Today marks 19 years that I have been living with type 1 diabetes. I was diagnosed just a month before my tenth birthday – it’s ironic how we often relate our diagnosis story to another sometimes equally significant date or event. That’s my finding at least. Read More »
As someone who has struggled with anxiety, I know how challenging it can be to speak out and ask for help. Growing up with type one diabetes has been one of the greatest challenges I have had to face, but also one of the greatest gifts I have been given in my life. It has granted me the knowledge and awareness of how the everyday choices that I make have an affect on my health, both physically and mentally, it has allowed me to meet so many incredible people in the community and has guided me to live out my passion in life to help others.Read More »
When I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes almost 20 years ago there was no such thing as the ‘Diabetes Online Community.’ Heck, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t even such a thing as ‘online’. Sure, I went to diabetes camp as a child, and sure there was one or two other kids at my school that had diabetes that I knew of, but we never spoke or bonded over sharing our personal experiences about living with this disease. We lived in solitude with one another. I did’t meet another person with diabetes until about two years ago when I flew to Wisconsin to participate in a charity bike ride I had signed up for on a whim. Read More »
“I’ve worn the Dexcom CGM before; this is easy; I’ve got this; I can totally do it. Oh wait, what? You want me to wear THAT on my arm?” This was my train of thought as it took me days, weeks, maybe even a month before I gathered up the courage to unwrap the OmniPod demo kit my Diabetes Educator gave me at my last appointment to stick it on my arm for the next 3 days.
It’s almost 2AM and I am unable to fall asleep. I’m unsure if it’s because of the extra coffee I had in the afternoon or if it’s from the excitement and nerves about the next chapter of my life I am about to enter.Read More »
The 2016 Amelia Island JDRF Ride 4-day weekend started out with a flight from Toronto, Ontario, to Jacksonville, Florida, with a connecting flight in Atlanta, Georgia. It was an early morning flight, and we had a few hours to kill at the Atlanta airport before our connecting flight to Jacksonville. Read More »
I haven’t always been one to talk about diabetes. In fact, a few years ago I would have avoided any conversation around the topic at all cost. It made me very uncomfortable and vulnerable to talk about this disease I live with everyday. Since then, I have come a long way. Now, it excites me to talk to people about diabetes. I want to educate those who don’t necessarily understand and I want to connect with as many of those who just “get it”. Read More »
Although I’ve had type 1 diabetes for over 17 years, I feel like I am constantly learning about this disease. For example, in recent years I learned about how stress can impact your blood sugar levels, but I had never experienced this firsthand myself, or so I thought. It wasn’t until I got my Dexcom where I got to see the effects of stress on my blood sugar levels. Literally, I watched my blood sugars go up, up and up with no valid reason other than the fact that I was studying and stressed for exams. It honestly was so cool to see and was also an eye opening experience for me.Read More »
The human body is incredible in all that it does without us even having to think about it or tell it what to do. Take a moment to process that. Think about how we breathe. We don’t have to stop every few seconds to remind ourselves to do it, we just do!Read More »
In the diabetes online community we often refer to ourselves as superheroes. We even compare our daily lives and diabetes management to having a full-time job that we didn’t apply for, and there’s no pay or vacation provided.Read More »
