A dislike of others giving me an injection.

"You can't be scared of an injection, you do them every day!"


Yes I do, and you just hit the nail on the head by saying "YOU do them". I am scared of going for other injections because it's usually me who does them, not someone else, the minute someone else comes towards me with a big needle is the minute I start to panic.


And I can't watch them do it either, the nurse was having a good laugh at me about this the other day, she was giving me a HPV and a flu jab, one in each arm, and I was tense, I wouldn't watch her and I cringed at the sound of the stuff going in. She was laughing, but told me it's something she finds a lot with diabetics.


The thing is, I'm a paradox anyway. I am scared of needles (I've learnt to do my injections without actually looking at the point when it punctures my skin, that's the bit I don't like because it makes me feel queasy). I am also scared of blood, this coming from a girl who was going into hospital on a weekly basis a couple of years ago in order to have blood taken from me, and from someone who tests her blood sugar (on average) 4 times a day. 


A non diabetic informed me the other day that she could never be diabetic because she is scared of needles and scared of blood, I asked her then how she thought I did it, and more importantly, why she thought I did it. 


The point is, if you were starving hungry but really really couldn't stand pasta, but the only thing to eat was pasta and nothing else, are you going to starve or are you going to eat what you dislike? I know what I'd do, but then that's just me. And this is a little more drastic I guess, would you rather try and ignore your fears of needles and live, or are you going to continue to be scared of them and avoid them and run the risk of an early death? 


Sorry it is blunt, but I can think of no other way to put it.


Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Diabetes Control In Work

I started my job a while back and I think I have to comment on this because there have been some implications on my diabetes that I honestly say I did not see coming.


Firstly, I have to highlight the importance of breaks. I was working 6 hour shifts with no break, so I wasn't eating, wasn't injecting properly, wasn't getting a drink, and it near killed me. I became so tired and lethargic, my concentration suffered and it actually took me to almost faint on the shop floor before they realised how important it was going to be for me to take a break.


Also, there is an importance around not letting your work stress you too much. On Sunday I was astronomically stressed and found that my blood sugars were all over the place and as a result I had to have (yet another) day off college on Monday to recover from Sunday night being up sorting them out, basically I was exhausted.


Speaking of exhaustion, that's another thing to watch out for. I am totally past it at the minute, I am past everything, and I have gotten myself into such a vicious cycle because I'm stressed with the amount of work that I am doing alongside college, which is making it so I can't sleep but I am already overtired, because I am so tired I am having to miss days of college which is stressing me because I'm missing days and it's an awful cycle and I can't keep in control of it. And I am suffering, I'll be honest I really really am.


I don't think it is just a diabetes thing, but I think that I have to take that into consideration aswell because it would be silly of me to ignore the fact that it is having an effect on my diabetes. 


I think the point of this post was to basically serve as a warning to people with diabetes starting out new jobs and having other things on top, a job is fantastic, but if it infringes your health you aren't going to be working to the best of your ability.


Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti.
xxx

They Do Things Differently In America.

My blood sugar was 6.4 this morning, which for us is good, in America that should indicate that I shouldn't even be here! Because in America, the equivalent is 115.2! Which wouldn't even read on my meter. 


In America, if their machine said 6.4, to us it would be 0.35556. 


The reason for this is that in America, they work out their sugars according to mg/dl (not that I know what that stands for), and we work ours out according to mmol/l (nor do I know what that stands for either).


This was the reason why when my literature teacher checked her blood sugar out online, and went onto an American site, she panicked because it told her that by rights she should be in a coma by now, because for them it would have been below 1! 


I find the differences interesting to be honest, because I remember when I first heard an American diabetic speak, and he said that his blood sugar was okay and it was at like 126 (which is 7 to us) and  sat there and thought how on earth is he still alive? :)


Pointless post really but ah well :)


Keep Smiling
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

New Regime?

Just a quick one about something I just saw on the news which may be of interest.


Apparently, there is a new regime in which instead of taking 2 (or 4) injections a day, we can take one a week.


Now I don't know the in's and out's of this yet, the news report was very vague, in fact it wasn't really a news report as just reading the title of the front cover of another newspaper, but I sort of like the idea.


What I don't get, is how we would control things on one injection a week, I know on the regime that I am on, my 4 consist of fast acting control when I eat, and slow release control when I sleep, so it would be interesting to find out more about this new regime, see who they tested it on and the results ect.


If it is possible, and available, then I am totally for it! I reckon (and this is just a guess) you'd have to take more blood sugars until you managed to get used to the new regime, but I think between a choice of more blood sugars and more injections I'd definitely take the blood sugars any day! 


I've been trying to research it on the internet, but haven't found much. I'll do some more research and when I know more about it i'll post it up, but I think in theory the idea is very good.


I love how we are advancing all the time, things are so different now from what they were when I was first diagnosed! It's all steps in the right direction :)


Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Fun In My English Lesson (with diabetes :D)

I've said before, that to get someone to truly understand, you have to make them see. You have to let them see what it is like to be you. And I let my english teacher in on it more than I'd ever thought I would at the start of the year the other day.


I was late to lesson, and low, very low. I (stupidly, but it happens) didn't have any hypo treatment on me, and my speech was slurred so I sounded like I was drunk. My teacher looked quite shocked when I walked in, I just slurred "sugar" at her, at which she seemed a bit ruffled as she didn't have any. She said she would go and see what they had in the staffroom, and what happened next has to be the most interesting set of things to help a hypo I have ever done. A friend of mine had a mouthful of a cup of tea left (which had sugar in it) and half a chocolate biscuit which he gave to me while my teacher was out looking for something. Then, she came back with a tub of nutella and a spoon, and told me to eat. Now I love nutella, so I wasn't complaining, but it was funny eating nutella like a yogurt. She asked me if sugar would be better, I said probably, so leaving me with the tub of nutella she went, and came back with a cup of raw sugar and a spoon, which I began to eat and felt better for, my speech at any rate returned to normal.


Things settled after this excitement, and she started to talk to the class again, I got my BM out and tested and it makes a noise which diverted her attention away from what she was doing and towards me. She asked what she would be if she tested it, I told her our normal averages and asked her if she wanted to test hers. She said yes (though this took a while because she was very nervous about it and kept nervously asking me questions), eventually she managed it and ended up with a blood sugar of 6.7, which I told her was fine (anything between 4 and 7). I explained to her why a person without diabetes goes lower after they eat and higher if they haven't eaten for a while ect. Then when we'd all settled down to work, she looked on the internet, the trouble was (and I told her not to do this) she looked on an American site, now in America a blood sugar reading of 6.7 should mean that you are well and truly in a coma, and that's exactly what she read, and I looked as her face slowly drained of colour and she told me what she was reading. I think she was reassured when I started to laugh and explained things to her. From that, some of my friends said they wanted testing aswell, so we spent a lesson testing blood sugars and discussing how a diabetics blood sugars differ from a person without diabetes. 


