Fighting the Unseen: Life With Diabetes

In another diabetic community (TuDiabetes.org) a converstaion topic came up:

"We ran an article this morning on Diabetes News Hound about family planning and diabetes. The author Kelsey Metcalf, one of our Expert Columnists, discussed her decision to adopt. You can read the column here: Expert: Why Diabetes Caused Me to Adopt

Im curious to hear if diabetes will or had impacted your decision to have...

In August 2009, I was diagnosed with minor retinopathy.  (You can read my earlier blog about this)  I had hemorrages in both my eyes and they threatened to get bigger... in the end would make me blind.  I'm 25 years old, Type 1 for 12 years.

This past Saturday, I had a folllow up appointment at the eye doctor and good news:  The hemorrages are gone!  Every last one of them!  It's been 6 months since my retinopathy complication diagnosis and now...

First things first, thank you for reaching out to this community on behalf of him [your spouse]. It shows that you are a truly caring partner and supporter of him. Having a spouse reach into the unknown on behalf of you is not something that we find every day. So, thank you for that.

Second, I cannot promise that my suggestions work and I'm sure some of it won't even apply to your situation, but I'm going to offer what I know and hope that it helps.

1. Pl...

With the holiday season upon us, no matter which holiday you celebrate, there is typically an abundance of foods and a surplus of family and friends around us.  What do you do during this time of year?

Here are a few questions to ask your Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) to help you get through this fun, but taxing season:

1. During the holiday season, are there limitations to what kinds of sweets you can eat, and what are your carb ratios for those...

Four years.

I just received diagnosis of my first diabetes complication, and the doctor told me: "This usually happens after seven years with type 1."

This coming September 23rd will be my 11 year anniversary with Type 1.   I have struggled- boy, have I struggled, but I've always managed to come out okay.  It must be in the genes.  I get the flu once per year and only for a few days- living in the ever changing world o...

I've been with my current fiance for almost ten years. We met when I was 15 and we've basically "grown up" together. It's weird, but really nice and happy too! He is my best friend through and through and I can talk to him about ANYTHING at all.

I was diagnosed at 14. We went on our first date when I was 15 and a half, to his junior prom at high school (some great blackmail photos there!) After our first date, we kissed. As we were waiting for his mom to pick u...

I found Mark's story on http://www.diabetesforums.com/forum/dieting/25479-type-1-diabetes-low.html

and found him completely inspiring. I tried to upload the following letter to his site, but was met with many errors.

I'm hoping that he sees this ev...

Someone asked me:

"If you could have No Diabetes for ONE day, what would you do?"

-I would call in sick to work (and not ACTUALLY be sick for once!)

-I would go to the beach and not worry about spikes in my BG due to the heat-

-I would lay around and sleep for most of the day and not worry about whether I'm just tired, just relaxing, or if my BG is dropping and/or soaring.

I went to see my endocrinologist on July 7, 2009. It was for my three month appointment, but ended up really being six months in between because the office had to reschedule me.

(sigh)

He is usually very helpful, but I was kind of let down by him. I asked him about other options for short acting insulins (as I've got this resistance thing that keeps lowering my carb: dosage ratio) and he *shrugged his shoulders*.

I asked if I h...

Alcohol is fun, yes?  It's a chance to let loose, have reckless abandon and the ability to "shut off" your mind for just a few hours.

But alcohol use and the Big D are... not so good together.  We need to have the ability to have fun with reckless abandon, but to also have caution in the backs of our minds and meters in our pockets.

Sounds impossible?  It's really not too bad.