OrdinarilyDifferent

When you first get diagnosed, the way you have to inject your insulin is through a syringe. so think of what they use to give you a vaccine or the flu shot and that’s it. You get boxes of those at a time at the pharmacy and you use minimally 4 a day, for 3 meals and 1 long-lasting insulin shot. These are the hardest to draw the insulin with. They are not as precise and because they’re smaller, it’s just more difficult to handle. For insurance purposes, I had to use syringes for 3 months. We would put the syringes in old Perrier water bottles and then my parents would dispose of them as hazardous waste or whatever the city called it.

After my 3 months of syringes, I got bumped up to what’s called a pen. Each pen comes with the insulin already in it, so instead of getting syringes and insulin, you just get pens. You would get a pen for your short-lasting insulin and one pen for your long-lasting insulin. The pen has a dial on the end that increases by 0.5 units which makes it more precise than the syringes. You can also just replace the tip of the pen which has the needle instead of having to throw away an entire syringe. I used pens for 7 months for insurance purposes as well.

After 10 months, I was able to justify to my insurance company that I could use an insulin pump. When I was choosing a pump, the omnipod was just coming out for the first time. Because I was so involved with soccer, I chose against the omnipod. I didn’t want to worry about sliding and the pump coming off and also wanted it to be more individualized whenever I needed it to be for soccer. I also felt like I could hide a normal pump more so than a block sticking off of me.

I ended up choosing the Animas OneTouch Ping. I liked the OneTouch Ping because I could wirelessly tell my pump to give me insulin without having to pull my pump out completely. So I could be more discrete when I was at a dance or on a date or just out in public with my friends. With a pump, you only have to have one insulin. This is because the short-lasting insulin can be given once an hour so it is given at a constant rate rather than all at one time. I could also just count my exact carbs, enter in that amount, and my pump did the calculations for me. I just had to make sure the ratios and sensitivity were right within my pump and had to count my carbs. With a pump, the pricking is about the same, but the injections are significantly less. There’s one injection of an infusion set about every 3 days. At that time a needle is injected with using surrounding it and then the needle is removed, leaving the tubing in the body to deliver insulin. I kept my pump for four years until my insurance was up to help pay for a new one.

As my time with the OneTouch Ping came to a close, the FDA was just approving the first artificial pancreas. So, that’s what I got!!! The first closed-loop system. I had tried a couple of CGMs (Continuous Glucose Monitors) but never fell in love with any. I even did a trial for my doctor on one where you just had to scan it instead of prick your finger but it didn’t come out in time to make it worth it.

What makes my pump now so special is that the CGM is connected to my pump via bluetooth. My CGM takes my interstitial tissue glucose level every 5 minutes and tells my pump. My pump then accounts for how much insulin I have on board, my normal activity time, how much activity I’ve had that day, and a few other things to calculate how much insulin to give me. This means my basal rate is more precise than even my first pump. My pump is automatically designed to try to keep my blood sugar at 120, so I rarely leave the 100-140 range. I still count my carbs and my pump still calculates it for me. With this specific pump, the pricking is less as well. I have to calibrate twice a day and then as soon as I inject my sensor after it has charged. My CGM  lasts for 7 days and I still change my pump site about every 3 days.

The idea is that the new version of my current pump will need less calibration and then paired with he insulin I’m on (Fiasp), because it’s so fast acting, that I could just eat, not have to count my carbs, and because the CGM monitors my blood sugar every 5 minutes, it would account and give me insulin as it saw my blood sugar rise from food… like a real pancreas, just external. So super cool and I can’t wait for it to come out!!

I’ve had my current pump for a little over 2 years now, so hopefully the newer version will come along before my next two years is up!!

Thanks technology for my robotic pancreas. It’s dope.

HP

There have been multiple factors that have led me to the faith I have today. One of those being my diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.

At the time of my diagnosis, I was already questioning some things. I grew up in Alabama and my church was teaching me something that seemed completely different than those around me. After my parents got divorced, I was the only one to stay at our church for a while and then eventually when my mom moved, we began to try new churches all over Birmingham. There were a couple that lasted a while, but none that stuck.