This, was a really good way of letting them into a little bit of how it feels to be a diabetic. Some of them took ages to do a blood sugar, saying they were scared it was going to hurt (my reassurance was that they didn't HAVE to do it, and when I first had to do it I was 4 years old and it didn't hurt me one bit). And just talking about it, letting them ask me questions, so my whole English group is now as clued up on diabetes as I am! 


And I know it worked, I went low again today before history, and my english teacher passed me as I was trying to sort things out, she noticed the signs of my sugars messing up, asked if I was ok, I told her yes and she walked away and on her way back she waited with me until I'd checked my bloods again, and then commented that they were "a bit on the low side", and I was so pleased with that because before that point, even though I have been her student now for over a year, it was not something she knew, but I've made one more person understand about diabetes, and I am happy about that :) 


Let someone in, make them understand. It's not something they need to feel sorry for you about, just a fact of life that their pancreas works and ours doesn't. It isn't like it is contagious or anything, but at the same time we are not born with knowledge, we need to be taught these things, I know this stuff because I have grown up with it, but if I am talking to someone who hasn't got diabetes, or doesn't know anyone with diabetes, well then I can't expect them to understand unless I am patient enough to explain it to them.


Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Jobs And Diabetes :D

I found the most wonderful job interviewer in the world. And the reason I love her? There were no discrimination's :)


Before I went for my first ever interview, I was told "Unless they ask, don't tell them you have diabetes, let them see you work before they find out that you are diabetic". To me, having had diabetes for such a long time and not being treated any differently because of it, this seemed like a strange sentence, and not a sentence I liked. Why should they not want me just as much as anybody else? What right do they have to tell me I am any worse at doing a job simply because I am diabetic? I didn't think it was conceivable that any workplace would be like this, but I kept the advice in mind. But the issue of my diabetes came up, I told her it was well controlled and when it dropped etc (which I am more prone to doing than it going too high) it is easily sorted. But the change in the way she looked at me sealed the deal, and I knew then why I had been given that advice. 


Needless to say, I didn't get that job. It was a shame because everything else seemed to have gone well, she even said she could learn a lot from the way I look at life, me, the 17 year old girl!!! She complimented me on my personality and said I was very "bubbly". And I honestly think it was my diabetes that let me down.


Just recently though, I have had another interview (well, 2 interviews to be precise). I went in with the advice given to me firmly in my head, and then found myself being asked about it again. I came out this time and said, "will this impact whether I get the job or not?", she smiled at me and told me no, and that they had another diabetic working there, and that if I ever needed to sort my blood sugars out all I would need to do is tell someone, and then go and do it, no questions asked. And I got the job :D No discrimination there :)


Due to my first experience, I would say what I was told, dont tell them you are diabetic unless they ask, never lie, but if possible let them see you work before they find out that you have diabetes. It's a shame that it has to be that way, but all they are looking for is someone who can work well enough to generate some money for them, and if the person you are talking to doesn't have much experience of diabetes, then they may have misconceived ideas of it and of the way that you can work with it.  


You and I know, that being a diabetic does not have to be limiting. There are certain things that the government or whoever it is that decides this tells us we are not allowed to do, such as join the military, fly planes, teach people to drive cars, drive busses, (and in a way, though I hate to accept that we may have limits, I understand this, because it would be catastrophic if we were to have a low or go too high while we were doing these things and put others lives in danger because our bloods were clouding out thoughts and judgements) but the fact remains, that for the majority, we are no better or worse at performing than anyone else out there, and I want a non diabetic to read this, to read it and understand it. Its my pancreas that doesn't work, not my brain.


Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Clinic Yesterday- There Are More Rules Than I Thought...

Was in clinic yesterday. It's okay.Things seem to be alright. I've been given a few months grace period before they start talking about moving me to the different clinic which is good.


What struck me today was that there are a lot more rules for adult diabetics than I ever thought. Like there are rules with driving, I have to let the instructor know I'm diabetic, and if I have to travel with my blood moniter and hypo treatment. And If i feel myself dropping, I have to pull over, take the key out of the ignition, get out of the car and get into the passenger seat and then do anything I need to sort my blood sugar there, even if I am parked if a policeman catches me in the drivers seat I could be pulled up for dangerous driving because in the drivers seat instantly assumes that I am still in control of the vehicle, even if it is parked which sounds pretty stupid to me. And I aren't allowed to set off unless my blood sugar is above 5. And I have to renew my lisence more, and my eye sight has to be checked more regularly.


We were also talking about pregnancy (not that I intend on getting pregnant yet). Apparently, unless blood sugars have been spot on perfect for a few months before conception it is hard for a diabetic to have a normal pregnancy, meaning a pregnancy would most certainly have to be planned. I asked about what if I accidently got pregnant, I didnt expect the answer, I got told some people aborted the pregnancies, others went through with it and either had a horrible pregnancy with a lot of complications or an ill baby, or both! So that is something I'm going to have to watch out for.


We spoke about drinking swell, but drinking is something I have already mentioned and already done my research on, so I could tell her just as much about drinking with diabetes as she could tell me!


That was just an update, I am happy they haven't moved me to the transition clinic yet, though she was saying yesterday they do do it gradually, it's not like they just throw us into it and leave us there which is a good thing. And she said the doctors and nurses in the adult clinic are just as nice as the ones I have already met in my children's clinics, I said I've yet to meet a horrible doctor which gives me some hope at least :)


Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Another Fabulous Night With The Girls :) and some thankyous :)

Had another fabulous night with the diabetes girls sroup last night :) We baked cakes (and I think cookies and brownies were also included by some people :D). Atmosphere, as always, was amazing. I seemed to spend all night being very loud and laughing a lot, and lets face it, its one of the best ways to spend a night really isnt it?

I'm at clinic next week, thing is, I'm a tad nervous, the doctor I saw last time said that after this time they're going to start moving me into the transition clinic where all the big scary adults go. From what I can gather, they do it very carefully and consientiously though, they start introducing the doctors from the adult clinic to you while you're still in the setting and with the doctors from the children's clinic, and it is all done gradually, but still......

Anyway, in light of this, I feel I have a few people to thank as far as my diabetes care since I was 4 has been concerned. I have met some wonderful people through being diabetic, nurses and doctors, and I've never forgotten a single one of them, and I have loved them all. I'm not going to name names, because it would be wrong to post them not knowing whether they would be ok with it, and also because it might identify me aswell and I'm happy being annoynomous at the moment.
I'll start from the begginning:

 1) There was my first GP who initially really buggered things up by not listening to my mother, and then using an adult needle on the arm of a 4 year old stick thin girl and stole my blood :(, but after his amazing amount of bugger ups treated us so well and was really apologetic. And I always loved him, he always used to hug me and call me baby McDonald, I never got that for a long time, then I was told it was because of where my mother worked when she was pregnant with me.

