Invisible Illness Week - Meme

This week it's Invisible Illness Week (another one I wasn't aware of until recently!) so I'm celebrating mine with a Meme post.

If you want to contribute please visit Invisible Illness Week where you can Tweet, Facebook or blog, raising awareness and making your illness visible :)


1. The illness I live with is: Type 1 Diabetes
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2009
3. But I had symptoms since: 2007
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: getting used to watching everything I do as it will more than likely affect my BG, injecting and testing each and every day.
5. Most people assume: that I ate too much sugar, or that it's odd that I have D because I'm not largely obese, that I can't eat sugar
6. The hardest part about mornings are: remembering to test before breakfast and then remembering if I've injected or not xD
7. My favourite medical TV show is: Dr Quinn Medicine Woman < cos she's awesome!
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my meter is the only D gadget I have, other than that my laptop/blackberry :)
9. The hardest part about nights are: wondering whether I'll have a hypo in the early hours causing me to wake up with a hypo-hangover
10. Each day I take 1 pill & a billion vitamins. << Actually I don't..
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: don't think anything can be an alternative to insulin, however there are things that can go hand-in-hand. Such as laughter! Having a sense of humour with an Invisible Illness, to me, is pretty important. Otherwise I don't know where I'd be now.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: invisible illness. When I want to say 'Hey look at me with my D' I can wear one of my D-Tees and when I'm suffering from burnout I don't have to do anything.
13. Regarding working and career: they don't fit into my D, my D fits into them.
14. People would be surprised to know: that I don't mind people asking me questions about my D, I'm not embarrassed/ashamed about my Invisible Illness. I'll only get embarrassed if you make a dumb ass comment about me being a junkie, for example, and it'll be embarrassment for you. Not me.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: that I can remember my pre-D life with no hassle, and also that I may never see a cure in my lifetime.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: carry on with a relatively normal life :)
17. The commercials about my illness: non-existent as far as I'm aware in the UK?
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: going downstairs in the morning, eating my breakfast then watching TV in my jammies. Carefree.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: nothing! I don't feel I've given up anything due to D, I've gained a lot from it. Sometimes giving up time with friends etc sucks because I've had a bad hypo sucks but you've gotta roll with the punches!
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: blogging, regularly!
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: probably cry in shock!
22. My illness has taught me: that people are amazing, strong & can take on so much then help others too!
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: “You Can't”. In the words of Sherman Klump.. “YES I CAN”
24. But I love it when people: love me for who I am, and not because/despite diabetes. Also telling me that they've passed on some of their D-knowledge to someone else :)
25. My favourite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: that they aren't alone. There will always be people on hand to offer support and advice both on and off-line. You can have a great life after diagnosis :)
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: sometimes I can cope with it.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: gave me a bear hug and asked if I was okay <3
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: us PWD have to speak up and make D visible!
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: happy. If you have an Invisible Illness and a blog, make yours visible too and take part in the Meme posts :)