D-Blog Week – Day One: Admiring our differences

This is my first time joining in D-Blog week - I was determined to do so, but there is a little something which might make my posts a bit random and a bit short... actually it's a little person - my three week old son, C. So, forgive me in advance for any randomness - it's amazing how pregnancy brain turns seamlessly into mummy brain! Added sleep deprivation from the breastfeeding means I'm a little more off the planet...

Anyway, today's topic is 'Admiring our differences': We are all diabetes bloggers, but we come from many different perspectives. Last year, Diabetes Blog Week opened my eyes to all of the different kinds of blogs (and bloggers) out there - Type 1s, Type 2s, LADAs, parents of kids with diabetes, spouses of adults with diabetes and so on. Today let's talk about how great it is to learn from the perspectives of those unlike us! Have you learned new things from your T2 friends? Are D-parents your heroes? Do LADA blogs give you an insight to another diagnosis story? Do T1s who've lived well with diabetes since childhood give you hope? Pick a type of blogger who is different from you and tell us why they inspire you - why you admire them - why it's great that we are all the same but different!!

I found the DOC when I was reassessing everything to do with my diabetes and tightening up my control in anticipation of trying for a baby, and suddenly there was a brave new world out there of other people who understand what having diabetes actually means. It's a lonely old world if you're type 1 - there are so few of us, and whilst I wholeheartedly agree that all PWDs - types 1, 2, LADA, MODY, gestational and all of the other varieties - need to pull together, it's great for me that there are people out there blogging who totally get what my T1 life is like on a day to day basis. It's empowering to realised that you're not alone, to discover that other people are facing the same challenges that you do, and that [whispers] n0-one's perfect!

For me, the big difference between me and most other DOC-ers is location. Most of you guys are in the States, and there are a few others smattered around the face of the globe - Canada, Australia, NZ. There are comparatively few of us in the UK - people like Becky from Instructions Not Included, Siobahn at Click of the Light, and Caroline Parker at Diabetes Daily - Hi ladies from one of your lurkers! The DOC has given me a real insight into how diabetes care differes in other parts of the world. Pumps are extremely unusual in the UK, although some folk have managed to fight and win the battle to get NHS funding, and as for CGMS... well, they're almost unheard of (and certainly self-funded - oh, for that lottery win!) I'm relatively content to be on MDIs (my HbA1C has been excellent over the last eighteen months, so it is possible to control the D well without a pump), but I would LOVE LOVE LOVE the security that having a CGMS would bring, and the allied opportunity to fine-tune my control a bit more. You know what they say - 'knowledge is power'!

One thing that has fascinated me is just how much someone like me on MDIs can learn and adapt from the pumpers out there - there are tips and tricks which, whilst difficult to completely replicate on MDIs, have certainly changed my D-management for the better. For starters pizza and curry (naughty foods!) now hold fewer fears as I've understood that the fat content will cause my sugars to spike later than I might otherwise expect. Whilst I can't programme a fancy bolus to deal with this, I can certainly test again a couple of times in the hours after my meal and deliver a couple of small insulin doses to flatten out that spike.

The other thing that's been great for me is to follow all of the people out there who have blogged about their pregnancies with T1, and their experiences of parenthood. I don't think that there's another UK based blogger who has written about pregnancy and diabetes (but I may be wrong, and if so, I'd love to read what they have to say on the topic). Whilst I was pregnant I was able to learn a lot from the pregnancy D-bloggers in the US and elsewhere - including Kerri Sparling at Six Until Me, Cheryle Alkon at Managing the Sweetness within, Bethany Rose at Me with D (and previously Life as a Pregnant Diabetic), and Layne P over at Semi Charmed Life. Whilst the US and Canadian health systems might be totally different to the NHS system here in the UK, these ladies have been a huge inspiration, and have taught me things about pregnancy and diabetes that I wouldn't otherwise have know (and which I have been able to discuss with my brilliant doctors).

I believe that it's the diversity of the DOC, and the range of different experiences and opinions that we bring, that really makes us strong. We are not alone, and can learn from and support each other... and laugh with each other too.