Diabetogenic

Time to get moving

October 25, 2013 in Diabetes, Exercise, Uncategorized, Wellbeing | 6 comments

Every magazine in the supermarket is warning me that if I don’t start moving NOW my body won’t be bikini-ready in time for Summer. I’d tell you that I’m panicked by this, but I’d be lying. Usually, my eyes glaze over and I reach for another block of Lindt Intense Orange chocolate.

There will be no bikini wearing, but there will be moving. It’s time for me to get back on the walkies bandwagon, and what better way to get going than the threat excitement of a fun run.

I’m kicking off Summer by taking part in Take Steps for Good Health – Diabetes Australia – Vic’s inaugural summer festival. And like the optimistic fool I am, I’m going to do the 8km WALK (not run). There are several reasons why I believe I can safely manage to do this. For starters, I can walk – one foot in front of the other and all that.

Also, I proved to myself earlier this year, that daily walking around a park is actually not too torturous enjoyable, provided you have a friend with you and a football team doing sit-ups nearby. Also, in the last few months, I’ve walked – and I mean seriously walked – around Paris, New York, Barcelona and Marrakech, often for hours at a time. Admittedly, I won’t be able to stop along the way for a cupcake or sangria, but after the walk I will be taking advantage of Summer’s Healthiest Picnic which will showcase healthy living stalls, cooking demonstrations and entertainment.

Plus, I have promised myself a new pair of shoes (runners – boring) for the walk and a new pair of shoes (ballet flats – excellent!) afterwards, so I am looking at this as a win for everyone. Well, my feet.

You can join my team – THE CUPCAKES! – or join on your own by going to the registration page.

Disclaimer

Diabetes Australia – Vic is my employer. I have not been asked to write about this event. I’m just telling you about it so you can a) join me, b) laugh at me c) do both.

THIS is what a busy couple of months looks like

October 24, 2013 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

The next couple of months are going to be the very definition of the word busy. There is so much going on that breathing will definitely be a luxury. I’m not talking about the everyday things that happen as part of regular life and work. I’m talking about some big stuff! With diabetes being in the spotlight from now until the middle of December, here are some dates for your diary that are also in mine.

WORLD DIABETES DAY – 14 November

There are always lots of activities on and around World Diabetes Day – keep an eye out on your local Diabetes Australia website to see. In Victoria alone, we have things happening for most of the week – many of which you can come along to.

And don’t forget to do the BIG BLUE TEST every day from now until WDD to help people with diabetes in need.

TAKE STEPS FOR GOOD HEALTH – 1 December

This exciting new event is the perfect way to kick off Summer. A fun run/ walk around the Tan followed by a picnic in the park. I’ve committed to do the 8km walk (stop you laughing now). I’ll be buying new runners in honour of this exercising achievement! Register now!

WORLD DIABETES CONGRESS – 2 – 6 December

The eyes of the global diabetes world will be firmly on Melbourne as the International Diabetes Federation brings its World Diabetes Congress to our great city. There is no better opportunity to hear about the latest and greatest in diabetes research and technology. And what better place to catch up with cyberspace and real-life diabetes friends. Details are here – including how to register for the special consumer price of just $99 per day. I’ll be there chairing a session and doing some presentations. Make sure you find me!

I hope to see you at many of these events. It’s going to be great having diabetes front and centre in many people’s minds.

What’s big, blue and takes 14 minutes?

October 23, 2013 in Diabetes, Exercise | Leave a comment

I’m all for diabetes awareness activities and the clever folks at the Diabetes Hands Foundation have found a way to not only get people talking about diabetes, but they’re also helping out people in need. Big ticks there, people!

This is the fourth year of the Big Blue Test, the proceeds of which have gone on to help over 10,000 people with diabetes. Each time you take part and log your results, a donation is made on your behalf to organisations helping people with diabetes.

Getting involved is easy as easy can be. Here is all you have to do:

Step 1 Check you blood glucose level. (If you don’t have diabetes, skip this step.)
Step 2 Get active! Do 14 – 20 minutes of activity. You can walk, run, clean the house, swim, dance…whatever floats your boat!
Step 3 Check your blood glucose again.
Step 4 Share your results on the right column of this page.

