Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

I never thought I'd be able to use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Never. In Australia, CGMs are not yet subsidised by the government or covered on Private Health Insurance. This kept vital technology out of my reach because frankly, I had no chance in hell of affording it. That changed when my 21st and Christmas rolled around and I asked for CGM funding from my family as a gift. I was tired of spending every waking moment stressing more and more about what my sugars were doing. I ran through test strips like water on some days. When I was given the opportunity for a trial I went for it and despite problems with the device, when it worked I experienced this incredible peace. My brain just shut the hell up. 6 years of constant thinking and analysing and worrying just stopped because I had a device that would alarm at me if I was at risk of going low. It can alarm on highs too but I'm not as fussed on that. Lows have always been my fear. Thanks to my family funding half o

Today marks day 2193 on the pump. Pretty fitting considering I'm starting a CGM full time tomorrow. My change to the pump happened when I was 15. I'd not yet had T1 for a full year but I'd decided that injecting in public was just too  embarrassing for a teenager. I named my first blue Medtronic Paradigm pump Dobby. Unfortunately he's not pictured below as I had to swap him for Severus after I put him through an x-ray in 2014. Now for the past 2 years I've been using Tonks, the Medtronic 640G which is so much better than the Paradigm.  Truth be told, I hated that pump for the first few weeks. It was awful. I couldn't take in all the information and I kept getting things wrong. It felt weird to have something attached to me all the time. My carb counting had to change. The set changes hurt. It sucked. But then it was suddenly amazing. I finally got the hang of it and had all this newfound freedom. I could wake up whenever I wanted (I was a

Happy New Year! I've decided that 2017 is going to be an exciting year. Don't question my control over that outcome, just embrace my positivity. Why you ask? Well: I'm starting a CGM (sensor that checks your blood sugar 24/7 and alarms when you're going low) full time this week I'm travelling in short bursts while I finally get a holiday from uni and placement I'm reteaching myself French I'm actually reading for fun for the first time in over a year I'm finishing my degree this year I'm excited. Also terrified. But there is some actual excitement in there. I've already made some amazing gains this year and I'm only 9 days in! Recently I went on a camping trip to Forster with a friend. It was incredible, and I finally got back into photography which is something I've been putting off for a long time.  Going on this trip was a huge deal for me because I haven't been camping since I was 14, a few months pre-