However, this fact does not leave me discouraged. This disease has and will continue to be part of every moment of my life. I am now 24 and I recently celebrated my 13th anniversary in December 2014 I’ve lived with Diabetes longer than I lived without it, which is a pretty wild thought to me.
Consequently, I have spent the last several years cultivating my love and passion for healthy (and adventurous!) cooking, running, lifting weights, swimming, and biking, and embracing my Diabetes for all that it is. The benefits I have gained from my juvenile diagnosis enabled me to develop my independence and establish a strong sense of responsibility at a critically impressionable age. Though Diabetes can be difficult and unpredictable, I have always felt that my circumstances could have been far worse. At 11 years old, I learned the value of feeding my body in a healthy way – I used to snack on Clementine’s constantly - exercising and staying active, and doing the things I loved. Healthy habits truly begin at a young age, and I feel very fortunate to have been diagnosed with a disease that taught me such lessons. It makes managing my Diabetes much easier! And it’s pink, which is a very good thing, in my opinion! I wear the pump 24/7 it is always attached to me, except for the few moments when I change the site everything three days. I also use my pump to give myself “boluses”, or injections, on top of my continuous stream of insulin. My senior year of college, I decided to try the “insulin pump”, a mechanical pancreas, so to speak, that uses ratios, sensitivity levels, and trends specific to my body to deliver continuous doses of insulin. Until a few years ago, I was taking at least 4 insulin injections a day, testing my blood sugar 6 to 8 times a day, and monitoring my carbohydrate intake at every meal. Other factors such as stress/anxiety, exercise, illness, quality of food, and even the environment can affect your levels as well. You have to keep your blood sugar within a normal range, doing so by controlling your food intake and treating with the proper amount of insulin. Whatever the case, Diabetes treatment is very complex, particularly for a Type 1.
I’m still not sure which caused mine: Type 2 runs in my family, and I had a viral rash for about 6 months earlier in the year I was diagnosed. Everything had to change, and I had to adapt to my new lifestyle very quickly.Īs I mentioned, this form of Diabetes is either hereditary or caused by a bad virus, like Chicken Pox. Not only was food affected by my diagnosis I’d no long be able to exercise the same way, travel, attend school, or even sleep as I had for the previous 11 years. The sweet tooth I inherited from my dad had to be controlled (I loved popsicles and ice cream!), birthday parties and school lunches would be very different. I never ate poorly as a child, thanks to my mom’s love for home-cooking and her studies of being a nutritionist in college, I learned that I could never eat the same way. The day I was diagnosed, I was sent to the hospital for a week of training and education.
This disease is not life threatening if treated properly, though there is currently no cure. Insulin is one of the 8 hormones produced in the body that regulates blood sugar.
Without a functioning pancreas, Insulin cannot be produced. Only 5% of people with diabetes have this form, Type 1 – formally known as juvenile diabetes. That afternoon, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes– a chronic autoimmune disease in which the child’s pancreas stops producing insulin, either due to hereditary disposition or a virus that initiates the attack on the pancreas. And on December 6th, she picked me up from school, took me to my doctor, and stood by my side as my life changed forever. My mom had been so concerned that I wasn’t eating, or that something very serious was happening to me. I was constantly thirsty my complexion was muted I had no energy and despite my consistent hunger, I’d lost about 15 pounds in two weeks. Little 11-year-old me had been sick for nearly a month. I will never forget the afternoon of December 6, 2001. By: Lindsay Dawson, Choosy Kids Social Media Account Manager
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