Last November, I got a smartphone, finally. I love technology but I hate change, which is a bit of an oxymoron. So, I fought with myself over and over about upgrading:-D Now that I had a smartphone I thought I would look into all those amazing diabetes apps to see if I could find one that made life with D a little easier. I did find one that I had previously tried to use on my tablet but I didn't carry my tablet to all places at all times and this made the data entry annoying

I was lounging on my couch beside my hubby one Saturday afternoon looking at my registration for Friends for Life UK  (FFL) and thinking to myself "Why do I have to go to London to avail of an inspirational and motivational conference like FFL?" My ever-supportive and crazy-ideas husband said "Sure you could pull off something like that, NO PROBLEM!" Sometimes I wonder about him? Well that's where the idea for Thrive-abetes; Thrive with Type 1 Diabetes came from. Well, what i

<p style="white-space:pre-wrap;"> It might be hot and sweaty, but also calm and rational.</p><p style="white-space:pre-wrap;"> Sometimes, you can function very well when you're having a hypo and other times not. That's why whenever I wonder, I check.</p>

Diabetic RetinaScreen was launched in 2013 and is an Irish government-funded screening programme that should ensure all people with diabetes over the age of 12 years will be offered a free annual diabetic retinopathy screening. The Diabetic RetinaScreen programme uses specialised digital photography to examine the eye. Diabetes Ireland recommend that everyone with diabetes should have an eye screening once a year to prevent diabetic retinopathy and other diabetic eye complic

Oh My Gosh! I really don't want to see another mince pie for a looooonnnnnng time! It's a new year! Some feel that it's a new beginning, a reset button, or a fresh start. For me, the day my children go back to school is the I stop using the phrase "because it's Christmas!" It's when I get back into my everyday routine and stop with the extra sugary treats and back to tighening up those wobbly bits by getting outside for my walk. The New Year also brings the bombardment of new

Christmas is almost upon us and people with diabetes tend to approach holidays like this one with dread. We do tend to go a little bit insane with all the chocolate, boxes sweets, tins of biscuits, and mince pies. Anyway, people have asked for a number of years at my support group about tips for dealing with Christmas and we've shared some valuable tips. Lots of them can be found on other blogs (sorry). For me, Christmas is about one day. I don't have any office parties to go

21 years with type 1 diabetes and this very seldom happens but it does happen. I did say to myself "how is it possible that I forgot to bolus for a meal?" Then I reminded myself that it usually happens when a young person starts a sentence with "Mom ...". Anyway, I very rarely forget to take my bolus insulin but this morning I did. It was breakfast. I usually catch the error when I'm expecting my insulin pump to notify me that it's been two hours since I bolused and that I sh

When you look at your record book, do you ever feel like all you see are the high blood glucose readings or the lows. Do you ever notice that you have a number of decent readings but that they don't count? I test approximately 8 times a day and last night I realised that most of those readings were fairly decent, as in fairly close to my targets. But when I went to bed last night all I was think about was the 12mmols before bedtime and how it was going to be high again in the

Life with type 1 diabetes is always changing. That's probably THE most frustrating part of diabetes, well for me, for today anyway. Three weeks ago my blood sugars after my dinner were skyrocketing up into the high teens and twenties. I haven't changed my routine in any way, the food is the same, my stress levels might be a little elevated but not too much. This trend of high blood sugars after my meal (postprandial) continued for the week and my instructions from my endo are

Inspiration to live well with diabetes can come from the most unexpected sources. The inspiration from this post came from an essay entitled " Type 1 Diabetes - My Many Fears " written by Australian, Alex Williams . His essay is very well written and even resonates some of my own fears. But as they old saying goes "a life lived in fear.... is a life half lived". So I am packing up those old fears (for today) and putting them in the attic part of my brain for when I might need

It's HERE!!!! World Diabetes Day falls on November 14th every year - it's a global event! But what is it? Any why make a fuss about diabetes anyway? Well, if you have type 1 diabetes, or any type of diabetes, its a day to celebrate being alive. If any of us were diagnosed before 1922 none of us would have what we have today, our children wouldn't have been born, we wouldn't be alive! 92 years ago a couple of scientists made it possible for people with diabetes to live. Before

Yesterday, I wrote about my son , so today I'm writing about my daughter who is 10 and who makes me so proud everyday. Mondays evenings are tough in my house. Especially, when the chef (i.e. hubby) is on a business trip!!! I usually cook dinner before swimming lessons and then heat it up when we get home. Last Monday, while I was waiting for dinner to reheat, I tested my blood glucose and took my bolus. I normally do this when I sit to the table. I should probably explain th

I have two children aged 10 and 3/4 and 8 years, whom I am so proud of and absolute adore. My 10 year old has figured out a lot of things about the world works already, but my 8 year old is still working things out. He figures things out vocally and has a very different way of thinking than I do. Actually, I think he has a different way of thinking than most of the world:-) I love watching his face as he processes information and draws a conclusion. But, sometimes he in a co

People with diabetes in Ireland don't have it all when it comes to our diabetes. We don't have huge access to insulin pumps or continuous glucose monitors or structured type 1 diabetes education. Some of our type 1 clinics don't even have diabetes dietitians or diabetes nurse specialists. But, we do have unlimited access to access to insulin! Do you remember the day you or your child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes? Imagine if the doctor then told you that a vial of insuli

World Diabetes Day 2014  is Friday the 14th of November. This is the third and final instalment of "People with Diabetes are Amazing!" series. The first instalment featured  Parents of children with diabetes , the second  People with Type 1 .  Meeting other people with diabetes is my inspiration for living well myself with diabetes. They rock! They are so resilient. So, as we approach World Diabetes Day I thought I would celebrate how awesome people with diabetes really are. 

We have professional support from our clinics, consultants and diabetes nurse specialists. We also have professional support from Diabetes Ireland , our national diabetes association, who also have a facebook page . Thankfully, since the take off of social media Diabetes Support Groups are becoming easier to find and peer to peer support for people with diabetes is growing. Here is a list of what is available nationally in alphabetical order: Diabetes Support Groups in Irelan

World Diabetes Day 2014  is Friday the 14th of November. This is the second of three installments of "People with Diabetes are Amazing!" series. The first installment was about Parents of children with diabetes . Meeting other people with diabetes is my inspiration for living well myself with diabetes. They rock! They are so resilient. So, as we approach World Diabetes Day I thought I would celebrate how awesome people with diabetes really are. I think all people with diabete

World Diabetes Day 2014 is Friday the 14th of November. I didn't plan this very well but from the 1st of November until the 14th I'm hoping to have a daily diabetes awareness post on my facebook page (fingers crossed). This is the first of three installments of "People with Diabetes are Amazing!" series. Meeting other people with diabetes is my inspiration for living well myself with diabetes. They rock! They are so resilient. So, as we approach World Diabetes Day I thought

I was reading a blog entry on TypeOneNation.org by Kady Helme recently, about her trial of the artificial pancreas . I was actually really excited to read it because I had imagined that wearing the artificial pancreas would be like not having type 1 diabetes at all. Especially after listening to Aaron Kowalski, JDRF's Vice President of Treatment Therapies at the Friends For Life UK conference in Windsor. Anyway, it is a well written piece and not at all what I was expecting.

I am a house wife! And as a housewife I, sometimes, while in the middle of doing one task, will immediately decide another task is more important and switch. I don't know how I ended up on my knees, on the floor of my bedroom wardrobe but I did, and that's when I noticed once again my emergency diabetes supply stash. You know the back up meter that never gets used, the needles for Novapens, old meter cases in case some day another meter fits into it or just in case the curren