My children are finished school for the summer which means I don’t have as much time to myself as normal. I won’t be posting regularly over the next 6-8 weeks. But I will be back in September fully charged. I want to thank you all for following the “Diabetes People” blog via FaceBook & Twitter. I know that there are so many Diabetes Blogs out there to keep people entertained and I wanted to thank all of you who value this one too. I hope you all have a good summer and stay he

In May, the Type 1 Diabetes Group in Clare discussed helpful tips when you are travelling. The following is a combination of tips from the Diabetes Australia and from the American Diabetes Association. 1. Carry a letter from your doctor stating your full name, address and date of birth, that you have diabetes and then listing the medications, insulin delivery devices (syringes, insulin pens or pumps) which you use and blood glucose testing equipment you use, and stating that

On Wednesday, 29th June the Irish television station RTE broadcast "Health of the Nation" featuring diabetes. If you missed it you can catch it again on the RTE player. RTE's Health of the Nation - Diabetes episode

If you do Diabetes Action needs your help. Please read on to find out why and how. Most children and adolescents with diabetes have Type 1 Diabetes. This is an autoimmune disease, which means that for no apparent reason a child’s immune system decided to turn on it and destroy a crucial part of the body. In the case of Type 1 diabetes the immune system attacked the cells that make insulin. Insulin is needed to convert the food we eat into the energy we need to exist. The foo

There is so much confusion out there in the non-diabetes community about diabetes and we (the people with diabetes) are often subjected to comments such as; “Diabetes; doesn’t that mean you can’t have any sugar?” or “Type 1 – which one is that?” These comments don’t bother me all that much when it’s face to face because I can take the time to explain what Type 1 Diabetes is. But when comments like that come from people who in my opinion should know better, then, I lose it and

The more we know about diabetes; the better equipped we are to manage it well. New treatments are being introduced all of the time on how to improve our diabetes control. Diabetes is a disease for life and it changes as we go through our different life cycles. Therefore, Type 1 Diabetes is lifelong learning – we should always be on the lookout for more information. Those of us who have been around the Diabetes life for more than 10 years will remember switching from the twice

There are loooaaads of articles online with tips for better blood glucose control or how to “take control of your diabetes”. However, this one I came across on Diabetes Health was very well written and should be easy to adapt into your own life. I have edited to make it more relevant for Irish people and the text that is highlighted are pieces that I feel are important to consider when you are trying to regain control of your diabetes but that is also a matter of personal op

The health conscious people of this country have been calling for unhealthy products especially those in the category of junk food to be reduced for years so when I watched “ The Consumer Show ” on RTE 1 on May 10th I really didn’t get upset about how the manufacturers were not giving me the value for money that I was used to. The show featured a segment on called “Shrinking Products” and highlighted the fact that food manufacturers were reducing the size of their products bu

I couldn't find a Little Miss Grumble, so let's pretend I'm Mr. Grumble. Hypos, short for hypoglycaemia, happen when your blood sugar levels drop below a certain number and your body and brain have difficulty functioning because of the lack of fuel (sugar). My symptoms usually start with a racing heart and the “shakes”. They are the bane of live for people with type 1 diabetes. I have 18 years of experience in hypos and I have found that the ones that happen shortly after a

Last year, I became a Diabetes Advocate with Diabetes Action. Huh! OK, I’ll back track a little. Diabetes Action is a group who is lobbying both the government and the HSE to improve health services for people with diabetes. They work by enlisting the support of people like me, who have diabetes, to log onto their website; www.diabetesaction.ie and with a few clicks send a prepared email to our local TD’s and Senators. When the TD’s receive multiple copies of these letters t

<p class="">This is a huge pet peeve of mine; well-meaning people who want to buy people with diabetes that stuff called “diabetic chocolate”. If you are one of these people, who have their heart in the right place please read on. If you know someone who buys you this stuff forward the link for this blog post.</p>

Nick Jonas Halle Berry & Nick Jonas have been used as Diabetes Role Models some many times that I’m kinda tired of it. I don’t mind Nick Jonas so much because he’s doing his bit as a public figure for Diabetes Advocacy but as an almost 40 year old woman I can’t relate to him. As for Halle Berry, well, ever since that whole debacle about how she weaned herself off insulin while pregnant, her credibility is in the toilet. Yes, there are many, many more celebrities with Type 1 d

I know - its fun run season and there’s a 10K organised in your area every single weekend from now until October. The sponsorship cards are being thrown at you from left, right and centre. And I know that I’m adding to that long list of charities that need & deserve your cash. But I’m still asking and hoping that you will join me. The Clare 10K takes place on Saturday, the 25th June in Lees Road Sports & Amenities Park. I am looking for volunteers to walk with me (or run ah

On the 2nd April 1993 I was diagnosed with diabetes. This year marks 18 years of living well with D. Coincidently, the 2nd April is my daughter’s birthday, so for the last seven years I don’t actually remember that I’ve clocked up another year until afterwards. But I do remember most of those first days. I spent 10 days in hospital. I remember the confusion and the wonder and my complete and utter ignorance about what was happening to me and my inability to comprehend it all.

<p class=""><strong>Two reasons;</strong> I was doing all the work that being on a pump involved; carb counting, testing my blood glucose 7 times daily and paying attention to the glycaemic index of food but my HbA1c results were not improving. They always hovered above the 7% and I decided that they should be better. And the second reason was that I was beginning to feel the aging process catching up with me through my lack of exercise but not wanting to introduce another va

Many parents say that the hardest thing about having a child with diabetes is banning the sweets. And many adults with diabetes (myself included) feel hard done by because they can’t have as many cakes as they would like. ** We (people with diabetes –PWD) feel jealous of every person who can eat sweets and cake with reckless abandon! We think a child being able to have so many sweets that they make themselves sick is all part of growing up! We let others love us and rewards w

- It’s estimated that 200,000 people in Ireland have Diabetes. - 20,000 people in Ireland have Type 1 Diabetes. - 2,500 Children & Teens under the age of 19 have Type 1 Diabetes. - On average 314 Irish legs will be amputated because of complications of Diabetes this year. (From Diabetes Action). - 440 Irish people die because of Diabetes every year (from CSO 2006 census). - There are 8 structured education programmes in Ireland for people with diabetes with limited access.   

When I was looking for research on what was in store for me when I got pregnant with my first child I came across discussions about where or not people with diabetes should have children. It’s a genuine question, after all, there is a 2% risk (if you’re female and 6% if you are male) of passing Diabetes on to your children. The people asking it were people with diabetes and they were considering all the negatives and positives. Some decided they didn’t want to take the risk a

Way back when I was diagnosed with diabetes and once I was discharged from the hospital the first thing myself & my mother did was to go talk to someone my age and her mother who already had diabetes. My mother (I was still in shock at this stage) wanted to know what was in my future. So off we went to visit the house of some people we vaguely knew. I left that house determined not to fall asleep that night in case I didn’t wake up. Thankfully, the next day I had my first app

You know what I’m talking about! You look at the calendar and realize that your Diabetes appointment is only two weeks away and you let out a deflated sigh a couple of times. It’s because you know what you’re facing. The doctor will go through your Blood Glucose diary and highlight all of the high readings and then you will realise that there are so many of them. You then have to sit through the judgement and lecture that you’ve heard time and time again. You’d think the doct