Guest Post: Meet Justine Perkins, who has type one diabetes!

Hi. My name is Justine and I have Type 1 diabetes. Having Type 1 means that my pancreas does not produce insulin needed to balance my blood sugar. So I have to give it insulin. Some type 1's take shots and some are on a pump like me.

Here is a quick example of what i do before each meal:

First, I check my blood sugar with a blood glucose monitor. Normal blood sugar range is between 70-120. 378 is too high, so I must correct for my blood sugar reading and carbs that I am about to eat for dinner. When my dinner is ready I take insulin thru my insulin pump. I have to count EVERY carb. Wash hands, Check Blood sugar, Calculate carbs, Take insulin, Then I eat. I do this for every meal. One of the things I dont like about diabetes is when my blood sugar goes too low. It scares me because bad things can happen if I go too low. There are a few different ways that I can prevent this. When I'm out and about I ALWAYS carry my purse with me. Yes, its a big pain with being a teenager because I always have a bag on my hip. My purse will always have my meter, a simple carb (fast acting such as skittles), insulin, extra pump supplies, extra testing strips and emergency supplies. Another way that I prevent lows is blood sugar checks throughout the night. I check at 12am, 3am, and 6am. I always get tired of checking during the night because i dont get a good nights rest. But if Im low, I will get a regular soda that equals 15 carbs, or skittles. If im too high, i give myself insulin though my pump. 160 is just about right to go to sleep knowing I wont drop unless I have been doing exercise. Besides having to manage my diabetes i am a normal teenager. I exercise, hang out with friends, etc but I have extra stuff i have to do. It gets annyoing because treated like you are "special" because you have to check your blood sugar, count carbs, etc. Some of my friends dont understand. When i will check my blood sugar they will always freak out. But im starting to get use to it. My family doesnt understand the difference between type 1 and type 2. They think that if I watch my diet and exercise all the time my diabetes will be "cured". But type 1 isnt cureable. Diabetes will NEVER stop me from doing anything I want. I wanted to be a Paramedic in the Army but I will be a Paramedic at the fire department. Life will be harder with diabetes but I can handle it. If anyone ever need a friend to talk to, feel free to email me: perkins.justine@gmail.com.  "Never Lose Hope."

Don't Give Up!

As you may know type one diabetes is really a huge thing to take care of. Everyday 24/7 we are constantly checking our blood sugars and giving ourselves insulin. It can be a very easy job since we do go through it every day but I know that there days where it can be a very hard job. Recently someone who is very close to me has stopped taking care of herself. It is so frustrating to see her go through this because you would think it could be easy to do. The more I have thought about it the more I kind of understand where she is coming from. When you are the only one around with type one diabetes you really don’t want to just get your kit out and check your blood sugar. You really don’t want to have to worry about it when other people are around so that they won’t have to stare at you or ask so many questions. Sometimes because of thinking about what others think of you, you decide to kind of hide what you have. The more I thought about that the more I was thinking that you shouldn’t care about what you have because it’s something that you have to deal with. You should make this terrible disease into something good in your life (try to at least!!). Make it about you being strong. When you look strong and feel confident about it people will look at you and think that you are. Don’t give up about taking care of yourself because you are strong, you are independent, you are the best person that you can be. Don’t quit and keep it up! You got this!

~Stay strong~

Evelyn

'If there was a cure right now, would you want it?"

Here is a question that I always get asked and I want to see how you would answer it. The question is “If there was a cure right now, would you want it?” Obviously we would all want this cure so that we would not have to go on dealing with this every day. I would love to have a cure so that I wouldn’t have to deal with my blood sugar during the day. I could eat and drink without giving myself any insulin. Then I got thinking…Diabetes has made me who I am today. It has made me independent, strong, unselfish, and many other things. It has made me to think that I got this for a reason. It has made me thankful for the life I have. It makes me see life in a different way because I honestly I didn’t think about others when I didn’t have it. I just thought that everyone who had it was just making up stories and just wanting me to feel sorry for them. Now that I have this I now realize that no, they weren’t making up those stories that they were telling me. They don’t want me to feel sorry for them; they want me to support them. I was just being selfish and not thinking about others. Now since anything can go wrong with me, to worry about if my blood sugar will go low and then I would go into a coma, or whatever I think about everyone, I think about what people go through every day. They could be suffering or dealing with a disease and I don’t want to judge them and not care about them. So my answer is this: yes I would like a cure, but if there was a cure right now I don’t think I would be ready for it.  

~Stay Strong~
Evelyn