This week's tweet chat was all about living beyond Diabetes and how we live beyond. The first question was all about if we see diabetes as a barrier, if we see it as something that stops us from achieving our dreams and it's safe to say that was a unanimous no. Most of us do not see it as a barrier and in fact a lot of us see it as something that spurs us on to do better, to prove people wrong, to prove that actually we can do anything we set our minds to despite having diabetes.
The thing about living with Type 1 Diabetes is that it's 24/7, it doesn't stop and we can't take a break from it, so Type 1 can have an affect on your general life let alone trying to live beyond and do amazing things. However, for the people who achieve incredible things like running marathons with Type 1 or scaling mountains, Type 1 diabetes is irrelevant. It's a challenge, it's an extra precaution but in the grand scheme of things, in the bigger picture, Type 1 diabetes is not a barrier. In fact, it makes the achievement even sweeter, because you did it all while proving Type 1 Diabetes cannot stop you. You will however, not find me up a mountain, not because I have Type 1 Diabetes but because I'm lazy and I hate heights, and that was the general consensus with a lot of us who don't harbour the desire to be adrenaline junkies or do extraordinary things, it's not Type 1 that stops us...it's our character as people, ha ha.
We also got into a discussion about personal achievements. I think it's really easy to forget that everything is relative, and people's circumstances are different and living beyond your circumstances alone can be an achievement. What may be something really insignificant to one person, might be really significant to another and to the person achieving it. You don't have to do something extraordinary to live beyond, everything is relative. For example, Jules (hope you don't mind me mentioning you Jules!) wants to walk down Clacton Pier again and for her, that will be a hugely significant personal achievement.
I'm rambling a little bit but I hope I'm still making sense...
Life with Type 1 Diabetes is a challenge and it's not easy and it's not a barrier, unless you want to fly a commercial aircraft or join the army! Plus we make small achievements in living with Type 1 every day that all add up, like having good blood sugars all day or trying a new cannula site you were nervous about using or getting your repeat prescription in on time! Life in general is full of little achievements and extraordinary achievements and they all matter.
Type 1 Diabetes seems to have the ability to either make or break you, and I think it's better to let it make you. Let it spur you on, let it make you live your life to the full because it may be a challenge but as I said, it's certainly not impossible to live with Type 1 and it's certainly not impossible to live beyond Type 1.
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Friday 20 October 2017
Saturday 14 October 2017
Volunteering for Diabetes UK
This year I made the decision to start volunteering for Diabetes UK on their Family and Children's Holidays. These events take place every year and they're run predominantly by volunteers, most of whom have Type One Diabetes or are affected by Type One Diabetes. I was diagnosed with Type One at 11 years old, I was always a home bird so didn't ever have the desire to be away from home let alone go away for a week. By the time I was around 18 and too old to go on a Diabetes UK Holiday I realised that I really regretted not going on one of the holidays as a child and decided that volunteering would be the next best thing and I knew it would be super rewarding. I've always done the "high-profile" things to raise awareness of Type One Diabetes like going to Parliament and attending cool events and writing this blog and although I have loved and love doing it all, I wanted to do something on a personal, smaller scale, something that will have a more direct and positive impact on the lives of those with Type One Diabetes and even their parents.
May 2017 saw me take part in my first event as a volunteer when I went to volunteer on a Family Weekend. On the Family Weekends the children go back to their parents in the evening and our jobs as volunteers are mainly during the day. The Family Weekends are a wonderful and thoroughly enjoyed by both children and their parents. It's a chance for the children to meet other children with Type One Diabetes but it's also a chance for their siblings to meet other siblings of a child with Type 1. Furthermore, it's a chance for the parents to meet other parents and essentially get a little "break" from dealing with Type 1 for a few hours each day over the weekend. This was my first experience of volunteering on an event so of course I was a little bit apprehensive and not sure exactly what to expect, but the other volunteers made me feel so welcome and I couldn't fault them in any way. it was a wonderful first experience and spurred me on to want to do a week-long event.