2) My first ever specialist nurse from the hospital when I was 4. This was the wonder of a lady who when I was first diagnosed and cooped up in a hospital bed, she allowed me to practice doing injections on her leg (my mum used an orange, I was using her leg), I love her for doing this because she was the person who taught me how to inject myself before I'd even left the hospital, and I was just 4 years old at the time, and i;ve done my own injections ever since. I loved her from the start, and she only ever got better as I got older. She was lovely, sympathetic when I was upset, but otherwise so matter of fact about everything, she never took any rubbish from anyone no matter who they were, she was absolutly a figure of strength and she always made me laugh when I saw her. She retired just before I left where I used to live, I wish her a very happy retirement, she deserves it, she always seemed to know what was best for her patients, and she told them straight aswell.

3) The first ever doctor I remember having, a wonderful wonderful man, who if im not mistaken ended up working for children in Africa. He was fabulous, one of the nicest men I have ever met, and I'm surprised I remember him because I didn't see him that many times before I left and I was really young. He was wonderful though, I often wonder what he is up to now, it would be nice to see him again.

4) The Dietician (if thats how it's spelt) one of the loveliest people I have ever ever met in 17 years of life. When I changed to the basal bolus regime, it was her who taught me all about carb counting and what I was doing. When I hit those teenage years and decided that I didn't like my weight anymore, it was this fabulous lady who consoled me and made me feel better. Not a malicious bone in this lady's body, she's amazing.

5) Usually, my specialist nurse, the dietician and the lady I'm about to mention worked in a trio when I was little. Not entirely sure what this ladys title was, but I saw her actually more than I saw my specialist nurse (who always seemed to be on holiday when I went to clinic.) She used to take my BP and height and weight ect, the problem was that she always made me laugh, I couldnt help but laugh when I was with her, which ultimately sent the results of my BP all daft, but I didn't mind. She took a real interest in me as a person aswell as just me as a diabetic (well they all did but this lady in particular) and she's just totally and utterly wonderful.

6) When the other doctor wen to Africa, I was given a new doctor, who was equally as lovely. A little hard to understand at times, but very very nice, he had the patience of a saint, i was always asking questions, which he always answered to the best of his ability and I'm very thankful for it.

7) My first time in the clinic at the place where I currently live was a scary experience at first, the hospital is bigger, I didn't know any of the people there, and I was really rather petrified. And then they kind of threw into my path someone incredibly amazing (who incidently runs the girls group with another fantastic lady who I will mention in a second). I dont know how to describe her really, just that I'd stepped into the room not quite knowing what to expect from this new and scary hospital, and was then presented with the least scary person I have ever known. One of the most helpful people I think I have ever known aswell. Just genuinely lovely.

8) I met number 8 (I dont really like giving these people numbers, but I'm not mentioning names so please exscuse the numbers here) a couple of weeks after meeting number 7. I was rather confused to start with, I'd heard nothing about her and the first I knew of her was when I was told by my dad that she was coming to see me. At first I thought he was talking about number 7 and had gotten her name wrong, he wasnt. A family counsellor (I think), shes just lovely, very funny, it was her idea for me to go to the girls group, I think at first as a confidence boost, and though technically I'm a little older than they originally opened the group for, allowed me to keep coming along because I slotted in well, and made some good friends there and was there really from the groups begginning, and I thank her so much for the emotional support and the fact that I have the privilage to be allowed to this fabulous group that really makes me smile every time I go there :)

There are more people I need to thank. And I will. Just not right now because this laptop is about to die and I arent near my charger, so I'm going to wrap this post up fast and post another one later with the other people I need to thank on it. Thankyou to all those mentioned above, and I'll post something soon :)

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

An Update- Sorry Its Been A While :D

Hey guys :)

Hope everyones doing well and okay :) Sorry this has been a long time coming, I haven't posted anything on this blog for ages!

Seeing the girls tomorrow night which I cannot wait for, we're baking cakes I think :D  Its been ages because I couldn't make the last one so I'm really looking forward to this :)

After all my bugger ups at the start of this year my blood sugars are now back to normal and back on the right tracks. The machine I have (which is the Accu-Chek mobile which I am most impressed with) is telling me that my 7 day average for BS is 6.3,   my 14 day averrage is also 6.3 and my 30 day average is 8.4, which is the best its been at all year I think.

I've learnt how to accept help from people a little bit more now aswell, I do it begrudgingly but at least I do it.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/diabetes/     This is a link to a site called medicalnewstoday.com, it has news on all areas of medicine (personally I keep a lot of track on the psychology and psychiatry side of things). This link (if it works) should take you straight to the page with all the articles regarding diabetes type 1 and 2 on it. If anything, this page should give diabetics hope, the advancements and drugs testing for diabetes is amazing, theyre bringing new things to light all the time, and its so much better than when I was first diagnosed. Give it a read if you're interested. :)

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

An Encounter With A Diabetic Gentleman.

The other day I was sat waiting for a friend when a man came up to me in a wheelchair. He had a fake leg on one leg, and no leg at all on the other. He asked if he could stop and chat to me for a little while whilst I waited for my friend, I told him he could and he began to tell me quite a lot about himself. He told me that he was 39 (I didn't respond to this fact because I had though he looked about 70, so I didn't say anything, at any rate he did look very ill, and not just for the absence of his legs). He then told me he had been at the hospital all morning for check ups on his legs. He said he lost his first leg 12 years ago, and his second leg 5 years ago. I sat listening wondering if he was going to tell me a really heartbreaking story about losing his legs in an acciedent in the army or something, but he didn't, his actual story was much closer to home. He lost both legs to diabetes type one. This was rather shocking to me for a few reasons. The most prominetnt being that I was sat on quite a busy street, there were a lot of people that he could have stopped at, yet he stopped at me, the type one diabetic. It was scarily coincidental. Surely, there wernt going to be many other type one diabetics on that same street at that same time, so I find it really really strange that he stopped at me. He really gave me some food for thought though, an awful lot to think about. I thought he'd have learnt his lesson after losing the first leg, but he obviously continued down the same path and lost his second leg aswell. I cant help but see this as sort of a warning. I know we all have lapses, I've said this so many times, but there's lapses and there's utter not taking care of anything, and he must have let that go on for so long, and its convinced me as to why I'm never going to do something like that. I'm glad I met him, it was a definate eye opener. Before he left he looked me square in the eyes and said to me "look after your diabetes miss, you dont want to end up like me", thats very true, no I dont, and mister I promise I'll look after myself and not get like that. And I urge other diabetics to think about this too, its really not worth losing both (or any) legs for.

