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 . “Karen created this annual week-long blog carnival as a way for multitudes of D-bloggers (now more than 100 participating each year!) to create an unprecedented sharing of perspectives on issues relating to our illness. You can lea

May 15 to 21 is National Volunteering Week . The focus of this year's campaign is to showcase the benefits that volunteering can have on a person's health and wellbeing. Volunteers often say that while people think that volunteers are helping them, it's often them who help the volunteers.I’ve been volunteering for 10 years! And the most important thing I have learned from volunteering is that it’s more than just the reward for doing good; the benefits, for me have been tenfol

Last Thursday evening, Diabetes Ireland launched a book detailing their 50 years in existence. I was so proud to be there to witness it, so honoured to be asked to contribute and excited to meet some diabetes legends. Local TD, Róisín Shortall did the honours and gave a lovely speech, as did chairperson, Hilary Hoey and CEO Kieran O’Leary. Did you know that the very first AGM of what’s now Diabetes Ireland took place on the 2nd of April 1967 in the Mansion House in Dublin? Do

<p class="">Has anyone noticed their blood sugar/glucose numbers dropping lately as the Spring temperatures tease us? Welcome to Spring, where it’s hot, it's cold, it's summer one day and winter the next.</p>

In the diabetes community we talk a lot about diabetes burnout and diabetes distress but I seem to experiencing a form of life burnout at the moment. It’s everything but diabetes burnout. Yesterday, my daughter asked me, as she does most mornings on our short walk to her school, what I had planned for my day?”. I sighed and said “I have so much to do and I really don't want to do any of it”. My response made me realise that it’s becoming a problem. And if I'm really honest I'

The Irish health service is a mess! You probably know this! I know this! I've known it for a very long time. I’ve been a regular customer patient of our health services for many years, and I continuously tell people about how terribly under funded it is and the chronic shortage of endocrinologists and diabetes nurse specialists. Yet , I still wasn't prepared for the shock when I walked into the Accident & Emergency department to find my mother on one of three trolleys (that

Have you seen those posts on Facebook where you copy and paste a message that supposedly creates awareness for a heartbreaking illness without actually giving us any information about said illness? I come across them a lot, usually not for diabetes though. And then I saw this from a lady I had met recently. Now this is Awareness! You see, no amount of copy and paste onto my facebook profile page will create any awareness if I don’t mention something I know about that illness.

When you plan for the unexpected and then the unexpected happens you never feel more grateful for the time you spent on the “just in case” supplies. Last week, our family took a road trip across the country to GO TO IKEA!!!! It was very exciting as we were finally converting our Playroom/home office to a Teen Cave… home office (I’m not sure we’ve told them that yet? ;-s Oh well. Oops! After a very long, but successful day, we were on our way back west. Our plan was to stop at

I'm going to be an auntie again, after a 7 year gap in the birth of nephews and nieces. It’s going to happen any minute now. An-ny minute!!! And like any good big sister I've been sharing valued advice about the last days of pregnancy. I'm sure it's very welcome advice too:-D OMG, I can't wait to kidnap babysit this small baby. ONE MOMENT PLEASE! Sarah, please tell baby to get the head down, engage and one big whosh from in there:-) WHERE WAS I? All this sisterly advice has p

I've been using an insulin pump for almost seven years and it's unlikely that I will go back to injection pens. However, I know that things change over time and how I feel about things also change, so I will never say that I will never go back to injection pens because the future is unpredictable. This week, I have been thinking a lot about all the times I've changed the way I manage my diabetes and how difficult some of those changes were.  I remember when I was transitionin

Last week, our local type 1 diabetes support group organised a talk on heart disease and it’s association with type 1 diabetes (with a great speaker and a good crowd - thanks to all who attended). I feel that out of all the complications of diabetes it’s not talked about as much as the diabetic retinopathy, foot disease or kidney disease complications. Yet, I also feel that it’s the sneakiest of all the complications. There are warning signs for diabetic retinopathy, foot dis

This post was inspired by the Diabetes Dominator - Danielle Hargenrader and her video series This is how I do Diabetes . Thank you so much, Danielle. My recent visit to my diabetes clinic took five hours door to door. This is probably not unusual for many people attending outpatient clinics in public hospitals in Ireland. However, for someone who has good management of their diabetes and is a very low maintenence patient; it seems a bit ...  uumm, Not Sensible. Here's how my

23 years, 10 months and 9 days! That's how long I've been an “insulin only” chick with type 1 diabetes. Last week, I started taking an additional medication in the form of a statin. Alas, now at age 44 and a cholesterol of 5.7 (the recommendation is 4.5 for people with type 1 diabetes) and a LDL of 3, I'm statin a new phase of diabetes. I have lived with type 1 diabetes for almost 24 years. I've gone from hypodermic needles, to refillable pens, to disposable pens, to an insul

Now that January is over I can stop saying “It's the new year!” I know, I know! I’m probably a couple of weeks behind everyone else. New year's resolutions are a distant memory as is a reason, as good as any, for some people to have a new beginning. And, apparently, that only ever means a diet, maybe a gym membership that never gets used and a bombardment of media ads to be healthy, get fit and go on a diet. I felt this year it was more annoying than usual. I actually have a

My next diabetes clinic appointment is next week. It’s been eight months since I was last there. I’m not sure how I feel about having such a long time between appointments but maybe that’s another post? Diabetes, especially type 1 diabetes, is one of the few conditions where you actually have to prepare for your clinical review appointment. It’s how you will get the most out of your visit. For a lot of years, I just showed up with my “diary” and walked out of there disappoint

My diabetes clinic appointment is coming up next month and I scheduled my blood draw for my labs with my GP’s surgery. I usually get them done about 2-3 weeks before my appointment so that I have enough time to collect and copy them for my own records. The regular blood draw for labs is one of the "joys"  of having type 1 diabetes. And for this one,  I scheduled a fasting blood sample because my cholesterol was due to be checked. However, I have read that being fasting for th

Last week this happened but I was only just getting back into the swing of things and so only writing about this week. Jetlag day 4 and feeling like a functioning human being again. I must have slept really well because all my aches and pains subsided. See last week's  depressing post . It's also Day 2 of the kids being back to school and day 2 of me getting back into my walking regime. I was feeling so good and my ankle was feeling so good that I decided to try that hill. Th

It was my birthday last month! Sarcastic yah! I turned 44. I know that anyone older than 35 thinks that 44 is young but I am not happy at all about being in my forties, especially because the aches in my joints make me feel older that I am. And because of that achy hip and torn achilles tendon that just won’t heal, I feel that my best, physical, years are behind me. So my birthday is a bitter sweet mix of "hurray, it's a day all about ME" to "Boo, another year older". But, I

It’s difficult to believe all the goods things that have happened to me through Blood Sugar Trampoline this year, and with all the other diabetes related stuff that I do. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. Every year, when I write my Christmas cards, I include a letter with a bit of a summary of what our family has been up to for the year. When your family lives on two continents it’s important to keep the connection in this way. It was while I was writing this letter that I r

I have lived with Type 1 Diabetes for 23 years. I know how lucky I am to not have any diabetes complications…. so far. And yes, a decent HbA1c does play a role in that, but more than we want to think about it, some of it is down to luck. However, it is a lot of hard work to pull off a decent HbA1c and people are very often surprised when I tell them all the things I do to try to achieve that. Maybe I make it look easy? Or maybe they’re wishing for something easy, but the easy