That brings us to August this year, I volunteered on a week-long Holiday for 8-10 year olds. On the week-long events the children get dropped off by their parents and all spend a week playing games and doing fun activities and getting to know other children with Type One Diabetes, it's also a chance for them to try to be a little bit more independent. The week-long events are definitely more full on than the weekend because our responsibility not only lies during the day but during the night too, it's pretty much guaranteed that you won't be in bed before at least midnight, unless you're on night-check duty then you won't get to sleep until the early hours! It all sounds intense, but when you have an amazing group of volunteers around you it's actually really good fun.
The activities on the week-long event included High Ropes, Canoeing, Abseiling, Campfire, King Swing, and loads more. I only had one reservation before Volunteering on this event, I'm terrified of heights! However, I think this made me want to volunteer on the event more, because I wanted to set myself a personal challenge. Haha! Every single day is filled with fun and adventure, and watching the children take part in the activities was so lovely, to see them forget about having diabetes and just have fun. As volunteers we took part in the activities too (it's definitely not compulsory but it's nice to take part, and you'll find the children really want you to take part too!) and the activities that required me to be any more than a foot off the ground made me quite nervous to say the least, however looking back I am proud of myself because I managed to abseil. I had every expectation of getting to the top of that tower and wanting to go back down...however there were a few things that stopped me coming to this decision:
1. You had to climb ladders to get to the top, and climbing back down all those ladders did not appeal to me.
2. I would have really regretted it if I didn't at least try.
3. One of the little girls in my group exclaimed: "I'll do it after Ellie does it!!"
...Damn. However, I knew as soon as she said it that I had to do it, for her, for me, to get to the bottom! I had a little girl who was just as, if not more scared than I was relying on me, so I sucked it up, felt the fear and did it anyway. I'm so glad I did and straight after me she did it too and I was so proud of her, and me! Another activity I was apprehensive about was Canoeing, but again I put on that life jacket, picked up that ore and got into the canoe. I have never stepped foot in a canoe in my life, let alone be in a canoe with three 8 year old girls and having to teach them how to use their ores! It was an experience to say the least, one of the girls is terrified of spiders so she spent a lot of time trying to move from the spiders that were on the bottom of the canoe and almost capsizing the boat when she slid from side to side! I stepped on a few so she could have a good time and not worry about the spiders and all was calm until "There's a mouse in the boat!!" Oh hell no. I was determined not to get wet so all I was saying was "Please stay sitting!" Anyway turns out it was a Shrew and the girls did amazingly well in ignoring it and it enjoyed it's journey with us around the lake. We also had a competition to see who could turn their canoe 360 degrees the quickest and we beat the boys! It was little moments like during abseiling and canoeing that I sit back and dwell on now and think, I totally made the right decision volunteering.
Seeing the children get the most out of it and learn how to be a bit more independent with their diabetes and being the ones to help them do that is so rewarding and both the weekends and the week-long events are a truly amazing experience. You do have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders though, because despite it being truly fun, they are children & the children do have Type One Diabetes and as we all know, that requires a lot of attention! Blood sugar checking is in abundance as well as cannula changes and injections and boluses...all of which volunteers help out with and oversee. At meal times everyone carb counts and this is a good chance for the children to learn more about it. There are Health Care Professionals such as nurses and doctors and dietitians who volunteer on the camps too.
Every second volunteering on these Holidays is enjoyable and post-camp blues are truly a real thing. You spend a weekend or a week with all of these wonderful people and children with Type One Diabetes or who have been affected by Type One. Your fellow volunteers are a support network, all looking out for each other and helping one another and you all get to know each other fast. You also realise the resilience of children and although I have Type One myself and was diagnosed as a child too I'm always in awe of children with Type One because they deal with it with such grace and they're there to have fun, and let me tell you, they bounce right back even after a low or a high blood sugar or a stressful cannula change.
It's rewarding and it's character building and I wouldn't change the experiences I've had volunteering for the world. I hope I get accepted on the Holiday's that I apply for next year. If you're thinking about volunteering I really, really recommend it, you won't regret it.
