"It's All About Your Attitude"

I have been diabetic a very long time.  When I was first diagnosed, my mom and dad helped me with shots and tests for the first year.  After that they were not involved other than shopping for food for me, they believed it was my job to manage the disease.  This was a blessing and a curse all at the same time for me.  I get that they were trying to teach me to be independent and be able to manage diabetes by myself but it made it very difficult for me to ask for help when I needed it.  Over the years I never asked anyone to help me, even when I really needed help.

Fast forward to about two and a half years ago.  Not taking care of my diabetes finally caught up with me and I became seriously ill.  My poor husband wanted to help me get control of my diabetes and I pushed him away, telling him "I can do this, I don't need your help!"  He watched me struggle to get control of testing, eating, and shifting my diabetes care focus.  And he stood by me, ready to help with anything at all if I would just ask.  But I didn't ask.  Then I got the pump.  He learned how it worked, read all the documentation, and gave me the space I demanded since I wanted to do it all by myself.  I guess I hadn't realized that my diabetes was a family issue, it didn't just belong to me.

When I got the DexCom last spring, once again I didn't want any help.  I could master this on my own.  My husband watched helplessly as I got angry over pump and CGMS issues, biting his tongue and letting me rant.  A few months ago I was reading some old blog posts of Kerri's over at Six Until Me.  She had pictures of her DexCom sensor in her arm and she said her husband helped her put them there.  My poor abdomen needed a rest from sensors so I decided it was time to ask for help.  I asked my hubby to put a sensor on my arm for me.  I think he understood how hard it was for me to ask for help.

So the first attempt at my hubby putting a sensor into my arm didn't go well.  He was nervous, I was really impatient and kind of mean to him.  Don't get me wrong, the sensor worked fine but I was terrible to him!  We don't fight often but we did fight that day.  I thought alot about why I was so angry with him when he didn't do anything wrong.  That is when I realized how hard it was for me to ask for help.  We talked it out and I promised the next time I would be aware of my behavior.  So yesterday we tried it again and guess what?  When I relaxed and just let him help me, the sensor insertion went fine!  I thanked him for being patient with me and understanding.  I am starting to get how much my diabetes is part of his life too.

So do you find it hard to ask for help?  Do you get angry sometimes?  I would love to get your feedback!

You can be 1happydiabetic too, it's all about your attitude!

Suzanne

Our friends over at TuDiabetes have put together an event for all of us for World Diabetes Day this Saturday, November 14, 2009.  Check it out and participate if you can.  It's all about raising awareness about diabetes!  Here is the info about the event:

November 14 is World Diabetes Day. On that day, at 14:00 hours (localtime), thousands of people with diabetes will test their blood sugar,do 14 minutes of exercise, test again and share their results onTuDiabetes or on Twitter.

The event is called The Big Blue Test because blue is the color associated with World Diabetes Day. It is based on a test-in activity that took place July 14, where more than a thousand people with diabetes tested their blood sugar at the same time and shared their results online. This time, the activity incorporates 14 minutes of physical activity to reinforce the importance of exercise.

Participating in this event to raise diabetes awareness on November 14 is easy...

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE...

You too can be 1happydiabetic, it's all about your attitude!

Suzanne

November is Diabetes Awareness Month and on the 14th of this month, we have World Diabetes Day to look forward to.  There are over 250 million people who are affected by diabetes worldwide.  Yet little is mentioned in the American media about this epidemic affecting so many of us.  As you know, diabetes is a 24/7, never ending challenge we deal with.  Let's all take a personal pledge to educate others this month about diabetes and dispel the many myths that surround this disease!  Raising awarenes can bring us closer to a cure!

According to WorldDiabetesDay.org,  "the World Diabetes Day logo is the blue circle - the global symbol for diabetes which was developed as part of the Unite for Diabetes awareness campaign. The logo was adopted in 2007 to mark the passage ofthe United Nations World Diabetes Day Resolution. The significance ofthe blue circle symbol is overwhelmingly positive. Across cultures, the circle symbolizes life and health. The colour blue reflects the sky that unites all nations and is the colour of the United Nations flag.The blue circle signifies the unity of the global diabetes community inresponse to the diabetes pandemic."

You can be 1happydiabetic, it's all about your attitude!

