glad to know im not the only one LOL
and happy new year everybody :)

speaking of which if they knew I had the champagne toast and those couple of white russians on new years eve the co workers would probably have a big ol hissy :-P

No news here. The first 1 year of having Type 1 I was much bothered and intimidated by the general public "knowing" what and what not I could eat, drink, do ... Well, I did not really know myself so much, huh. Ignorance goes more than one way.

Then I started buying textbooks for physicians, and researched then "new" ways of conventionally treating Type 1 - I will never forget Kinga Howorka (THANK YOU, Milady!!) 's book about (translation): NIS: Normoglycemic Insulin Substitution. Positively changed lifes. Mine for sure. So I went against what my doc was saying (It did not work, while the "Basal/Bolus-Principle worked - as we all know now)

So, still intimidated, I did not tell people about the diabetes. Then, sometime into this, I got my pump. I started EXPLAINING things to people. And with a good dose of GFY in the back of my mind to set against the well-meant assault of my fellow humans, I retreated to the position, that a) It is my Life. b) I know quite well what I am doing. c) Unless you are a specialist physician or nurse, I probably know a lot more about it. d) Test strips are expensive, but they are, together with Haemogloubin A1C and absense of complications, a good indication of that what I am doing is not totally crap. e) if you are NOT a speialist nurse or Physician, you may very well not know what you are saying about my Type1, because your patients are mostly Type 2 and you are not keeping up on research.

Now it is 18 years after my first Insulin shot (in fact, exactly 18 years and 2 weeks today, hehe), and I am rather relaxed about these things. I believe it is mostly, because I am rather secure in my knowledge about diabetes, I gained some self-confidence, and I have accepted the fact that my body does not make insulin. And I have realized, that that fact does not stop me from doing anything I want to do. Sure, sometimes I need more preparation than others (i.e. stop by the store and buy glucose tabs on my way to climb that mountain, and perhaps bring a lot more food than my fellow alpinists (yup, I am very aware of "food"), but it is no big deal.

To address the original issue - and why I wrote this long blurp about how great - I believe, that the public "caring" is hurtful, when you are a) not sure about what you are doing is right, b) you are still grieving about the loss of "health", and c) you need these others to agree with you to not make you feel alone/unhappy etc.

My suggestion, dont try and change the public (7 billion people is too much), but work on the first three things that you can influence. Knowledge, Acceptance, Life's not a popularity contest (aka Love yourself). Then, educate the public, one conversation at a time. When you feel like it :)

If someone give you the talk on how you are ruining your health with that chocolate chip cookie, you could meditate on that eating fried/bbq'ed food in combination with lack of exercise and alcohol consumption is not that healthy either (if you need to level the field first) ... oh well. Engage the person in a technical lecture about insulin substitution, food and so on (works ALL the time :) )

Cheers, love, and happy thoughts!

For me counting carbs and learning my carb to insuline ration has been the key. I went from a A1C of 7.6 to 6.6. But I am also on the pump and love it to death, wish I had it in my teenage years. Then when everyone went out late at night for a snack I could of just bolused my pump instead of not giving anything.

My co-works eat worse than I do and dont have diabetes, so they all pretty much keep their mouths shut.