There was a certain period of time that I began going to a popular church where a lot of my friends were going. It was the cool church. I liked the Sunday school teacher and liked being able to see my friends a=on the weekend and felt like I fit in.

One day, our Sunday school teacher was telling us about a mountain. And heaven was at the top. There were a bunch of different entrances at the bottom, all kinds of religions, but only one led to the top: Christianity. So I asked her what about the people who didn’t know about that entrance? What about the people who grew up only knowing of a couple of entrances that didn’t lead to the top? Would they not be able to go to heaven? And she said they wouldn’t.. they would be punished for their upbringing and exposures is how I took it. Something they couldn’t help.

I didn’t go back to that church. I wasn’t even able to drive yet, but I knew that wasn’t the God I believed in.. if I believed in one.

I saw this Sunday school teacher a few weeks after my diagnosis when I was on my way to school. I had stopped at Starbucks on my way to school and she asked how I was doing. I was honest in my response that I wasn’t doing well and told her that I had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and it was a big adjustment.

You know what she told me?

That if I prayed hard enough, God would cure me of my diabetes.

I had just been told that there wasn’t a cure. That hopefully there would be one day, but there was nothing I could do. My new ride or die. And this lady just told me it was all reliant on prayer? Was I not a good enough Christian to prevent it? If I prayed and wasn’t cured, was I a bad Christian then?

I stopped believing for a while. It was as if my Sunday school teacher thought I hadn’t already thought all day in the hospital about why I was being punished. What had I done wrong, was I a bad kid, did I disappoint God, was I not good enough?

I was resentful. I became numb. I learned how to turn my emotions off, or so I thought. I craved to control my own pain. I craved rebellion. I craved sin.

I tried my whole life to be the glue for my family. The piece that was stable, hard working, good, that didn’t make things better, but was the one thing not making things worse. So to be told that I was being punished, after spending years killing myself to be as close to perfect as possible to not rock the boat, it broke me. I thought that if God was going to punish me for trying to be good, then I’d be bad. Of course, this is relative and looking back and even in the moment, I knew my rebellion didn’t run that deeply, but it was enough to feel like I was proving a point to God.

As I was going into my freshman year of college, I knew that the God I was told about all around me couldn’t be the only way. The God I was taught about when I was little had to exist somewhere. I searched and searched. I dated a southern, Christian guy my freshman year who led me to Him.

It was the Summer after my freshman year that I went to Lighthouse for the first time. Erin Moniz, the assistant chaplain at Berry came with us, and it was the most impactful experience of my life. After a traumatic day paired with the emotional drain of Lighthouse, I asked Erin in our room full of Berry students, how was I supposed to believe in God’s plan if I was sitting in a room full of kids with childhood cancer? That wasn’t a God I wanted to believe in.

Boy did she correct me. Her explanation, telling me those kids, those parents, didn’t cause childhood cancer. That cancer HAPPENED, but God did not cause it. That cancer is worldy disease that happens, evil does exist. But God was there to walk on that journey with that child, those parents, that family. It wasn’t God’s plan for that child to get cancer, but that didn’t mean that God wasn’t present the whole time.

God didn’t give me Type 1 Diabetes.

I wasn’t punished. It wasn’t that I wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t that I didn’t try hard enough or that I wasn’t a good enough Christian. It just happened.

But God was with me the whole time. Even when I doubted Him.

Today, I pray to God about type 1 diabetes. Every day. I pray for every person and every family who questions Him and doubts Him because of it, that they feel His embrace, His arms wrapped around them in comfort and love and peace. That they know they are not punished and it doesn’t make sense, not at all, but I pray they fall into Christ instead of away from Him.

How blessed am I to be loved by a God who wept for me when I purposefully turned away from Him. I have received the utmost pure grace and pray every day that I use my days and my time glorifying Him, giving others the grace I was given. Loving others as He loved me when I turned away.

Thank you, God, for giving me type 1 diabetes, so I can be Your light spreading to others with this disease.

Friends, you are loved, you are more than enough, and you have a God who will has never and will never leave you.

