Blood Sugar
Trampoline
Hello
My name is Gráinne; I live in Co. Clare, Ireland. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1993. Life with diabetes was relatively unremarkable (emphasis on the word "relatively") until 2007, when I was struggling to manage my diabetes, struggling to access the care I needed to help and feeling completely lost and isolated.
My Story
In 2007, I reached out to the newly formed Clare branch of Diabetes Ireland and became involved in setting up a support group for people with Type 1 Diabetes, where I met and made lifelong friends with people just like me.
I eventually went on to organise diabetes information events, become an advocate on diabetes health policies nationally and globally and created an organisation called Thriveabetes, with my diabuddies, Christine Meehan and Rebecca Brannon, to bring lots of people with diabetes together. Thriveabetes is the first and only Irish type 1 diabetes conference organised by people with diabetes and aims to bring people with diabetes together and share information, motivation and inspiration to Thrive with Diabetes.
I created this blog in May 2010, which is a combination of my journey living with diabetes and sharing information about the health services available in Ireland.
These days I focus on small advocacy projects, Clare Diabetes Support events and organising Thriveabetes conferences.
Why Blood Sugar Trampoline
Why Blood Sugar Trampoline?
There are many metaphors used to describe living with diabetes: rollercoasters, spinning plates, etc. My metaphor is a Trampoline, the Blood Sugar Trampoline, where I feel like I’m constantly bouncing up and down, but I have to “control” my jumps to be only so high and so low. I was given targets: I can only bounce so high and so low - I now had to bounce between these imaginary lines.
So what might seem like it’s effortless to someone who does not have diabetes is actually a never-ending burden for someone with diabetes. It’s not as liberating or energizing as you might imagine bouncing on a trampoline might be. If nothing ever happened to me in my life, I might be able to achieve "bouncing" within my targets, but we all know that 1) life always throws unexpected stuff at you, and 2) what quality of life would that be?