour' Approach: That's right, it's time to call in our lovely friends and ask them to hold things for you. Maybe you say you're super low, but whatever it is, you make it seem like they have to help. The ultimate diabetic benefit is assistance in the mosh pit :) 3) The 'She'll be right mate!...

My insulin pump, fondly named Dobby (Yes, from Harry Potter.... don't judge me...) seems to share a goal of spontaneously appearing where it shouldn't and holding the wish to maim and seriously injure (you traitorous pump you!) Don't you see the resemblance? You diabetics know what I'm talking about, Dobby likes to live on the edge. It's a little sport, called pump bungee-jumping and I think my pump's addicted. It happens at any time, any place and usually when it's least wanted, like when standing up on a bus/train to get off at your stop or when you go take off your seat belt in the car. There it is, the pump hanging by its tubing, swaying in the breeze. Not only is this painful, but sometimes it gets caught on things like doorknobs, and pulls out the infusion set, meaning that I have to inject a new one early (boo!). But that isn't all. Me being me, when this happens I usually make some form of comment that would sound really really weir...

Dear 'Doctor' with magical cure for type 1 diabetes, I don't buy it. Not.one.bit. You preach that religious faith, herbal remedies, asparagus and all kinds of crazy concoctions will cure my diabetes, that I'm letting myself suffer by listening to my doctors and taking insulin, that somehow this is further damaging my pancreas. That the cure has always been so easy to find, and that I'm simply being stubborn in not accepting your remedies. Well, I don't know where you got your degree, or whether your doctorate is ACTUALLY in medicine, but newsflash: Type 1 diabetes isn't curable. Yet. See, you overshadow REAL progress with your false 'natural' advances, supposedly converting type 1 diabetics into type 2 diabetics and finally non-diabetics. At one time, I believed you, just after I was diagnosed. There were all these supposed cures, that diabetes wasn't forever, that there had been some form of mistake and I was actually type 2. Well, the...

so now I'm one of THOSE bloggers, you know the ones 'I'll update on Thursday' Yup... sorry It's been a while :/ Unfortunately, I'm doing this little thing called the HSC and it's successfully eating my life. However with my chemistry exam over and done with I have a little time (who am I kidding, this is purely procrastination in order to avoid studying English). Sure, I don’t expect everyone on the face of the Earth to know about Type 1 diabetes, but sometimes people come out with the most ridiculous and insulting things that it makes me wonder, where the heck did they get THAT from?!  For now, here’s the top 10 list of the most ridiculous, not to mention common,  things people have said to me after I've uttered the words ‘I’m a type 1 diabetic.’ 10) Oh you’re a diabetic? My grandmother/aunt/grandfather/uncle died from that… oh… sorry. 9) You know you can cure that? Good diet and exercise does the trick, that’s been cured for years! 8) Oh...

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. ...

3am- Check my blood sugar if it was drastically out of range (8-12 mmol/L) at 10.30pm. If it’s low it’s time for Nesquik or fruit juice, if it’s high, more blood sugar testing for ketones and water 5.45- Wake up for school, check blood sugar if there were overnight issues 6.30- Check blood sugar and have breakfast, entering my blood sugar level into my insulin pump and calculating the number of carbohydrates I’ll be eating, injecting the insulin as required. Check my pump for battery life and insulin amounts. 7- Leave the house to catch my bus making sure I’ve packed all of my diabetes supplies (testing kits, sugary foods and drinks, back up pump supplies, batteries, back up insulin pens for emergency injections etc.) 8.30- Check my blood sugar at school to see if I need to eat again before class 9- School begins 10.30- Check blood sugar and repeat the breakfast routine. 12.30pm- Check blood sugar and have more insulin if required 1.30- Check blood sugar and r...

Hypos and type 1 diabetes in general can be quite a nuisance, particularly in the school environment. Sometimes, because of low blood sugars launching surprise attacks, I need to eat during class. Teachers at my school are well aware of this, including substitutes, with my face pinned up in every single staffroom in the school (worst photo ever might I add) with big black letters stating DIABETIC. Now, I could take one standpoint one that, I don’t want to be known as ‘the diabetic’ but hey, if it’ll help these people remember then stick the word on my forehead if you have to! As a rule, my teachers are brilliant and incredibly supportive of me and my diabetes. But sometimes well, sometimes you get the idiots that think they know more about it than you do and need to ‘lay down the law’ in their classroom. Obviously you didn’t get the memo, I’m one of the quiet kids, go attack that one in the corner that won’t stop talking during your lessons. One day, we had a new teacher for a ...