HP

Why a second post about traveling? Because there’s an aspect that I didn’t talk a bunch about that I ran into today.

So today, I was supposed to fly out of St. Louis at 1pm, make a connecting flight in Atlanta, and then get to Greensboro at 6pm. For the second time in one month, the engine blew in my Delta plane, but thankfully this time it happened as we were on the runway, not in the air. However, this meant that everyone had to get off the plane and wait as they were fixing the plane. I knew by the time that I got off the plane I wouldn’t make my connection even if we got right back on.

As advised by the Delta agent, I called customer service to get on a different flight. Mind you, I had checked my suitcase and had my big purse with me as my carry-on. The man on customer service advised for me to re-book a flight out of St. Louis and a different flight out of Atlanta. We got off the fist plane about 2pm and my new flight was taking off at 3:30. I was told to wait in line to redirect my checked luggage.

So I waited. And waited. And by 3:05, they had only talked with 2 people because only one person was working. I finally went to the very front and told the second agent who was not seemingly getting anything done that I was about to miss boarding on my re-booked flight, as they had advised, and needed my bag redirected.

It was at this point that I was told it wasn’t possible. They wanted me to re-book my flight but couldn’t move my bag. I would get to Greensboro and need to file a claim and my luggage would come to my door in a couple of days.

Here’s the kicker. That meant that when I got home here are the things I had with me: my computer, two books, my chargers, a snack, a drink, and my diabetes supplies. THANK YOU, JESUS.

If I had checked my supplies so that I wouldn’t deal with it through TSA, I would’ve been totally out of luck. I always tell myself, I can forget anything at home unless it’s something for my diabetes.

The day before, on the 11th, I actually also got stuck because of the icy roads. The interstate had shut down and I followed Siri and the rest of traffic on some backroads, watched 6 accidents, and prayed my little heart out as a girl from Alabama. I was fine until the car in front of me spun out on a hill and I was stuck in the middle. All I knew is that I was safe not moving at all. I eventually was able to back up into a driveway until my cousin and uncle came to get me, but I was so thankful that I had the mind that morning to put my diabetes supplies in my bag thinking, “I’m not from here so just in case,” because otherwise that could’ve been really bad.

My point: ALWAYS have your supplies with you as you travel. Don’t assume it’ll be okay because as soon as you do, it won’t be. Have a kit in your car just in case you were to get in trouble. Have a snack, a drink, maybe an infusion set, and insulin if you have enough to spare. These supplies are your lifeline, the most important thing you bring with you, so don’t lose sight of it.

Travel safe, friends,

HP

My junior year of high school was a rough one. I got my diagnosis at the very beginning and tore my ACL at the end. Im not going to lie, my diabetes was not the first thing on my mind when I found out I was going to have to have surgery.

Thankfully, my parents were thinking about it and my doctor was wonderful. For each surgery I’ve had, I’ve always been the first one in the door, so like being at the hospital by 5am so I wouldn’t have to go too long without food. I also always make sure multiple times that someone will be monitoring my blood sugar throughout the surgery. My first ACL surgery honestly set the standards really high for everything after.

I ended up having to have a second knee surgery on my ACL and other things and that also went really well. I truly believe this was the case because of my honest, open, and trusting relationship with my doctor. He was aware of everything I needed and all of my restrictions and concerns. He listened to my worries and he made sure that he did nothing to impair my levels.

However. I went through an entire process that led up to a major jaw surgery my junior year of college. Before the major surgery, I had a more minor procedure done. I didn’t know this doctor as well so when the person came in to begin, I ask what all they would be injecting and putting into my body. STEROIDS. This doctor, knowing I was diabetic, was going to put strong steroids into my body. If you don’t know, steroids drastically elevate blood sugar levels. So I began to tell the doctor I couldn’t have steroids.. this began another process and conversation. HE DIDN’T KNOW I WAS DIABETIC. So he began doing research and talking with other doctors and came back in and said all he could do was dilate the steroids but I would still be getting steroids. I went under anxious and scared and untrusting. And I spent the next couple of days hovering around 200 which I never do.