Suzanne

As many of you may know from the video I did last week about packing, I went on a mini vacation over this past weekend.  I headed out to sunny California for two reasons, to go to the Behavioral Diabetes Institute Luncheon I was invited to and to meet up with my online diabetes buddies for the ultimate diabetes meetup. I had a great time meeting LeeAnn, Cherise, Jaimie, and George! When I got home I had so much material for blogs and vlogs, I didn't know where to start! Last night I posted a video Test Your Blood Sugar-Single Ladies Style and decided I was going to start working on a blog about the luncheon next. Well, LeeAnn beat me to the punch with an incredible post about the experience! So here is the begining of her post, I encourage you to read the entire post to hear the whole story and to see all the wonderful pictures. LeeAnn is an incredible blogger and a wonderful human being.

What's Right with Me? 

How awesome was the Behavioral Diabetes Institute's Celebration of Strength Luncheon for women with type 1 diabetes? Well, since last year's event was so incredible, my hopes were high for a comparably amazing luncheon this year, and I was not disappointed even a little bit.

As soon as I arrived at the sign-in table, Dr. Susan Guzman, one of the founding psychologists at BDI, greeted me with a big hug and gracious welcome. If it hadn't been for her invitation, I likely never would have gone. Once I was signed in, I entered the dining room, and sitting before me was Cherise from the heartfelt Diabetic_Iz_Me, Jaimie, admin extraordinaire from TuDiabetes, and Suzanne from 1HappyDiabetic, who very similar to me, has traveled the road of denial and is now hoping to help other diabetics as a mental health provider. I wouldn?thave hesitated to call these ladies my sisters prior to that moment,but actually meeting them in person just sealed the deal. We exchanged hugs and squeals of delight, and the picture-taking commenced,naturally!

Click HERE to read more and see pictures...

Musterbation! I bet I got your attention there!  I love this term!  Musterbation is defined as a rigid thought pattern characterized by the tendency to impose absolutist expectations ononeself.  This term was coined by Albert Ellis who was the father of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and was known for his often confrontational style with clients.  As I learned about this man and his theories of psychotherapy, I understood his theories in a real and personal way.  I realized that I often have been irrational in my thinking about my diabetes, my attitude towards my diabetes, and my treatment of my diabetes. 

One of my favorite quotes by Albert Ellis is "There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy."  So let's look at this quote in relation to diabetes...This is a loaded statement for anyone, but especially a diabetic. What are some of the diabetic musts we tell ourselves?  Here is a list of my irrational, musturbatory beliefs that I catch myself telling myself.

I must have a good blood sugar.

I must always have perfect control, all the time.

I must do everything right with eating and exercise.

I must be a perfect diabetic.

I must be able to control all the variables in my life that affect my diabetes.

This diabetes thing should be easy to control.

I should never eat cake/cookies/candy/treats ever again, I'm diabetic.

I should know all the answers already, I've been diabetic for over 20 years!

My diabetes absolutely must behave in the way I expect it to.

Things should be easy when it comes to my diabetes!

So what am I doing when I tell myself these thoughts?  I am being rigid and I am expecting something unreasonable about myself and my diabetes. I am putting myself into a no win situation.  As we well know, diabetes is neither predictable nor constant!  I am getting better at fighting these thoughts and being reasonable with myself as time goes by.  Connecting with other diabetics online and in person helps me be more real and honest with myself.

So what are your musts, shoulds, or oughts?  What do you do to deal with them?

You can be 1happydiabetic too-it's all about your attitude,

Suzanne

If you do not use Twitter, I suggest you give it a try!  It's a great way to connect with others in the online D world.  Everyday I am able to connect with folks all over the world who deal with the D.  Great friendships have been built from these connections.  Yesterday there was a theme in the D community on Twitter which revolved around cupcakes.  The end result gave me a much needed smile yesterday so I wanted to share the tweets with you guys!

suzanne_una RT @diabetesalic:@Diabetic_Iz_Me @Ninjabetic- CUPCAKE? Who said cupcake?Who has a cupcake? COUNT ME IN!

Diabetic_Iz_Me @diabetesalic@suzanne_una i want a cupcake sooooooo bad

diabetesalic @Diabetic_Iz_Me@suzanne_una ME 2. i've been good as of late. Dreaming of a vanilla cupcake w/ vanilla coconutcream icing.

suzanne_una @Diabetic_Iz_Me@diabetesalic Me too! I have been dreaming about it all afternoon! I almost went to the bakery LOL

ElizabethArnold @Diabetic_Iz_Me@suzanne_una @diabetesalic Too late, Kelly, the damage is already done (she says, stuffing her face with packaged icing.)

ElizabethArnold @diabetesalic Wouldn't that be awesome, a bunch of d-peeps pigging out at a bakery? We pwn you, diabetes!

Now the conversation gets a little weird and silly, as it is prone to do on Twitter...

