How would your life change...

How would your life change if you were diagnosed with a life threatening disease that you were told was incurable?

What is Type 1 Diabetes? - Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. The immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Insulin is needed to get blood sugar (glucose) into cells for energy. Without insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream. This damages cells and tissues throughout the body. People who develop type 1 diabetes need to take insulin via shots or a pump for life.

5 years ago in my early 30's I was diagnosed with late on-set Type 1 diabetes. Before than, I had heard of diabetes, but never knew of anyone with the diabetes or was knowledgeable on the disease. Like many I just thought it was something you get as a child from eating to much sugar.

That is one of the misconceptions about Type 1. You do not get it from eating sugar. Healthy people with good diets can get it. The other misconception is that most do not really understand the day to day struggle with having diabetes. Most believe that you get medication and live your life like normal...


That is easier said than done and far from the truth. The truth is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no breaks, no vacations fight every minute of every day. Jabbing needles in your stomach 1,463 times a year and pricking your finger 2,190 times a year, just to feel and live whatever "normal" is.

I found the following words on the internet. These words best described my first couple years living with Type 1 diabetes:

"What's it like being Type 1 diabetic? Imagine living a life where you have this huge weight on your back all the time, it's like you never really get to live. You are always in a state of fear because you never know what could happen. You don't know if your blood sugar will manage through the night.You don't know if you'll wake up. You feel like a burden to others because they have to look out for you. You go through crazy mood swings based on your blood sugar. It is a huge emotional roller coaster. It's life where you have to depend on a bottle of insulin to survive. It's a restraint. You cant always do what your friends do. You feel like no one understands you. People don't always realize that its a disease and it could kill you, but hopefully its not a lifelong battle. I hope they find a cure and hopefully one day we wont have to explain how hard life with diabetes is but instead, what life without Type 1 diabetes is like."

I had many questions and doubts in my mind the first couple of years with Type 1 and slipped into a slight depression. I was happy in the sense that I was still alive, but the struggle and uncertainty of the future really hinders any good thoughts from forming.

I had no idea what I was doing the first couple of years and even though I meet with doctors, diabetic specialist, nutritionist, and read books. I never really understood what I needed to do to manage my diabetes. I look back and knowing what I know now and surprised that I never inadvertently killed myself. Trust me, it is very easy to do so when you become the controller and brain of your pancreas.

With advances in technology and research, many companies have come up with devices to help manage diabetes. One of the coolest devices in my opinion is the CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) made by Dexcom.

I started to use this device after the second year of have T1D. If give you your blood glucose readings every 5 minutes and trends where your sugars are going; steady, dropping and raising. It even has parameters and alerts when you have reached a high or low reading. 

This little device saved my fingertips. After years of pricking my fingers to test my blood, my fingers had become very callus and hard to get get a drop of blood out of them. Shortly after using the CGM I had regained feeling in my fingertips and only had to test twice a day to calibrate the CGM.

On many occasions this little device that is half the size of a regular cell phone and fits right in your pocket has saved my life. If it had not waken me up in the middle of the night or alerted me while I was riding my motorcycle. I could of slipped into a coma and never woken up or passed out while riding and could only imagine the amount of damage if I did survive the crash.

After a few more years I gained more knowledge and had better control of what I need to do. It is much like being a parent. There are books and information out there, but it never really seems to apply to you. You kind of figure it out as you go along and get better and adjust as time goes on.

I loved my CGM, but after a few more years of researching and gaining more information I decided to obtain an insulin pump and move towards pump therapy. Lucky for me the pump that I had been researching for some time was teaming up with Dexcom, the manufacture of the CGM I had been using for years to combine technology to make a insulin pump with a CGM component.

I had always been hesitate to move towards a pump for two reason, one being connected to a tube seemed very restricting and the second my lack of knowledge about how it worked. I was so use to the insulin pens that I thought I could never understand the pump and how it functioned.

I have had the pump for about a month now and my only regret is not doing it sooner. I have much better control over my glucose levels and I found that I rarely change my levels. The best thing about my new Tandem Tslim pump is that I only have one device in my pocket. It does not only hold and deliver insulin to me, but also acts as my CGM too.

I find myself reflecting back in the last five years and extremely grateful for what modern medicine and technology has provided for Type 1 diabetics. With this technology I feel I can live a more fulfilling life. Technology and medicine is only half the battle. The biggest part of the battle is more mental than anything. Keeping a positive outlook on life and accepting what you are and what you have is the most challenging part. It is easy to feel discouraged and slip in to a state of depression.

I have learned to find the silver lining and focus more on the gratitude for what I have and know that their are others that need help as well. My heart and focus in on the kids that suffer from the same disease. There are infants, toddlers and teenagers dealing what I deal with. As an adult I struggle and can only imagine what they go through. 

So, I ask myself. How would your life change if you were diagnosed with a life threatening disease that you were told was incurable?

"I would adjust and overcome. I would continue to fight and move forward. I would do anything I can do to find a cure. I would seek help and help others.I will continue to live my life"