May 2017 saw me take part in my first event as a volunteer when I went to volunteer on a Family Weekend. On the Family Weekends the children go back to their parents in the evening and our jobs as volunteers are mainly during the day. The Family Weekends are a wonderful and thoroughly enjoyed by both children and their parents. It's a chance for the children to meet other children with Type One Diabetes but it's also a chance for their siblings to meet other siblings of a child with Type 1. Furthermore, it's a chance for the parents to meet other parents and essentially get a little "break" from dealing with Type 1 for a few hours each day over the weekend. This was my first experience of volunteering on an event so of course I was a little bit apprehensive and not sure exactly what to expect, but the other volunteers made me feel so welcome and I couldn't fault them in any way. it was a wonderful first experience and spurred me on to want to do a week-long event.
That brings us to August this year, I volunteered on a week-long Holiday for 8-10 year olds. On the week-long events the children get dropped off by their parents and all spend a week playing games and doing fun activities and getting to know other children with Type One Diabetes, it's also a chance for them to try to be a little bit more independent. The week-long events are definitely more full on than the weekend because our responsibility not only lies during the day but during the night too, it's pretty much guaranteed that you won't be in bed before at least midnight, unless you're on night-check duty then you won't get to sleep until the early hours! It all sounds intense, but when you have an amazing group of volunteers around you it's actually really good fun.
The activities on the week-long event included High Ropes, Canoeing, Abseiling, Campfire, King Swing, and loads more. I only had one reservation before Volunteering on this event, I'm terrified of heights! However, I think this made me want to volunteer on the event more, because I wanted to set myself a personal challenge. Haha! Every single day is filled with fun and adventure, and watching the children take part in the activities was so lovely, to see them forget about having diabetes and just have fun. As volunteers we took part in the activities too (it's definitely not compulsory but it's nice to take part, and you'll find the children really want you to take part too!) and the activities that required me to be any more than a foot off the ground made me quite nervous to say the least, however looking back I am proud of myself because I managed to abseil. I had every expectation of getting to the top of that tower and wanting to go back down...however there were a few things that stopped me coming to this decision:
1. You had to climb ladders to get to the top, and climbing back down all those ladders did not appeal to me.
2. I would have really regretted it if I didn't at least try.
3. One of the little girls in my group exclaimed: "I'll do it after Ellie does it!!"
...Damn. However, I knew as soon as she said it that I had to do it, for her, for me, to get to the bottom! I had a little girl who was just as, if not more scared than I was relying on me, so I sucked it up, felt the fear and did it anyway. I'm so glad I did and straight after me she did it too and I was so proud of her, and me! Another activity I was apprehensive about was Canoeing, but again I put on that life jacket, picked up that ore and got into the canoe. I have never stepped foot in a canoe in my life, let alone be in a canoe with three 8 year old girls and having to teach them how to use their ores! It was an experience to say the least, one of the girls is terrified of spiders so she spent a lot of time trying to move from the spiders that were on the bottom of the canoe and almost capsizing the boat when she slid from side to side! I stepped on a few so she could have a good time and not worry about the spiders and all was calm until "There's a mouse in the boat!!" Oh hell no. I was determined not to get wet so all I was saying was "Please stay sitting!" Anyway turns out it was a Shrew and the girls did amazingly well in ignoring it and it enjoyed it's journey with us around the lake. We also had a competition to see who could turn their canoe 360 degrees the quickest and we beat the boys! It was little moments like during abseiling and canoeing that I sit back and dwell on now and think, I totally made the right decision volunteering.
Seeing the children get the most out of it and learn how to be a bit more independent with their diabetes and being the ones to help them do that is so rewarding and both the weekends and the week-long events are a truly amazing experience. You do have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders though, because despite it being truly fun, they are children & the children do have Type One Diabetes and as we all know, that requires a lot of attention! Blood sugar checking is in abundance as well as cannula changes and injections and boluses...all of which volunteers help out with and oversee. At meal times everyone carb counts and this is a good chance for the children to learn more about it. There are Health Care Professionals such as nurses and doctors and dietitians who volunteer on the camps too.