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una There's a cupcake store near here that sells "Diabetic cupcakes".It always makes me think they need insulin.Poor things.

suzanne_una @notsostilllifes those poor cupcakes, having to take shots and do BG tests LOL!

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una who would ever EAT the poor little things??

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una It is quite an image. Not exactly what they were going for I'm sure.

suzanne_una @notsostilllifesI'm sure that was not the image they were going for! Makes me want to photoshop a pic of a cupcake who is diabetic

notsostilllifes @suzanne_una DO IT!

So off to Google I go to do a search for a cupcake that I can turn into a diabetic cupcake using photoshop.  I have this image in my head of a scrumptious looking cupcake with test strips next to it and an insulin syringe sticking into the side of it. All while the cupcake looks shocked it isgetting a shot.  I am not a super artistic person but ideas like this get my creative juices flowing!  As is often the case with Google searches, it takes you a couple of tries before you find that perfect search string.  I was searching under "cartoon cupcakes with faces" and here is one of the images Google brought up:

It's Kerri from Six Until Me! Kerri is one of my favorite bloggers in the D world. A diabetic eating a cupcake!  Wow, thanks Google, that sure met my search criteria (NOT).  So what's a girl to do when this kind of funny silliness pops into a Google search? Why, Tweet a picture out to the D people who have been discussing cupcakes all afternoon!

@notsostilllifes while looking for model to turn into a diabetic cupcake, google came up w this photo http://twitpic.com/jnhs9 @sixuntilme

Remember, you can be 1happydiabetic too, it's all about your attitude!

Suzanne

Diabetic patience do you have it? In a world with high speed internet, answers to questions at your typing finger tips, and the generation of instant feedback do you have the patience you need to manage your diabetes correctly?

With diabetes technologies advancing quickly many people with diabetes are taking advantage of continuous glucose sensors. We are now able to see glucose numbers every minute and trends in our glucose numbers that couldn't be seen before unless hooked up to a lab machine 24/7. How amazing is that? But what do you do with all this new information?

Here in lies the problem or answer depending on how you look at it. With all this information, diabetics can make better improvements in their daily management of their diabetes. By noticing trends we can prevent lows. We can more easily do correction ratio and carb ratio tests to see if our insulin needs are being met. But the temptation to "not consult" with your Endocrinologist or Diabetes Educator is there as well. Do you have the know how to make these changes?

When using continuous glucose sensors there is a temptation to over correct and over bolus for high blood sugars. As a diabetic for 20 plus years I grew up, Blood sugar readings were a time for me to "act" on my diabetes, most likely doing insulin or eating food. This is not the case with continuous glucose sensors. Not every reading is something to act on, far from that actually. Being patient after a correction bolus when you can see your high glucose readings every minute or so can drive some diabetics crazy, wondering every few minutes if their blood sugar is going down. Stacking your insulin can be a temptation some people just can resist.

With wearing an insulin pump, there is a temptation to just click a button and deliver insulin at any given time. Not that doing insulin injections are different but the availability to deliver insulin whenever you want is made easier by a pump. This is why diabetic patience is a valuable tool to learn. Most fast acting insulin has a duration of action of about 4 hours. Meaning if your blood sugar is 180 at 8:00 am and you correct with insulin for that, the amount of insulin you take will get you at your target in 3 to 4 hours, So 12:00 pm you should be in your target range.

So to conclude this blog I wanted to just make an observation on how having patience for your diabetes is an important asset to have. One day of testing does not give you enough information to make adjustments with your insulin. Many days are needed to get a good average. Medical professionals are at our finger tips, just a call or email away. Keep them involved in your management and success will be an easier goal to reach.

Be Happy,

Bill

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week

September 14-20, 2009

My pal Crystal, over at PUMPedUP, did a post yesterday about National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. She was inspired to do this list from another blogger, Rachel, so I am going to follow their lead!

30 Things About My Invisible IllnessYou May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: Type 1 Diabetes

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 1986

3. But I had symptoms since: October 1986

4. The biggest adjustment I've had to make is: being and adult and really taking care of myself, not living in denial.

5. Most people assume: I did or ate something wrong to get diabetes. That and I must have been a "fat kid" so that is why I ended up with diabetes.

6. The hardest part about mornings are: Waking up!

7. My favorite medical TV show is: Dr. G, it's morbid but I can't help it,LOL

8. A gadget I couldn't live without is: Blood glucose meter.

9. The hardest part about nights are: making it through the night without having a low blood sugar.

10. Each day I take __ pills & vitamins: 8 pills but no vitamins. Gotta love getting additional autoimmune disorders because of diabetes

11. Regarding alternative treatments: I have not tried anything.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: That's not really a choice, no one should have an illness. But since Ineed to put an answer here, I would choose an invisible illness.

