Diabetes Series: Turning Your Disability Into An Ability!

Hi readers!

You might have read my previous post about my experience with a Medtronic Insulin Pump and going from injecting 4 times a day to using this pump which requires changing every 2 to 3 days.

Although I talked about how much I prefer it to injecting every day and how much more flexible my diabetes is, everyone has their off days with their medical conditions and that's what I'm going to talk about today and how you can turn your disability into an ability! This is by no means a pity post, it is in fact the complete opposite and my main aim of this post is to help you look at your disability in a different, more positive light!

I mostly experience my little gripes and moans about my diabetes when my pump decides to malfunction, so here's a little bit about what happens:

In my previous post I explain exactly how to change your pump (every 2 to 3 days) but if you don't know what I mean by "changing your pump" I'll briefly explain:

When I talk about changing my pump I don't mean changing the whole pump machine every couple of days, I mean renewing the insulin reservoir. The reservoir is a little tube that holds the insulin inside the pump machine which the pump then dispenses into wire connected to the reservoir that is attached to my stomach, allowing the insulin to flow into me. Each reservoir only holds a certain amount of insulin which is why I need to go through the process of changing it every couple of days! And so, this is where some of the gripes and moans come in:

When I've gone through this process, inserted the cannula (a tiny tube that is embedded in my stomach) and I've carried on with my day and I've just had some food I obviously need to bolus, so when I type in on my pump to bolus, the pump bleeps back at me telling me there is "No Delivery" which means I have to do this process all over again, including re-injecting myself to insert the new cannula!

This has happened quite a lot over the years I've had the pump (6 years) but in the last few weeks (including today!) it has become more frequent. This could and probably is just a fluke but when you're glucose levels rise to an extremely high level and you feel the symptoms of high glucose levels, it's very frustrating and inconvenient. Like I mentioned earlier, this is not a "pity me" post at all, it's the opposite because in the previous post I linked to, I talked about how I try to turn my experience into a positive one and how I don't let it negatively impact my life, so please do have a read of that post and I hope it helps you!

The actual main reason for writing this post is just to let you know that whether you're on injections or a pump, diabetes can be a frustration, again no pity or sympathy here, it's just a fact. Similarly to many other disabilities and medical conditions; they're all an inconvenience, a struggle, a different way of life, a hindrance sometimes and definitely frustrating, however if you let negativity set in permanently then you're fighting a losing battle. Yes, be angered and upset at your medical condition for an hour or so, but try and look on the positive side and realise how lucky you are in other ways. Try to keep focusing on all the great things you have in life and keep reminding yourself of these things.

Yes, your medical condition makes you different, but different is great!! Above all, remember, you are not alone. I've had diabetes for 10 years and I can honestly say it hasn't stopped me from doing anything I want to do (I talk about all the different things I've achieved in my other post! In fact, I've benefited from it in more ways than I've been hindered by it, for example I am now a Type 1 Youth Ambassador for JDRF which I'm extremely happy and excited about and I wouldn't have been able to do this if I wasn't diabetic! See? It's not all bad!

As this is part of my campaign as well as my diabetes series, I'll include some info below on how you can contact me if you'd like to talk about anything, ask me anything or vent about anything - I'm so happy to listen and help! The main reason I started this campaign was to provide a place for people to come and feel safe, get advice, have a chat and feel better about whatever is on your mind, so please do not hesitate to contact me!

Get in touch: 

Twitter: @ChloesConcept

Email: ChloesConcept@gmail.com

Tumblr Ask: http://ChloesConcept.tumblr.com/ask

Chloe x

I hope you found this post helpful!

If you would like to know a bit more about my campaign, which involves anxiety, bullying, self-esteem, diabetes and more issues, you can read about it here and if you'd like to get involved, all the info on how you can do that is in that post, or you can just email me if you have any questions!!

Thank you for reading!

Chloe x

The Psychological Effect of Diabetes T1: Hospital Appointments & HBA1Cs

Hello!

Today I'll be talking about the psychological effect diabetes type 1 has on a person and how much support you actually get from the medical team you're supervised under. I'll also be talking about hospital appointments and HBA1C results.

On Wednesday of this week, I had my annual review, where you may or may not know is when you have a thorough check up on your diabetes. You see a lot of medical practitioners from specialist nurses to doctors. It's a bit of an ordeal to go through as you're usually there for a good long while but you know you have to get it done as your health is obviously extremely important. I feel as though the past couple of years during my appointments, some of the medical staff lack the ability to really understand what it feels like to live with diabetes. I'm not asking for them to be overly sympathetic or feeling pity on you, that's no good to anyone but they don't seem to grasp the fact that having diabetes goes further than just analysing data and results.