Every second volunteering on these Holidays is enjoyable and post-camp blues are truly a real thing. You spend a weekend or a week with all of these wonderful people and children with Type One Diabetes or who have been affected by Type One. Your fellow volunteers are a support network, all looking out for each other and helping one another and you all get to know each other fast. You also realise the resilience of children and although I have Type One myself and was diagnosed as a child too I'm always in awe of children with Type One because they deal with it with such grace and they're there to have fun, and let me tell you, they bounce right back even after a low or a high blood sugar or a stressful cannula change.
It's rewarding and it's character building and I wouldn't change the experiences I've had volunteering for the world. I hope I get accepted on the Holiday's that I apply for next year. If you're thinking about volunteering I really, really recommend it, you won't regret it.
Tuesday 10 October 2017
Mental Health Awareness Day
Today was Mental Health Awareness Day. I feel like mental illness is an incredibly taboo subject, people don't like to talk about it, they don't like to acknowledge it, perhaps because some people don't believe that it's a problem, or they don't understand it, or they're scared to explore it and accept it for what it is, an illness. Our minds can be broken just as an arm can be, only I think the healing process is a lot tougher. I've never had perfect mental health, I get anxious, I've struggled with OCD...and in some of my darkest days I've disliked having OCD more than my Type One Diabetes, more than my physical, potentially life-threatening illness, disease, condition, whatever you want to call it. I won't go into too much detail about it, but I'm of course not ashamed to admit my mental health struggles and admit that they have caused me hardship on a par with my diabetes.
You can't escape your mind, that's the bottom line and I think what makes it so difficult, thoughts and feelings are what determine our day, they're what determine our reaction to things and what make up who we are. Think about it, you have your own voice swimming around your head 24/7 and when that voice is negative, or scary or not what you want to think about, it's distressing and it's unpleasant. My psychologist always said to me that the more you try not to think about something, the more you think about it, and I've never heard anything more true. None of us are perfect and I'm yet to meet someone who hasn't struggled mentally, we of course to an extent are in control of our minds, but when that mind gets sick and doesn't work like you want it to, you in a sense are at a loss.
The mind is so powerful and despite it being mental, it invokes very real, very physical symptoms in people. Being anxious is me having a panic attack on top of the Empire State Building on a visit to New York last year because I'm so afraid of heights and the hustle and bustle of so many people 80 floors up is so overwhelming that my physical state went to pot. It's scary and it's the lack of control over what you're thinking and how you react to that situation, to this day I'll always be annoyed that I couldn't enjoy my time up that building because I was so anxious.
I've spent nights crying because dealing with OCD to me is not just wanting everything to be tidy and colour co-ordinated as people jokingly portray it: it's trying to push out negative thoughts and stop the "routines" that I carry out every day because my mind convinces me that if I don't do it, something terrible will happen. Mental illness is so real and so common and the stigma that people with mental health issues are crazy or that they're doing it for attention or it's "not real" needs to stop. I am incredibly normal! I'm one of many.
Thankfully, I get on ok with it all now, and I'm thankful that it's not worse and that I can function, lots of people with mental health issues aren't that lucky.
Your mind is so complex. Every day, every second your thoughts and your emotions are changing and your mind is trying to make sense of things and it's a busy environment. Honestly, who is normal, who can honestly say they've never felt anxious or affected by their mind and it's state?
It's like with Type One Diabetes, I'm sure none of us can say that we haven't been affected by it mentally. The fear of hypos, the fear of going high, the anxiety surrounding needles, the mental effect that physical exhaustion from dealing with a condition that requires your attention 24/7 has on you can be significant. Diabetes burnout...we all make the decision every single day to check our blood sugar and to take our insulin because we know we have to and if we don't it can have detrimental effects, but when you're going through diabetes burnout that mindset goes out of the window, your mind is tired, you get tired of the tedious everyday grind of living with Type One Diabetes. Thankfully for some these periods come and go, and for others they can get stuck in a rut. One of the many reasons I think psychological support for people with diabetes is so important, it's so psychologically complex, we have a lot on our shoulders, we make important decisions every single day and the toll it can have on your mental health is real.
