Hi all! :)

lauramwatt

lauramwatt

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
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She/Her
Hello everyone!

I hope you're all having a lovely day so far.

I recently took part in the CHOICE course, and I found out about this forum through that. I've been diabetic for quite a while, and it's lovely to know that there's a group of people here that are going through the same/similar things. Diabetes can be a little lonely sometimes, so I'm really excited to be part of this.

I don't have any questions to start with, but I was wondering if any of you could offer me some insight? I work in HR, and closely with our Head of EDI, and I've been asked to write a piece on Diabetes awareness for World Diabetes Day (nov 14th). I want to write a bit about my experience, and resources we have available for those at our company, but I was wondering if any of you have any ideas for what I should include? I was thinking some links also (to Diabetes UK and a link to the Diabetes NHS health check). If anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Thank you 🙂
 
hello and welcome to the forum 🙂
 
Welcome @lauramwatt
There are so many things to write about with regards to diabetes.
I think if it was up to me, I would write something along the lines of "things I wish people knew about diabetes". I know it's a broad subject but it would give me a chance to explain the difference between type 1 and type 2 (and other types of diabetes) as well as quash some of the myths such as "I must have eaten a lot of sweets as a child" and how all carbs break down to sugar and maybe something about hypos - what they are like, what they are and what to do if you see someone experiencing a hypo.
 
Welcome to the forum @lauramwatt . Very pleased that you have found us. It is great to have others to ‘talk’ to who ‘get it’.

How good that you are preparing something about diabetes for work. I think the difference between T1 and T2 would be useful and to bust some of the myths around diabetes.
It would be good to signpost them to resources such as this forum and the Diabetes UK website in general.
 
helli said:
Welcome @lauramwatt
There are so many things to write about with regards to diabetes.
I think if it was up to me, I would write something along the lines of "things I wish people knew about diabetes". I know it's a broad subject but it would give me a chance to explain the difference between type 1 and type 2 (and other types of diabetes) as well as quash some of the myths such as "I must have eaten a lot of sweets as a child" and how all carbs break down to sugar and maybe something about hypos - what they are like, what they are and what to do if you see someone experiencing a hypo.
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Hi!

That's a really good idea 🙂 definitely want to explain the differences between type 1 and 2. When I told my employers I have type 1, barely any of them knew anything about it! Swashing a few myths seems like a fun approach also- I'll have to think of a few of the ones I've heard haha
 
everyday is different when it comes to managing diabetes , and there's no one fits all treatment for this disease it does get to you after a bit i got hooked on numbers for a while and to be honest a bit depressed and feeling alone but your not alone in this , i come on here and search for answers from people who understand and live with diabetes everyday i've learnt so much from everyone and i've managed to come off metformin within 11 months of joining this forum and that's a lot to do with reading and researching and checking in everday and reading peoples posts . There really is so much to write about when it come to living with this day to day .
 
SB2015 said:
Welcome to the forum @lauramwatt . Very pleased that you have found us. It is great to have others to ‘talk’ to who ‘get it’.

How good that you are preparing something about diabetes for work. I think the difference between T1 and T2 would be useful and to bust some of the myths around diabetes.
It would be good to signpost them to resources such as this forum and the Diabetes UK website in general.
Click to expand...
Hi @SB2015

Yeah definitely 🙂 It's nice to have a space to share with others. Thank you so much for your ideas 🙂 I think I'll have a lot of fun investigating what myths there are haha
 
CoolShot44 said:
everyday is different when it comes to managing diabetes , and there's no one fits all treatment for this disease it does get to you after a bit i got hooked on numbers for a while and to be honest a bit depressed and feeling alone but your not alone in this , i come on here and search for answers from people who understand and live with diabetes everyday i've learnt so much from everyone and i've managed to come off metformin within 11 months of joining this forum and that's a lot to do with reading and researching and checking in everday and reading peoples posts . There really is so much to write about when it come to living with this day to day .
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Thanks for sharing 🙂 Honestly I feel the exact same way! I've realised only recently (after being diabetic for nearly 25 years) just how much it weighs on my mind every second of every day. I think a forum like this would be really good for helping to ease that stress, as you described. I would definitely also like to link the forum in my piece- to help others who may not be aware of it
 
trophywench said:
You could list the '42 things' that can easily affect blood glucose, that cause us problems in our day to day management of our diabetes - not forgetting what colour socks &/or underwear we put on that day.
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Gosh is it really 42?! that's so many! I've been given a 400 word limit so I don't think I'll be able to include all of them- but I will definitely include a few of them.
 
When i was diagnosed i had no idea and to be fair i pretty much just gave in to it from day one and told to take the metformin which increased every time i went to my gp surgery no advice given and i had no family members that had this disease or new anyone to talk to . I thought my diet was ok and my lifestyle im active do alot of walking and full time work so couldn't really understand what was going on for a long time , only when i learnt about this forum and diabetes uk did i start to find answers and to start to find my own ways in which to manage this , im now sort of in remission if thats a thing but i know diabetes is there in the background .
 