That’s it! Even exercise-allergic little ol’ me will be getting into this one by getting creative and thinking about the things I already do that can be counted as exercise.

So do it today – and tomorrow and the day after! You’ve got until 14 November. And get your family and friends on it too. Why not take some time out of your lunch break at work and get your colleagues involved too? If you run a diabetes support group, how about getting everyone to take the Big Blue Test together. Go on – do it! It’s good karma.

Okay – I know that I spend a lot of time talking about language, and I never use the term ‘test’ when referring to checking my blood sugar levels. BUT – let’s not forget what this is about – raising funds for those in need – not judging numbers and results.

The nothing days

October 22, 2013 in Diabetes, Real life | 6 comments

It’s been one of those days – a nothing day. The roller-coaster BGLs started overnight and haven’t stopped. Nausea hit around 11am only to be replaced with numb lips at 3.30pm just in time for an afternoon hypo.

I hate diabetes on days like today. It makes doing just the most simple, boring tasks difficult and right now after my BGLs have lurched between 2.8 and 22.4 I feel like my head is filled with molasses and my limbs are heavy with lead. I can’t see straight and I can’t think straight.

This is when I want diabetes to bugger off. If I could pack its bag and ship it to a farm, I would. It’s days like today that the silver lining is really hard to find and I am unable to think of anything remotely useful or decent to come out of having been diagnosed with diabetes. It’s days like today that I wish I was ignorant of diabetes and had never heard of it.

This isn’t burnout. This isn’t diabetes distress. I’m generally doing fine with my diabetes at the moment – regular checks, counting carbs, remembering to bolus, paying attention to CGM alarms etc. This isn’t where I do the I’m-so-over-it-I-can’t-deal-with-this-anymore-so-I’ll-pretend-I-don’t-have-diabetes dance which is frequently followed by the head-in-the-sand tango. No, this is just a nothing day where I want to pick up my diabetes, scrunch it in a ball and throw it a long, long, long way away.

It’s for these days that the term ‘invisible illness’ was coined. I’m at work, doing all the things that are expected on a Tuesday. No one is the wiser. Except me. The days that make me feel alone and tired because I can’t hold something up and say ‘look at this – it’s why I feel crap’. These are the days – the nothing days – that it feels like diabetes wins.

Selective myth-busting

October 21, 2013 in Advocacy, Awareness, Diabetes, Real life | 13 comments

Myths to do with diabetes frustrate me as much as the next person. I want people to get it right when they are talking about diabetes; I want the media to report diabetes correctly and I want facts presented in a clear, non-threatening, easy-to-understand way. Of course, this is relevant to all types of diabetes.

What annoys me is people who are furious about one myth, but more than happy to perpetuate others.

Some people in the type 1 diabetes community are outraged if they are lumped in with people with type 2 diabetes. Campaigns and petitions have been developed to change the name of type 1 diabetes to avoid confusion between the two conditions. The thought of being thrown in with people who ‘brought this on themselves’ (that, by the way, would be another myth and completely unhelpful) results in Facebook posts, Tweets and blog after blog after blog.

Me – I couldn’t really care less. I have type 1 diabetes, I know it and I’m happy to educate anyone who has no idea about autoimmune diabetes. I’m also too tired and just plain over this discussion, so I try to avoid it. I do acknowledge that if it wasn’t for the significant number of people with type 2 diabetes, I’m pretty sure that the 120,000 of us with type 1 in Australia would get lost when it comes to funding and media attention.

But, for some it is a real issue and they get angry and do anything they can to make sure that they are seen as different from the majority of people with diabetes in Australia – the type 2 diabetes community. And that’s fine. If that’s what your thing to get angry about is, knock yourself out. (My thing changes every day. Today it was that I didn’t get a cup of coffee in me until after 11.30am.)

