This post is from Laura, who is still processing a rotten diabetes week and could use a boost from the diabetes community. See below for her message: Hope you all are doing okay. It’s been a week plus extra over here. I’m okay. Tired. I think I’m finally emerging out of this cruel, bizarro week when practically everything in the “Bad stuff can happen, so be prepared” chapter of the diabetes handbook happened in a matter of days. Unexplainable sustained low blood sugar for six hours? Yep. Throwing up while low, therefore unable to treat said low. Yep. Paramedics in the living room and an ambula ..read more

It is supposed to be -20 degrees here in New England, which means that I refuse to leave my house until the cold snap passes along. To keep my mind from freezing, I’ve been combing through the diabetes online community posts (and the Internet in general) to see what’s new and to share what resonates. A Friday Six! It’s been a while since one of these. Big news! And I read it on diaTribe first: “The FDA cleared Tidepool Loop for people with type 1 diabetes ages six and up. Tidepool Loop is now the first “do-it-yourself” automated insulin delivery system with clearance from the FDA.” If you ..read more

I once was told I had the ‘betes, even though I ate my Wheaties. Not vitamins nor an apple each day could keep this ‘betes far away. The ‘betes wants to run me down, and swap my joy for a big frown. So unfriendly when it tries and tries to threaten my legs! My kidneys! My eyes! It wants to kill me in my sleep. The price to live is very steep! I check, check, check to stay alive. The ‘betes does not want me to thrive. And yet, I go-go-go, and fight-fight-fight. Can’t give up, all day or night! While the ‘betes might be so shady, it doesn’t know I’m a stubborn lady. Kill ’em with kindness — tha ..read more

by Kerri Sparling ..read more

submitted by Cherise Shockley I’ve been using a GLP-1 and insulin to treat my diabetes for the past two years. My PBM informed me in a letter that the GLP-1 is not preferred but that Ozempic and Trulicity are. I phoned Dr. P (endo) and requested the Ozempic script. A few days later, I received a refusal letter because I do not have type 2 diabetes. I froze. I’m ready to pay the non-preferred price for the GLP-1 I’m now taking, so I requested my endocrinologist to retry ordering it. Unfortunately, the pharmacy benefit manager declined my request since I do not have type 2 diabetes. The concern ..read more

Poem by Bethany Doak I am mountain-high strong fierce wild I am wind-burnt cheeks,  icicle eyelashes, too  high  too high? I wander  up up up  but it’s—cannot breathe—high  so  I/we take the medicine more MORE  too much!  till I spin  down drown     fast rush      hurry      down don’t crash!    hurry  I will  wilt,     falter,   spiral,       droop  when I get to the ..read more

Every few years, my hypoglycemia symptoms morph. When I was really young, my biggest symptom was a numb mouth. Lips would start to tingle, and then the top lip would go fully numb, spreading to the inside of my mouth along the roof, then to the back of my molars. It happened in noticeable but lightning fast stages, the transition ..read more

This morning, I read an article about “old school blogging” and the power of sharing personal stories. Whenever anyone complains about social media or the Internet, I always think of the diabetes community and how it’s mostly remained this stronghold of support, kindness, and kindred spirits doing their best to live with a challenging chronic illness. I like that about our corner ..read more

What I’ve felt over the last two years has been a Billy from Family Circus path towards crummy mental health. Since the pandemic started, I feel like I inverted and became an inside-out version of myself. I still had the same seams and colors but you could see every place where I was held together by a thread.  Or less ..read more

It’s Diabetes Month. A whole bunch of you are already quite familiar with diabetes because you are living with it, or loving someone who lives with it, or you care for people who are living with it … and on and on with prepositional phrases all over the place. On top of the place. UNDERNEATH THE PLACE. Sorry. It’s been ..read more