Thursday, April 4, 2019

Life With Diabetes Is a Seesaw





You’re on a seesaw. And somehow, you have to keep it straight. All. The. Time. Let it go too far one way, and you’re facing your own mortality. Let it go too far the other way, and you’re staring death in the eyes. But there’s a catch. You can’t get off the seesaw. You’re glued to the seesaw. Even if you get exhausted from the energy it’s taking to keep it straight and you feel like you can’t do it anymore, you can’t get off the seesaw. This is life with Type 1 Diabetes.





Above we’ve got a picture of two items; the two life-savers of Type 1 Diabetes. Each of these items is crucial in surviving Type 1 Diabetes. Blood sugar too high? Insulin. Blood sugar too low? Sugar/Carbs. And if we didn’t have either? Well then we wouldn’t be here to tell you about it!

Imagine each of these on a scale trying to balance each other out. That’s pretty much a day in the life of diabetes. Life is constantly trying to regulate your blood sugar with these two things. And there is no science to it. Because your blood sugar WILL go too high. It’s inevitable. And when it does, you need to give yourself some insulin. Insulin is liquid gold to us because before the invention of insulin, Type 1 Diabetes was a death sentence. Juice or other sugary things, aren’t as hard to come by. But! Are essentially equally as important. Because it’s impossible to calculate the right dose of insulin all the time. Sometimes there is no science to it, no rhyme or reason, and no matter how hard you try to give the perfect amount, it’s not possible. So if you don’t give the right amount one of two things happen. One being, your blood sugar goes low because you gave yourself too much. Second being, your blood sugar stays high or goes high because you didn’t give yourself enough. And at that point, you go back to the drawing board- insulin or juice.

So we use insulin and carbs to try to balance our seesaw. And it takes perseverance! Because there is no way to avoid getting tired of trying to maintain this balance... even the strongest of the strong would get tired! And this balance is impossible to perfectly maintain. It’s tiring and it’s exhausting, but people with Type 1 don’t have a choice. We are seesaw masters. It’s a talent, really. So be proud of your seesaw. Your seesaw is beautifully imperfect, but so much blood, sweat, and tears have gone into your seesaw. Your seesaw is built on strength.