Eventually, I did have to have the major jaw surgery. The doctor who performed this surgery I did trust immensely and had a great relationship with him. We had a couple of long conversations about how we would do with the diabetes and I felt good going into it. The surgery required for my jaw to be wired shut, so that was the major concern initially. Minimal steroids were used so I remember my blood sugar being slightly elevated right after, but not nearly like it was with the other procedure. The first day or so, everything was fine. I was on some crazy pain meds and was trying to drink things blended up.

Problems started about two days out from the surgery and lasted about 1 week post-op. I couldn’t keep anything down. I was spending all night throwing up.. so imagine that with your jaw wired shut. All I was taking in was water and chicken broth and still, my body rejected all of it. We kept a close eye on my blood sugar and it was never anything crazy. A couple elevated and a couple lows, but nothing terrible. A week out we called the doctor who told us to come immediately. Once we got everything figured out, my normal carb ratio was great for smoothies and milkshakes :)

All together, surgery can be harmless and safe with type 1 diabetes. Some major takeaways:

Make sure you have a good relationship with your doctor who knows your diabetes and listens to you and you feel heard.

Have the surgery first thing.

Make sure you’re monitored throughout.

Be aware of any steroids used.

Use your normal carb ratio after and check your levels every hour or two so you can make adjustments as needed, especially within the first couple of days.

If you’re put under and on pain meds, make sure someone is waking you up regularly to check your blood sugar because you won’t feel yourself getting low.

And feel better!!!!

HP

In an earlier post, I told you about the nurse who told me I had to choose to learn to give myself a shot or I wouldn’t live a good and healthy life. That was the first time I was told it was my choice.

Another day in the hospital I was in the conference room with my family learning how to pull insulin into the syringe I think and the cafeteria delivered my dinner. I had ordered chicken tenders and broccoli and macaroni and cheese. I should’ve known better… hospital food isn’t good and I love my food. I gave myself the insulin needed for the meal with help from the nurse and began to eat. Boy was I disappointed. I ate the chicken and tried both the broccoli and macaroni but didn’t eat much of either… you can guess why. GROSS.

It was a matter of minutes that the teacher realized I wasn’t eating and started yelling at me that I had to eat everything I ordered, that I had counted my carbs and it didn’t matter if I didn’t like it, I had to eat it all.

I slowly and sadly put the food in my mouth and wound up back in my room crying in my moms arms. I had started to panic and got overwhelmed so they let me leave for a few minutes. Every meal, was a choice. Everything I put in my body was a choice. The shots were a choice. Exercise was a choice. For an indecisive person, that’s a lot of choices with pretty dramatic outcomes.

On average, a person with type 1 diabetes makes 180 more decisions per day than the average person without diabetes.

Every day is a choice. It’s the decision that I know pricking my finger is going to hurt, they’re lying to you to make you feel better if they say it doesn’t hurt anymore it’s just that you get used to it hurting, and I choose to prick any way. It’s knowing that my shot or injecting my infusion set will hurt, but I do it anyway. Choosing where to put my pump. Choosing where to insert my infusion set or shot. Do I give insulin for this snack before I workout or not? Do I pack an extra snack today or not? God, I just want to eat this with friends I just met and not have to be weird and pull out this life-giving machine… and choosing to do so anyway.

When I say I’m a good diabetic, I mean it. And I’m DANG PROUD of it. Because I choose hundreds of times a day to be one. But understand that it’s hard to really understand how many choices extra a day we are making because of diabetes. Can you think of 180 decisions you made today?

So, yes, it’s really hard for me to be sympathetic with students who tell me all the shows and movies they’re watching but don’t get their physical activity. Or don’t do their homework. Or don’t get a job.

People ask me how I did as much as I did at Berry all the time.. how’d you have 4 jobs, do research, play soccer, exercise, have fun, go to church, and get good grades? IT. WAS. HARD.

But I chose to. I made the choice to do each of those things every day and just like my diabetes taught me, there wasn’t much thinking after that. I said I was going to be a great student, a great employee, a great teammate, a great scientist… a great diabetic.

And I did that.

So for fellow diabetics, I encourage you to make your choice and stick with it.

