Mental Health

There’s a Crack in Everything

how to manage depression and mental health in diabetes

Don’t ever think that you are a failure, or a bad person for what happens with your diabetes and especially your mental health. It is easy to feel broken when part of your body does not work, when you have to deal with the fact that something has gone wrong and will never be the…

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Managing Parent Guilt

I am lucky to have 3 sons of varying ages  – one born in 1993, one in 1998 and one in 2008. Recently both my middle son and youngest son, had to have operations. The youngest has 2 teeth that did not develop enamel and had to have crowns put on in hospital under anaesthetic.…

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Saying It Out Loud

getting support in diabetes is very important and the diabetes online community is here to help you in managing every day life with diabetes

There are usually a few things in life that soothe and nurture you instantly. For me, this includes a cup of tea (any kind of tea), chocolate, flowers, walking in nature, especially in and around trees, or by the sea, and a good natter and cuddle with someone I love. Another big thing that helps…

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Choices and Language in Diabetes

I shared this Facebook Live video this week and it was very popular, so I am sharing it here in case you missed it. It is live streaming so not great quality but hopefully you will find it useful. Please share your comments and join the conversation Helen

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Despite Diabetes or Because of It?

The list of people I know living with diabetes who have achieved amazing things in their life is very long. I have often thought about why? I am not just talking about famous people. I am talking about all of the people I have met over the years, who have done outstanding things in their…

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It’s Written in the Stars

Human beings are such funny creatures. We become so tribal when it comes to our passions, our beliefs and our area of work. I have been in a number of different professional areas over the 30 odd years since finishing my Bachelor Degree in Social Work. I worked part time like many teenagers, as a…

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These Autumn Days

dealing with diagnosis of diabetes

Life with diabetes is a never ending learning curve. Just like the changing colours and the unpredictability of Autumn, diabetes dances around as the wind changes, brings a crescendo of colour and can make you crash to the ground like a falling leaf. This is never more true than at times of change, in your…

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The Injustice of Diabetes

How are you travelling with diabetes? Yesterday was a crap day diabetes wise for me. In the scheme of 38 years, it was not a great one, not the worst, but definitely not the best. The day started with a spike in my blood glucose levels after breakfast. I have changed to a “Thins” bread…

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Like Putty in Your Hands

Sometimes I feel like it is groundhog day when I write a blog post here….you know, the same old same old. There are lots of wonderful bloggers in diabetes who share posts about things like the latest crisis within diabetes tech with the closing down of the Animas Pump production, or the latest on private…

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Surfing the Diabetes Waves

Sometimes I think diabetes and all of its ups and downs, is a reflection of the ebbs and flows of life. Just like the way that your thoughts and feelings can come and go like the tides, and the ways that you can feel like you are floating sometimes, and other times, like you are…

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When Your Body Lets You Down

Do you feel like your body has let you down sometimes? I know some people I have spoken with over the years felt that when they got diagnosed with diabetes, and some people continue to feel this at times as their health fluctuates. If you have been connected to me in some way over the…

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Why You Should and Shouldn’t See a Number as a Number

What was your favourite subject at school? Mine were always the arts – English, Drama, Arts, Classics. In year 11 I was put into the Academic stream which meant English, Physics (AKA Maths), Chemistry and DOUBLE Maths….suffice to say it was a year of misery for me. When I got control of the reins in…

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Embracing Your Diabetes Body

how to have a healthy pregnancy with type 1 diabetes

I was looking in the mirror this morning after my shower, at my battered stomach, crisscrossed with the years of my life, full of lines and bumps, pump site scars, bruises and looking like a robot with my insulin pump site and Dexcom G5 transmitter. Underneath this, are the 3 scars from my 3 c-sections,…

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How to explain diabetes to someone who doesn’t have it

How to explain diabetes to someone who doesn't have it

Diabetes is one of those things that many people think they know everything about, yet they actually know so little…it is probably similar in some other situations, but I am not so sure. For example, I would never presume to know all about Cancer, or Epilepsy or Lupus. I would never speak to someone who…

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Laneways with Diabetes: Same Same Different

diabetes blogging and the flash libre

**Before you read this – Disclosure – part of my trip to Melbourne was as a guest of Abbott and the Libre team who paid for my flights, accommodation and various food needs across the 2 days of #dx2Melbourne, as well as providing us with some photography classes for our blogs and assorted interesting speakers,…

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