First, I am going to introduce myself. My name is Alejandra Marquez. I am from Venezuela but I live in Greensboro, NC. I have lived with type 1 diabetes for 26 years. I have been part of DiabetesSisters since 2011. I am the PODS Leader in Greensboro NC. I participated in the DiabetesSisters Weekend for Women conference in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2017, and the Leadership Institute in 2017 and 2018.

As I participated in the two-day Bridging the Chasm between Pregnancy and Women’s Health Over the Life Course conference at Boston University in July, I recalled my experiences with pregnancy and childbirth 20 years earlier.

I had the wonderful opportunity in July 2018 to be one of the keynote speakers at Boston University’s inaugural “Bridging the Chasm between Pregnancy and Women’s Health over the Life Course” conference. This was a special privilege for me because I have a toddler who just turned 3 years old and I am still on a path to healing from my birth experience.

When most people think of drug companies they get angry. They think: Why are drugs so expensive, all they think of is profit, no regard for those who need the drug. I thought the same way.

My thoughts changed when I attended a Novo Nordisk workshop on April 26 in Plainsboro, NJ. For a full day, I was part of a group with other patients with diabetes and Novo Nordisk doctors and employees. Some of the employees were from New Jersey, others were from their headquarters in Copenhagen.

How many times have you been told to exercise more, to eat a little healthier, or to sleep a little longer? And how many times have you actually gotten out there and done it? Probably not as often as you’d like. We know that all of these things are important for your health, so what’s stopping us from getting it done? There are lots of resources out there to help get us active as someone with diabetes – you can create a plan with your healthcare team, search for the answers online, read some books, or join a gym.

On January 26th, 2018, Robin Wright, a patient with Type 2, psychotherapist and PODS Leader in Princeton NJ, delivered remarks at the opening panel discussion of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists meeting / CAP (Corporate AACE Partnership).  The subject was Identifying Access to Care, Identifying Unmet Needs of Patients and/or Clinicians and Generating Solutions to Address the Unmet Needs of patients.  We are pleased to bring you Robin's remarks in full:

This post is sponsored by Colgate®. Opinions are my own.

This post is sponsored by Colgate®. Opinions are my own.

She Said: My journey with diabetes started exactly 5 years ago when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant with our 2^nd child.  Looking back, it was actually this first diagnosis that was the most upsetting to me.