Having medical issues of any kind is always hard to deal with when it isn’t regulated.

     My sister has Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and this affects her in a different way than my type one diabetes.

      She has a hard time playing field hockey , when doing too much activity that raises her heart rate too much makes her have these types of symptoms: such as dizziness, heart palpitations, low blood pressure, and fast heart rate.

      This causes her to pass out or just need a break until her heart rate goes down. This is what she has to deal with day to day and her worries for when working out. 

Type one diabetes is something that has been around for a long time. Technology has improved tremendously.

     But there are some downfalls to having type 1. Having type one means your pancreas stops producing insulin and you have to inject yourself with insulin to keep your blood sugar regulated.

      This can cause you to become sick at any time. The past 4 days I’ve woken up with immense sweat and my body was shaking.

      My blood sugar has been deathly low. That’s scary for anyone but I was completely alone and my blood sugar has never been this low for the time I’ve had diabetes. So what did you do?

What prompted? When I first got diagnosed my blood sugar was 980, which means I was 20 away from going into a coma.

     I never felt anything out of the ordinary for months during quarantine. But I started drinking gallons of liquids a day and couldn’t work out without almost passing out. I knew I needed to get checked out.

     That was June 14, 2020,  Now, November 17, 2022. I’ve dealt with many complications revolving around my diabetes.

     Like quitting cheer because the pressure made my blood sugar spike or joining track to keep my weight down. I was 86 pounds after first getting diagnosed as a  7th grader and that year I gained like 24 pounds.

     All of this is what I have to deal with in my day to day life, worrying about carbing for my food or worrying if my blood sugar will go low at practice.

     I worry about waking up with low blood sugar and not going up in time. Having medical issues that some people don’t change people’s day to day living and it can have drastically. 

Everybody has their  unique challenges and everyone deals with them differently. Creating a balance between yourself and your issues is what makes you feel yourself the most.

     How did you do this? Knowing you aren’t defined by your illness, and to not let your illness ruin your life fragment.

  For me, my takeaway in this journey so far is to try to worry about what you can control and stop worrying about what you can’t.