For friends and family, I hope you can see how big this disease is in their daily life. Help them with their choices. Encourage their choice to be a good diabetic. And know that it’s constant. Constant choices. Constant decisions. And then love them.

HP

I’ve played soccer since before I started Kindergarten and I finished my senior year of college. I remember being in the hospital at 16 getting diagnosed and my parents and I were talking with the nutritionist about physical activity and how many carbs to eat, etc. And I remember that being the only time my Dad got legitimately upset while we were at the hospital. A point past being frustrated but actually getting angry. I didn’t feel well enough to really get worked up, but I was having the same thoughts as him.

I’ll talk about my nutrition another time, but this lady was not understanding how physically active I really was. No one told us how I would be able to continue being active. So when I left the hospital, it was a guessing game. Hence my research now.

I was really lucky to have such understanding and supportive coaches through high school.  My club coach never punished me and always allowed for me to do exactly what I needed to do. My friends on the team supported me and helped me every time I needed it. They helped me carry my diabetes bag full of food, gatorade and supplies. They ran and got something if I needed it. They sat with me when I was frustrated. Soccer with diabetes wasn’t easy, but it might’ve been what kept me sane.

I was so scared at the beginning, I did even our long runs carrying my meter and a bar just in case. Throughout my career, I learned. Sometimes I failed, I would drop too low or go high, but eventually, I learned my reactions.

I quickly found the routine of practices. For the most part, off-season conditioning was always pretty high intensity. During the season, though, there was a pattern. The day after the game was light, the next day moderate, next day hard, day before a game, light. For the days that I knew were harder, I would do the same as a game day eating 15-20g of carbs about 30-60 minutes beforehand. If it were a lighter day, I would just suspend my insulin about 30-45 minutes beforehand. But I ALWAYS take my pump off during practice and a game.

On game days, I would eat about 15-20g of carbs without insulin about 30 minutes before warm-up, given that I started in a normal range. Then after warm-ups, I would have some gummies or finish my bar or somehow take in 15g of carbs. I would monitor my blood sugar through the first half and make sure I stayed between 150-200. Depending on how much I played in the first half, I would eat between 15-30g of carbs during halftime. This would raise my blood sugar for an acute response as well as help prevent a drop during the second half from a chronic response from exercise. After the game, I would eat a meal and give myself about 75% of the insulin required for the amount of carbs. This helped me prevent lows later.

Of course there were times that in the middle of a game, I would feel low and I would ask my coach to pull me. Demoralizing, yes. Smart, yes. Life saving and career saving, yes. I would fix my blood sugar and tell my coach when I was ready again.

Of course everything I’ve written today is completely situational. There were random times I wasn’t in range on either end of the spectrum and I would act differently. So I put my emphasis in telling you all of this as maybe a place to start or an understanding on what your body may need to be able to figure it all out for yourself. Ultimately, the best thing you can do for yourself sports is to be open and honest with your coach and have trust be mutual. Then when you’re in a season that allows for you to super closely monitor your blood sugars throughout practice, DO THAT. See what works. See what doesn’t. Be honest with yourself and your coach. You’re a better athlete when you can compete so finding what works for you and talking with your coaches is vital in being able to do so.

If anything, diabetes brings you an edge on being able to overcome obstacles and not waiver under pressure or circumstance.

Be a great athlete and be a great diabetic. You can do both at the same time.

HP

Like I’ve mentioned before in other posts, type 1 diabetics HAVE to have insulin. There’s no other option. There’s no pill or lifestyle change, insulin must be injected into the body to stay alive. That being said…

1 in 4 type 1 diabetics ration their insulin because of costs.

25% of all people with type 1 diabetes so badly cannot afford the medication that keeps them alive that they allow themselves to be in significantly worse health just to stay alive. Hopefully, you can all see how this is a major problem. But that’s crazy, right? Surely it can’t be that expensive since it’s medication necessary for life? That’s what people always say when they find out how much my insulin is or why I find myself continuously in fights with our insurance company…. update. We don’t live in a country that really understands type 1 diabetes.

Insulin is a life-saving medication and the companies name the price and it can really be as much as they want because they know that people have to buy it to live.. twisted, right?