CoolShot44 said:
When i was diagnosed i had no idea and to be fair i pretty much just gave in to it from day one and told to take the metformin which increased every time i went to my gp surgery no advice given and i had no family members that had this disease or new anyone to talk to . I thought my diet was ok and my lifestyle im active do alot of walking and full time work so couldn't really understand what was going on for a long time , only when i learnt about this forum and diabetes uk did i start to find answers and to start to find my own ways in which to manage this , im now sort of in remission if thats a thing but i know diabetes is there in the background .
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I'm glad you've come so far 🙂 This forum seems like a really great place to find answers. I consider myself quite lucky in a way that I was diagnosed so young (as my parents helped me a lot)- I can't imagine how much more scary and bewildering it would be to get diabetes as an adult. I'm happy there are far more resources now to help.
 
Type 1 and type 2 are different and i totally get it , but from my perspective its opened up my eyes and to what everyone who lives with this disease goes through day to day . I do the finger pricks and carb counting and manage my numbers keeping them in range but that's where my similarity goes you have to deal with so much more the sleepless nights the hypo alarms going off ,the insulin and and the dosing you have to deal with so much more and its opened my eyes and utter respect , i cant even imagine the half of what its like to grow up living with this without a break .
 
CoolShot44 said:
Type 1 and type 2 are different and i totally get it , but from my perspective its opened up my eyes and to what everyone who lives with this disease goes through day to day . I do the finger pricks and carb counting and manage my numbers keeping them in range but that's where my similarity goes you have to deal with so much more the sleepless nights the hypo alarms going off ,the insulin and and the dosing you have to deal with so much more and its opened my eyes and utter respect , i cant even imagine the half of what its like to grow up living with this without a break .
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yeah it's not been easy...but I've never know any different which I've always considered to be kind of a blessing (that may sound strange to some haha). Type 1 and 2 we each have our own struggles :')
 
I think what we do have in common is the mental health effect that diabetes can have on everyone and the tole it takes , everyone's different i get that when it comes to living with this no matter what type of diabetes you have , there's been times that no matter what i do nothing makes any sense i like many have my own target range but some days i'm no where near , even though i pretty much eat the same things every day , i thought for a long time that id been wrongly diagnosed and i've lost so much weight its quite shocking but i seemed to have leveled out at ten stone .
I blamed myself for a long time for getting this disease and it really got to me , and for a while i just couldn't deal with or think about it so i just carried on until one day i decided enough was enough i must do something my meds were just going up and up but no one was helping me well that's how i felt i had to have answers ! i had to tell my diabetes nurse about Desmond course and can i get a referral THIS WAS 3 YEARS INTO ME HAVING DIABETES why wasn't i offered this 3 years ago i could have made changes then if i new about it , i just happened to read about the course on google and thought oh i must mention this at my next appointment in 6 months . Put on it straight away when i asked about it .
your right we do have our own struggles and respect to everyone living with this disease !!
 
I often listen to jen greives type 1 on 1 podcasts and the late michael mosley podcasts while i'm cooking , don't know if you have ever listened to them b4 , but very good when it comes to managing this day to day any little bit of advice is good and ill take advice where i can , as someone that is living with type 1 can you give any tips , if you could share one thing what would it be ?
 
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lauramwatt said:
Gosh is it really 42?! that's so many! I've been given a 400 word limit so I don't think I'll be able to include all of them- but I will definitely include a few of them.
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being as it's employment related - you'd do well to ensure you include the orrible effect of stress and also the brain recovery time from hypos.
 
Hi @lauramwatt - welcome and good luck with writing your piece for World Diabetes Day - it's great that your company are taking this seriously - as you only have 400 words I would definitely focus on the myths surrounding Diabetes and the mental strain, rather than the physical facts/complications (unless you have enough words left!) - you'll find plenty of inspiration from looking at this forum
 
lauramwatt said:
Hello everyone!

I hope you're all having a lovely day so far.

I recently took part in the CHOICE course, and I found out about this forum through that. I've been diabetic for quite a while, and it's lovely to know that there's a group of people here that are going through the same/similar things. Diabetes can be a little lonely sometimes, so I'm really excited to be part of this.

I don't have any questions to start with, but I was wondering if any of you could offer me some insight? I work in HR, and closely with our Head of EDI, and I've been asked to write a piece on Diabetes awareness for World Diabetes Day (nov 14th). I want to write a bit about my experience, and resources we have available for those at our company, but I was wondering if any of you have any ideas for what I should include? I was thinking some links also (to Diabetes UK and a link to the Diabetes NHS health check). If anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Thank you 🙂
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Brilliant! In terms of supporting people in your (or any) organisation who are diabetic or who have diabetic family members, I think it's important to not overlook the psychological impact of diabetes - at whatever stage the individual is at. As an example (I suggest) of how not to do it, when I was diagnosed out of the blue and told my line manager that I might at some point need some reasonable adjustments, that person said to me, "Well, if you go blind, we'll buy you a special computer".

In your situation I'd want to focus on psychological issues such as possible grief reactions, which can of course occur at any point during a person's diabetic 'journey'.
 
lauramwatt said:
Hi @SB2015

Yeah definitely 🙂 It's nice to have a space to share with others. Thank you so much for your ideas 🙂 I think I'll have a lot of fun investigating what myths there are haha
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Happy to send you a couple of sheets of these that I use when doing presentations if you would like that.
 
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