There are many other myths about diabetes and they annoy me more. Here are just a selection that I’ve come across in the last couple of days:

If you use an insulin pump you have diabetes ‘really bad’ (wrong and rotten grammar!)
If you have diabetes, you can’t eat sugar
If you weren’t so lazy you wouldn’t have type 2 diabetes (genes anyone)
Diabetes isn’t really serious
Cinnamon cures diabetes (okay – it was me banging on about that, but I was just trying to justify in my own head eating an apple cinnamon muffin.)
You can catch diabetes.
You grow out of type 1 diabetes (blood. starts. boiling.)

I immensely admire and respect the work done by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, but using the term ‘juvenile diabetes’ just fuels the myth that this is a condition that only affects kids. Focusing on children who have diabetes is incredibly important, but those kids are going to grow up and hopefully live long, healthy, happy lives. Where is the awareness and focus on adults with diabetes? The reason the term juvenile diabetes isn’t used anymore is because it doesn’t accurately represent the broader type 1 diabetes population.

Of course I’m being somewhat self-serving. I was diagnosed as an adult and my experience of life with diabetes is through the eyes of someone who has lived with it since my mid-twenties. But during that time, I’ve needed information and services and programs that just weren’t there. Information about pregnancy, body image, parenthood, work life balance – things that are relevant to me at this stage of my life – was quite thin on the ground!

I completely agree and believe that there needs to be programs and activities developed specifically for kids with diabetes. Diabetes in day care and school settings is a critical issue to be addressed; camps for kids with diabetes are brilliant. But this is an ages and stages condition. Why is there not as much of a focus on other periods? Whilst some attention is being given to transition from adolescent to adult health care, what about for men and women with diabetes in their thirties and forties? Where is consideration of women going through menopause or for people at retirement age? Why is no organisation focusing on older adults with diabetes in aged care?

If people want to make sure that the world understands that type 1 diabetes is different to type 2 diabetes, then surely they also want to break down other myths about type 1 diabetes. This is not a condition that only affects children. Half of those diagnosed with type 1 are diagnosed as adults. The majority of people in Australia living with type 1 diabetes are adults.

Break down the myths. Educate people about what type 1 is all about. Just don’t do it at the expense of all the facts.

Is there a myth about diabetes that annoys you?

What do people see?

October 17, 2013 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Living with diabetes is not always a solo exercise. At times, I wonder how it impacts on those around me. I asked my friend and colleague Michael about this last week. We work together every day and while we rarely (if ever) talk about my life with diabetes, he does see me managing things the way I do. These are his thoughts….

Michael. Sans hat.

As a Director at Diabetes Australia – Vic, I have to deal with many different types of relationships, each requiring one of my many hats. (Ed. note: It’s true – he does wear hats around the office. Literally.) I work in an office dominated by very smart women and often find myself putting my foot in my mouth more than once or twice a day. This is no exception with Renza. (Ed. note: Yep!) Renza is a good friend, and the only real friend I have who is living with a chronic health condition. Throughout the life of our three year friendship (is that how long I have been working here?!) I have often found it difficult to decide on the appropriate level of support she needs from me.

I believe in natural justice – when something is wrong, all my sympathetic, problem-solving (buffoon male) triggers start coming alive. There have been times when I know Renza is hypo and I literally have to stop myself in my tracks to think, ‘Is that what she really wants, my sympathy?’ And the answer is no. Renza is a strong and confident woman who can handle anything that comes her way and she needs my sympathy about as much as she needs a bag of old potatoes.

What I have to remember is that, like many other people living with diabetes, Renza benefits more from my empathy than anything else. Simple understanding and acknowledgement of her condition rather than a patronising helping hand or, even worse, the use of apathy as a scapegoat. Yes, sometimes it’s easier to just outright ignore a topic to avoid your own inner anguish, but that’s just counterproductive (and pathetic)! Sometimes, asking a simple ‘Are you okay today?’ is all it takes.

As a friend of someone with diabetes, I know that diabetes is not a topic to be ignored or to be scared of. Yes, diabetes is a very real and serious. It should be recognised as such, but, at the same time, for Renza it is very manageable. I know this because in my friend is in control of her diabetes – there has never been a day when diabetes has controlled my friend.

