Guest Post: Giving Birth To Violet As A Woman With Type 1 Diabetes (Part 1)

Guest Post: Giving Birth to Violet as a Woman with Type 1 Diabetes (Part 1)

Stories about moms with type 1 diabetes having babies warm my heart completely, mostly because they remind me of my kids’ birthdays but also because pregnancy and diabetes is hard work and deserves an extra WHOO HOOOO! at the end. Today, fellow writer and T1D mama Ginger Vieira is borrowing SixUntilMe to share the story of the birth of her second child. Take it away, Ginger!
* * *
“This time it will be simple.”
That’s what my husband and I had said to each other several times as the due date of our 2nd child was just a few weeks away. It’s not as if the birth of our 1st child, Lucy, was remarkably complicated–I felt pretty great during the last month of that pregnancy and had no swelling or other complications–but I did spend 4 days in the hospital prior to her actually evacuating the ol’ womb because our attempt at an induction totally failed. (Basically, my body was like, “Whatever. I really don’t feel like going into labor…deal with it.”)
This time was very different.
At 35 weeks, I started gaining 1 to 1.5 pounds of fluid per day. Swelling up like a water balloon just between my knees to the tip of my toes. But my blood pressure continued to stay well within the range of normal and even below 120/80 bpm, so the doctors continued to insist that I’d have a cesarean at 39 weeks and no sooner. My A1C was at 5.8 percent, and everything they could measure in a blood-draw came back fine, too.
And baby girl looked consistently healthy and comfortable. In fact, throughout the entire pregnancy, she and I had both been doing great except for super-crazy v Continue reading

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This is why it's so important to know the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

A family who lost their son to undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes are backing a new campaign to raise awareness of the condition and the dangers of late diagnosis.
Beth and Stuart Baldwin, together with their daughter Lia, 11, have raised almost £70,000 for charity since their son Peter died in January 2015.
Despite showing typical symptoms of Type 1 diabetes like extreme fatigue, weight loss, and frequently needing to go to the toilet, the 13-year-old was not diagnosed until he was already seriously ill and passed away just days later.
Beth said: “Losing a child is beyond anyone’s worst nightmare. It’s something that no family should have to go through and now it’s our mission to make sure that parents and medical professionals have the symptoms of Type 1 at the front of their minds.
“Type 1 diabetes can be easily mistaken for viral infections or other illnesses.
“Peter was very unwell with a chest infection at the time, which made the symptoms of his Type 1 diabetes harder to identify.
“We need to be much more vigilant if we’re going to put a stop to completely preventable deaths.
“The symptoms are simply toilet, tired, thirsty, thinner. If your child has any of these, trust your instinct and insist that they are tested.
“Being able to recognise the symptoms, get a quick diagnosis, and early treatment could save your child’s life.
“This is Peter’s legacy, and it’s all about helping as many other families as we can.”
About one in five children with Type 1 diabetes in Wales aren’t diagnosed until they are in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a life-thre Continue reading

Type 1 Diabetes & Exercise: What are it’s Precautions and Benefits?

Diabetes is known to affect a large population of the individual across the globe. Dealing with diabetes pose serious complications because along with diabetes, a patient often suffers from various problems and diseases such as diabetic eye, kidney failure, skin disorder, cardiovascular diseases, and much more.
We know that type 1 diabetes is amongst the most common types of diabetes. Most of the patients contract this disease at a very young age and have to live with it throughout their lives. Although there is no particular cure for the same, experts often recommend that with regular physical exercise and a proper diet, the adverse effects of the same can be contained. In this article, we concentrate on type 1 diabetes and the effects of exercise on the same.
What is the Meaning of Type 1 Diabetes?
Let us first start by understanding the exact meaning of type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas, which is responsible for producing insulin produces very little or no insulin at all. And now why is insulin so important for us? Well, insulin is very important for our body because it is this hormone which enables the sugar or glucose to enter our cells. This, in turn, provides us energy and is very important for leading a normal day to day life.
Type 1 diabetes is also known as juvenile diabetes as this type of diabetes usually occurs during childhood.
What are the Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes has a lot of symptoms. In order to carefully analyze and understand the causes, effects, and treatment of the disease, we also need to underst Continue reading

New UK Study Ties Remission of Type 2 Diabetes to Weight Loss

possible to reverse Type 2 diabetes through a low calorie diet program, without any help from medications.
The study, which was funded by Diabetes UK, was led by Professor Roy Taylor from Newcastle University and Professor Mike Lean from the University of Glasgow. They presented their findings at the International Diabetes Federation Congress in Abu Dhabi on December 5.
The study is published in The Lancet.
A Deadly Condition
In 2011, Isobel Murray, 65, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a bodily condition that causes sugar levels to rise higher than normal.
“I was on various medications which were constantly increasing and I was becoming more and more ill every day,” Murray said in a statement.
Murray is one of millions suffering from Type 2 diabetes. According to 2015 figures released by Diabetes.org, among adults 20 years or older in the U.S., approximately one in every 10 has diabetes. Among seniors, 65 years or older, one in every four has diabetes. Between 90 to 95 percent of people diagnosed with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes.
Although preventable and curable, Type 2 diabetes can be deadly when left unmanaged. The condition can often lead to cardiovascular diseases, kidney disease or stroke. It is expected that a person with Type 2 diabetes may live 10 years less than a person without the condition. In 2015, diabetes was ranked as the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.
In 2014, after suffering from this deadly condition for two to three years, Murray was asked by her general practitioner (GP) to take part in a two-year Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial ( Continue reading

8 unusual causes of blood sugar changes

Keeping your blood glucose in check can be a pain in the proverbial, especially when you remember some things can affect your blood glucose that are absolutely beyond your control.
We’ve narrowed down 8 of the most surprising causes blood sugar changes.
#8 Sleep (Dawn Phenomenon)
The dawn phenomenon isn’t quite as fun or interesting as it sounds (unless you’re a hepatologist or part of some other thrilling liver-based profession, that is). Basically though, your body releases glucagon in the mornings, often between 2am and 8am. To avoid this happening, try eating less carbs before bed.
#7 Artificial sweeteners
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news… well, it’s not all bad. A group of people drank a drink containing Splenda before ingesting a measured amount of glucose; their blood sugar peaked at higher levels than when they drank plain water. This research isn’t the be all and end all, though. Other research has found these same sweeteners to have no effect on blood glucose levels whatsoever. As always, carry on eating to your meter.
#6 Dehydration
Drinking plenty of water is great for you in pretty much every way, and there’s definitely no exceptions for those of us with diabetes. Higher blood sugar can cause a few problems, one being that it causes you to wee more – this is due to the excess glucose that your body is trying to get rid of. In turn, this makes you feel absolutely parched.
#5 Certain medications
Steroids, while they’re an absolute godsend for treating inflammatory conditions, autoimmune disorders (diabetes excluded, sorry!) and asthma, can be Continue reading