Finding friends

Seven and a half years ago whilst pregnant, I kept an online diary, which I guess was an early version of a diabetes blog. It was housed on a now-defunct website, but until last year, it was up there for all to see. Week in, week out, I wrote about my pregnancy, and others could comment on what I’d written. Hearing from the readers was a huge source of support for me as I was negotiating diabetes and pregnancy and, from what others have told me, some people found my journal useful to them. (I am about to post my pregnancy diary on Diabetogenic.)

It was a long time between drinks! Last year, when I dipped my toe into the Diabetes Online Community (DOC) and diabetes blogs, I was overwhelmed by just how many blogs are out there! Who knew? In fact, I didn’t even know the DOC was ‘a thing’.

I thought I’d be a little patriotic today when offering the names of two d-blogs that others may not know about. So please excuse my chants of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’! The difficulty is that, really, there are not that many here. I’m not sure if it’s that we feel that we get our peer support in other ways. Or perhaps we are content to read others’ stories rather than share our own. Or it could just be that we are a little slow off the mark.

I’m going to give a shout out to the Diabetes Australia – Vic blog. I have worked at DA-Vic for ten-and-a-half years and have written quite a few posts for the blog. But the reason that I think others may like it is because it is a diverse blog which invites stories from people living with all types of diabetes, parents of kids with diabetes and health professionals.

I also want to mention the wonderful Helen Edwards and her incredibly honest and beautiful blog. Helen is the founder of an terribly important online service – Diabetes Counselling Online – which, just as its name suggests, provides online counselling for people with diabetes. Helen started this organisation over ten years ago. Her blog has been going for about a year and it’s a terrific addition to the service. Please have a read!

I hope that you’ll agree that while the number of Australian blogs may be thin on the ground, the quality of the ones out there are terrific. And I hope you enjoy exploring!

This is my Monday entry into this year’s Diabetes Blog Week. For information, click here. And I really recommend you do. Around 150 diabetes bloggers from all over the world are participating and it’s a great way to see what others with diabetes are talking about. Come back tomorrow for Tuesday’s entry.