Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

Long time no blog! Yesterday I got back from a 5-day trip to Tasmania with friends from uni. Isn't it gorgeous? The trip was fantastic, but full of a whole host of hiccups that ended up turning into some unforgettable and hilarious stories, like the time we absolutely shredded a tire on the car (who we fondly named Bumblebee). We had to enlist the help of British and French tourists to change it and ended up with a four-car pile up on a gravel road, which ended with me being low. Not to mention the time we bogged the car in some sand and had to push it uphill. Sorry Bumblebee. But there were some diabetes hiccups too. I was really nervous before I left for a few reasons. I’d never flown alone before, and it had been 13 years since I’d last done it, so I’d never flown with diabetes. I was nervous about bad sugar levels so far from home. I was nervous about being far away from hospitals, hiking and not feeling low blood sugars because of exercise...

It's World Diabetes Day (and my 100th Blog Post!) and I thought it would be a good opportunity to ask my friends to send in what they want to know about Type 1 with the aim of spreading awareness about the condition. I got some excellent questions! Comment below if you have a question. Doesn't matter how weird or "stupid" it is! Q1: Can you bling out your pump? Like a vajazzle? Note: If you don't know what a "vajazzle" is, I'll direct you here:  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=vajazzle ) I thought I'd been asked everything under the sun. But never have I been asked if I can get a pump equivalent of a vajazzle. You can get cool cases and things! Can we make a show called “pimp my pump”? What do we call a pump equivalent of a vajazzle? Pumpazzle? Q2: Where do you attach your pump to when you don't have pockets or pants? Do you attach your pump to your undies? If so, does it influence the type you wear? What’s my ...

Semester is over, exams are coming, and it dawned on me that in terms of content I’m half way through my degree. That’s really terrifying, but also exciting. During the semester I’ve been running weekly therapy with a client and ended the semester by running 2 sessions by myself. Which is a great confidence boost, but it still feels like I'm playing dress-up whenever I'm in "clinic clothes"(business attire). A while ago I wrote a post about turning 18, and all these adult responsibilities. I had an absolute onslaught of paperwork to muddle through because of the diabetes. But it made me feel pretty independent, which I liked because I get all the control. I love nothing more than knowing exactly what’s happening and being in charge of it. But now as I’m half way through my degree and turning 20 in a few months, I have come to a realisation. I am not even close to being an adult. Yes, I have a million cards, and my car, and my HECS debt that makes me nauseous every t...

Mental health/illness is hard to talk about. When you experience physical pain you go to the doctor. But what about emotional pain? With that you’re meant to suck it up and get on with it. Mental illness is often compared to invisible illnesses, such as diabetes (of all types). You can’t see diabetes, just as you can’t see depression or anxiety. Sometimes because it can’t be seen, it’s easy to minimise/misunderstand the effects of it. If someone breaks their leg, you can see them struggling to get around. But if someone is having a crazy day of blood sugars you probably can’t see how they’re feeling.  I find t1d pretty easy to talk about and explain to others. I really don’t mind running over the same explanations. That is, unless someone keeps saying idiotic/hurtful things AFTER I’ve outlined what it is and confirmed they understand. I think that’s because even though t1d is an invisible illness, once someone has seen a low blood sugar, or even just watched you check your...

Bit of a blog vacation happened there, sorry! I’ve been having a bit of a diabetes mini-burnout and that’s related to everything diabetes, including blogging. It’s all just seemed too hard lately, as though it’s only just dawning on me that it’s been 5 and a bit years of daily management. I’m calling this a mini-burnout because it wasn’t horrific, or really long term. I’ve just had some difficulty keeping up my diabetes management lately. However it wasn’t obvious, and it took me a long time to work out that this was burnout. I always thought that diabetes burnout was when you said enough’s enough and downed tools. I thought it meant you stopped checking, bolusing (taking insulin for food) and thinking about your diabetes. I was checking as often as usual (aka testing way too much) and I was bolusing for all my meals. I was even taking insulin corrections to bring down my high blood sugars. So naturally, I didn’t think it was happening to me. However, I hadn’t contacted my spec...

Here’s a typical conversation when someone asks me about my course: “What are you studying?” “Speech Pathology” “… pathology? Like, blood?” “Let’s just go with speech therapy” Speech pathology is a lot more than most people think. It’s so much more than stutters and lisps, though they’re definitely a part of it if that’s what you want to do! I like speech path because it’s such a versatile profession. You can work with a variety of age groups, and with a variety of disorders/delays. Before anyone asks, I have no idea what I want to do and change my mind every time I learn something cool. Swallowing, strokes and aphasia (geriatrics) was my original interest but we’ll see, I have lots to choose from and a lot more to learn. Here’s some things speechies do that you probably didn’t consider (little disclaimer: I’m still learning lots and lots of things and am not a source of medical advice. Some things I know about a little more because of personal experiences separate from ...

It’s National Diabetes Awareness Week here in Australia. I had absolutely no idea. That’s a worry when even the diabetics don’t know… Hope someone sends CrossFit a memo. Apparently, in Australia, there’s 120,000 Type 1 Diabetics. That sounds like a large amount, but considering the population is something like 22 or 23 million, it’s a tiny percentage. Diabetes as a whole however (including type 2 which makes up ~90% of diagnoses) is highly prevalent. The media seems to be focusing on Type 2, which is fine because it’s way more common and sometimes you can actually do something to prevent it. But they don’t differentiate between Type 1 and 2. They’ve released this scary video: Uplifting right? These complications also happen to Type 1s if blood sugars are very erratic for very long periods of time. But I think they’re just here for a scare tactic. I hope another video is released that actually teaches something. In the meantime, have some facts: - T1 is caused by ge...