A chick on a mission.

Hello!

A week ago I attended the Diabeter College Tour. This is an initiative of Diabeter, a Dutch organisation that offers suiting health care to young diabetics. Diabeter offers this health care outside the 'standard' hospital health care. Besides offering health care services they also have a shop, the diabshop, where you can order all your medical supplies. On their website www.diabeter.nl, you'll find more information about Diabeter, who they are, what they stand for and how they work. Their website also translates to English!

Back to the College Tour, this was basically an evening where lot's of different companies that are related to Diabetes supplies or just patient associations presented themselves. This was also an evening where different experts gave lectures on different subjects regarding Diabetes. For example, one was about Diabeter and another one was about Diabetes and the latest innovations.

Before the official lectures started "(angry) chick on a mission" Izaira Kersten gave us a theatrical performances about her and her Diabetes. Izaira has Type 1 Diabetes, like me, and her performance gave the audience a very comical view of how she handles her Diabetes. She started with the way she does the groceries. "Butter, 0gr carbs. Light jam, 8,5 gr carbs per 15 gr. Whole wheat bread, 14 gr carbs per slice." Then she continued on how she deals with hypoglycaemias. I found it ridiculously funny, not only because it just was really funny but also                                                          because it was so relate-able.

The moral of her story was something, maybe even more relate-able. In the beginning she called herself an "angry chick on a mission". A young woman who suddenly got diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Her life turned upside down, young women don't want to inject themselves with insulin, they don't want to look like a mathematician every time they go out to eat somewhere else or go grocery shopping. She told us she felt very alone, alone and angry. "Why me?!" was what she kept asking herself. She was angry at herself, at the doctors, at her Diabetes and at the world. The world had no idea how to handle her diabetes, or what it actually is so how could she understand it?

At the end of her performance she learned to deal with her Diabetes more and to keep the complications that might come with it in mind. Now she's just a "chick on a mission". Trying to inform people without Diabetes what it's all about and that you don't have to be old or fat to get it. She wants to inform people, especially young people, with Diabetes that they aren't as different as they think they are. That they're not alone. That there are thousands like them, young people and old people, all with the diagnosis Type 1 Diabetes. All with their own stories, struggles and dilemmas. She wants to rid the world of rumours about Diabetes and unite Diabetics.

A chick on a mission. That chick on her mission definitely spoke to me, made me realise that I share her goal and maybe that's one of the things I want to use this platform for. To inform diabetics and non-diabetics on what diabetes actually is, what you need to keep in mind everyday, how it affects my life. However most of all, I want to inspire. I want to inspire the world that even though I have diabetes, even though I have to wear an insulin pump on my body 24/7, I can do everything I want. I can do whatever I want and whenever I want it. My diabetes isn't so much a bad thing. I can live with it and everyday I learn something new about it, about my diabetes, about diabetes in general and someday I hope I live to see diabetics being cured. 

Until that day I hope to inspire and inform people about what I have, how I deal with it and the endless amount of options I still have in life!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96, a diabetic chick on a mission!

Diabetes vs. Christmas.

Hey there!

In a blog I published a little while ago I told you I am diabetic. Well I have diabetes, my diabetes doesn't define me as a person it's just something that is a (pretty big) part of my life. Now I don't want to spend a lot of time on my diabetes on this blog as it is not what I have started this blog for. However, since it is such a big part of my life, why not share my opinions, experiences and some of my personal tips and tricks with the world. 

Before we continue let me just drop some facts about Type 1 Diabetes Melitus. 
- Type 1 diabetes is the less common type of diabetes, 1 out of 10 people with diabetes has type 1 diabetes. 
- When you have type 1 diabetes you are completely insulin-dependent, your pancreas doesn't make any more insulin for you.
- You can get type 1 diabetes due to your own immune system destroying your pancreas but it's also a genetic disease. 
- When you have type 1 diabetes you need to either inject insulin for the rest of your life or use an insulin pump to satisfy your insulin needs. 
- As a type 1 diabetic you can't just eat whatever you like.

There you go, just a couple of facts about type 1 diabetes. You will find more information about Diabetes (type 1 and 2) on websites such as www.endocrine.com, www.diabetes.org and for the Dutch diabetics out there: www.dvn.nl and www.sugarkids.nl.

Now all that is done we can continue on with the real purpose of this blog. When you have diabetes, no matter what type, holidays like Christmas where a lot of food and irregular eating is involved are always a struggle. This Christmas is my fourth Christmas as a diabetic and so far I haven't found the golden trick to keeping my sugar levels on a decent level throughout Christmas. As I mentioned before, Diabetes and food relate to each other really closely. Us diabetics have a lack of the hormone insulin, the hormone that handles the glucose in your body. During Christmas the consumption of lots of sweets, Christmas dinner and other foods that contain high levels of glucose are everyday business. 
Just as any other a diabetic loves to join in the Christmas madness and consume a lot of chocolates or candy canes or eat way too much during the family dinner. This however is where the struggle starts. The other part is the length of the family dinner and when and how many glucose you will eat during this dinner.
Will you drink alcohol or a hot chocolate? Will you go crazy on the dessert?  How much time will pass between courses? Will the alarm of my insulin pump go off telling me it needs to be replaced? Will I go to a quiet place to inject my insulin? Is there enough space on the table for me to put my sugar level checking device or do I need to put it on my lap or somewhere else completely?

These are some of the questions I (used to) ask myself during Christmas dinner. I found an answer for some of them. Personally I'm not an alcohol drinker and during things like Christmas dinner I tend to drink (sparkling) water, sugar free lemonade or tea. When it comes to the amount of glucose I eat during Christmas dinner I usually check out the courses before the dinner starts. This to estimate the amount of glucose every course holds and to see if it's really crucial to inject insulin for like the soup or if I'm going to wait with injecting the insulin until the main course comes on. When it comes to dessert well lets say I'm not the greatest example of keeping the amounts of consumed glucose low. 

During my first Christmas dinner as a diabetic I got asked a lot of questions. Nowadays I'm still asked questions as siblings and cousins get girlfriends/boyfriends who barely know anything about it or are just curious as to why I handle my diabetes a certain way or how I deal with my diabetes during times like Christmas. For me the best way to deal with these  questions is to take a few breaths and realise not everyone is a walking diabetes encyclopaedia and then answer all their questions honestly. When it comes to my diabetes I'm pretty much an open book. I have learned that this works better than keeping it a secret because talking about it and informing others on your state of health allows them to help you when needed. 

As for my sugar levels. I don't think there's one golden secret to keeping your sugar levels under control. Give yourself time to count the amount of glucose you have eaten/ are going to eat and to calculate the amount of insulin you need. Don't wait too long with giving yourself the insulin as this will only result in high sugar levels. On that note however don't give yourself all the insulin before you've eaten the glucose holding meals as this will result in low sugar levels which make you want to eat more and end in high sugar levels. (trust me I know). 

All I'm left with is wishing you all a very merry Christmas! I hope you have a good one (all of you)! For all the people with diabetes out there or relatives of someone suffering from diabetes, I hope the information I've given you is of use. If you have some tips and/or tricks of your own don't be shy and please share them in the comments below. Together we can help one another in keeping our blood sugar levels stable.

I wish you all the best!
ThatDutchGirl96

(source: www.facebook.com/jongmetdiabetes)