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Food Diaries, Track Keeping, Logging and Blogging :)

I have been listening intently to other diabetics for a while now, and something has come to my ttention that quite a few of us (admittedly, myself included) seem to have issues with.

See, we can wake up, and do god knows how many injections and jabs and blood sugars every day. We can watch where our blood sugars are going. We have learnt how to count carbohydrates like its a well known language to us, and we can instantly work out the insulin accomodations. What we dont like doing, is writing all of this stuff down!

Without dressing it up in any sort of fancy language, its boring. Who wants to spend each and every day writing down- "Blood Sugar before breakfast-6.3. A bowl of coco-pops. 6 units on a 3:1 ratio. Blood sugar an hour after breakfast- 7.1". It's tedious.

I have said before, and I maintain, I'm not writing this to tell anyone what to do or how to live their lives with diabetes. Not even my doctors do that with me, and I arent prepared to be a hypocrite. If I was a perfect diabetic, I'd have room to talk, but I'm not and I never will be. I can tell you now, that I have as much problems with logging as the lot of you. I dont do it half the time, and even when I do do it, I forget to take it. Luckily for me, the last time I was at the hospital the lovely lady had a wonderful machine, that linked up to my blood glucose moniter, and printed off all of my readings. That for me was perfect, though they still didnt have my dosages or anything. The doctors dont get mad, because they understand what this is like, they understand how boring it is to have to write down all of this every day, and they can encourage us to do it, but they cant, nor do I think they ever will or want to, force us into doing it.

I guess the reason that I wrote this seemingly pointless post, is to remind you that we're all the same. We have have issues with the same (or at least similar) things in diabetes. And it isnt the end of the world if you go to the hospital without a food diary (sorry doctors but it isnt).Obviously its helpful, but dont stress yourself majorly over it, just keep checking your blood sugars and taking care of yourself as best you can. Only you can tell you how to live, because its your life.

Keep Smiling
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

A Few Lows

Hello :)

So, I've had a few lows today and it messed with my emotions quite a bit, I was stressed a lot and upset quite a bit and I think after the third time of dropping low I turned around and declared to nobody in particular that whichever part of evolution had diabetes created had totally and utterly buggered up and just didnt at all think it through.

I wasn't in the best of moods to say the least.

Here's what you have to remember though, you have to remember that if your blood suagars are messing up then your emotions will mess up with it. You have to remember, that when you are thinking with the 'Old brain' instead of the 'new brain' as you are when you are stressed and upset, things seem so much worse, you become irrational and upset and percieve your situation as the worst in the world when it mayb isn't so bad.

I'm okay now though. I'm fine and I'm happier. It's all okay, it always gets better, so if your having a bad day with blood suagrs remember that, remember that things always get better in the end.

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Diabetes and Alcohol

This may be a tad more of a serious post than what I normally post up. But it's something that I think needs saying.

It's about alcohol and diabetes. There are some people out there who will turn around and say never ever drink alcohol if you're diabetic, it's bad and they'll try and scare you with it. I guess being diabetic you have to be especially careful when drinking alcohol (I'll explain why in a second) but that doesn't mean that you have to toally ignore it-everything in moderation, even when I was on the human mixtard regime I still ate sweets I just didn't eat them all the time.

The reason as diabetics we have to be more cautious is because when consuming alcohol the liver stops the production of glucose in order to help rid the body of the toxins in the drink. Due to this you may find blood sugars drop (this surprised me at first as alcohol is full of suagr and I expected it to rise). But this doesn't in any way shape or form mean that you should never drink, it's ok as long as you keep checking blood sugars, and ensure that if you are drinking to eat something aswell.

I'm not keen on drink. But I have to admit even I had some last night, and I'm fine this morning, my friends who were around me kept telling me to check my sugars, though I would have done it even if they had not told me, but I'm fine now barring a headache and that's my own fault. Diabetes should not make it so that you have to stay away from everything, what sort of a life would that be? No, diabetes just means that while you can have the same things eveyone else is having, you maybe just need to be a litle bit more responsible and keep checking sugars, but don't deny yourself theses things, we cannot live like that.

So if you want a drink with friends- I'd say go for it! But also just remember to keep checking, it's easy enough to control but not if you don't know what's going on with it.

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

There's Somethings I'm Not Sure On At All......

I can tell you all about what it's like living with diabetes. Having had it since I was 4 years old I'm kind of clued up about it. However there is one thing in particular that I am in no way shape or form clued up about.

That is how it feels to be diagnsed with diabetes into your teen years. As I've already said, it's all I really ever knew. I didn't live enough of my life without diabetes to know what it was like to live without. I can imagine that for the person involved, it is much harder to adapt to being diabetic when you already know what life without diabetes is like.

As I'm writing I've gone low, that's a bugger but it's a fact of life and it's not so bad, I'm still able to write which is good :) just means a bit extra lucozade and a biccy :) sorted :D.

All I'm trying to say here, is I kind of consider myself a bit of an ancient diabetic, I've had it for years and years, but what I'm unsure of and I doubt I'll ever get to know is how it affects those who already know what it is like to live life as a non diabetic. I guess we can't all know everything :P

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Fabulous Evening With The Diabetic Girls :)

We went climbing!!!! If there was a reason for it to be worth having diabetes then I have to say this is it!

I don't mean climbing (though that was fabulous) I meant being with the girls. I find it such a release, It's a night every month where I'm totally relaxed and happy. I really enjoyed last night, I'm in pain today but it's all really worth it. I'd do it again in a second.

Endorphines- like dopamine is a happy drug :) we usually get them during excersize and last night the amount of excersize induced endorphines coupled with fantastic company had me in an amazingly fantasticlly good mood.

Diabetes isn't so bad, and the people we meet are fabulous.

Keep Smiling
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

A Cure.

If there was a cure for diabetes, something that would make it so you'd never have to do another injection, or test blood sugars, or go to clinic, or go too low or go too high, would you take it?

Here's the thing, I'm not sure that I would. I've had diabetes for more of my life than I haven't, and now its become part of me, its something I've gotten used to, and I'm not sure how I could adjust to life if I didn't have to wake up every morning and do an injection.

I'd be the first to admit it, diabetes is a bugger, it's bloody annoying, after the 4th injection in the day you start to feel like a bit of a pin cushion and it's a bugger, but I'd rather do that than have to go through another operation that might not work in order to evade injections which I've been doing for ages anyway.

