About Alex
I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 17. From this point on I’ll refer to it simply as T1D. By choice I follow a simple, some would say “old school” approach to managing my T1.
Most aspects of living with T1D are incomprehensible to most people. Firstly, most people living with T1D look no different to anybody else. Secondly, most people cannot comprehend the fact that in the 46 years I’ve lived with T1D, I’ve had about 55,000 injections and make my fingers bleed at least 4 times every single day. Finally, in this world where many people worry endlessly about their weight, their grey hair, whether they have the latest mobile phone or whether “their bum looks good in this”, 30 million people around the world are living with something that could stop them from seeing the sun rise tomorrow.
An important point to mention is that in addition to T1D, I also live with coeliac disease, ie. gluten free. As this blog is focussed on T1D, I won’t bother mentioning “gluten free” unless it has an actual affect on the flow of the story. Apart from a statistical relationship, there is nothing with coeliac disease that impacts T1D. The impact of living with both though is interesting. The way I describe it is that the T1D affects the HOW MUCH.
- How much food is too much
- How much food is not enough
- How much food have I had? (for those who follow a more modern approach)
However the coeliac (gluten free) affects the WHAT.
- What is in this food
And living with both leads to the never ending mental question – “Is there any gluten in this food and how much carbohydrate does it have?”
In this blog I hope to remove some of the mist from the topic of living with Type 1 Diabetes.
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COVID-19 Sanctuary – Too Much Time to Think
I’ve just returned from my afternoon “Let’s stay healthy” walk. Today my mind was off in thought bubble land, going in whichever direction it wanted to, and I started contemplating how things for T1D have changed over my 46 years of living with it. Sadly, one of the prevailing thoughts in 2020, and this shouldn’t… Read more
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Even the Experts Don’t Really Understand
I had an appointment with the endocrinologist last Wednesday. Nothing special there as they happen every 3 months, the only difference being that, because of the virus, this one was done over the phone. For those readers not in the diabetes community, an “endo” is a specialist doctor who looks after things to do with… Read more
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