Last year at my annual review, my HBA1C was exactly 7. I was so, so pleased with this as they say they'd like for you to be between 6.5 and 7.5. They praised me and said I was doing everything right and to keep doing what I was doing. So I went away feeling proud of myself for doing my best to take care of myself and my diabetes. This year's annual review came around and I was seen by multiple staff and found out by the nurses who take your blood pressure etc., that my HBA1C results from the blood test I had the week before, came back and I was 7.5 this time. This didn't shock me as the past couple of months has been extremely hectic and stressful what with deadlines for university, moving house and other things like that so I was extremely happy with 7.5...however some of the doctors didn't seem to be over the moon.

Don't get me wrong, they didn't give me a stern talking to or anything like that but they seem to just see it in black and white that it had gone up 0.5 and that I needed to get it back down to 7. The encouragement that is needed at a time like this just wasn't there and I think encouragement is crucial in order to give the patient hope that they can get their results back to a place that is healthy. I explained that I had a lot going on at the moment and have done for the past couple of months (not that I used that as an excuse) but they didn't seem to really care, all they cared about was the figures. I understand that they've probably just got my best interest at heart and they want to keep me as healthy as possible, but it got me thinking that sometimes the medical staff don't exactly put in the effort to understand how difficult living with and controlling diabetes can be on day-to-day basis.

Again, like I said before, I'm not asking for them to sing my praises or to have pity on me or anything like that at all but sometimes I feel as though they could be a little more understanding. Like I previously mentioned, 7.5 for me this time around was something I was incredibly happy about and yes, I will work towards getting it back down to 7 for next time but I walked out of the hospital feeling deflated and annoyed that I had tried my best and sometimes, it's just not good enough.

I guess the moral of this blog post is just to tell you that YOU know better than any medical staff how you're coping with your diabetes and how you're controlling it and if you're happy with your result then don't let anyone else get you down about it. I'm not saying that if your HBA1C result is higher than what is safe and healthy for you, that you can walk out of the hospital and think "oh well, I'm happy with it so it doesn't matter what they say", what I'm saying is that if your results are in a healthy place and are between what they want them to be but maybe you're like me and you've gone up a little bit since last time, don't get upset and down about it. You know what it's like on a daily basis so just keep on doing what you're doing and know you're doing the best you can.

My plan is to try and prove them wrong for next time! What is yours?

I hope you found this post helpful! If you'd like to be involved with my diabetes series on my blog, please do not hesitate to contact me!

If you'd like any advice or just want to talk about your experience, please use my link provided below and I'll get back to you!

Get in touch: 

Twitter: @ChloesConcept

Email: ChloesConcept@gmail.com

Tumblr Ask: http://ChloesConcept.tumblr.com/ask

Thank you for reading!

Chloe x

Diabetes Type 1: My story & Insulin Pump experience

So I've been wanting to write this post for a long time now. As you may know, I run a campaign/platform on this blog is for bullying, self-esteem, anxiety and other issues of a similar nature and the feedback I've had has been amazing and I really appreciate everyone's kind words.

I thought I'd add an extra item onto my campaign/platform and that is to also provide support to anyone with the medical condition that is diabetes. This will also be a part of it's own series on my blog, so I'll regularly be posting advice, recipes, tips and general little posts all about diabetes! I've had diabetes for nearly 10 years and I never really knew many people with it whilst I grew up. I was diagnosed at the age of 11 so I was old enough to just about understand it but too young in a way to know the impact it would have on my life. This is not a sob story or a post looking for sympathy in any way, shape or form, it's purely to provide support for people, like myself growing up with diabetes and help them with any problems they may have or even if they just want to talk about it!

Like I said, I was diagnosed at the age of 11 and I remember I had a really bad knee so my mum took me to the doctors. I'd recently lost a lot of weight, was drinking 24/7 and had serious dark circles under my eyes. We didn't really think anything of it and put it down to stress as I had started comprehensive school only a few months prior and I hated it so much I didn't want to go. Luckily enough, after the doctor checked out my knee, my mum told her of my symptoms and she replied "Oh, we better get you checked out with the nurse, you could have diabetes". We were so unsure of what diabetes actually meant, we kind of thought I'd be in and out of the doctors surgery in no time at all. Unfortunately, when I was checked by the nurse, she told me to pack a bag and head down to hospital straight away to be admitted. I felt totally confused and disorientated. So we headed down to the hospital and that's where I stayed for more or less a week. After being seen by every doctor, nurse and medical staff under the sun, I was finally discharged and sent home. I really didn't have much of a clue what to do except I knew I had to give myself numerous injections everyday. I had great support from my mum and dad and the rest of my family, my friends were great about it too.

