DSMA November Blog Carnival - Poke or Tweet?

Over the past few years social media has pretty much taken over almost everything. Helping people re-connect, make new friends, promote/sell stuff and much more. Lots of people criticise it for various things, however it is brilliant for bringing people together.


Without social media I wouldn't have met so many wonderful people from around the world suffering from the same condition as me. I'd have continued struggling with D 24/7 feeling incredibly alone and isolated, no-one to say 'Yeah I know exactly how you're feeling!'. I've read some incredibly powerful and emotional stories about D from parents, and other Type 1's which has helped me learn a lot more about D and inspired me to set up my blog.


If someone was new to the whole social media thing, my tips/advice would be:


┣▇▇▇═─ Start off by reading a few blogs/forum posts. People will always have different opinions on things but it will help you form your own ideas :)


┣▇▇▇═─ Join Twitter! The DOC will be there for you at any time of the night or day. Whether you're celebrating a good result or having a nightmare with your sugars and just need to vent.


┣▇▇▇═─ It all starts with a Tweet or a poke! Whether its a question or a comment if you reach out to someone, they will be sure to reach back :)


┣▇▇▇═─ When you feel ready (and if you're in the right time zone :P) you can participate in things like #dsma chat every week!


┣▇▇▇═─ Humour is one of the best ways to cope with D, and people from the DOC have THE best sense of humour. Lots of glitter, unicorns and cupcakes included :D


┣▇▇▇═─ Be prepared to get addicted. One you start you won't look back.

This post is my November entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2011/november-dsma-blog-carnival/

Remember, Remember..

... the 5th of November - Happy Bonfire Night everyone! :)

Apologies for the lack of recent posts, it's been a tough few weeks but it's November which means it's finally Diabetes Month! Just the kick up the arse I needed to get back on track with my blog.

Firstly, I posted a couple of weeks ago about the World Diabetes Postcard Exchange (which I thought was an awesome idea!). I finally finished my card on Thursday and posted it yesterday to my match. I'm not a particularly crafty person, but managed not to glue my hands together or make a big mess and have to start again!

I have also now been challenged to make a Diabotic :D
Who knows, maybe I'm a crafty person after all...















November also means the start of Blue Fridays! I had to help out at Stores so used this as an excuse to wear my bright blue hoodie (please excuse the rubbish camera phone quality!). I also got to wear my Circle D Rocks badge as it's blue too. Afternoon back in the office meant changing back out of my jeans BUT I found a blue top and kept blue all day!






















I'm hopefully off on Friday so I can wear blue whilst completing my Big Blue Test! Just test and record your reading, complete around 15 mins of exercise in any shape or form then test again and post  your results on the website and share on FB/Twitter etc :)

This year aims to get 8000 participants sharing their results so get testing and exercising!

Blue Monday? Blue Tuesday? NO, Blue Fridays!

The lovely Cherise at Diabetic Iz Me has created Blue Fridays, an initiative to promote World Diabetes Day (November 14th) by getting everyone to wear blue on each Friday in November and also on the 14th itself.

Help promote both WDD and Blue Fridays by visiting their Facebook page and sharing/tweeting/blogging to spread the word. You can also post pictures of yourself on the site wearing your blue :)

I'd sooo love to do blue streaks in the barnet... but I don't think it'd go down well at work, so it'll just be blue clothes, blue nails and (if I can find any) blue jammies!! :D

Just a little update with me and the D..

I've been dreading my HbA1c for a little while now, it's been sticking around the 8/8.5% mark for the past few results and I was hoping desperately for a drop, even it was 0.1%! I've had a rough month professionally which has had a negative effect on my levels, especially the two weeks before my bloods were taken.

*cough* typical *cough*

My carb counting course helped my keep under 10mmol the vast majority of the time, so getting readings of 20mmol+ was pretty gutting. The stress has also taken its toll on my appetite, which brought ketones into the mix. I knew I had to keep eating but struggled a lot so I was having about half of my normal food.

Not exactly what you need before visiting the consultant!

