Expensive.

When i think about it... I'm glad i got diabetes over someone that may live in say a third world country, or a country that doesn't provide health insurance, etc. Diabets is VERY expensive. My insulin pump alone cost about $6,500. Not to mention the boxes of expensive medical supplies that we receive every three or so months. Luckily health insurance covers pretty much everything. It's sad to think that there are some places in the world were people don't have access to insulin pumps, or even just insulin. Without this, diabetes is a terminal disease, yes it's entirely manageable when you have the right resources... but not everyone does.

"Just in Case"

Parents of children with Type 1 diabetes have a lot of resposibilty too, especially when a child isnt old enough to take care of its own health. I was lucky that i was diagnosed at 15 so i could already take care of myself. On the other hand, my mom still finds her way to weave her way into making sure the little stuff gets done. For example, the second time she came up to Chapel Hill she hands my roomate a tube of icing and says... "just in case". Or in highschool she gave my boyfriend a spare glucometer to keep in HIS car... "just in case". Embarrassing? maybe... but I'd do the same if my kid was constantly in danger of his or her health. Really bad things don't usually happen with diabetes... but the problem is that the very easily could at ANY moment. Even when you think everything is okay.

Oops!

Just got back from lunch and my blood sugar was 326... I wasn't sure why because i gave the proper amount of insulin for what i ate. I started to do a little investigating and at one point i had asked a friend to refil my DIET coke... she accidentally gave me REGULAR coke which has a ton of sugar...oops!

LFit

So I took my LFit exam the other day and there were actually a ton of questions on diabetes! It really helped to understand what they were asking about insulin sensitivity and such. If i had just watched those modules that we were supposed to i probably would have gotten them all wrong! Most people don't know very much about diabetes, and i probably wouldn't either if i didn't live with it!

Uh oh...

So last night i was going to spend the night in a friends dorm room in south campus. However, my tube got caught on her door at one point and my pump site (where the pump connects to my body) came out. It doesnt hurt when that happens, but it just sucks because it's not like you can put it back in. So I had to make the treck all the way back from south campus at 2 in the morning... in the freezing cold. Way to go diabetes...

Me Checking by BG

Here's me checking my bloodsugar, it does'nt hurt at all when I do it in my arm, a lot of diabetics use theyre fingers but mine get really sore if i do that.

Nick Jonas

Kind of cheesy, but this is a short video by Nick Jonas. I tried to embed it into my blog but it isnt working properly. But still, take a sec to look at it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLrSFgvvgZc

Myths

Here are so common myths that i have gotten from people about Type 1 Diabetes...

1. People with Diabetes can't eat anything with sugar in it. This is false, type 1 diabetics are allowed to eat sugar, yes we have to be careful with things like soda and sweet tea, but they're are not limitations on sugar intake.
2. Diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar when you're young. This is a funny one, for the record... eating sugar does NOT cause diabetes!
3. Type 1 diabetes is genetic. This is partially true, it is a little bit gentic but not near as heavily gentic as type 2. For example, i have zero family history of type 1 diabetes but i got it.
4. People that have diabetes have to check their blood sugar with finger pricks. I actually am able to check my blood sugar in my arm, not my finger. Although your finger is a more accurate representation of your BG.
5. You have to diet and exercise more than other to control your blood glucose False. Yes, diet and exercise is good for you but since with Type 1 you are insulin dependant, you don't need to exercise to bring you BG levels down.

Carb Counting

The amount of insulin that you give is based on two things, carbohydrates and your current blood sugar level. For myself, for every 12 carbs i eat, i give 1 unit of insulin. How many carbs that are in what your eating aren't always clearly labeled so i have to know on average for some things. For example...

bagel: 45-60
hamburger bun: 30
hot dog bun: 25
1/2 cup of icecream: 20
apple: 13
Bojangles chicken biscuit: 45 : )
baked potato: 45
1 cookie: 15

granted these are all approximations from off the top of my head and they're are a lot more that i try to know so this is just a few. As convenient as it would be, diabetes is not an exact science so sometimes you just have to guess and check!

Famous People with Type 1 Diabetes

You probably didn't know this but here are a few celebrities that have Type 1 diabetes!

Halle Berry
Nick Jonas
Mary Tyler Moore
Ashley Blue (just kidding)
Jackie Robinson
Elliot Yamin

It was interesting to find out that there are celebrities with diabetes that i had never even heard had the disease. Nick Jonas is a big advocate for diabetes awareness but other than him i have really never heard anything else that those people did for diabetes...

The Diabetes Center

I was looking up some information about diabetes at UNC and i found this place called the Diabetes Center. Theyre whole mission is to help people with diabetes live longer and healthier lives. I think that it is interesting that I am a UNC student with diabetes and i have never seen or heard about this before now. They also have a alot of great education programs that will be awesome for the newly diagnosed. I was lucky that when i was diagnosed i had the WakeMed pediatric diabetes center to go to, but i don't feel like they're are alot of those around! Hopefully i'll get a chance to check this out at some point!

Alcohol and Diabetes

When you have diabetes, you have to practice extreme caution with alcohol as with most other things. Alcohol causes hypoglycemia (blood glucose less than 80) from shortly after you start drinking and up to 8 to 12 hours after. It's important when your drinking alcohol if your diabetic to make sure to drink with food, and constantly monitor your blood sugar levels to make sure that everything is running smoothly! I have found that usually when consuming alcohol most peoples sugar levels go up and run at a much higher level (like 200's to 300's), mostly because of the sugary drinks that alcohol is usually mixed with.