Sometimes I think the fact that I am living with type 1 diabetes is harder on my parents than it is for me. It is hard to imagine how it would feel watching your child prick their finger, give themselves a shot, and feel the symptoms of a high or low blood sugar, without knowing how it feels. However, this is what a parent of a type 1 diabetic endures everyday. I think it is easier when you have type 1 diabetes yourself, because you are used to being on high-alert, and taking care of yourself, but you do not have the worry that a parent carries around.

People living with type 1 diabetes vary greatly in how we each approach discussing the diabetes aspects of our lives. For example, I know some people who do not even want anyone to know that they have diabetes. They don’t want to think about it, deal with it, or seem “different” from their peers. I also know people on the other side of the spectrum, who always wear their sites in a visible place, incorporate diabetes into every conversation, and share every diabetes-related article on Facebook.

When I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was given a bag full of pamphlets and books on information regarding diabetes. The two that stick out in my mind as key components during my initial diagnosis are the CalorieKing booklet and A First Book for Understanding Diabetes by H. Peter Chase, MD.

I often think that in the chronic disease category, type 1 diabetes is rare in the sense that it is one of the only diseases that requires 24/7 care done by the patient themselves. It is up to the patient to determine doses of insulin, a possibly lethal drug. How many other chronic diseases do you know of that require that kind of care?