Tag Archives: exercise

Health Time Capsule

02 Monday Apr 2012

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Okay, so typical of me but I’ve started the WEGO  Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge a day late……something’s got to change in my life, but that’s another topic. Here goes. On the 1st of April we are supposed to pretend we’re making a time capsule of my health that won’t be opened until 2112. What’s in it? What would people think of it when they found it?

  1. My running shoes, because running every morning keeps me sane.
  2. A bunch of kale, because I eat it every morning with my eggs to start the day off green!
  3. Glucose tabs, because they keep me from over treating lows.
  4. Diabetes supplies: pump, meter, test strips & insulin, because I have lived with type 1 diabetes for 26 years (complication free!) and I think I’m probably more healthy as a result.
  5. A photo of my family because I couldn’t do this alone.

Maybe people would see al this gear and not know what it was because a cure for type 1 diabetes would have finally been discovered! That’s my wish anyway….


Smart Women with Diabetes

03 Friday Feb 2012

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In the last week I’ve gotten to interview two fabulously inspiring women with diabetes for my Smart Woman’s Blog.

Heidi-Jane James(T1 Tri Girl) has been running since she was seven years old, competing nationally across New Zealand, and holding national records for track running. She has competed in the Ironman 5 times! and says  she is a proud diabetic because, “I love having diabetes.  I wouldn’t know what to do without my diabetes…It makes me unique and special.  I feel stronger knowing that I can do things that people without diabetes can do and sometimes better.”

Wow. That’s inspiration on a day when (due to a sick toddler, no sleep and a roller coaster of blood sugars) I was feeling very sorry for myself. So thanks Heidi for pulling me out of my head and reminding me of how strong and powerful we women with diabetes (and men!) truly are!

Read more about Heidi-Jane at: The Smart Woman’s Guide to Diabetes.

Sara Sklaroff, former Editorial Director of Diabetes Forecast, is inspiring in a completely different, but no less important, way. With her journalistic talents Sara is working to raise awareness and change the way people think about diabetes. Her recent article, On Our Own, Why We Who Struggle To Live With Diabetes Could Use A helping Hand, in Health Affairs details the challenges of living with diabetes and offers suggestions for systemic change.

Read More about Sara at The Smart Woman’s Guide to Diabetes.

Running with the Omnipod

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

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Most of the time when I am running, I feel strong, healthy and powerful. I am fast as I run through the slowly waking neighborhoods surrounding our house. The streets are dark and sometimes, the newspaper delivery guy in his small red car speeds past, tossing papers in their blue plastic onto the wet from dew driveways. I am strong and gaining speed, I don’t feel like someone with a chronic illness. Most of the time anyway.

Some mornings if I am slow, I worry about my blood sugar…am I high? am I low? I carry my glucose tabs in my hand, switching from left to right as I go. I wear my pod on my lower back or my arm and in the winter it doesn’t matter because no one can see the pod beneath my running clothes. A recent question posted on tudiabetes about running with an omnipod peaked my curiosity. A member wrote:

Hey everyone! I have my appt. next week with my Pump Educator to get me going on the OmniPod! I was wondering about you people that are runners, can you share any tips? In my mind I am thinking I will like having the pod in my triceps area, but maybe you can share with me what sites you have found that work well while out running.

I immediately wrote about about how I wear my pod on my arm or my lower back and how it’s never a problem and I think I jinxed myself.

Last night I changed my pod and placed it on the back of my right arm. This morning I went out for my run and halfway through I felt a stabbing pain. I ignored it for a few minutes and eventually had to stop. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and had to pull the neck down so I could look at my arm and I have to say, I expected the worst. I thought for sure I’d see blood. But there was nothing. So I kept running and tried to ignore the pain but I cursed the pod all the way home.

The pain went away when I stooped running, but I know it’ll pinch again tomorrow morning. It hurts a little when I move my arm around so i’m guessing that I just got unlucky…I hit a bad spot when I attached the Omnipod. What I don’t want to do is remove it and waste a $30 pod. (Plus the 50+ units of remaining insulin).

What bothers me the most is not the money, but a run that hurts. A run that is hindered because of my insulin pump. A run where I don’t get to feel strong, healthy and powerful.