When I was in high school, if I tried to pick up my insulin by myself before I hit my deductible, I would be turned away or the pharmacist would make sure my mom knew how much my insulin was. So how much am I getting at?

Without insurance,  insulin costs between $150-600 per vial. Personally, I am prescribed 3 vials per month. So if we do some quick math, that’s between $450-1800 per month and $5400-21600 per year. Of course, most insurances cover some of what you pay, but not all, and insurance has the power to tell you what insulin you have to use despite the fact that some people don’t respond to all insulins and respond differently to each one.

I personally have pretty decent insurance but you can imagine that those first couple of months are a HIT before hitting the deductible. Of course, my family hits our deductible pretty quickly, but even after, my insulin is a little over $100 per month. Can you see yet why people have to ration… even if they have insurance?

I also want to tell you about the two times I was told I could no longer use the insulin I was on. My Sophomore year in undergrad I got a call from my mom who was beside herself mad. She got a letter from our insurance company that they were no longer going to be covering Humalog and I would need to switch to Novalog. They included that there was a chance I would not be receptive to the new insulin or may react differently.. but they still made me “try” it… as if you can try on a shirt and decide if you like it or not. Eventually, we got it figured out and we made the adjustments to use Novalog.

The second time this happened was this past Spring. My endocrinologist has me on the new insulin, Fiasp. It’s more fast-acting than anything on the market. It’s going through FDA approval now so my doctor gave me a coupon card so that I can use Faisp for 2 years and it’s only $25 a month. Basically, the insurance covers some and the company picks up the rest except for $25. GAME. CHANGER. It’s amazing!! I went to the pharmacy to pick up my insulin and they ran it multiple times and kept telling me it was a little over $1k. I’m livid because I’m almost out of insulin and am leaving town for the weekend so I call my insurance who transfers me 4 times before getting me to a different company who manages their prescriptions to find out that they decided they were no longer covering Fiasp. No one told me. So I couldn’t call me endo for a Novalog prescription. I didn’t know what to do. They sent a case to the director and I also called her and left a message saying how much I loved FIASP and how many companies cover it, etc. I got a call a few days later that she had brought my case up and in a few weeks they were having an entire company wide meeting and because of my case, Fiasp was now a topic. A few weeks went by and I got the call. They were changing their policy back to cover Fiasp and I went to CVS ASAP.

This is just the insulin cost. Not including infusion sets, reservoirs, sensors, strips, prickers, and then the countless glucose tablets, gatorades, snacks, batteries, etc. that you randomly have to have. I’m SO BLESSED to have parents that are still able to support me financially with my diabetes, but I know there are so few people as lucky as I am. And that’s a problem. The ration leads to uncontrolled diabetes which leads to complications which leads to even more costs long run. So why do we punish those who cannot control or help that they have this disease? Why do we put people in a position to feel punished and like they can’t have good health?

I just feel like if there’s anything we should cover it should be the medication that saves lives, not just puts a bandaid on a poor lifestyle. Kids with type 1 diabetes shouldn’t risk their health for the rest of their lives because they can’t afford a disease they didn’t ask for.

No one chooses type 1 diabetes, so let’s not make them choose if they can live a healthy life or not.

Talk to you later,

HP

The day I booked my flight, over a month ago, is when my anxiety started. TSA is a pain in the butt when all you have to do is take off your shoes and put your electronics in a separate container than everything else so adding on a liquid, needles, and wearing an electronic device adds a few more layers.

I ALWAYS pack my diabetes supplies in a clear bag in my carry-on just I case my luggage were to get lost or damaged, then I’d always have what I need to survive. In my bag I include insulin, infusion sets, meter strips, reservoirs, CGM sensors, CGM charger, CGM inserter, usually a gatorade, a pack of peanut butter crackers, glucose tablets, and my meter, my pricker, and a doctor’s note saying I need all that was listed previously.

