It seems that somehow I have had a change of heart towards diabetes. For many years I hated it and thought of it as an unwelcome invader of my body. I spent a lot of energy being disgruntled and angry at this unwelcome addition to my life. Lately, I have had a change of heart. Now I have started to think of diabetes as just another part of me, a trait like the color of my eyes. I used to resent and hate the seeming invasion, all the tests, the paraphernalia and the rituals, the doctors’ appointments and the highs and lows, and get very upset and feel stress and anxiety because of all the time, thought ands effort that I had to expend on it.
I was inspired by something I saw and read on TuDiabetes, and I thought about the idea of “wanting to be diabetic.” I mean, I now feel that I AM diabetic; it is a part of me, so why spend all my time, which I have to spend anyway, reacting negatively to it. I no longer feel like I have an illness. It has just become a part of me and I have become willing to embrace it. I know many people that will think I am crazy for thinking this way, but it is true.
Usually, when I listen to music it makes me relate to something in my life, so I spent some time looking for a song that expresses the way that I feel about this part of me. I picked this song because of the words. Loving diabetes sometimes hurts, but I feel so happy to have all the things that I need to take care of it and I love the fact that I am alive.
I know that many people feel very strong emotionally about diabetes. Does anyone have a special song or poem or thoughts on how diabetes feels to them? I know that there is a wide spectrum of feelings about this very real part of our lives and we all feel different ways. That is what is great about feelings, they are so unique. No one can tell you how to feel about things that really matter, these feelings belong only to you. Music and art are a form of expression. what song describes your life with diabetes to you?
Here’s Mine.
http://youtu.be/zxPcmi1U25g
Iris by thegoo goo dolls.mostly for the line " Yeah you bleed just to know your alive" which make me think of blood sugar checks. another good part is the Chorus:
I don’t want the world to see me
Cause I don’t think that they’d understand (1st 2 relates to taken shots in public and how many people don’t get why we do it)
When everything’s made to be broken (pancreas!)
I just want you to know who I am (what the line says)
When i ran into it looking for something to Viennese waltz to how i connected to it felt like a smack.
It’s an old one I’ve had to pull many times…I Will Survive by Donna Summer… Well I almost didn’t a few times
I don’t think you’re crazy at all for embracing your diabetes. I totally agree, but don’t always achieve it. It is part of who I am, so embracing D is integral to embracing myself. I can’t change it. I can hate it and be frustrated with it, but it’s so draining!
Great song btw.
Perfect Doris! Love it 
I wonder if you could post the words – I can’t understand them on the video.
As far as diabetes, today I was musing on the fact that I have a love/hate relationship with insulin. Love it because it keeps me alive; hate it because it’s involved in everything I do. Joined at the hip and can’t get rid of it. I would LIKE to just accept diabetes as a part of me, but it just keeps on beating me up!
Roller Coaster by the 13th Floor Elevators and
“Who’s In Control?” by British Sea Power. I’m a fan of my local library.
I LOVE THAT SONG!!!
I tried running to Vivaldi a week or two ago and it was AWESOME, the whole music teacher thing= strong time that I loved running to!
I like 'Cuz I Can by P!nk as my diabetes theme song. In particular, the lines:
So I'll cash my checks and place my bets And hope I'll always win Even if I don't I'm f***ed because I live a life of sin But it's alright I don't give a d*** I don't play your rules I make my own Tonight I'll do what I want Cuz I can (ice cream, ice cream, we all want ice cream)
Gotta love the attitude! 
I also like Take Me To the River (as sung in the movie The Commitments), particularly these lines:
I don't know why I love you like I do After all these changes that you put me through You stole my money and my cigarettes And I haven't seen hide nor hair of you yet
When I was first dx’ed, I would pop (yeah, this dates me) a tape into my Walkman and run to this song. I always felt that diabetes “stole my money” (though not cigarettes, since I don’t smoke), and that really spoke to me.
YAY i loved it the first time i heard it
“Thorn in my Side” by the Eurythmics.
It was one of my favorite running songs BEFORE diagnosis, and now it’s like my diabetic theme song. Or diabetic running theme song. Or something. And yeah, yeah, OK, it’s about escaping from an abusive relationship … but you can reinterpret most of it. My pump is the thorn in my side. And c’mon, it’s got the line “I was feeling complicated/I was feeling low”!
It starts:
You gave me such a bad time
Tried to hurt me
But now I know
Thorn in my side
That’s all you ever were…
Plus, it’s just a great running song. Annie Lennox goes, “run run run run run” for like a minute at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AmkmqYEarw
Perfect by Pink when I’m in a decent mood about it, Stay by Shakespeare’s Sister when I’m less than impressed with it.
Perfect:
Made a wrong turn, once or twice.
Dug my way out, blood and fire.
Bad decisions, that’s alright.
Welcome to my silly life.
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood.
Miss ‘No way, it’s all good’, it didn’t slow me down.
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated.
Look, I’m still around.
Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel
Like you’re less than fn perfect.
Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you’re nothing,
You’re fn perfect to me
You’re so mean when you talk about yourself; you were wrong.
Change the voices in your head; make them like you instead.
So complicated, look happy, you’ll make it
Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game.
It’s enough; I’ve done all I can think of.
Chased down all my demons, I’ve seen you do the same.
The whole world’s scared so I swallow the fear.
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer.
So cool in line, and we try try try, but we try too hard and it’s a waste of my time.
Done looking for the critics, cause they’re everywhere.
They dont like my jeans; they don’t get my hair.
Exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time.
Why do we do that? Why do I do that?
Why do I do that?
Yeah, oh, oh baby, pretty baby
Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel
Like you’re less than fn perfect.
Pretty,pretty please, if you ever, ever feel
Like you’re nothing, you’re fn perfect to me, yeahhh.
You’re perfect, you’re perfect
Ohh pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel
Like you’re nothin’ you’re f*n perfect to me.
Stay:
If this world is wearing thin and you’re thinking of escape
I’ll go anywhere with you just wrap me up in chains
But if you try to go alone don’t think I’ll understand
Stay with me, stay with me
In the silence of your room, in the darkness of your dreams
You must only think of me, there can be no in between
When your pride is on the floor I’ll make you beg for more
Stay, stay with me
You’d better hope and pray that you’ll make it safe back to your own world
You’d better hope and pray that you’ll wake one day in your own world
Cuz when you sleep at night they dont hear you cries in your own world
Only time will tell if you can break the spell back in your own world
Whiter Shade of Pale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k47lTsGE2Wc&feature=related
I can’t say I’ve got a special D-song (you’ve got my mind whirring now, trying to come up with one!). But every time I try to put in new CGM sensor with that mile-long needle, I start singing the line from the Pussycat Dolls’ song: “I hate this part right here…”
I wish that when my cgm says I am low instead of doing that boring trending down beep I wished it screams the song “Pour Some Sugar On Me!” by Def Leppard.
How awesome would it be if our pumps & cgms were like cell phones in that respect - where we could download songs to them and set them as our alert tones!
That’s a cool way to artify your life!
When I was on oral meds for treating my diabetes, I hated it. The side effects in my quest of controlling the disease were miserable, so this tune by The Tubes seemed very appropriate back in the day.
I learned over the years to put a positive spin on things and ALWAYS know I’m tougher than the D