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

The general consensus around the availability of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems in Ireland among patients and health professionals is that they are only for the select few. And while this may be somewhat true I believe that this conversation will change very soon. By the way, do not be put off by what I just said about them not being available right now; if a CGM is something you feel would make a difference in your diabetes management then go for it! Here 's a p

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

When my children were younger, I was asked a couple of times about how I balance life as a mum and life as a person with type 1 diabetes. It was definitely a challenge to juggle parenting with anything but that's not news to any parent. Now that my children are older (13 & 11) I can look back on what were the tough parts and what were the “advantages” of being a mum with type 1 diabetes. I still can't believe that my dysfunctional and broken body created two healthy and outst

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 wrote a post a couple of months back about traveling through multiple airports and how I fared with my insulin pump and my cgm (continuous glucose monitor) at each one. You can read it here . It was a good practice run for our trip to the US in July. I had everything ready. But, as the whole world knows, the best laid plans can sometimes go awry. Type 1 diabetes it is no different. The night before our flight to America I did a set change on my pump. This means I change to

I don't do dresses very often, much to my husband's disappointment. I just prefer having pockets to shove stuff into and I hate when my legs are cold. But there are occasions where a dress is called for or, in the case of last Saturday night, I'm sick of looking at them in my wardrobe and never wearing them. When you have type 1 diabetes and wear an insulin pump where to put it in your dress does present a challenge, for me anyway. I know lots of women have figured it out for

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

I don’t know how long it took me to realise after my diagnosis of type 1 diabetes that what people were telling me about the cure being found in five years was total tripe! But I did! Not only that but I actually gave up all hope of it. Not in a bad way, I just got on living my life with diabetes and tried new treatments and didn’t spend much time thinking about a cure. That is until I heard Aaron Kowalski speak at the Friends for Life UK conference in 2014. This talk was th

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

A few weeks ago, I went to an event in the Diabetes Ireland care centre in Dublin. It was the launch of their 50th year anniversary, which I wrote about here . Chairperson, Hilary Hoey mentioned that the first Annual General Meeting took place on April 2nd in 1967 and it was there that the committee declared their first mission was to make insulin free to people with diabetes. Two months later it was! And in 1971, all other diabetes supplies were included on the newly launch

Last Wednesday was the 7th anniversayof the day I published my first blog post. It felt good, yet so nerve wrecking. I wrote a bit about my diagnosis, taking control of diabetes and how I found myself where I was back then.  I still don't know the answer to Why diabetes? And why Me?  Here it is.... Why Diabetes? Why Me? 24th May 2010 - Grainne Flynn When I was diagnosed with diabetes, it was 1993 and I was a 20 years old student; living the typical student life. That all chan

I read this piece a while back about 3 important things you really need to know from a food label as a person with diabetes. It was really good. However, the labelling laws differ between the US and the EU, so I thought I would adapt it a little for those of us living with diabetes in Ireland. DISCLAIMER ALERT - I am not a medical professional, I am not a dietitian or nutritional coach. I am only a person living with type 1 diabetes for 24 years with a very hungry quest for k

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 Da

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