I find clinic annoying to be fair, don't get me wrong- I LOVE the nurses and the people, but it takes a few hours out of my friday every few months and the hospitals are too warm. But in the grande scheme of things it's not so bad if I'm honest, and like I say- the people are lovely, especially the nurses and doctors. I remember, I used to go a clinic in Leeds for my kidneys, I used to adore the receptionist, I used to chat to him a lot and had a great laugh.

Nah, I wouldn't take the cure if there was one, I'm sure for some people it would be fantastic and such a relief, but for the most part I'm just fine the way I am :)

Keep Smiling
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Deciding About A Change Of Regime

I've been researching the pump and I have to say I don't know whether or not I'm sure about it. On one hand there is the fact that those on the pump do not have to administer as many injections and it is said it gives them better control, however that comes at a price.

The price being I'm not sure whether having something constantly attached to me is the right choice. Also, I do a fair bit of physical activity and I'm not sure whether that would infringe what I do in regards to a lot of walking and swimming.

Furthermore, the device is thousands of pounds and I'm not too keen on having the thought of going on it and having to stay on it if I disliked it.

Like everything, I suppose it has its pros and cons, I had to consider the same pros and cons before taking up the basal bolus and also before taking up cyclophosphamide when I had the kidney problems, I'm going to look into it more and ask my nurses about it, but I don't think i'll end up going on it- I'm sure it's fabulous for some people, but for me it's just not looking like the right choice, and It's not good to go into something without knowing options and pros and cons of what youre going in to.

Keep Smiling :)
Love, tutti-Frutti
xxx

Meetings And Communication In Diabetes.

As I think I've already mentioned, I am rather too independent with my diabetes control. I keep most of it to myself, even when I am aware that it is infringing my health. Today, I lost some of my hold over my diabetes, and though the thought scared the hell out of me at first, now that it's over and done with I've come to the conclusion that it wasn't so bad.

The Problem I Had:
The main problem I had derives from what my psychology teacher explained to me, basically, there was my counsellor, and people from hospital aswell as people from home all meeting at school with people from school (including myself). My psychology teacher explained to me that I have to have things in context in my head and I keep them rigourosly into the context that I know them from, he classed it as I have additional needs because when I try place them in another context I really start to stress out more than I should. I have them in boxes almost, so the people from hospital are in a hospital box, and my counsellor has her own box ect ect, but what happened today was that all of my boxes were mixed up and I didn't know how to cope with it properly. But the people from school, and my counsellor especially did a good job at keeping me calm enough to be able to talk to them properly, and I'm happy enough now that there are things that have been said which probably wouldn't have been said otherwise.

I've agreed to let people in a bit more as far as my diabetes is concerned. Counselling, is mine, that stays between me and my counsellor, but diabetes, I can't cope with it on my own like I thought I could, I don't think any of us can, obviously I've tried, but I guess I let the freedom get to my head, and then when I hit problems I didn't want to relent my hold. It was a control thing above all else I guess.

I'm better at the minute, I have a thirty day blood sugar average of 5.4 which is brilliant. And I'm not actually putting myself into harms way like I probably was before. So though I was scared of that meeting, though my psychology teacher thinks I have additional needs because I can't deal with people out of context (I probably agree with him) It was the best thing to have this meeting, it really was, I don't want one again in a hurry though :D

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

A perfect, imperfect diabetics guidebook to diabetes.

I changed the title of my blog today as when I was thinking about it, it occured to me that I am writing a kind of guidebook. What then struck me was that usually guidebooks are written by professionals and perfect people who know how to be the perfect version of what they are guiding people with, but I'm not perfect. Go and find me a perfect diabetic! There isn't one, I cannot consider myself as a perfect well controlled diabetic who never wishes she hasn't got it, because I'm not and to think of it, I've never in my life met a diabetic who is a "perfect" diabetic- we all have up days and we all have down days. I can't answer all about diabetes, all I know I know from the doctors, but more so from personal experience.

I used the word "guidebook", but I don't think I'm guiding people. I can't tell people how to live, or that they must do this and this to keep their diabetes in control. It would be wrong of me to do so as I sometimes cannot follow my own rules, and this would make me one of what I hate most, it would make me a hypocrite. Maybe, it's not so much a guidebook, but people can look and identify themselves in me, because we share similar experinces and thoughts and feelings about living with diabetes, and that in itself is good becasue it then means that you can accept that you're not alone.

Notice I refer to myself as an "Imperfect Diabetic", I am. I mess about with my diabetes something chronic when I want to. and I'm not proud of it but I promised I would tell it how it is, ad the reality is that, that sometimes is just the way it goes. And I'm fairly certain that I am not alone in this view, I am not the only diabetic in the whole world who has messed about with their diabetes for whatever reason.

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

People Can't Accept What They Don't Understand- So Make Them Get It!

It's common sense really that manages to dictate to us that people in general have a hard time accepting something that they do not understand. It has come to my attention, more so recently, that teenagers in particular are having trouble finding acceptance of their diabetes from their friends, this appears more so when the person is diagnosed in their teenage years.

Personally, I consider myself incredibly lucky. I was diagnosed when I was 4 (nearly 5) and my friends, though not really having such a grasp on all the medical jargon, had a good enough grasp of what I was saying in order for them to accept and understand that I might be a tad different to them, but that was no reason to treat me so. I find young children are so much more accepting, they don't question as much the logisitcs, they will question the situation, and then it seems to miraculously make sense, and if it doesn't they will pursue it, but not with such caution, resulting in them not treating you as though you have been contaminated. The problem of being diagnosed in your teenage years, is that teenagers aren't as likely to accept change or understand the differneces. Again I was very lucky, my close friends at school seemed to think that if I was going to be late for dinner on account of going to the school nurse to inject, then they would be too, and they came with me. One lunch time supervisor hated this, in fact she tried to tell my pastoral manager that I wasn't really diabetic- Like I didn't have anything better to do with my time then visit the school nurse every day! But apart from her, I was accepted for all of me, if my sugars were bad, I was still accepted and they knew how to help, otherwise it was never mentioned, we had an unspoken understanding about this.

What I'm trying to say, is if your friends don't accept you, it's because they don't understand the rather obvious differences. So make them! Sit down and tell them how it is. Most of my mates have had their blood sugars tested out of their own personal curiosity- it helped them to understand what I do every day. They understand that if I'm doing an injection, I don't like people looking, and so very diplomatically the lot of them continue with their conversations as though nothing is happening, and I love them for that. It is possible to get understanding from friends- I'm living proof, it just might take some time is all :)

Keep Smiling
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

The Pros and Cons of Carbohydrate Counting

I have been on the carb counting regime (or if you want the medical jargon- Basal Bolus) for just under 4 years now. From my experience it has a lot of pros and cons, in light of the new advancements for diabetics (I'm speaking mainly here of the diabetes pump which I have to admit I'm still rather dubious about myself) I think it is important to weigh up these pros and cons.

