Managing type 1 diabetes with Omnipod (UK review)
How we moved from multiple daily injections to a tubeless insulin pump
diabetes
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
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 …
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 …
Mindful Chef Review: Healthy Recipe Box Meals
Mindful Chef: the Healthy Recipe Box I don’t often post about food on this blog, but when I do, it’s because I’ve found something that really makes life a little bit better. I’ve talked before about how my love of cooking has diminished since having children. It’s something to do with the endless nature of feeding a family. No sooner is one meal consumed, than another has to be prepared, and the cycle of menu-planning, shopping, prepping, and cleaning up seems to go round too fast for me to ever feel like food is not on my mind. Add to …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Dear Type 1 Diabetes
Dear Type 1 Diabetes, I’m just writing to let you know what I think of you. I haven’t ranted too much in the last year since you rudely set up camp in our lives, but the time has come. It might get sweary. Actually, strike that; this is going to get totally sweary, and I make no apologies, because it’s about time you were told. Type 1 Diabetes, you are a nasty, vindictive little terrorist, with an impeccable and malicious sense of timing. I have gradually come to accept that you are a law unto yourself. It’s not about food, …
Diabetes: This is WAR
This weekend we played a game of Bananagrams. One of those games that you either love or hate. My need for order and precision, my discomfort with change means it’s not my favourite. But it grows on you. Those who like to shake things up, change them for the sake of it, experiment, they love it. It makes GG happy. If she doesn’t like a word she’s used, she’ll change it. I wish everything was that simple. I left them to tidy up, and when I next looked, they hadn’t. They’d all wandered off, apart from her. She sat at …
Dear Coleen Nolan, diabetes is not my fault
Having to take insulin injections is not the worst thing about having diabetes. Having to prick your fingers before you can eat or exercise is probably worse than needing to inject a synthetic hormone into your body, but it’s not the worst thing about having diabetes. Working full time (and it is full-time) to keep blood sugars under control, and the sense of deflation when all that hard work doesn’t pay off, is one of the worst things about having diabetes. But it’s not the worst. Public misperception around diabetes is the worst thing about having the condition. I struggle with …
Expressions: Silly questions your mum will ask about diabetes
The Type 1 diabetes diagnois came just over a week ago. We were diagnosed at the GP, and sent straight to paediatric A&E for training in how to manage it. Of all the questions I expected to hear my mum ask the doctor there, this one never crossed my mind: Will she ever be able to experiment with illegal drugs..? My mum is a worrier. She projects into the future. Whilst I reassured her that I’m only 9, and really not interested in heroin, she thinks about all the things I might want to do as an adult, that she …
Expressions 20: My brave girl
This is GG, aged 9 and 3 quarters. On Tuesday she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. This is her 24 hours later, in hospital, having already learned to prick her own fingers for blood sugar testing, and inject herself with insulin. I am proud, and humbled by her bravery. She is the most amazing person I know. This is her 48 hours after diagnosis. She will not let this change her: I will not be sharing posts this week; we have just so much to get to grips with right now, and I need to focus on my family …