I’ve had 2 incidents of insulin going bad on me in the past few months during my travels. I’d like to share my experiences with this.

Expired insulin is sometimes hard to notice because it wont stop working completely. It will still work, but depending on how spoiled it is, it will be less potent. So it is tough to know if your insulin is bad, or if you just had a bit too much at your last meal.

The first time my insulin went bad I was in Bolivia (see my previous post with my videos from the Puma and Jaguar refuge). The camp I was living on while working here had no electricity, and therefore no refrigeration. I found a small village about 20 minutes away and a nice lady agreed to let me keep my little blue cooler (see above) in her refrigerator which she uses for soft drinks. After a month and a half of working at the camp I left and I retrieved my cooler and a fresh pen. The next couple of days I noticed really bad blood sugar control. A meal that would take 3-5 units of insulin was taking 6-8 units or more, and wasn't very predictable.

I’m guessing this soft drink refrigerator was not kept on all the time. The village was very remote and I imagine they only turned it on when they knew they’d have some business. Also, electricity was very unpredictable, so I’m sure they lost power a few times while my bag was there.

The shop where my insulin was stored

My next stop after Bolivia was Mexico. I decided to stock back up on my supplies there. Buying insulin in Mexico was surprisingly easy. I was able to find cartiriges of humalog at several pharmacies (no prescription needed and pretty cheap. I had a generic reusable pen that fit the cartiges, but I went to the Lilly office in Mexico City and they gave me a new pen for free. I had heard about pens that administer half units (usually aimed for children), I asked for one of these, since it gives me much tighter control of my doses. They had one and gave it to me!

Hi everyone! I'm back after a long blogging hiatus.

I've been having some adventures in Latin America, and its been tough to get reliable internet access to do updates.

I was working in the jungle in Bolivia at a refuge for jaguars and pumas. As a diabetic, I ran into a few challenges while living in the jungle with no electricity, no refrigeration, terrible & unhealthy food, no hot water, and insane mosquitos. But I survived and thoroughly enjoyed my experience. Of course, having diabetes doesn't have to stop anyone from doing anything! Stay possitive, stay happy!

I will share some more stories later. For now, here are two videos of my experience


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVFr7hHUzks

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7je2tgdScNs 

I recently got to have a few words with Bill from this website.  I am a big fan of this website and Bill's YouTube channel, so it was really great to talk to him.

Check out our conversation here on my blog---

www.andariegoblog.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Andariego

I hope everyone is doing well.  I just wanted to say Hi to everyone!  I really want to thank all of our members for joining www.1HappyDiabetic.com.  Thank you for posting such good questions and comments on our Forums.  Your pictures are the best!

I have a few ideas on upcoming videos but I would love to get suggestions for videos!  If you have any ideas or questions you want answered via video.  Suggest them here. 

I haven't told "My Diabetes Story" yet on video.  I did do a video for One Touch and the Diabetes Handprint.  You can see my video here or click on the picture below.  If you haven't seen it, I hope you do.  It's a nice personal story I told about diabetes and why I do the videos on this site.

But before I did "My Diabetes Story" on video I thought maybe there might be some questions you had for me about growing up with diabetes.  I have had diabetes for 21 years since the age of 8.  I grew up taking care of my diabetes at an early age.  I've done the Middle School thing, I've done the High School thing, I've done the College thing, I've done the MDI Shots thing, the Pump thing, the CGMS thing, and most importantly I've done my thing!  But how was my Diabetes conrtol during those times?  Maybe in the video I do, you will get to know.  But if anyone had any questions about my "story"  I would love to answer them for you on the video I do.  So leave a comment below or if you would like you can email me Bill@1HappyDiabetic.com

Thanks in advance!  - Bill

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...

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

Our buddies over at TuDiabetes are currently running a "Making Sense of Diabetes" video contest. They are seeking video entries that tell about the impact diabetes has on our lives through one of the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. 

Check out the contest today HERE. What a fun way to express yourself!

Click HERE to see Bill's video entry on sight

Hooray!  We did it.  We have over 100 members on1HappyDiabetic in little over a month with our new site design.  I want to thank all of our members for your great comments, forum posts, videos, and pictures that add value and smiles to everyone that views them.  Our enthusiasm for positive diabetes education, social value, and change has reached many diabetics and their families.  It’s nice to laugh and feel welcomed with the struggles we face every day. 

A very special thanks to Suzanne Watts who has helped with the development and creation of this amazing site.  I am so lucky to have found such a special and talented friend that was willing to put her time and effort towards an idea that started a little over 2 years ago.  Thank you.

I also wanted to thank everyone who has helped spread the1HappyDiabetic message around the internet and contributed towards the contentof this site.  Thanks to; Kenny Kellner, Michael, Lorraine & Caleb, Katherine Marple, Clark V, DlifeMamma, Dene, Leon, Andy, Colette Henry, MelindaMonks, Fred, whatever1210, Argarcia1, and Cecilia.  I know I have left many out, but thank you all for adding your thoughts and creative videos.  Suzanne and I are truly honored.

1HappyDiabetic.com is growing and spreading that positive attitude we all need in our lives.  This little community is growing and I am so excited.  We hope to progress even further in the years to come.  With justa little help from our friends with Diabetes I am sure we can.  We look forward to hopefully expanding our “1HappyDiabetic” name and logo in the future (we are saving up as we speak) so we can be a recognized entity in this amazing Diabetic Online Community we are involved in.

We always welcome any ideas, suggestions, and involvement onhow we can make this site better.  One of our members Fred asked for a way to display his involvement in the JDRF to share with others.  So we created our new events calendar to display events and diabetic engagements our members would be attending.  Hopefully we will be able to have 1HappyDiabetic meet ups in the near future.

So cheers to 100 and hundreds more!

Your Diabetic Buddy,

Bill

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