DiabetesTalk

 Introduction     All type 1 diabetics have heard at some point in their life, "Oh you’re diabetic? So are there foods that you can't eat?"  This is obviously just the person getting confused between type 1 and type 2 because they are dramatically different in how they are treated. The Reality     I find it somewhat annoying when people ask me if there are foods that I can't eat.  Sure, there are foods that spike my blood sugar and I maybe shouldn't eat.  But, if managed correctly by giving insulin for this food in advance, my blood sugar won't go up from it.     With type 2 diabetes, the main problem is that the patient has an insulin resistance.  Meaning, they can't give insulin like type 1 patients because their body is resistant.  So, there are certain foods type 2 patients can't eat or should at least eat in moderation.     This is what people are getting confused.  As a type 1 diabetic, you can give insulin to correct for the food you ate.  But

Introduction   Type 1 diabetes has been a disease since the ancient Egyptian times.  Will there be a day when we have a cure for the disease? It seems to be a hot topic about once a year where there are claims that we are getting close to a cure, but no results have been uncovered yet. How is it Done?      In order for a cure to be made for type 1 diabetes, a solution to the underlying problem needs to be presented.  In other words, a cure for type 1 diabetes would need to make the body produce insulin again and ensure whatever made it stop originally wouldn't happen again.   This seems like it would be a daunting task as there is a lot of unknown information, obviously.   What We Have Today      There isn't a cure for diabetes yet but with technology, we are very close to a cure.  Through the use of insulin pumps and CGM's (continuous glucose monitors) it makes managing one's diabetes a lot easier and more automated.  The pump can increase insulin doses if the CGM read

 Introduction      The cost of insulin is historically known for being high and people have claimed that they are being taken advantage of by big pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharma).  To me, it is crazy how from the time of being created to now, the idea of how the insulin should be sold has completely changed. The Creation     Insulin discovered how to be isolated in 1920 through the work of 4 main individuals.  They include Frederick Banting, Dr. John Macleod, Charles Best, and Dr. James Collip.  Their accomplishment changed how the world could treat diabetes.  In 1923, this team sold the patent for insulin which they ended up selling to the University of Toronto for $1.00 each.  Yes you read that correctly, $1.00.  Banting is quoted in saying, "insulin belongs to the world, not to me."                                        (A bottle of insulin produced by Connaught Labs in 1923) The Transition     The founders of insulin wanted their discovery to be shared with the worl

Introduction      Treatment of type 1 diabetes has come a long way since the beginning of the disease and advancements in technology has a big part in helping this.  Through the article, "History of Diabetes" which is posted by healthline.com,  we are going to look at how the treatment and medical breakthroughs have changed over the years. The Beginning     The first recorded documentation of diabetes treatment dates back to 1550 B.C. where the Egyptians where able to identify the disease and even had a test for it.  This test was called "honey urine" and they would simply test if ants were attracted to the patients urine (Porter, Eloise).     This was done because in patients because when blood sugar is high, the body release sugar through the urine in an attempt to lower blood sugar.  If ants are attracted to the urine, this means that there is sugar in it which points towards the patient having diabetes. Further Discoveries     Flashing forward to the 20th centur

     Nick Jonas (one of the three brothers that makes up The Jonas Brothers) is well known for his music career along with being an influencer in the type 1 diabetes community.  In an interview with Healthline, Nick explains how he was feeling when he first got the disease and that he now wants to be a role model for other people with diabetes.  " Jonas believes if he had heard someone he was a fan of or looked up to talk about living with diabetes, it could have created normalcy around his experience. He Hopes to help his fans this way." Nick was already somewhat famous when he was diagnosed with diabetes so his name was out there.  He wants to be the role model for somebody who is struggling and give them hope.  He stated later in the interview that, "I think the encouraging thing for them to know is that this is a manageable disease..." Nick is also a positive influencer for helping people with the disease connect and share about themselves.  He started a hashtag

