Hey guys! As you may or may not know, I have type 1, or juvenile, diabetes. I was diagnosed in November of 2005. It's crazy that I've had this disease for almost 7 years. Part of this blog post will be about what type 1 diabetes actually is (I find that a lot of people are clueless when it comes to this) and the second part will be about cute and fun ways to deal with such a life-threatening and annoying disease!
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas stops making insulin. The exact causes are not really known, but all of the cells that make insulin die. We need insulin to live. Insulin breaks down sugar into energy. Obviously, if the sugar isn't broken down, there will be an excess of sugar in your blood. This causes you to be extremely tired and can make you feel very sick. Your body then has to turn fat and muscle into energy, which is really bad for your body. Ultimately, you die after a prolonged period with high or low blood sugar. Too much inulin causes low blood sugar, in which case you would need to eat sugar to get your blood sugar back up to normal. Type 1 diabetes is extremely different from type 2 diabetes, which is much more common. One can get type 2 if they are overweight or if they eat a lot of sugar. The body comes resistant to the insulin because of all the sugar intake, causing the insulin to not work very well.
To control my diabetes, I wear an Omnipod, which looks like this.
It gives me insulin whenever I tell it to, using a little device that looks like a phone. I also have to prick my finger at least 10 times a day to make sure my blood sugar is on track. It can be hard, but we are working on finding a cure. Hopefully I can see it in my lifetime!
Now for all of my diabetic readers out there, I want to share with you the ways in which I kind of keep diabetes fun! (if that is even possible)
First, I keep my all of my supplies in this cute little case by Kate Spade! It's navy with little green hedge hogs on it and every time I see it, it makes me happy!
I also try to find fun diabetic cook books so that I can try some healthy, low glycemic recipes! One of my favorites is the: Betty Crocker's Diabetes Cookbook! The recipes are so tasty!
Lastly, I exercise A LOT! I find that when I exercise, I have to take less insulin. The less insulin I take, the better I feel! It is really important to stay active! Remember, it may not seem like you are harming your body now by not taking care of yourself, but the results of your actions now will show in 20 years! Complications of diabetes include: limb amputations, blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, etc! You don't want that! Please take care of yourselves!
I hope y'all enjoyed this (hopefully) informative post!
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