Tested my ketones on that morning and got 0.4, so I knew I needed to get over what had happened before it affected my health further. I was expecting the worst when I arrived, however I was given a silver lining, and a HbA1c of 7.5%!

Since then I'm still running high than usual, however today I've had one reading of 10mmol and everything else below. So hopefully my rough patch is over and I can get back to the 5s and 6s I'd only just gotten used to! *crosses fingers*

DSMA October Blog Carnival - Do You 'Get It?'

This month's DSMA asks: What types of decisions and frequency of diabetes related decisions do you make in any given day?

I think pretty much every decision I make during the day is diabetes related, because at some point or another it WILL affect my finger pricker results:

How many carbs are in that?
Am I going to eat all of that?
Do I round up or down?
Am I coming down or going up?
To exercise or not?
What's the weather like outside?
Is my site not absorbing or is it my pen?
Is that packaing correct?
Will that jelly bean/glucotab bring me up enough?
Should I test?
Will this correction dose be too much?
Is it diet?
How much insulin do I have on board?
Have I touched something that could affect my reading?
Has something happened whilst I've been asleep?
To flu-jab or not?

Every day is filled with different decisions and whether or not you think they are diabetes related, they usually are.

You'd be surprised at the amount of things to take in to consideration before putting food in your mouth!

This post is my October entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2011/october-dsma-blog-carnival/

No D Day

Today is No D Day, created by the lovely George at Ninjabetic and my first time taking part :)

This is my day without D.

I'm going to have a lie in.

Be woken up by having a crazy puppy being dropped on my bed licking me to death.

Snuggle in my jammies watching crappy daytime TV enjoying a cup of tea in bed.

Go to the beach with my best friend.

Make sandcastles.

Paddle in the sea.

Eat ice cream in a deck chair.

Do some shopping and people watching (in a non-stalker kinda way..)

Enjoy a meal out with my friends and/or family.

And order dessert!

Get dressed up.

Have a few drinks.

A dance.

Stay up till I wanted.

ALL WITH NO WORRYING! <3

For more No D Day posts please click here. Thank you so much George for creating this :)

You've Got Mail!

Over the past few days I noticed a lot of people on Twitter talking about a postcard exchange celebrating World Diabetes Day on November 14th.. so I decided to have a ganders and discovered a brilliant way to celebrate WDD and make new D friends from anywhere in the world!

Lee Ann Thill from The Butter Compartment and creator of Diabetes Art Day, came up with the World Diabetes Postcard Exchange. The rules are:

1) Email your postal address to Lee Ann at leeann@thebuttercompartment.com. If you would like to be matched with an adult, child or family, another T1/T2, or if you are a T3, spouse, sibling or parent, please indicate that.  Lee Ann will do her best to match you with someone similar. Otherwise, your recipient will be random, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing! We’re sending old-school post office-delivered postcards, so Lee Ann will need your snail mail address.

 

2) Expect to receive an email with the name and address of your postcard recipient.  Lee Ann's trying to collect a list of people from many different places, and as soon as the list fills out, she’ll be sending the emails.

 

3) Use the WDD Blue Circle and all the creativity you can fit on a 3.5” x 5” piece of cardstock.

 

4) On the back of the postcard, complete this mini D meme, in addition to anything else you’d like to share with your recipient: 

• Your name:
• Where you live:
• Your connection to diabetes:
• Type of diabetes:
• Year of diagnosis:
• One thing you do to Act On Diabetes:
• One Word:

5) Mail it, ideally in time for the recipient to receive it by November 14th. If you’re unable to do that, please at least have it postmarked by then.

 

6) Check your mailbox for a postcard from the person who was assigned your name and address.

 

7) If you like, post a photo of the postcard you receive on the World Diabetes Day Postcard Exchange Facebook page.

If you are a little wary about sharing details, then please visit Lee Ann's page for further details. She has assured everyone taking part that only she, and the recipient will receive your address details. I signed up yesterday and now just need to find a piece of card and a little inspiration for my design! Who knows I may make a new D-friend and we become penpals :D

So what are you waiting for? Go sign up now! x

Wordless Wednesday