Life living with type one diabetes can be hard. Type one diabetes is a disease where your pancreas stops working. People with diabetes have to take insulin through shots or a pump. This helps to regulate their blood sugar. They also have to test their blood sugar before they eat.
Thirteen-year old Lauren Davis has type one diabetes. She was diagnosed when she was five years old. It was hard for her at first because she had to get shots and poke her finger all the time. She also had to get used to counting the carbs she ate. Although Lauren has diabetes, she doesn’t feel any different than other people. Lauren says at school she’s usually late for lunch because she has to test before hand. If her blood sugar goes low, she might also have to test it between classes, and if she’s low she’ll have to eat something with carbs.
Lauren says, “I can’t even imagine not having diabetes. It would be like a dream.”
If Lauren didn’t have diabetes she could eat whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. In some ways diabetes affects sports. For example, if her blood sugar goes low during sports she has to stop and test her blood sugar. Then she has to wait fifteen minutes before she can play again.
Lauren’s advice for other people with diabetes is: “You have to accept that diabetes is a part of your life. There is nothing you can do about it, so make the best of it.”
Brianna Love is a freshman in highschool who was diagnosed with type one diabetes in sixth grade.
Brianna says, “At first it was hard getting into the habit of checking, and it was EXTREMELY hard counting carbs(carbohydrates) and not just eating when I wanted.”
Having diabetes makes her feel different than other people, but she doesn’t feel excluded. At school she doesn’t have as much time at lunch because she has to check her blood sugar. If she didn’t have diabetes, she could eat without checking or giving herself insulin, but she might not be as responsible without diabetes.
Brianna says, “…so in a weird way diabetes is sickly and twisted; sort of a good thing.”
To her, diabetes doesn’t really affect sports.
Brianna gives advice to other kids who just got diabetes. “Stay on top of things. Do not be afraid to do things differently or interrupt class for diabetes.”
Diabetes does affect people’s lives, but a lot of things stay the same. It just takes some time to get used to the changes. As long as people stay on top of things and don’t give up, it shouldn’t affect their life more than checking their blood sugar and giving themselves insulin.
