<p class="">There are lots of people on social media doing their bit for diabetes awareness, and this is fantastic. However, raising awareness seems to be a big buzzword these days, but what does that really mean, and how do we raise awareness of something effectively? Should I do it by sharing a random image on my Facebook feed that doesn’t tell any of my friends anything at all? Or should I use my social media to share information?</p>

<p class="">November is diabetes awareness month, and World Diabetes Day is Monday the 14th. I’m not actively involved this year but here’s a few thoughts I had on the important parts of World Diabetes Day and diabetes awareness. </p>

<p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Navigating your diabetes clinic can be so confusing. This is a guide to the who’s who in your diabetes healthcare team which is extremely useful because it can save so much time and frustration during your appointments, when you direct your questions to the appropriate person.&nbsp;</p>

The HSE discriminates against people with type 1 diabetes on the Freestyle Libre reimbursement scheme announced on January 19th 2018. The HSE states that it bases it recommendations on the Health Technology Assessment Group (HTAG) Advice Note so “that numbers being treated do not exceed that expected”. The HTAG Advice Note recommends that:  “Careful patient selection should be part of the agreement, with hospital consultant initiation, and preference for children and young

<p>The Department of Health announced the HSE’s decision to approve reimbursement of the Abbott Freestyle Libre for Children and Young Adults with type 1 diabetes. The news that approx 10,000 to 12,000 adults with type 1 diabetes have been excluded completely from this scheme caused a lot of anger.</p>

Mid October, I went to the DiabetesSisters Weekend for Women conference Alexandria, Virginia. See disclaimer at the end. One of the outstanding presentations I attended was by Thriveabetes 2016 speaker, Gary Scheiner ’s presentation on “Making use of the Glycaemic Index”. This should not be a surprise to anyone has read Gary’s book “ Think Like a Pancreas ”. I will be honest here; when I heard the words “Glycaemic Index” I pretended I didn’t. And the reason is that several y

Back in October, I had a steroid injection in my hip. And yes, it drove my glucose levels bananas! For those of you who may not be aware of it, steroids are one of the medications that truly mess up glucose numbers for lots and lots of people.  The ultimate craziness only lasted two to three days but the residual crazy lingered a couple of weeks. Here’s a little of the backstory behind why I got a steroid injection. I have been complaining about my right hip for some time and

One of the factors not included in Diatribe’s 22 factors that influence glucose levels is the weather. Sometimes the weather plays with my diabetes management. And here’s how. Do you remember that really, really wet day we had last week? It seems like a distant memory now and I don’t think it had a name, like a storm name, but most of the country was flooded under a yellow weather warning. When I got up that morning and look out the window I thought “ Nope, I’m not walking,

My life is finally slowing down after a number of weeks of events, diabetes awareness "stuff" and children being off school for mid term break. I have so many blogs posts in my head and no time to write them. But soon... In the meantime, while I was fast asleep, my husband had a moment of inspiration about living life with type 1 diabetes and what common human experience might come close to describing the type 1 diabetes experience? Yes, there are a lot of questions to ask ab

Last week, Johnson & Johnson  Diabetes, who own Animas, announced that it was “exiting” out of the insulin pump business, effective immediately in the US and Canada. And eventually in the rest of the world. Once I read all the way down the press release to realise that it was just USA and Canada for now, I was relieved. Then I was seriously miffed, but not completely surprised. Since the Vibe insulin pump was introduced, a number of years ago, innovation seemed to have stalle

Every year, around this time, I have a conversation with myself about whether or not I should get the flu vaccine. And every year I make a different decision. Two signs of insanity right there; talking to myself and complete indecision. Whose worried? Not me! Oops, there I go again, talking to myself.  😆 Should everyone with diabetes get the flu vaccines? Well that is completely totally up to you. So far, I've only gotten it once and that was the winter I was pregnant with m

My children have been back to school for almost two full weeks now and since their first day back I've been spending a couple of hours most days planning Thriveabetes 2018. A month ago, at our fundraiser, I was asked to explain what Thriveabetes is, why people with diabetes need it and why I was asking people to give money to it. After my nerve wrecking speech, several people commented on how they had no idea that living with diabetes was so involved and required so much wo

I've been using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) since November 2015 and it has made a huge difference in my diabetes management. It has narrowed the glucose swings so much and it has been a huge relief in my anxiety relating to trying to avoid hypos. And I have worn it 24/7 since I got it. Last Friday, I had an MRI on my stupid 83 year old hip (another story) and I had to take my sensor off. So I decided to go the whole weekend cgm-free. I thought it would be nice to have

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the alliteration. Over that last number of years, I’ve put on weight!!! I’m not overweight… Yet! I don’t feel overweight but my clothes are tight and I feel frumpy. I’m frustrated because I’m eating less and less, still fairly active but I’m still gaining weight. I’ve cut down of a lot of my carbs. I’m not willing to go carb free. I exercise a bit – I know I could do more but there are things that I have to do during my day and there are things on

It's summer in Ireland. But summer in Ireland means wearing a rain jacket a lot of the time or a cardi. However, the weather has warmed up enough recently and has been a bit drier to go out in short sleeves. This feels a little uncomfortable for me. Why? I wear a gadget thingy on the side of my upper arm. It looks odd and in short sleeves it’s hard to miss. Especially, when I've been wearing it for a couple of weeks when I've had to put extra tape on it to keep it stuck on an

I'm beginning to feel like I am becoming blind to information if it's not being blasted at me on social media. If it's not a flashy click bait image. And I think it's making my brain die slowly. Last week, my husband told me, (and I heard him tell me!!!, not the nod and yes response), that our broccoli in the garden was ready for picking and we shouldn't buy any for a number of weeks. Shortly after being told this, like an hour, I was doing the shopping and saw that broccoli

It’s summertime and the living is easy, fish are jumping and people are travelling, Including me! I specifically want to share my most recent travel experience by air. My stress levels ramp up a couple of notches at the thoughts of traveling through airports. Airports equal airport security and as a person with diabetes I have a lot of organising to do to make this go as smoothly as possible. I’ve travelled quite a bit but there is always something unexpected about it and I’v

It’s been a busy week in my diabetes world and before I launch into it I would like to disclose an event I am attending this weekend. I do a lot of volunteering in the diabetes blog space, advocating space, diabetes event organising etc. Because of the volunteering I do, I was asked if I would allow my name to go into a hat to select the Irish representative to attend Abbott’s European Diabetes Exchange forum (‘dX’) which is being held in Amsterdam, Netherlands from Friday 16

This week is the 8th Annual Diabetes Blog Week and my second year participating. Diabetes Blog Week was started by and is still instigated by fellow type 1 Karen Graffeo in Connecticut who blogs at Bitter~Sweet Diabetes​. This week is as a way for Diabetes bloggers (well over 100 participants from ALL OVER the World each year!) to share a huge variety of perspectives on issues relating to our illness. Learn more about Diabetes Blog Week here . #DBlogWeek Diabetes Blog Week –

This week is Diabetes Blog Week which is in its 8th consecutive year. This is my second year participating. Diabetes Blog Week was started by and is still instigated by fellow type 1 Karen Graffeo in Connecticut who blogs at Bitter~Sweet Diabetes​. This week is as a way for multitudes of D-bloggers (well over 100 participants from ALL OVER the World each year!) to share a huge variety of perspectives on issues relating to our illness. Learn more about Diabetes Blog Week here