Teenage Kicks: Being Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in Your Teens
How it feels, and how parents can help
Why your diabetes jokes are rubbish unless you’re diabetic
How not to offend a diabetic with misconceptions
Living With Type 1 Diabetes: 5 Reasons to be Glad
At first, it feels like the end of the world. But here’s the upside of a diabetes diagnosis
Diabetes: It’s no joke
Why it’s time for ordinary people to understand what diabetes really is, and stop the stereotyping that contributes to the pain and stress of living with the condition
Diabetes Anniversary: Not Drowning But Waving
A diabetes anniversary is always a time for reflection. If you’d asked me three years ago how I felt about diabetes, I would probably would have burst into tears before I’d managed to utter more than a sentence. But here’s why I’m glad, 3 years on, for the lessons it has taught us…
10 Things you should Never Say to a Diabetic if you Value Your Life
In our three years living with Type 1 diabetes I’ve learned a fair bit about myself. Not just my capacity for complicated maths in the middle of the night after a bottle of Prosecco; nor my propensity for hurling my diabetic child into every potentially dangerous adventure, just to prove a point. No, my biggest lesson has been patience. My previously unsuspected ability to smile and nod in the face of extreme provocation. And before we go any further, let me say that I have made at least three of these mistakes myself, in a previous life. So this is …
Diabetes: Running without Jelly Babies
You know when someone in the office leaves for pastures new, or when a mum in your group has a new baby, and you want to buy them a gift? Someone starts a group text, someone else has a search on Amazon or Etsy and comes up with the perfect suggestion. Then someone offers to pay, and 25 people all Paypal each other £3.76 each to contribute. It gets messy, right? Well I’ve found another way of doing it. Leetchi.com is a personal crowdfunding website that helps you manage the finances on group projects. Basically, you log on, create a personalised ‘money …
Shattered Illusions and the Sugar Tax
I’ve debated posting this for a good while. I realised recently that my love of a funny story has been buried somewhat in a rather more grumpy tone of voice. Many of you know that Maddie was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two and a half years ago. I’ve posted a little about how tricky a condition diabetes is to manage, and how frustrating it can be when people make jokes about it. But I feel like for the most part I’ve had my say, people have listened, and now we just have to suck it up and get on …
An Open Letter to Type 1 Teens
On 22 July this year, Connor lost his life to type 1 diabetes. He was a normal teenaged boy, with everything to live for. But he had diabetes, an incurable condition that is relentless in its need to be managed, every hour of every day, for life. It is a difficult physical condition, yet what you very rarely see is the emotionally exhausting psychological burden of living with type 1, that is every bit as tough as the medical. In the weeks following Connor’s death, Nicky, his mother, wrote this letter in the hopes that if just one young person read …
Why Theresa May should be Prime Minister
Theresa May for Prime Minister Look, I know this is not going to be a popular post with a lot of my friends. She voted remain, we (allegedly) wanted to leave. You all seem to hate her, declaring her anti-feminist, a homophobe, and a racist. Ok I’m exaggerating, but largely the Facebook posts of my online contacts are not indicating joy at her appointment. I’m not going to comment on her politics. I know very little of them, I’ve paid her no attention in the past. Does that mean I should be disqualified from my vote in the next …
Rattling the Cages of Parliament for Type 1 Diabetes #Type1Catalyst
Want to know what’ll get you inside the Houses of Parliament? I don’t mean queuing up to take the tour (which in itself is very cool), or going through security (rather like airport scanning, that’s how serious government is) to sit in the Commons and hear the debates (yes that is totally a thing). Nor am I talking of secret plots to usurp government and all its officials. No, this is about a personal invitation to a private party on that stretch of the river Thames that always looks so inviting on a sunny Friday afternoon; the Terrace Pavilion, where you always …
Diabetes: I wish I could be happy
I’m never happy. It dawned on me just now as I drove home. It’s a glorious day, the best kind; the sun is shining, the trees look like candy floss, heavy with blossom, and the streets are filled with busy families on their way to tennis, drama clubs, or ballet. I’m one of them. Two years ago I would have rejoiced in a day like today. I would have dug out my sandals, planned a barbeque for lunch, and invited friends for cocktails. I’d have walked in the sun, breathed the air, and revelled in my life. It’s just …
Free to Dream (Freestyle Libre review)
Hey, stop what you’re doing for a minute, will you? I just need you to do something for me. It will take about 2 minutes – if you’re lucky – then you can carry on with your work/play/nap/dancing (delete as appropriate). Hey, can you stop again please? Sorry, I just need you to do that thing again, won’t take too long. I know, I know, you’re dancing/singing/talking to your friends/marking coursework. Sorry, but it’s got to be done. Hey, sorry to interrupt AGAIN, but can you just… yes, again, yep I know you’re busy, I know it’s important, you’re having …
Stable Diabetes: it’s Mission Impossible #DPC16
I don’t know who this photo belongs to, but if anyone does, I’ll gladly credit. The man is a genius. If you’re living with diabetes I know you’ll be nodding at this point; if you’re not, please believe us – stable diabetes is not something that ever happens, particularly if you’re type 1. “Is she not stable then..?” There is nothing that infuriates a diabetic more than this question. Apart from possibly “Are you allowed to eat that?” See this image for the answer to that question. Then I promise we’ll crack on with the point of this post, but allow …
Diabetes: forget sugar and injections, it’s all about education. #DPC16
I’ve procrastinated with this post. Last week I was one of the official bloggers at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference (DPC). Professional. That means scientists, doctors, and researchers presenting findings from their studies, and debating new approaches in diabetes care. I run a parenting blog. Some of my readers are parents of children with type 1 diabetes, by virtue of the fact that I occasionally write impassioned posts on the subject since GG’s diagnosis. I applied for the position of conference blogger, but I questioned why I was awarded it. Most of my readers do not have diabetes on their …
Up All Night
You know when people joke about how, when you have a baby, you’re not going to get much sleep? You’ll be up all night, they say, and you laugh. Then your newborn arrives, and you realise it’s true. You never knew you could survive on so little sleep. You’re amazing. Up All Night After a couple of weeks though, the excitement settles, the adrenalin wears off, and you’re tired to your bones. You ache all over, you eat badly, propping yourself up with sugar, caffeine and stimulants. You don’t know how you will carry on. You do though, because …
Judgement – a Life Lesson for those who are judged, and those who judge
How best to support your friend who is going through something difficult.
Why diabetes is like a toddler
What would you say is the worst thing about having a toddler? The obsession with the word no, and a refusal to comply with any request? The sleepless nights, as your child won’t sleep, or will sleep, but not in his own bed, and only for intermittent bursts? His unpredictability, and tendency to tantrums out of nowhere? His uncanny knack of figuring out a way round all your best laid plans? Or his lack of common sense and logic, which frequently puts him in dangerous situations, as you hurtle in to save him? It’s the same with diabetes. Toddlers and Diabetes at …
The Ghost of Christmas Past and my Perfect Christmas
We put our tree up this weekend. It’s always a big deal, never a chore. In the pursuit of family traditions, I’ve always made sure that Christmas tree weekend is special. So no, you can pass on those Chelsea tickets, welcome the cancelled football match, and even – just this once – skip swimming lessons. Put on the Christmas playlist, overboil the mulled wine, and warm up some mince pies, because Christmas tree weekend has to happen in a certain way every year. I apologise if I’m a little prescriptive, slightly bossy, and rather a neat freak, but this …