A bit of background.
Basically, and I'll try to keep this as simple as possible, my daytime insulin (orange bottle) is called Novo-Rapid. As the name suggests it is fast acting insulin. To determine how much of it I take, I must first determine how many carbohydrates (yes, carbs not sugars) I take with a meal. For example, because the only thing I am sat next to is a lucozade bottle please forgive me for this, but imagine for dinner I am going to be an idiot and simply have a bottle of lucozade (please for gods sake don't do that) In 380ml of lucozade (a full bottle) there is 65.0g carbohydrates. Move the decimal point one to the left and you are left with 6.5 (a smaller number, and is now much easier to work with) round 6.5 up (if it were 6.4 you would round it down-that's simple maths) and you have now ended up with 7 carbohydrate portions. I am on a 3:1 ratio for my meals meaning that for every one carbohydrate portion, I intake 3 units of insulin. So with this in mind, on my ratio if I were to have a bottle of lucozade for a meal, I would have to take 21 units of insulin to combat it (you see how it works? If my ratio were 2:1 I would take 14 units ect ect). We all know insulin controls the blood sugars- too much insulin the sugars drop, too little and they go too high (obviously there are a lot of external factors too of course- illness and stress and hormones all have effects too aswell as a whole range of other things). The other insulin I take is called Levimir (green bottle) this is my night time insulin which I only take once a day (though I am told that some people take this more than once). This insulin is a base line insulin, it is not fast acting, it releases slowly and should last up to 24 hours. Because it releases slowly, it makes it ideal for regulating the blood sugars while we are sleeping, as it wont take any dramatic turns.

The Pros of Basal Bolus.
-Eating times. One of the previous banes of my life was that I had to eat at particular times, I could be out with friends and we would have to stop what we were doing in order for me to eat at the correct time- and that was annoying. With basal bolus you have a lot more control over what times you eat- which consequently also means you can have a lot more lie-ins on weekends!
-More control over WHAT you're eating- This regime doesn't just give you more control over when you eat. It also gives you more control over what you eat. Basically, you can eat pretty much anything, as long as you take into consideration the carbohydrate content and inject accordingly.
-Snacks. Firstly, anyone who has been on the 2 injections (human mixtard I was on) will know that in order to regulate blood sugar levels with this regime you had to eat snacks at various points of the day, this got annoying and I especially hated people staring at me in the class, however, with basal bolus it isn't necessary to eat snacks- and should you get hungry at all and want one that's also possible- you just have to do another injection for it.
- It makes you a bit more like your friends. We all know it's a bit of a sod to watch your friends eating chocolate at break and about to offer you some when suddenly they remember and look all sheepish at you and apologise. I kind of  got used to this, but when I started basal bolus and my friends realised that they could now offer me chocolate and I could accecpt if I wanted to it went down a treat for both them and myself. :)

The cons of basal bolus.
-4 injections instead of two- nobody likes feeling like a pin cushion! The main problem I find with basal bolus is that you do start to feel like a pin cushion, on the average day you will have 4 injections, and this could be more if you happen to be eating more, and it's a bit of a pain to be honest, it's where the pump is probably a better idea.
-Carbohydrate counting can get a bit tedious- tell me honestly, who likes staring at food packets! Most things you can sort of learn by heart, other things you can kind of guess a little bit using informed judgement, but I find I have to refer to packets a lot too, and that is tedious! But then if you don't do it you get ill.....
- Sometimes the insulin ratios need revising- Since I started this 4 years ago, I've flicked back and forth from a 2:1 ratio to a 3:1 ratio, depending I think on a lot of variables regarding what is going on at the time (illness and such), but still this is another pain, because you think you've got something sorted and then all of a sudden your insulin seems to start not working and you're back to square one!
-The freedom of food and when you eat can get you into some bad habits- from my point of view, on the two injections I stayed very very healthy because I had to. When I had all of this freedom, it was something new for me, so instantly I went for all the stuff I didn't usually have- full fat fizzy drinks, chocolate and sweets and crap food all round. I've sorted that now, but it's easier to do when you have less obligations.

Please do not consider what I've written here to have any degree of medical certainty. I am not a doctor or a nurse or in fact in any way shape of form medically trained. I do however possess one thing that the majority of these doctors and nurses don't have- personal experience. They have experience in dealing with patients who are on this regime, I have experience in actually being on it. I can tell you from a less complicated point of view that is not tarnished with medical language. But I'm not medically trained, and my experience will probably differ from that of other diabetics- individual differences play HUGE parts in everything. :)

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Diabetes And Normality

During a discussion with a friend once about the possibility of a cure for diabetes, she was shocked when I told her I probably wouldn't take it. She asked me "Wouldn't you like to be normal?"

Wouldn't you like to be normal?
My, my, what a question. It took me a while to find the answer, and when I found it I realised that I didn't really have to search too far. I answered her question with a question, after a while thinking I smiled, turned to her and said "What's to say I'm not normal?" Let me assure you all now, a person with diabetes is not abnormal. I have studied abnormality in psychology and nowhere did I come across a sentence stating that a diabetic is abnormal. I'll give you, I'm not normal, but that's not anything to do with the diabetes, that is because I point blank refuse to follow a lot of conventional ideologies because they don't fit in what I class as moralistic or in any way shape or form decent. If normal is to backstab a business partner in order to get yourself higher in the workplace, then I refuse to do it. But I'm being obtuse here, I know what my friend meant, I merely had to question her choice of wording.

My friends definition of normal:
I am well aware that my friend was not implying in any way shape or form that I am for a second abnormal on account of my diabetes. What she meant, Is would I not like to live my life like I see the majority of my friends living it? Wouldn't I like to get up in the morning and not have to inject? Wouldn't I like to be exempt from going too low or too high and acting like a drunk person in the process? Wouldn't I like to drink alcohol with my friends, and then not have to check my blood sugars for signs of them dropping? I thought back to primary school, at 10am and 2pm where I would eat and try to avoid the eyes of my classmates, and the comments about how they would love to eat in class. I thought back to that first time in class 2 where I explained to my classmates about injecting and saw the look of shock and confusion on their faces-the first time I ever really felt seperate and exempt from my other classmates. I remembered a time, in secondary school, where the uneducated people in the year above me found out of my bringing injections to school, and mercilessly taunted me with "druggie" whenever they got the chance and asked me if I would supply them with some and would it get them high? I remembered this, then slightly shamefully, admitted to my friend that yes, I  would like to be normal.