13. Regarding working and career: diabetes adds a layer of complexity just because you never get a break from it. So whether things are going smooth or stressful at work, your diabetes is there and being affected.

14. People would be surprised to know: I'm not as put together as I seem!

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: many years of denial and poor self care preceded my born again status of being a "compliant" diabetic. Letting go of the anger I felt all the time about how unfair having diabetes is was the hardest thing. Not to say that the anger doesn?t sometimes show its ugly face every now and then.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: complete my education.

17. The commercials about my illness: are so off the mark, no wonder most people don't understand diabetes! By the way, can we have a real blood sugar number on that meter please? Not the diabetes nirvana number of 103?

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: eating without thinking about what the carb count is of the food I am about to eat.

19. It was really hard to have to give up: when I was diagnosed way back in the day I was told I could not eat anything with sugar in it. There were few sugar free choices and no one carb counted back then. Needless to say I didn't really give up the candy, cakes, & cookies, I just got good at sneaking them.

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: I have had lots of hobbies since age 13 so I don't have a witty comment for this one 

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: go to Orlando and go to all the theme parks, ride all the rides, eat all the junk food, and finish off the day with a fancy meal and cocktails!

22. My illness has taught me: I can do anything I put my mind to, anything!

23. One thing people say that gets under my skin is: You know, if you just stopped eating carbs and took this herbal treatment you wouldn't have to take insulin anymore.

24. But I love it when people: let me get my plate first at get togethers! I use to hate this because it made me feel like I was different or defective but now I realize I am special and I get first pick of all the goodies on the table, LOL

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is:  There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy. - Albert Ellis

26. When someone is diagnosed I'd like to tell them: You are not alone, connect with others online or in your town through the ADA or JDRF. Isolating yourself makes it harder to deal with diabetes.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How capable I am of truly managing this illness. I was also surprised how much easier it got to manage when I connected with other diabetics online and in person.

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn't feeling well was: Gaveme a long, awesome hug.

29. I'm involved with Invisible Illness Week because: I am not embarrassed by diabetes anymore and I realize that isolating ones self, does not work.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Honored, truly honored.

Be Happy,

Suzanne

Diabetes is a serious chronic illness, we all know that.  But does that mean we have to be doom and gloom all the time?  Heck no!  That is part of why www.1happydiabetic.com exists.  It is to remind you that life is too short to not just let loose and laugh yourself silly sometimes.  We have all heard the saying "laughter is the best medicine" and there is truth to that. Laughter can relax you, reduce stress, help your immune system and more. So it should be part of your health care regimen

So today I bring you pictures that make me laugh that are related to the big D.  Visit Our Photo Gallery HERE to see more funny diabetes pictures and add your own today!

Don?t forget we also have a video section that is dedicated to diabetes humor.  Check it out HERE and feel free to add your own videos or videos that made you laugh!

Be Happy,

Suzanne

Today has been a pretty awesome day for me and it got me thinking about what I am thankful for. So here is my list (in no particular order) of what I am thankful for.  What are you thankful for?  If you haven’t done it lately, take a minute and think about the blessings in your life.

1. My health.  I have had diabetes for the past 23 years but I am doing pretty darn good on this front.  A few bumps in the road so far but I am stronger and healthier now than I have been since I was a teen.
2. My husband.  He is the most supportive person I have ever known and he accepts me as I am, warts and all.
3. My family.  I have the best sister in the world and great in-laws.  I am very fortunate!
4. My DOC friends (DOC=diabetes online communities).  You guys get what it is like to live with diabetes unlike most of my friends.  I value the relationships I have built over the last year and I look forward to the road ahead, with my diabetes buddies at my side!  I love you guys!
5. My school friends.  These are the folks who kept me in check when I needed to be kept in check!  These are my study buddies and friends for life.
6. That I am officially finished with grad school!  I have had my degree conferred as of today, which means even though I have not walked in the graduation ceremony, I do have a Master’s degree now.  I still can’t believe it!
7. That I have an insulin pump.  It took me years to break down and get one and now you will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands before you get it away from me.  OK, that is morbid, but you get the point!
8. That the world is filled with possibilities and I am excited as to where life will take me next.    
   
9. And finally, I am thankful for my furry children, Chloe the dog and China the cat.  They are always happy to see me and they don’t mind if I am in a foul mood due to blood sugar issues.
   

Be Happy,

Suzanne