Blogging Is Therapeutic

I love blogging! I am not the best writer or even a huge fan of writing; however, being a working wife and mother of two children is challenging. This family life is highly rewarding, but it takes time, energy, patience and compromise to be successful at it. My challenges are made unique because my son suffers with type 1 diabetes. When people speak about their children, they boast of dance and piano recitals, while I am consumed with thoughts and conversations about my diabetic son. Blogging has become an outlet for me and the release of the thoughts and stresses that I face due to my situation. Some of the benefits I am receiving from blogging are:

• Being able to inform the public about T1D 
• Learning more about the illness
• Expressing my thoughts and emotions 

This has proven very beneficial for me and has acted as a therapeutic defense against the lows of this circumstance. Informing the public is very important to me. It offers context to my son's diagnosis and helps me find a purpose while we battle the disease. Educating myself and learning more about the illness helps my son, myself and essentially our entire family. The information is valuable to keeping up with the latest medical technologies aimed at diabetic patients. I find it most therapeutic since I am able to express my emotions, whether negative or positive, in a safe space that does not affect the people that I interact with daily. I would highly recommend blogging to anyone who needs a cathartic place and space.

10 Things Educator's of Students with T1D Should Know

It is difficult enough as a parent to allow my children to be away from me. I am concerned with their safety and well-being 24/7. Though the love and concern is apparent and evident for all children, there seems to be a slightly greater tinge of worry, and dare I say guilt, when it comes to a child with a disability. For me, the six hours a day that my son spends at school can sometimes be filled with stress and anxiety, knowing that at any moment, his situation of stability can shift to one of crisis.  As a measure of stress relief, for his teachers and myself, here is a list of ten items that all educators should know about type 1 diabetes.

1. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease.
2. Excessive urination, thirst and hunger are all symptoms of T1D.
3. Children with diabetes need to eat throughout the day.
4. Sugary snacks are not completely off-limits.
5. Children are legally allowed to carry their testing and treatment supplies with them.
6. High or low blood sugars can alter cognition and behavior.
7. Hyper- and hypoglycemia require immediate action.
8. Someone should accompany a child with low blood sugar to the school nurse.
9. Students with diabetes are eligible for a Section 504 plan.
10. Students have a right to confidentiality and privacy.

                                                                                     www.weareteachers.com

When educators are aware of these things and implement them in their interactions with students with type 1 diabetes, it goes a long way for the success of that child and the comfort of the parent. My son's teacher is informed and mindful of our situation and what a relief it is to know that my child is not treated differently because of T1D. It is important to note that neither the parent or child is to blame for a diagnosis of T1D; it is no one’s fault. 

My son feels comfortable if he has to leave the room to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water in excess of what is considered normal. He can also snack in class, even if it is against the rules because of the 504 eligibility for modifications and accommodations to fit his special need. I also know that if any changes take place within his body that require medical attention, he will obtain immediate assistance and will not be left by himself. What recommendations would you offer to teachers of a student with type 1 diabetes?

Safe Snacks

Who doesn’t like to snack? Many of us do; unfortunately, snacks can sometimes be the worst enemy of individuals with diabetes. Having to pay close attention to their blood sugar levels, what most of us would consider a good snack can be harmful to the diabetic. For example, a banana is a hearty innocent snack; however, high levels of natural sugar can make it dangerous to an individual with type 1 diabetes. Here is a list of American Heart Association approved snacks for people who are living with the chronic illness.

•          Fresh fruit
•          Fresh vegetables
•          Nonfat or low-fat yogurt
•          Cottage cheese
•          Reduced-fat cheese
•          Fat-free refried beans
•          Canned tuna or salmon
•          Instant oatmeal or quick oats
•          Whole grain cereal (unsweetened)
•          Pasta (try whole wheat)
•          100% whole wheat bread or pita bread
•          Dried fruit
•          Unsalted nuts
•          Natural peanut butter or another nut butter
•          Seeds (sunflower, flax)
•          Popcorn (light, microwave)
•          Potatoes (white or sweet)
•          Spaghetti sauce

I hope this list is helpful in planning the daily meals and snacks for you or your loved one who is coping with T1D and managing the daily ups and downs of this chronic disease.

It's Good to have a Glucose Buddy

With social media, phone applications and online services provided for a host of things, from dog walking to step counting, I decided to research the best apps geared towards people living with type 1 diabetes. The list is overflowing with very helpful apps for anyone who is interested. As a mother of an eleven-year-old with type 1 diabetes, the app that I thought would benefit our lives most at this time was the Glucose Buddy Diabetes Helper.

