How Diabetes Made My Life Different

Diabetes made my life different in a lot of ways. It affects the way I eat and how late I can sleep. I can't even leave the house without my kit of diabetes supplies.

Since I was only three when we found out I had diabetes, I don't remember what life was like before. But I know how my friends and family live without diabetes. I'll tell you how diabetes made my life different.

The main thing is that I can't eat a lot of food at a time and, of course, I can't eat food without giving myself insulin, and it is easy to forget sometimes. People without diabetes don't have to poke their fingers five to ten times a day to test their blood sugar levels. They also don't have to get a shot of insulin, or dial in insulin from their pump, every time they eat something. When my blood sugars are high I have to give myself more insulin or I could get very sick. Sometimes my blood sugars get too low and I feel weak and tired and very hungry. This means I have too much insulin and I need to eat something with sugar in it to make my blood sugar go up. Before my diabetes I was like any other kid, I didn't need to do all of this stuff.

With diabetes it is hard for me to stay all night at a friends house. If I did, my dad or mom would have to call or come over to find out my blood sugar. It can go up and down during the night. It is hard when my dad has to drive all the way over to my friends house. I'm getting older now so hopefully I can start to do some things by myself so I'll be able to go to sleepovers more. It is also hard when I have to sit out of gym class because my blood sugar level is too high, like over 300. You shouldn't exercise when you have a very high sugar. It can make it go higher and you could go into ketoacidosis. When this happens I just get to sit and watch.

These are just some of the ways diabetes has made my life different. It is the way I live every day, so I am used to it, but it would be nice to be able to have a day off now and then to see how the rest of the world lives.

See Audrey's photo journal
See a video of Audrey taking her blood sugar

ThinkQuest Coach Chad Lemon helped take the video of Audrey and put it into Flash.