     How do you know if your kid has diabetes? What are the key things to look for? These are some of the questions you may be asking.  I thought it would be beneficial to interview my mom to get a mother's perspective on the matter.  The following are the questions I asked along with her answer: How do you know if your kid has diabetes? "It was really a buildup of a couple things.  I knew you had been losing a lot of weight quickly and you weren't very big anyway, so this raised an eyebrow.  Then after a few nights of you getting up multiple times in the night to pee, I really had a gut feeling that something was wrong. Which is why I decided to take you to the doctor to get you checked out." What are the key things to look for? "The main symptoms that you were showing and that told me something was wrong was that you were getting up multiple times a night to go pee and you were lost a lot of weight in a 2-week span.  But in general, it will probably depend from

    If you are newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I've created this post to go over the most important terms in diabetes that will help give you a fundamental understanding of words that doctors or other diabetes will be using.  Simply, this post can be used as a reference to know what people are talking about when they are referring to terms you aren't aware of. A1C or hemoglobin A1C or HbA1C Your A1C simply measures your past blood sugars over the last 3 months.  It is used to determine your average blood sugar over this time and gives a very blunt look into how well you have been managing your diabetes.   If you want a more in-depth explanation of A1C, click here . Short-acting insulin Short acting insulin is insulin that takes a short amount of time to absorb.  This is the insulin you take when eating carbohydrates or to bring your blood sugar down from a high. Long-acting insulin Long-acting insulin is insulin that takes a long amount of time to absorb.  It is usually t

      Due to changes in insurance, I unfortunately have had to change the brand of insulin that I use.  While this isn't the worst thing in the world, it still felt like a huge change because I had only ever used 1 brand and changing that just felt wrong.  However, after getting past that stage, I can now say that I have had experience with 3 different brands of insulin and can tell you how it has affected me if you are going through the same situation.     I first started on Humalog.  This was the brand I started with and used every day for 9 years.  Then my family changed to an insurance that no longer accepted Humalog.  When I first found this out, I was upset and didn't know how to feel.  But I didn't let my feelings get the best of me and I knew it would be a change I could handle.        I switched to Insulin Aspart first (which is the "off-brand version of Novolog).  With almost identical packaging to Novolog (shown below) you can tell that the two products are

Introduction:      Caring for type 1 diabetes comes in many different forms and there is not one set way that works for everyone.  Personally, I have tried a variety of different methods that I have tried and experimented with.  All of the methods that I mention in this post I have personally used.  The main point I want to get across here is that until you have your body figured out, it is all trial and error.  And trust me, there will be A LOT of error at the beginning.  The important thing is that you don't get discouraged and simply try new methods until one clicks.  My goal with this post is to teach how to use each delivery method and share my personal experience with each. Insulin Delivery: Syringe and Vile     When I was first diagnosed, I started out being taught how to use the syringe and vial method for insulin delivery.  It was important to start out by learning this method because when moving to other insulin delivery methods in the future, the syringe and vial can be

      I couldn't tell you how many times throughout my experience with diabetes I have been asked the question, "How did you first know you had diabetes?"  My initial symptoms I had before I knew I had diabetes were two main things included frequent urination and being extremely thirsty.  I would wake up 2 to 3 times during the night to use the bathroom which was obviously a big red flag.  I would also be very thirsty during the day for no apparent reason.  this went on for 3 or 4 days and finally my mom decided to take me to the doctor (I was 11 years old at the time) and get me checked out since these weren't normal things to be experiencing.  So, I went to the doctor, and they check my blood sugar.  I was 268 mg/dL and the normal range is 70 - 120 mg/dL.  I obviously didn't know this at the time but that was high than what it should've been.       Aside from my personal experience, there are a handful of other symptoms that people experience with type 1 dia

    Hello! My name is Diabetic Decipher and I am the author of DiabetesTalk.  I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in August 2012 which gives me almost a decade of experience living with the disease.  I was 11 at the time of being diagnosed so I didn't understand fully what was going on at first.  But in time, it has become a part of me and now I can't think of life being different.  Sure, it was a huge change from my lifestyle previously, but after almost a 10 years with diabetes, I have lived almost as much with it as I have without it.  Through blogging about my experiences, I hope I can make an impact on at least one person's life by providing them information that they didn't know before.      Over the years, I have learned many useful tips, tricks, and advice that I would love to share with others.  My goal is to help others that are newly diagnosed, have been diagnosed, or even if you don't have type 1 diabetes but know someone who does.  The information I am