One thing I remember hating about having this condition was having to do injections in public, eat in class and also do glucose tests in class. I felt uncomfortable whenever I had to eat biscuits during lessons and the teacher would ask me to put them away because they didn't know, but luckily someone in my class would always say "she's diabetic, she has to eat!" but I was still embarrassed and hated the attention it brought!

I never really felt like having diabetes stopped me from doing anything I wanted to do. I still went out with friends, I still went on holiday, I still got good grades, I still got a part-time job, I still passed my driving test, I still went on school trips which I'll get onto later.

Even though you might feel like having diabetes is hindering your life and lifestyle, try and turn it into a positive. You're probably eating healthier than you ever were before, it could be a whole lot worse and you get to eat sugary goods when you're glucose levels are low. See, win-win right?


As I got a bit older, I had to increase the amount of injections I was giving myself. My glucose levels were constantly high 20s and this started to have an impact on my life. It made me feel ill constantly and I knew I had to find another solution. That's where my insulin pump comes in. One of the diabetic nurses informed me of a pump that was coming out soon and they were doing trials with small groups of people to see how we got on with them. I had to learn all about how the pump worked (which was draining) and I had to learn how to carbohydrate count. You might have heard of this before, you might have not. I'm still trying to get to grips with it myself! If you'd like me to do a post on carbohydrate counting, please let me know and I'll get that done for you! :)

In October 2008 I finally properly transitioned from injections to an insulin pump. It started off a bit rocky, having trouble inserting the pump and getting it to deliver the right amount of insulin but I soon got the hang of it. Below I'll go into more detail about how the pump works! The pump has given me so much more freedom than I could ever imagine having. Instead of injecting 4+ times a day, I'm now injecting once every 2-3 days. Crazy right? This pump allows me to go out and eat without having to pull out my injection pen, it allows me to eat more of what I want to eat, it allows me to have the odd treat every now and again, it allows me to feel more normal rather than being reminded of diabetes each time I went to do something, as I'd usually have to take my diabetes into account for whatever I was about to do. I even went  to L.A and San Francisco with my sixth form which is something I never imagined I'd be able to do because of my constant injections and lack of flexibility but the pump gave me that flexibility so I was able to go. I'm not saying if you're on injections that you can't go away on your own without your parents, but I felt more comfortable knowing they were with me if I was on injections, but with my pump I felt confident enough to take complete care of myself... mind you, it didn't stop my parents from worrying!


So I'll introduce you to my insulin pump now and show you how it works and the equipment that goes with it! Sorry if it's a bit confusing, I'll try to make it brief but if you have any questions about it, I'll leave my contact links at the bottom so you can email or tweet me with your questions! :)

My Insulin Pump!

This is called an Infusion Set. The blue part of it is the part that is inserted into my stomach (not the top part of the blue, the underneath!) and that has a needle on it when you take the blue cap off.

This is called a Reservoir and this is inserted into the vile of insulin which you'll see below, in order for the insulin to enter the little bottle which says Medtronic on it with the measurements.

This is the vile of insulin I use.

This is called the Quick-Serter and this is used as the "trigger" to insert the Infusion Set (see image 1).

This is the Infusion Set inserted into the Quick-Serter.

...And here is my pump! So small, it's easily hid and tucked away in my pocket or clipped onto my jeans!

I hope this is helpful! As previously mentioned, this is the beginning of a brand new series on my blog and part of my campaign/platform!

If you'd like to take part in this blog series, please let me know! I'm always looking for bloggers to take part in my campaign/platform so if you're diabetic and you'd like to help out, I'll leave my links below! If you're not diabetic but you'd still like to help out, my campaign/platform also includes issues such as bullying, self-esteem, anxiety and issues along those lines! Here's a direct link to a post that explains everything so if you think that's for you, get in touch!

If you'd just like to talk or would like any advice, please do not hesitate to contact me on any of the links I leave below as that's what I'm here for!

Get in touch: 

Twitter: @ChloesConcept

Email: ChloesConcept@gmail.com

Tumblr Ask: http://ChloesConcept.tumblr.com/ask