Sometimes all you need to do is click on a video on YouTube

My name is Janne. I've been type 1 diabetic since i was 10. About five years ago up until last June, i subconsciously hated my diabetes, even the word itself, until i watched a video of DiabeticDanica around July, I realized that i wasn't so accepting about my condition.

The video I watched was called Why I Check my Blood Sugar by DiabeticDanica. I used to not check my blood sugar whenever I knew I was high, which was pretty much most of the time. My family and my endo would constantly tell me how life threatening that is. Long story short, I was in my rebellious stage and I simply did not care. The video helped me understand how important it is to check my blood sugar. With that being said, I've changed for the better. I've accepted my life, and I'm a lot happier. I actually had my endo appointment a day before Halloween, he said everything looks good. That sense of approval made me feel better about myself, but now, I don't only do these things because my endo or my mom told me to, I do it for me.

I've written myself a list about the positives about diabetes so I don't forget, and the DOC is definitely the one I like most. Being understood is certainly one of the greatest things on earth. I've only been on TuDiabetes for less than 24 hours but the people here are very welcoming, I love it. I wanna thank the Diabetes Online Community. I no longer feel alone on this journey.

November 14- Diabetes Awareness Day. I plan on raising awareness this whole month, especially on November 14. I have things in mind like asking my teachers, students, my friends to wear blue, explain what diabetes is, how we diabetics deal with it, how to prevent type 2, maybe show a day in life with diabetes, and most importantly, to clear probably not all, but hopefully some misconceptions about diabetes. (Did I say "diabetes" too many times?) Diabetes! Diabetes! Diabetes! (Yeah, that should do it.)

What are some of the many misconceptions that you would like to be cleared up? Every comment is appreciated!

PBandJanne:

Well, I did not check my blood sugar for over 20 years. So, I understand why not. Now I check my blood sugar 8-14 times a day (Maybe a little obsessive?). Welcome to our site and I am so glad you chose ot blog with us. Thank you, this is a wonderful blog.

rick

rick,
checking your blood sugar 8-14times a day is not obsessive. depending on my schedule for the da i do the same. it’s just not everyone can afford those test strips in such volumes.
jeff in japan aka tounyoubyou (diabetes in japanese)

Good for you, Janne! I was diagnosed at 16 and minimized it too for the first few years. I just wanted to be normal and eat pizza and go dancing in college until 2am. I did the basics, but not much more than that. I eventually got my act together, but it took baby steps. First I started checking myself once a day every day, then a couple of months later twice a day, and so on. Now it's been 31 years and I have an insulin pump and I check about 8 times a day! I'm by no means perfect, and I enjoy life and food and activities and lots of stuff, but I have found a pretty good balance. What hit home for me was to stop calling it "testing myself", because let's face it, who likes tests, especially ones that you often fail? Now I call it "checking my BG" or "monitoring my BG", which makes a lot more sense, right? We're checking to see where we are so we know what we have to do next, that's all. And if we see a pattern, we can change things to hopefully eliminate or at least reduce that pattern. It's not about control, because we all know we can't "control" our BG's, we can only manage them. Glad you are having some "a-ha" moments!

Thank you!

Janne,
one of the of misconceptions about diabetes… how do i put this… every Japanese person i know asks ‘what did you eat?’ after they find out i have diabetes… in my case i’ve got an undefined type… my diabetes is a medical complication of melas(Mitochondria encephalomyopathy with lactiacidosis and stroke like symptoms)it’s a Mitochondria disease from the mtDNA mutation A3243G which also causes MIDD (maternally inherited deafness and diabetes)diabetes is the at least the most managable of my problems right now.

Angivan I love pizza: LOL