I used to warn the person taking bags about all of it, but eventually I got to a point where I didn’t feel like I owed anyone an explanation. So now, I only tell the TSA staff about my insulin if they ask if I have any liquids in my bags. If I only have my insulin, it usually passes through with no problem. However, if I have a gatorade packed it’s honest to God like I packed a knife. It’s always a long discussion that no, I will not throw it away. And yes, I will continue to ask you to test it because yes, I do need it, and no, AGAIN, I will NOT throw it away. Eventually, TSA breaks the seal on the gatorade and tests the liquid.. for what, I’m not sure since they broke the seal but whatever.

Now going through the metal detector… I used to take my pump off and put it in the baskets to be scanned, but I eventually decided that I had every right to keep it on and they couldn’t make me take it off. As I step in, there’s always a brief moment where I think, ‘It’s going to hurt so bad if this metal detector yanks my pump out,’ but every time it’s always okay. Okay that it doesn’t come out. Not okay that it’s a guarantee pat down, and my CGM and pump both have to be tested as well as my hands. Way to pick a girl out and feel out of place. I always apologize to the people behind me because I always take a few more minutes than the average person.

So where does the anxiety come from since everything always turn out okay long run?

It comes from the looks I get from TSA staff that I’m making them do extra work. The looks I get from everyone around me, watching me get patted down and getting tested. The fear of my pump or CGM getting yanked out. The fear of someone not allowing my supplies through. The fear that it’ll be the average person that doesn’t understand my disease and doesn’t let me through with what I need.

I make sure to get to the airport extra early to leave wiggle room for a diabetes disaster through TSA. Of course I realize that nothing has happened yet, but too many times I’ve felt close. So flying, it can happen, but it’s not fun. And this is what I do to make it as smooth as possible. Hopefully, time will bring understanding and I won’t have to feel like an outsider just because I have an insulin pump. But for now, I’ll know that each stare I get gives me strength.

See you on the flip side,

HP

A lot of people know the difficulty of diabetes by the complications often associated with type 2 diabetes. Of course, these things happen with type 1 diabetes as well.

They think I’ve probably had diabetes since I was about 3 years old, so that means I had about 13 years with it being undiagnosed. When I was in third grade, I went to the doctor to see if I needed glasses. I had told my parents that there were times that things got blurry and I couldn’t see everything super clearly. This was the first time out of many for the next 13 years that the doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong, but prescribed me glasses with their best guess prescription.

A few weeks before my diagnosis, I went to the eye doctor because I was sure my vision had changed. I was scared to drive and found myself squinting, hoping what I saw was what was really happening. My depth perception was off and I could tell there was an object, probably a car, but I couldn’t make the clear outline or read the license plates. My doctor gave me contacts to try but by the next week, the same problems were happening. I went back and tried new contacts, and this happened 3-4 times before the diagnosis.

I was always told that there was some muscular problem with my eyes, but no one could put a word or description or understanding to it. But then when we found out about my diabetes, it made SOME sense! My blood sugars being so high and fluctuating uncontrollably weakened the muscles in my eyes.

I’m really blessed that this was the only outcome I have (from what we know at least) from living with undiagnosed diabetes for so long. I still wear glasses when I feel my eyes getting tired, but it’s not a problem.

However, it’s important to know that I was VERY blessed. There are many people who start to lose their vision and eventually lose all their vision. Neuropathy is the most common diabetic complication that I’ve worked with. Typically people will complain about not feeling their feet. When this is not treated or controlled, then it’s easy for the patient to get a cut in the foot and because they can’t feel the pain in their foot, the wound gets infected and creates an entire list of problems. Uncontrolled diabetes can also lead to ketoacidosis which makes your body break itself down for energy. Diabetic ketoacidosis can ultimately lead to a diabetic coma or death.

More acute complications can be fatigue, lack of concentration, weakness, irritation, having to go to the bathroom frequently, throwing up, and many more.

As a diabetic, it really is your choice what kind of life you want to live. Of course there are things you can’t control and no one will ever be a perfect type 1 diabetic, but putting in the effort to be a good diabetic can mean that your life is as close to a life without diabetes as possible.

Please let me know if you have any questions and if you’d like to donate to JDRF!!!

