World Diabetes Day

World Diabetes Day is held on November 14 each year. The aim of the day is to increase peoples awareness of diabetes and to help raise money to use on research for diabetes. The money people raise could help find a cure for diabetes. Research has help people to develop their knowledge of diabetes and they have been able to invent things like insulin pumps. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could find a cure for diabetes?

At school loads of people know I that I have diabetes  but they have no idea what diabetes is or what I have to go through everyday. Some people ask me what my pump is when I am getting changed for PE, I also get people say that my pump is a phone too. It can be really hard to explain to people what diabetes is and what your pump is because most of the time they don't understand or they don't want to listen to you explain it to them. Some times it can make you feel upset and down when people say diabetes is easy to coup with everyday, the truth is they have no idea what we have to go through. It can also be upsetting when you have a day off school because you are unwell because of your levels or ketones and then when you go to school the next day they say you were skiving off school when actually you were really unwell. If we made people more aware of diabetes some of these things wouldn't happen. Also people would be able to help other people with diabetes more if they new more about it.

So what can you do to make people more aware of diabetes and raise money? You could do a sponsored run or walk, you could hand out leaflets about diabetes, you could do a cake sale, you could have a typeonese day at school, there are so many ways you could raise awareness and money for diabetes.

Please do whatever you can to raise money and make people more aware of diabetes. If everyone works together we can make a massive difference.

Days off school

We all have days where we are ill and don't go to school. This could be because you are general ill or you are ill because of your diabetes. You could have really high levels and ketones, you could be sick, your levels could be all over the place or other things, there are so many reasons why you have some days off school.

How do people at school act when you have a day off at school? They might understand and make sure you are alright when you go to school the next day or they might say you are skiving off school. It can be really hard if people say you were skiving when actually you were really ill.

A couple of days ago my cannula to my pump fell out in the night while I was asleep, the next morning I woke up feeling really sick and thirsty so I checked my levels. My levels were 26.7 and my ketones were 1.2. I put a new cannula in and gave myself some insulin to get rid of my ketones and lower my levels. I had an English exam that day so I started to get ready for school but I felt really ill so I sat down for a bit. I checked my levels and ketones again, they had gone up! So I gave myself some more insulin and my mum said that I couldn't go to school. As the day went on my levels lowered and I had no ketones, I felt a lot better.

The next day at school loads of people said that I skived off school because we had an English exam. I explained how I had really high levels and ketones because my cannula to my pump fell out in the night so I had missed loads of insulin. They still wouldn't listen, so I explained how dangerous ketones are and that I could have ended up in hospital. They still wouldn't listen and kept saying that I skived off school, no matter how many times I tried to explain why I wasn't at school, they didn't listen or care. So I choose to just ignore them because they weren't worth it and I knew my real friends would just ignore them.

I know it can be really hard when people make things up about you, however they have no idea what we have to go through every day and how hard it actually is. The best thing to do is to ignore them because they are not worth it;they have no idea how ill our diabetes can make us feel.

Please don't let people get you down, just ignore them they aren't worth it, always remember you are a lot stronger then you think
   

Fears

Everyone is scared of different things, it could be something really scary to you but to someone else its nothing. Some people try and face their fears but it's not as easy as it sounds, it can be really hard. Some people don't tell anyone their fears because they are scared someone might think it's funny or that someone might use their fear against them. I never really tell anyone about my phobias or fears because I think some of them are weird, I thought today I would tell you about one of my fears.

One of my biggest fears are needles, I have a phobia of them. I don't really tell people about this phobia because I have to stick needles in me every day so I thought people might find it a bit stupid. this is the first time I have told lots of people about my big fear/phobia of needles. I have no idea why I am so scared of needles but I just am.

As I am on a pump I have to change my line every 3 days. When I change my line I use this spray that numbs your skin, this means that when I insert my new cannula in me I don't feel it go in. However even though I use this spray I am still scared of changing my line. It normally takes me like 10 minutes to change my cannula because when I go to insert the cannula I get scared and don't want to do it. So I leave it a bit longer and then I will try and insert my cannula again. Once I insert my new cannula I am so happy that I have done it.

The thing that I am most scared on is blood test. Every time I have a blood test I have to lay down and I get really worked up about it, so my levels ended up going high. Every year I have an annual review at the diabetic clinic where they do a blood test,. I had mine a couple of weeks ago, I was fine until they said I had to have my blood test done. To start of I wouldn't go into the room where they were doing the blood tests because I really didn't want to have it done. One of the nurses came out and walked me into the room. When I got in the room I sat on the bed and they choose which arm they were going to do the blood test on. I was shaky loads because I was so scared. When they went to take the blood I start crying because I really didn't want to have it done. So one of the nurses came and hugged me and made sure I wasn't looking while the other nurse took the blood from my arm. It hurt a bit when the nurse took the blood but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was so proud of myself after it was all done.

I have realised that thing aren't always as bad as you think it's going to be. you are a lot stronger then you think you are. You can face your fears and phobias if you really want to, I know it is really scary at first but you will be so proud of yourself after you have faced your fears.