I suppose what I'm getting at here, is that your mind and it's function and purpose in our lives is significant and when it doesn't work properly, life can't really work properly can it...we make decisions, react to situations, feel emotion...all with our minds...and if that busy environment that is swimming around your head is negative or impacted in some way by mental illness or the mental effects of something like living with Type One, things can get a little bit messy. It's hard to heal a broken mind, it takes a lot of strength and determination, to battle your own thoughts and be mindful and not let whatever you're going through take over. It can be done though, and of course, there is always hope and you're never alone.
Anyway, there are my rambles for today, my thoughts...
You can't escape your mind, that's the bottom line and I think what makes it so difficult, thoughts and feelings are what determine our day, they're what determine our reaction to things and what make up who we are. Think about it, you have your own voice swimming around your head 24/7 and when that voice is negative, or scary or not what you want to think about, it's distressing and it's unpleasant. My psychologist always said to me that the more you try not to think about something, the more you think about it, and I've never heard anything more true. None of us are perfect and I'm yet to meet someone who hasn't struggled mentally, we of course to an extent are in control of our minds, but when that mind gets sick and doesn't work like you want it to, you in a sense are at a loss.
The mind is so powerful and despite it being mental, it invokes very real, very physical symptoms in people. Being anxious is me having a panic attack on top of the Empire State Building on a visit to New York last year because I'm so afraid of heights and the hustle and bustle of so many people 80 floors up is so overwhelming that my physical state went to pot. It's scary and it's the lack of control over what you're thinking and how you react to that situation, to this day I'll always be annoyed that I couldn't enjoy my time up that building because I was so anxious.
I've spent nights crying because dealing with OCD to me is not just wanting everything to be tidy and colour co-ordinated as people jokingly portray it: it's trying to push out negative thoughts and stop the "routines" that I carry out every day because my mind convinces me that if I don't do it, something terrible will happen. Mental illness is so real and so common and the stigma that people with mental health issues are crazy or that they're doing it for attention or it's "not real" needs to stop. I am incredibly normal! I'm one of many.
Thankfully, I get on ok with it all now, and I'm thankful that it's not worse and that I can function, lots of people with mental health issues aren't that lucky.
Your mind is so complex. Every day, every second your thoughts and your emotions are changing and your mind is trying to make sense of things and it's a busy environment. Honestly, who is normal, who can honestly say they've never felt anxious or affected by their mind and it's state?
It's like with Type One Diabetes, I'm sure none of us can say that we haven't been affected by it mentally. The fear of hypos, the fear of going high, the anxiety surrounding needles, the mental effect that physical exhaustion from dealing with a condition that requires your attention 24/7 has on you can be significant. Diabetes burnout...we all make the decision every single day to check our blood sugar and to take our insulin because we know we have to and if we don't it can have detrimental effects, but when you're going through diabetes burnout that mindset goes out of the window, your mind is tired, you get tired of the tedious everyday grind of living with Type One Diabetes. Thankfully for some these periods come and go, and for others they can get stuck in a rut. One of the many reasons I think psychological support for people with diabetes is so important, it's so psychologically complex, we have a lot on our shoulders, we make important decisions every single day and the toll it can have on your mental health is real.
I suppose what I'm getting at here, is that your mind and it's function and purpose in our lives is significant and when it doesn't work properly, life can't really work properly can it...we make decisions, react to situations, feel emotion...all with our minds...and if that busy environment that is swimming around your head is negative or impacted in some way by mental illness or the mental effects of something like living with Type One, things can get a little bit messy. It's hard to heal a broken mind, it takes a lot of strength and determination, to battle your own thoughts and be mindful and not let whatever you're going through take over. It can be done though, and of course, there is always hope and you're never alone.
Anyway, there are my rambles for today, my thoughts...
Tuesday 3 October 2017
Disability
I have been reflecting on last week's GBDOC tweet chat that was titled 'Diabetes and Disability'. This is always a really interesting subject because people have so many different opinions and ways in which they see themselves.