Temporary Lapses Get Us All, Its Where Do We Go From There?
That was one of my temporary lapses. If I had gone through being diabetic that many years, and watched my non-diabetic friends live their lives and not even for a fleeting moment wished "God, If only I were like them" I wouldn't be human. I don't care how optimistic a person is about being diabetic, we still aren't robots, and it's okay to feel sometimes that you'd rather be "normal" and not have to inject and test blood sugars every day-thats okay, dare I say it- That's normal! Diabetes is tedious at times, and it sure as hell isn't easy. Just remember that after your lapse, you can stand up again, carry on like you were before, accept that maybe you aren't exactly like your friends, but that doesn't mean you aren't normal, and smile again properly. Lapses are normal and common. Its normal to feel sometimes like life dealt you a bit of a rubbish hand- because to be fair it did, but it could have dealt you a worse one. Remember that.

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Diabetes- The Social Side :D

People consider diabetes as just an illness, and (dare I say it) a disability. But the truth is, it's so much more than that. There is a social side to it, a social side that, if you allow it to be, can be fantastic!

I've been lucky with my friends:
I've been very very lucky with how my friends react to my diabetes. Most of my friends now know me well enough to know my hatred for sympathy, I don't mind answering questions- questions are human, but I don't like people being sympathetic towards it. But my friends and I don't really talk about it to be honest. They all know what to do if they're with me and I get into a situation where I can't deal with it myself. They all know what to give me. But, unless they want a specific question answering, they tend to leave me be with it :) And on the odd occasion that I have needed help in doing something, they rise to the challenge magnificently and  don't panic or anything- they just help! And then when I'm sorted, apart from the "Are you okay's" from them, no more is said about it, and I respect them so much for that. I had one friend buy and bring me lucozade when I was going to his house and forgot to bring it myself!


But that was my existing friends. I haven't mentioned the friends I've met through having diabetes. One of the best images I've managed to keep in my head was one from quite a recent time with my diabetic friends who I meet up with monthly. We all took over the toilets in the cinema, and all of us were doing an injection, which must have looked quite bad if anyone had walked in and just seen us without knowing we were diabetics! But this is now, even when I was little I had diabetic friends. We used to go on outings and such, we went to theme parks and everything, it made being diabetic that bit more fun. And the girls group which I currently attend is a great idea for diabetics I think. You can discuss it if you want- and they all understand, otherwise it's just like going out with a group of friends, but without diabetes I never would have met them.

See, it's not all bad. Diabetes can be a good thing, it brings people closer together I think at the very least, and I've certainly made friends through having it!

Keep Smiling
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

It Only Affects If You Let It

Thought I'd take a minute to mention this as it's prominent. A few months ago I was staying at my grandmas house and there was a magazine on the table, I opened it and flicked through it and happened to come across an article about a boy with diabetes, that I have to admit really angered me.

This article was written by the boys mother, and basically stated that, because of diabetes, her son could never be a teenage rebel. Now, being a teenage rebel myself I am really prepared to say that no way shape or form is that true. Here's the deal, Diabetes doesnt control you, you control it! The thing which really angered me about this woman, was that it occured to me, what sort of example was she setting her son by saying such things? By focusing on what he couldn't do, what sort of an example is that? That's like saying- "Yes son, it's a big change, Your life will never be the same and it will change for the worse, you're never going to be normal or like everyone else now, so we should all treat you differently aswell."

I'm not a heartless person. I remember being diagnosed with diabetes, it's an upheaval, it's a big change for everyone involved and I'd be prepared to say that the older you get it the worse it is for you because you have adjusted to life around you already and you have to change that. And no parent wants their child to be ill. And no child in their right mind, would actually want diabetes, it's not the best of things to have :P But the thing to remember is, when you have it, you have it. you can't change that, you can just adapt and live with it. If I'd grown up with parents who specialised in telling me how special and amazing I was for having diabetes and coping with it when all of my friends didn't, I dread to think how I would have turned out! Fortunately, I grew up with parents who allowed me the freedom to do my own injections even before leaving the hospital, and whilst at parties with friends, those parents who asked my mother what I could and couldn't eat were in for a surprise when my mother told them to ask me because I knew! I grew up with parents, who focused on me as a child, and not my disability.

I used the word disability there diliberately because I hate it. I'm well aware that diabetes is classed as a disability, and I hate it with a passion. Here's the thing- I can do everything you can do, I am not slighted in any way shape or form. I am exactly the same as you are, to look at me, you'd never even know! Put it this way- I drink a tad more lucozade than most (maybe I just have a fetish for it) and have to give myself what my body can't (but when you have cold and you're popping the paracetamol, you're giving your body the defences it can't give you, does this make you disabled? No!) The problem with the word "disability" is that people put too much emphasis on the "dis" when they should be putting more emphasis on the "ability". We are no different to anyone else. We don't need special treatment or sympathy. If anyone is sympathetic towards me and my diabetes I become really uncomfortable and don't like it, It's not a case of being really brave, It's a case of Do it or die. Simple as.

You'd be surprised I'm sure to learn that I don't like blood, nor do I like needles. And I don't like it when people without diabetes turn around and say "I could never be diabetic, I don't like needles", nor do I, I put up with it because I have to. I'm not saying that I'm the perfect diabetic either, I've messed about with it on occasions, and I probably haven't learnt from messing about with it, there will come a time when I mess about with it again. But that's just life, it's the way it is and there's nothing to change that. I don't mess about with it for sympathy, on many occasions I think it's just to show that I can! But I'm sensible enough to not let it get too far, it' not worth it, and if trying to do that is trying to show the control I have in my life, well then in reality I'm handing the control over to the diabetes. Like I said earlier, the trick is to control the diabetes, not let the diabetes control you!

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

It's All In The Advancements

Human Mixtard 30 G E. That sentence will be in my head for an eternity. That was the old insulin regime I was on. 2 injections a day, accompanied by 2 snacks, one at 10am and the other at 2pm (which was a bit of a bugger when you fancied being unnoticed by the class). I did all injections myself- of course. I think my parents way of thinking, and I thank them for it, was that one day I'm going to have to cope with the diabetes on my own, so if they could instill a lot of independence with it from the start, it would make it so much easier. And it did! I'm 16 now, and with my diabetes at least I am fiercely independent (to such an extent that when it is making me ill and if I am struggling, I find I don't tell anyone until rather too late, not something I would reccomend though guys). But I'd rather be like that, than having to rely on everyone else to count my carbs and do my injections!

