Today is the sixth annual D Blog Day.  (thank you Gina!) Everyone in the diabetes community is blogging about the six things they want people to know about diabetes.  I am going to try my hardest to read them all!  And here is my contribution about my life with the big D.

1.  As much as living with diabetes can suck at times, there are some pretty freaking cool people who have it.  Since becoming active in the diabetes community, I have met and become friends with some awesome people.  And although I’m not the least bit thankful for having diabetes, I am grateful for having met these other PWD!

2. Diabetes is a full time job.  Having to know my blood glucose level never goes away.  It’s every minute of every day of every week of every month of every year.  So yeah, sometimes it gets to me and I get tired and it would more than nice to have a cure.

3. I may look like any normal person on the outside.  People who don’t know me would probably never even guess that I live with a chronic condition.  It doesn’t stop me from doing things like normal people most of the time.  But diabetes is very serious and there are life threatening situations that can arise.  It can take loved ones away from us.  Don’t forget that just because I look just like anyone else.

4. Having the support of other PWD in your life is priceless.  I went the first 20+ years of my diabetic life with support from family and friends.  And although they are great and I would be lost without them, it’s not the same as having encouragement from others who are going through similar experiences.

5. If my blood sugar is high or low, it doesn’t necessarily have something to do with anything I did “wrong”.  There are so very many variables that impact glucose readings that sometimes it can’t be attributed to anything specific.  The human body is complicated and can seem to have a mind of its own at times.

6.  Most importantly, not only are there different types of diabetes (type 1, type 2, LADA and gestational) every case of type 1 is different.  Everyone’s type 1 diabetes varies.  This means that what may work for me, may not work for someone else and vice versa.  There is no “uniform” way to care for diabetes.