This is pretty off-topic for my normal stuff, but I found an article that hits near and dear to my heart. As a Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetic, I have never heard my disease summed up so accurately. Or more importantly – what it is like to live with diabetes.
5 Ways Diabetes Wreaks Havoc On Your Entire Life
Below are a few abbreviated highlights from the article that particularly jumped out at me:
1. Diabetes is nonstop, 24/7. Your blood sugars don’t simply rise because you ate candy — they can rise from a few bites of the world’s healthiest whole-grain bran, or a freshly plucked-off-the-tree organic apple. Your blood sugar can rise simply from a stressful day at work and an increase in your cortisol levels.
2. The pressure to be perfect is impossible to endure. Yes, we all need to make healthy choices, but people with diabetes are commanded and lectured and threatened to make those healthy choices. The pressure to be perfect with that daunting long-term fear of losing your vision, losing your toes, or needing a kidney transplant isn’t inspiring; it’s terrifying and exhausting.
4. Diabetes can be very scary.In diabetics, true hypoglycemia can be terrifying. It starts with mild sweating and shakiness, but it can quickly progress to your body feeling as if it’s shutting down. Your brain feels like it’s screaming, “Save me! I feel like I’m dying! Save me!” and you have to resist the urge to eat everything in site to bring your blood sugar back up to a safe level. Some lows are so subtle that you don’t feel them until they’re so low you can hardly function. Imagine going to bed at night and your last thought is, “I hope I wake up.”
5. You’re constantly defending yourself. …But in diabetes, we receive those types of comments every week. “You gave yourself diabetes because you ate too much candy?” “You have diabetes? You don’t look that fat.” “Oh, your child has diabetes? My grandmother had diabetes. She lost her legs, and then she died.”
I’m in love with this book Sora’s Quest. It is currently available to 
Anna Van Skike- writer, artist, steampunk enthusiast, and geek extraordinaire.
dreampunk geek 