Seriously though, when I was young, I had less control over what I ate and when I ate it. There were strict meal times, strict dietry regulations, insulin that came from animals! And look at it now! There are insulin regimes (like the one I'm on Basil Bolus) that give you so much more control over what you eat and when you eat it. Of course that can have it's bad sides if you don't do it sensibly (come on guys admit, we've all messed about with it, because diabetes is tedious, it really really is and sometimes, though it's bad, it's kind of good to rebel, right?) I'll admit, in the past, especially just recently, I haven't been sensible, and I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'm saying it's a normal thing, and those who don't have diabetes or haven't worked with people who have diabetes probably wont understand that! The insulin nowadays, is produced in a lab, it no longer comes from animals- another advancement. I bet one day, they'll find something to do with replacing the pancreas, or what was wrong with it. They'll be a cure for diabetes. Also, it's important to note, when I was diagnosed I was kept in the hospital for a few days, but I know of people now who are being diagnosed and being sent home the same day. There is so much more understanding about it now than there ever was when I was little, and new advancements and theories in how best to deal with diabetes are coming out all the time!

If they brought out a cure, I'm not sure I'd take it. Diabetes doesn't define me, only my actions define me and who I am, but while I am well aware that it doesn't define me, I can't lie that it is a big part of my life and has been since I was very little, I barely remember what it was like before I was diabetic, and I might find it too strange to have to wake up in the morning and not take an insulin injection! Diabetes has become part of me, I'm not saying I'm always happy with it, in fact happy is completly the wrong word because what sort of nutter is happy with diabetes? That would only be a mad persons point of view! But I can deal with it usually, I have my lapses the same as everyone else, bad days when I wish that I could eat whatever or not eat whatever and not have to face the consequences, but generally, it's manageble. My average reading which I checked today, is at 4.9, that is fantastic and I'm really pleased with that, especially as a few weeks back I really let things slip! Just trying to keep it up. And it's boring, but It's a boring necessity.

And technology is now playing it's part in the blood moniters! I don't have to spend my life writing down readings anymore because a lady on a laptop at the hospital can print them off for me when I go! Isn't that amazing? I used to hate writing them down with a passion, it took half of my bloody life up doing that, and then we'd only go forget them when I went to the hospital anyway, and now because of all the advancements they've made things so much easier for us diabetics who have better things to do with their time than writing down 3 months woth of blood sugars for the hospital :p :)

Advancements make it easier. I've had diabetes almost 12 years now, and I'll be the first one to put my hands up and say that this is not in any way shape or form and easy thing to live with, especially in the teenage years it becomes really hard. But just because something isn't easy, does not make it bad, and the world will never throw more than you can take at you, so if you're having a bad day, just remember that. And remember, It's normal to have lapses and spaces of time where you think that you don't care about your blood sugars and taking the right injections, we aren't robots and nobody gives us guidebooks on how to be the perfect diabetic. Just make sure you've got someone to lean on, someone who can help, as long as they don't strip away your independence, It should be fine :D

Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx

Diabetes- My Story

A Bit Of Background.
For those of you who are unaware, Diabetes Type 1 is literally where the pancreas stops producing the insulin which is needed to regulate the blood sugars in the body. Type on is the least common of type 1 and 2, but more commonly seen in children then in adults. It can be regulated by insulin injections, though it has to be closely monitered.

I'm Not Here To Sell You A Sob Story :)
Ok, if you've read any of my other blog you can probably see that I'm usually pretty optimistic. Nowhere in my other blog have I mentioned this, but I have been type one diabetic since I was 4 years old. This is my story, but it isn't a sob story, it's a story more of hope and a laugh with the doctors and hospital staff who I have come to love so much, more than anything else. It's a story that proves that being diabetic isn't the end of life as you know it, and even in teenage years, it shouldn't stop you from doing anything.

Picture This :)
4 years old. Easter holidays. A girl is getting more and more excited, she's going to stay with her nana in that amazing bungalow for a few days, and she's going to have an amazing time. At such a young age she is unaware of how people are worried that she is becoming rather too skinny, all she knows is that she likes the sweets that they give her when she comes out of the school in the afternoon! And she is blissfully unaware that they are worried about the amount that she is drinking and going to the toilet, though she realises herself that she drinks a lot, having found herself on more than one occasion rather agitated because nothing ever seemed to quench her thirst. She doesn't realises, that on occasions she has been blanking her parents and going into sort of trances, which eventually forced her parents into thinking that maybe she was deaf. She knows about the blood that the doctor took from her a week or so beforehand, she was upset with him, her young mind thinking that he had stolen her blood, and without the knowledge to realise that she would actually get it back. She'd cried coming out of the doctors, but now that doesn't matter- she's packed up her bags to stay with nana, and she can't wait. But a call from the hospital who had looked at her blood tests, changes all of her plans. She sits with nana and Mum in the hospital, not really worrying, a bit bewildered maybe, picking up random toys, letting the adults do all the talking. She only really gets upset, when she sees that nana is leaving, and she is still there. Why? She is a day away from a coma, an incredibly high blood sugar and a generally very very lucky girl. But at the moment, she doesn't feel lucky, she resents the nurses for taking her holiday away from her. She cries. Eventually she settles down, she's fed horrible hospital food, and then they teach her how to inject. Mum practices on an orange. The girl, takes an unfilled needle, and is given permission to practice on the leg of her diabetic specialist nurse, it takes her mind off things for a while. A doctor comes in and tries to take more blood, he's making a mess of it and the girl laughs, diverting her attention away from the wheres wally book that a nurse sat next to her on the bed is looking at with her. Despite her upset, she seems to make the best of it. In a way she basks in the attention of the nurses, one nurse in particular she is very fond of, this nurse takes her down to the play room and brings her books, and on one occasion makes up a strange substance which looks like liquid until you play with it and then it becomes more solid, and she loves it whilst looking at it in confusion. She doesn't understand the ins and outs of her condition yet. She doesn't even know the word "pancreas" to know that it isn't working. She doesn't realise at this point, that within three months she will become so learned in diabetes, and that the words "Human Mixtard 30 G E" will become very common in her vocabulary where they probably wont be in other people her age. She certainly doesn't realise, that 12 years down the line, the advancements for people with diabetes will have come on as much as they have, in fact where she is now, newly diagnosed, playing with Beth in the playroom, she doesn't really even know the word "diabetes", though it's going to become a HUGE part of her life.

There's many things I can say about diabetes, many people to thank, I can talk endlessly about the advancements that have happened in my lifetime and the ones that are coming up, I can talk about the benifits of having diabetes aswell as the not so good things. But I'm saving it for other posts, today was just about how I got it, and my first experiences of a hospital. And just to remind everyone that being diabetic, though it might be tedious and sometimes it's normal to just wish you were normal, like all the other kids your age, and that's okay, but having it isn't all that bad. I'll go into that later, when I'm not so tired and it isn't 1:05 am.

Just remember-
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti.
xxx