Thanks, MG! You can read more from Michael over at the DA-Vic blog. That’s pretty much exactly how I hoped that I come across to others about my attitude towards living with diabetes. So, how do you think others see what your life with diabetes is all about?

Accuracy – it’s what matters most

October 16, 2013 in Advocacy, Awareness, Devices, Diabetes | 4 comments

Each and every day I make dozens of diabetes decisions. I decide how many carbs I will eat and how much insulin I need to inject to cover those carbs; I decide how much glucose I need to treat a low BGL; I decide if it’s the day to change my pump line (or try to get an extra day out of it); I decide whether or not to eat something before taking a walk. All of these decisions impact on my BGL and my diabetes management.

And I prick my finger up to 10 times a day and based on the number displayed on my little machine I often decide how much of a potentially lethal drug I will inject into me.

That is the reality of life with diabetes. I say it not to be dramatic. It’s just part of what I do.

And I say it because if you ever think that the numbers displayed on that little machine are not important, think again. Close enough is not good enough.

In talks I give, I often say that how our diabetes paraphernalia looks is important and anyone who thinks that we are being shallow or vacuous because we want a pink pump or a pretty meter case doesn’t understand the monotony of life with diabetes. The fact that my meter case is pink and red and has poppies all over it and is from a Finnish design company makes me less pissed off every time I have to reach for it to stab my finger and check my BGL.

BUT! The most important thing of all is that I can trust what the meter and strips housed in that bright case tells me. Because I make regular decisions based on the number on the screen. I treat low BGLs if the number is below 3.5mmol/l; I decide if I’m happy to go to bed and sleep without any carbs if the number is at or around my bedtime target; I decide if I need to eat some carbs before I exercise; I decide if I’m happy to get behind the wheel of my car and start to drive. I decide if I am going to give myself a correction dose of insulin. All of these things have the potential to go wrong if that number isn’t accurate.

I may want my new meters to come with a gorgeous case or to have a light where the strip goes in for ease of use for night-time testing. I like the idea of meters that tell me of daily BGL patterns or those that use cartridges of strips to help avoid the inevitable strip detritus that decorates every room I’ve been in. I like that it takes only 5 seconds to give me a result and that less and less blood is needed on the strips. All of these things are great, but pointless – completely pointless – if I can’t trust the result. Accuracy. THAT’S what’s important. Most important.

Have a look at what’s going on in the USA with the fabulously named Strip Safely campaign.

Kellion Victory Medal Award Ceremony – where inspiration lives

October 15, 2013 in Awareness, Diabetes, Real life | 2 comments

Today, things got a bit fancy with a visit to Government House for the annual Kellion Victory Medal Award Ceremony. The Kellion Medal celebrates people who have lived with diabetes for 50 plus years with awards given at 50 years, 60 years, 70 years and even 75 years. This year in Victoria, twenty-one people received 50 year medals and an additional fourteen were given their 60 year award.

I have written before that this is my favourite day of my work year and it really is! I am so honoured and privileged to be able to sit in a room with this remarkable group of people and hear their stories of long, full lives despite diabetes.

When it comes to diabetes, I am a mere teenager. With only 15 years under the hood, my Kellion medal is a long way off. But I love this day so much because I leave feeling positive and hopeful and encouraged.

If you’re looking for inspiration, this is the place to come. Interspersed with tales of boiling glass syringes and sharpening needles are the attitudes and the approaches that have seen these people not only live, but live well with diabetes.

Here are just some of the things I heard today.

Marjorie (50 year recipient) has given herself over 50,000 injections in her lifetime.

Judy (50 year recipient) says ‘I don’t feel sorry for myself, but it makes me happier if I can say sometimes that it’s crap to have diabetes’.

Kevin (60 year recipient) says he’s ‘led a good normal life’ but is frustrated there is not yet a cure.

Plus some great tips such as the one from Guy who received his 60 year medal today. ‘Never give up your sense of humour!’

Garth (60 year recipient) believes that ‘Common sense and a positive attitude are invaluable tools. The best way to treat diabetes is to lead a normal life.’