The Equality Act of 2010 protects people with Type 1 Diabetes in that it requires an employer to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees or job applicants in the workplace. The purpose of Type 1 Diabetes being considered under the Equality Act is because it can and does affect us in some capacity at work, it has an impact on us 24/7. You could say that in some sense, we are "disadvantaged" in that we may need to take short breaks to treat a low blood sugar or take time off for hospital appointments, this can lead to discrimination because your employer may be more concerned about losing money with you having time off rather than your ability to actually do the job. However, there are still jobs that people with Type 1 Diabetes are not allowed to do, such as joining the Armed Forces or flying a commerical plane, this is because in any of these environments something like a low blood sugar can put people at risk or make you a liability, plus airline pilots need 20/20 vision and complications like Retinopathy jeapordise this.
The complications and symptoms that come with Type 1 Diabetes can be "disabling" in that they can have a significant impact on your day to day life. For example, the symptoms of high blood sugar can have an affect in that it they can make you feel too unwell to do things, likewise with low blood sugar. More severe physical impacts for both include DKA, passing out, seizures...all of which can leave you "less able" than a healthy person, although temporary, they're still impacting your ability. The more permanent affects of Type 1 Diabetes like kidney disease, blindness, and limb amputation are a bit of a different ball game, because then it's not just Type 1 Diabetes you've got, it's other health issues that are in and of themselves, disabling.
Despite it being challenging, the GBDOC tweet chat confirmed that many people with Type 1 Diabetes, including me, do not consider themselves disabled. The Equality Act and due to the restrictions of some jobs, it can appear that this is the case, however, any 'limitations' we might encounter, only spur us on to prove people wrong and prove that our challenges can be overcome. Generally speaking, I am physically able and do not consider myself to be disabled in any capacity. I just think it's interesting to explore in what sense we are considered to be 'disabled'....
We have the capacity to do anything, except be a commercial airline pilot and join the army! Which is fine for me because I don't like flying and have no desire to join the army!
The Equality Act of 2010 protects people with Type 1 Diabetes in that it requires an employer to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees or job applicants in the workplace. The purpose of Type 1 Diabetes being considered under the Equality Act is because it can and does affect us in some capacity at work, it has an impact on us 24/7. You could say that in some sense, we are "disadvantaged" in that we may need to take short breaks to treat a low blood sugar or take time off for hospital appointments, this can lead to discrimination because your employer may be more concerned about losing money with you having time off rather than your ability to actually do the job. However, there are still jobs that people with Type 1 Diabetes are not allowed to do, such as joining the Armed Forces or flying a commerical plane, this is because in any of these environments something like a low blood sugar can put people at risk or make you a liability, plus airline pilots need 20/20 vision and complications like Retinopathy jeapordise this.
The complications and symptoms that come with Type 1 Diabetes can be "disabling" in that they can have a significant impact on your day to day life. For example, the symptoms of high blood sugar can have an affect in that it they can make you feel too unwell to do things, likewise with low blood sugar. More severe physical impacts for both include DKA, passing out, seizures...all of which can leave you "less able" than a healthy person, although temporary, they're still impacting your ability. The more permanent affects of Type 1 Diabetes like kidney disease, blindness, and limb amputation are a bit of a different ball game, because then it's not just Type 1 Diabetes you've got, it's other health issues that are in and of themselves, disabling.
Despite it being challenging, the GBDOC tweet chat confirmed that many people with Type 1 Diabetes, including me, do not consider themselves disabled. The Equality Act and due to the restrictions of some jobs, it can appear that this is the case, however, any 'limitations' we might encounter, only spur us on to prove people wrong and prove that our challenges can be overcome. Generally speaking, I am physically able and do not consider myself to be disabled in any capacity. I just think it's interesting to explore in what sense we are considered to be 'disabled'....
We have the capacity to do anything, except be a commercial airline pilot and join the army! Which is fine for me because I don't like flying and have no desire to join the army!
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