Talk to you later,

HP

I get the opportunity to babysit for a family in Winston Salem and it has been the biggest blessing. I’ll tell you more about this family later, but their little girl got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just a few days after I babysat for them for the first time. I started to babysit more frequently after her diagnosis and one day while I was there the oldest child asked me, “Ms. Hannah, can you drink wine with diabetes?” Oh sweet child. Yes.

I’ll emphasize again that there’s more to diabetes than glucose and insulin. There are multiple factors outside of eating sugar and carbs that impacts your blood sugar. We were told about this lightly going through the diagnosis in the hospital but not in depth.

Before I went to the beach for my senior trip, my mom had me call one of the babysitters I had as a child (yes, babysitters do seem to be a theme in my diabetes journey for some reason) to ask her about how she handles alcohol with her diabetes. And it was a great conversation!

All alcohol is different. It’s important to know what you’re putting in your body so you can account for what fluctuations will be happening. Of note, alcohol is a depressant and brings your blood sugar down itself. So that’s relevant to any alcoholic beverage, but especially for cocktails or anything where liquor is involved with a mix. Beer is also made with wheat which is a carbohydrate. Wine is made from grapes which is a carbohydrate.

All of this combined, in the majority of alcoholic drinks, there is a component that brings blood sugar up but there’s also a component that brings blood sugar down. For this reason, and the fact that each person responds differently in respect to their blood sugar with everything they put in their body, you should try different alcohols in a safe environment where you can see how your body reacts and adjust accordingly. This way you aren’t out or at a bar and trying something new and you go high or drop super low because you didn’t know what was in the drink or how your body would react to it.

Personally, I have found that I’m more likely to have a delayed drop in my blood sugar if I drink cocktails or have any type of mixed drink or wine. My hypothesis is that I’m so anxious about being high that I tend to bolus for more carbs than necessary. Every one in a while I’ll wake up and be a little elevated, closer to 150-180 after I go to a brewery or drink a couple of beers, but it’s happened so rarely that I’m not sure it’s the beer or something else.

When drinking a beer that’s not a cider, my typical go-to carb entry is 12g. It is typically a little lower than the average amount of carbs in a standard beer so it gives me wiggle room for the alcohol to bring my blood sugar down. For ciders, I typically enter in about 18g because ciders typically have more sugar in them. However, if I get a beer with a nutrition label so that I can see the amount of carbs in the drink, I will bolus for 5 less carbs than listed.

Cocktails are a little trickier to me. It really depends on what is in them and how big the drink is. If I’m having a mixed drink with liquor and my typical mixer that is sugar-free, then I only put like 5g of carbs in or none at all. If I get a specialty cocktail when I’m at a restaurant or bar, then my bolus is usually for 20-30g of carbs. If it is listed as having more syrups, then I definitely go for closer to 30g. If the drink is bigger, I go on the higher side of carbs and if the drink is smaller, I go on the lower side of carbs.

Honestly though, I’m more of a wine girl. I love wineries and vineyards and trying new wines. I always sip my wine before my bolus because you can almost taste the amount of carbs in a glass of wine. For a Moscato or Riesling, something with significantly more sugar, I bolus for 25g of carbs typically. When I drink a chardonnay or pinot grigio, I typically bolus for closer to 18-20g of carbs. When I’m drinking a dry wine, for some reason especially a dry red wine, I bolus for about 15g of carbs.

Again, this is all based on me and how I know that I react to different types of drinks. Ultimately, each person with type 1 diabetes should figure out for themselves what their bolus should be because how they respond to each drink individually will probably be different than how I react. Plus you have to account for what you’re doing. If I know my friends and I are going dancing, I reduce my bolus because I LOVE to dance. If we are just watching a game or hanging out, then it’s my normal amount I listed above. It’s up to each individual to figure this out and in a safe and supportive environment.

The biggest thing with diabetes and alcohol is you HAVE to, HAVE TO, be careful. You cannot allow for yourself to be in a situation where you cannot take care of yourself. You have to be okay enough to handle your diabetes. And ALSO have a friend with you that knows how to take care of you in case something crazy happens. You need to know your limits with alcohol and drink around people who you trust to help you in the worst-case scenario.

But overall, yes, diabetics can drink with the best of them.