The Glucose Buddy Diabetes Helper is a free iPhone application that helps parents to log their child’s blood sugar numbers, insulin dosages, carbohydrate intake and daily activities. Additionally, it allows individuals to sync the logs to Glucosebuddy.com where data history can be viewed for free.

Of course, I went to the Glucosebuddy.com website and to my delight, found that it was user friendly and appropriate. There are logs and calculators that allow the user to just input the numbers and then it is all calculated and stored. This sure beats pen and paper documentation. There are also charts for understanding, customization of personal trends for better individualized control over blood sugar levels, and there are exercise, diet and medication tabs that aid people in those areas, as well. This app allows for group forums to take place, where many people ask questions, share information and recipes, and act as a supportive community to each other. Most impressive is this media item’s ability to design personalized meal plans based on an individual’s 90 glucose history. This will take a load off my mind as I try to figure out the best foods to serve my son each day. The only negative to this app is the fact that it is designed solely for the iPhone.

I certainly hope this has been helpful. Please feel free to comment about your own T1D highs or lows and if you use any online apps that help you to monitor or control it.  Thanks for reading!

Wikipedia Rocks

Wikipedia is an awesome resource that grants regular people access to information in a multitude of subjects. Many people do not trust Wikipedia as a source because the site allows its users to make changes, additions and omissions to it. I think it is a great source that does not limit its content to just one or two writers or researchers. For example, I looked up a topic that is near and dear to my heart, type 1 diabetes. The first paragraph I read was very informative and had great information, but I realized, from my prior research, that it was missing a few symptoms from the list. Here is the original Wikipedia paragraph about type 1 diabetes:    

Diabetes mellitus type 1 (also known as type 1 diabetes) is a form of diabetes mellitus in which not enough insulin is produced.^[4] This results in high blood sugar levels in the body.^[1] The classical symptoms are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger, and weight loss.^[4] Additional symptoms may include blurry vision, feeling tired, and poor healing.^[2] Symptoms typically develop over a short period of time.^[1]   

The lovely thing about Wikipedia is that I was able to enter the site and add the information that I knew to be true in order to enhance the paragraph and make it more informative for other users.  Here is the new paragraph:

Diabetes mellitus type 1 (also known as type 1 diabetes) is a form of diabetes mellitus in which not enough insulin is produced.^[4] This results in high blood sugar levels in the body.^[1] The classical symptoms are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger and appetite, sugar in urine, and weight loss.^[4] Additional symptoms may include blurry vision and vision changes, drowsiness and lethargy, heavy breathing, sweet breath, feeling tired, and poor healing.^[2] Symptoms typically develop over a short period of time.^[1]

Modifying content on Wikipedia was easy. I just created an account, clicked edit source, added my changes and clicked save. I actually thought it would take a day to be checked by Wiki workers, but, nope, it posted right away. So, if you have accurate information that you would like to share, and even become part of the historical compilation of media information, join and edit on Wikipedia.

Sweet Surrender

I do not know many people who do not like sweets, especially chocolate. Besides being delicious, chocolate also has a lot of great benefits to the human body. Unfortunately, the body of a diabetic is slightly different than a non-diabetic due to the limited functioning of the pancreas. This means that candy, chocolate and other sweets have to be heavily monitored in order to maintain healthy glucose or blood sugar levels. While there aren’t a multitude of movies that feature diabetics, much less their love of chocolate, Chocolat, directed by Lasse Hallstrom flawlessly depicts the sweet tooth a diabetic woman and the consequences of these cravings.  

Chocolat, the screenplay based on Joanne Harris’ novel is an excellent movie with a plot that will have the viewer both laughing and crying. As a mother and daughter live their lives following the north wind and setting up their chocolate shop everywhere they land, they end up in a small, conservative French village, where they do not immediately fit in. As the chocolatier becomes more popular with the villagers, offering them indulgent candies they have never tasted before and becoming a local pharmacist for illnesses of the mind and heart, a few characters begin to frequent her shop. One of those characters is Armande, played by Judi Dench. 

Armande is the mother of an uptight “holy roller” who refuses to let her own mother see her grandson. Armande finds satisfaction and comfort in being in the chocolate shop, speaking to its owner, Vivienne, played by Juliette Binoche, and eating many of the decadent chocolate specialties. It is not until later in the film that we learn, through Armande’s daughter’s rant against Vivienne, that Armande is a diabetic and is quickly killing herself with each chocolate morsel she ingests.

So, does Armande indeed kick the bucket? The movie is just too good for me to give up all the sweet details. I highly recommend this film for all viewers over the age of sixteen. It is especially amusing to those who like comedy, drama, religious satire and foreign films.