And the fabulous Peg, who is a DA-Vic Board Member and has run a support group for people with diabetes for many years says, ‘Join a local support group so you can meet others with diabetes, to exchange ideas and experiences. Never let diabetes stop you from experiencing life!’

I also learnt that even though there has been amazing progress when it comes to diabetes management tools and technology, some things never change. At diagnosis 60 years ago, Kevin was told there would be a cure in 5 years’ time. That old chestnut seems to have been around for a long, long, long time!

A bit fancy? Maybe. But if anyone deserves a special morning tea and a bit of ceremony it is people who have lived with diabetes for so long. It is people like this who we should be celebrating and throwing ticker tape parades for (and I say this not only because in 35 years I’m expecting ticker tape!). We should be looking to these people and acknowledging that surviving diabetes for such a long period does deserve awards, tributes and accolades. I want to be just like them when I grow up!

Eye on the prize: Have you had your eyes checked lately?

October 10, 2013 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Guilty as charged

October 9, 2013 in cupcakes, Diabetes | Tags: Guilt, Wellbeing | 1 comment

At the beginning of the school holidays, we hugged our teary eight year old good-bye and left her in the more than capable hands of her grandparents. For two weeks, we would be overseas without her. Yes, I had a conference to attend, but her father and I willingly tacked on a week following the close of the conference to holiday in Morocco. Mother guilt? I’ve got it in spades.

Guilt. I feel enveloped by it at times. Add up the fact that I’m a mum, from an Italian background and was brought up Catholic and it’s no wonder I always feel guilty about something. Throw diabetes into the mix and there’s no escape.

Working mum, so I am always missing special events at my daughter’s school? Tick.

Regular overnight travel for work means bedtime stories are regularly missed? Tick.

Left home BEFORE I got married and lived with boyfriend, thus breaking every ‘good Italian girl’ rule in the book? Tick.

I don’t go to church (except for when being a tourist) and don’t really believe in what I was taught at Catholic school. I blaspheme constantly and leave the field blank when asked for my religion when filling in official forms. Catholic guilt? Huge tick!

That’s a hell of a lot of guilt to deal with before starting with the diabetes.

Out of range numbers; chocolate cake for breakfast; no breakfast apart from three coffees; half a block of chocolate after dinner; a day of few (or no) BGL checks; a feeling of being over it; fear I’ve passed on my defective immune system to my daughter. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick!

One of the problems with diabetes is the word ‘should’. As in ‘You should check your blood sugar ten times a day’. Or ‘You should exercise for 60 minutes every day’. And my personal favourite, ‘Should you be eating that?’ The media loves to play the blame game – especially when referring to people with type 2 diabetes.

If we develop complications it’s because we didn’t do enough to prevent them. So, not only is it enough that we have to live with the complications of diabetes, we also need to feel guilty for letting it happen.

Everywhere we turn there is a finger pointed; a head shaken; a disappointed glance. It’s hard not to feel bad, to blame ourselves when things aren’t going to plan, to feel guilty.

A question I frequently ask myself (and pose when giving presentations) is ‘Why isn’t it enough?’ If we are trying the best we can – and that best will be different for each and every person and vary at different times in our lives – why can’t we say that it’s more than good enough? Why do we need to have the emotion of guilt to a situation that no one ever decided that they wanted to be in? No one wanted to develop diabetes – not matter what type. No one chose this as their lot in life. So instead of feeling guilty about how things are going, shouldn’t we just try to arm ourselves with the best resources at our disposal and do the best we can?

I struggle with this regularly and I wonder how I would cope if I actually did something questionable that may really warrant or even deserve feelings of guilt. Perhaps it’s one of the reasons that I have a strong moral compass. I don’t say that to sound ethically superior, it’s just that I have enough guilt in my life with the things that I didn’t choose, that I avoid knowingly doing anything that would make me feel like I am a bad person.

Putting guilt where it belongs is a constant battle in life with diabetes. Remembering that a messed up pancreas is something we are forced to deal with is the first step in learning to keep the guilt in check and not let it take over our life.

And it also helps to remember that life is far too short to feel guilty about eating a cupcake. Really.