Conquering life living with Type 1 Diabetes

Monday, May 16, 2016

Diabetes Blog Week - Message Monday

#DBlogWeek




Diabetes Blog Week Day 1 topic: Message Monday:  Lets kick off the week by talking about why we are here, in the diabetes blog space. What is the most important diabetes awareness message to you? Why is that message important for you, and what are you trying to accomplish by sharing it on your blog?

Want to join Blog Week?  Check it out here: http://www.bittersweetdiabetes.com/2016/05/diabetes-blog-week_9.html


I started my blog in 2013 for the most part, I posted just a few things in 2012, but its not worth talking about.  Most of my Diabetic life I had not known anyone with type 1 Diabetes, other than my 2 brothers and some family members, and wasn't in any support groups and I wasn't comfortable asking the people I knew some of the personal questions I had.  I felt alone and misguided.  Most of my Diabetic Career before I met the medical team I have now was full of bad information and almost no guidance.  After I found my awesome CDE (Calli) and how completely fabulous she was, I felt inspired to help others, as she helped me so much. 

I joined some facebook support groups, saw how many other people we also getting bad medical advice and then I found other Diabetic Bloggers.  I knew and saw how many people were also lost and felt alone in their daily life with Diabetes.  Many people I know in my area or live in my area, I actually insisted that they too go see Calli, because of her great understanding of Diabetes.

Then one day the idea of starting a blog came to my mind and overnight I thought of the name I am a type 1 Diabetic Warrior, differentiating my type because of all the misinformation about Diabetes and the fact that there are two types.

I blog to share my life and trials and tribulations with type 1 Diabetes because so many of us out there feel so very alone because it is basically a hidden disease until issues or complications arise. 

There typically isn't much if any support from fellow family members and friends as with any disease that is not visible to the outside world.  You have to seek support from the community of people who are also living with the same disease as you are.  You have to learn how to cope with the general public's misguided comments and information, which can be very hard at times and can hurt quite a lot. 

I also blog to share the low carb lifestyle I decided to begin in April 2015.  It has changed my life and the ease of managing my disease and how much healthier I feel.  It is also a very hard pill for most people in your life to swallow and you get a lot of push back, which in turns makes it even harder to stay on track.  It can be done, it just takes more time and being on the receiving end of more insensitive comments.  The longer I stay on the low carb track, sharing really good recipes and people saying how much they like the food keeps me motivated and I have actually helped to inspire a few people I know to try low carb or do more low carb food, which makes me so incredibly happy. 

All I want to do is help people live with Diabetes and live as healthy as they can.  It brings me great joy to have someone come up to me and tell me they tried this or that recipe or they went to see Calli or Teresa and they loved her and/or they decided to go on an insulin pump or CGM.  It makes my heart so happy to know I helped put them in the right direction.  So to all you who have told me I helped you, I am forever grateful that I could help you, just by being another person with Diabetes and sharing my story and my experiences over and over and over again.



Please leave me your comments, it helps keep me motivated!

5 comments:

  1. I felt very much alone before I found support from the diabetes community online. Well done on adopting a strategy that works for you in a low carb diet. Thanks for sharing your story.

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    1. Frank, thanks for leaving me a comment and thanks for reading. Im glad you have found the support you need, it makes a world of a difference.

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  2. Misguided comments can hurt much more than people realise. Its great to see people like yourself helping to share the messages about what diabetes is really about.

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    1. Ashleigh, I couldn't agree more. I use to get so very angry and hurt by the things people would say to me about my Diabetes. It took me quite a while to realize it was just a general lack of real knowledge about Diabetes and what people have been told and hear about Diabetes from way back. All people know is from when Type 1 Diabetes kind of was a death sentence and they knew or have a relative or friend that had really bad complications because of lack of a good medical team or back 30 years ago or so when treatments were not as good at today. I seize those moments that use to really hurt my soul to correct their misguided information on the disease I live with every moment of every day.

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  3. "All I want to do is help people live with Diabetes and live as healthy as they can." Doesn't get much better than that!!!

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