It is characteristic of the diabetic to overindulge in foods that they should not eat. I am unsure whether this is a state of denial, craving or something else, but as Armande instructs her grandson, it seems that she is attempting to “live a little”. While this is good advice for all individuals, it may need to be tweaked for diabetics, for whom the practice of caution when it comes to gustatory indulgences is extremely necessary. They should closely follow the mantra Eat to Live rather than Live to Eat. 

Should We Fast from Fast Food?

It’s fast, it’s cheap and it tastes good. Oh the convenience of fast food. But, I do not call it convenient when my young children are adamantly screaming that they want Burger King, Wendy’s or McDonald's when I pick them up from school. I also do not think it is convenient when you or your loved one is diagnosed with high blood pressure or a carotid artery. The term convenient becomes confusing when we do a cost-benefit analysis and compare today’s short cuts to tomorrow’s consequences.     

With a growing segment of Americans who are obese, riddled with heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes, it is my opinion that fast food restaurants should not be allowed to advertise on television. People know they need to eat and have the right to choose what kinds of food they want to put into their bodies. With fast food companies advertising unhealthy food that is high in sodium and trans fatty acid, the American public is bombarded with images and messages that this should be their diet of choice. The issue becomes larger and more devastating when these advertisements are directed towards youth, with fun toys, cartoon characters, low prices, appealing colors and easily identifiable images.

Of course this argument can be made about many things that are advertised in the media: toys, clothing, medicine, just to name a few, but I think a red flag should go up when the product in question is literally killing people. Eating is a daily ritual and food is how we accomplish it. Fast food, however, increases the risk of eczema, asthma and stuffy nose in children. Youths consuming fast food consume more calories than those who eat at home. Childhood obesity, which is linked to many chronic illnesses, including type 1 diabetes, continues to increase in the United States. We have to do something about this. In my opinion, negative advertisements that affect the food choice in America should be banned from all media sources. In the meantime, people should understand the nutritional values of fast food items and avoid buying those that harm our health.

It is a constant battle for me to feed myself and my family, especially my son who was diagnosed with diabetes, healthy and nutritional meals at an affordable price. I do not need or appreciate the battle made more difficult by the barrage of advertisements shouting at us to buy value meals, dollar menu items or 4 for $4 deals that are riddled with sodium, hydrogenated oil, and calories that we do not want or need in our systems. 

Information Saves Lives

As type 1 diabetes intrudes on the daily life of my family, I am compelled to learn as much as I can about it and share with others the beneficial information that I obtain.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is usually diagnosed for a person ranging in age from infancy to late 30s, but the disease can occur at any age. Type 1 diabetes is characterized by a pancreas that produces little to no insulin, with the body’s immune system destroying the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Individuals who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have to manage their diet and exercise habits, as well as inject insulin several times daily.

Diabetes is a chronic health condition, but can be managed with proper medical care. It is important for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes to monitor their blood sugar levels several times a day, usually before or after meals. Blood sugar or glucose levels are the amount of glucose present in a person’s blood. Glucose is a chief source of energy for cells in the body and is converted into by the carbohydrates that we eat, such as fruit, cereal, bread, pasta, and rice. Regularly checking blood sugar or glucose levels is a major component of diabetes care. A normal blood sugar range is between 70 and 120 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).

The warning signs for type 1 diabetes should be taken seriously and medical attention should be sought if one experiences the following symptoms:

·         Extreme thirst

·         Frequent urination

·         Drowsiness and lethargy

·         Sugar in urine

·         Sudden vision changes

·         Increased appetite

·         Sudden weight loss

·         Fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath

·         Heavy, labored breathing

·         Stupor or unconsciousness

                                                 JDRF.org

As my eleven-year-old son continues to live with type 1 diabetes, I continue to learn about it. I hope this information is useful and can help someone out there who is battling with this chronic illness.

Type 1 Diabetes 101

Hello, friends!  My name is Tired; I mean Jenelle! Sorry, I am so tired I forget my own name. I am a mother of two beautiful children, a wife, and I work full-time, and go to school part-time. Did I forget to mention that I am currently in the process of selling my apartment and buying a house? YES, this is all going on at once!  While my life seems really complicated, let's not forget the purpose of this blog. My goal is to help families who are struggling and juggling many tasks and responsibilities while managing this chronic illness also known as T1D. 

What is Type 1 Diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called beta cells. While its causes are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved. Its onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent T1D, and—at present—nothing you can do to get rid of it. ~ JDRF

I hope that what I share on this blog can help someone, a friend, a cousin, a brother, a sister, a stranger, basically ANYONE!