As a Type 1 diabetic, I’ve noticed that many people are uneducated about the topic of diabetes as a whole. With November being National Diabetes Month and today being World Diabetes Day, I thought I would use this opportunity to teach you the basics and give you a brief look into the not-so glamourous life of a college diabetic.
There are a few different types of diabetes, but the two most familiar are Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, which means that the body attacks itself, specifically the pancreas, causing it to stop producing the insulin hormone. Insulin is needed to allow your body to use the sugar from carbs for energy. Since Type 1 diabetics can’t make insulin on their own, we take medical insulin, via shots or insulin pumps.
Type 2 diabetics have a different process than those with Type 1. Type 2 diabetics’ bodies either produce little insulin, or are insulin resistant, and need some extra help breaking down the sugars into energy. They can take insulin shots or pills, but they mainly control their diabetes through diet and exercise.
Both types of diabetics need to monitor their blood glucose levels, or blood sugars. As a Type 1, before every meal, before bed, and just anytime I feel like something’s out of whack, I test my blood sugars. Using a device called a meter and test strips, I poke my finger with a needle that’s in a lancing device (a fancier word than what I call it: a finger poker) then place the blood on the test strip which communicates with the meter to produce a number indicating my blood sugar.
Every diabetic is different, and depending on their goals, certain numbers can be good or bad to them individually. Personally, I like to see numbers in the low 100’s. For comparison, people without diabetes have average blood sugars in the low 100’s. Anything higher than 250 is considered a high blood sugar, and anything lower than 70 is considered a low blood sugar. High and low blood sugars are dangerous in their own ways. Go too low and you can risk going unconscious (something I can thankfully say has never happened to me), but go too high and you will feel incredibly sick and exhausted.
Navigating diabetes in college can be very tricky. For me, I was lucky enough to have a roommate who has been my best friend my whole life, and has a basic understanding of my diabetes and what I do. But if you’re coming to college and don’t know your roommate, it is very important that they know up-front about your diabetes, and some of the basics on how to take care of it. I know for me, it’s not something that just comes up organically in conversation, but it’s important that people are aware of your diabetes in case of an emergency, especially when living in a dorm away from home.
Another college diabetic problem is food! We have to have precise calculations when it comes to counting carbs, and if we’re a little bit off, we can take too little or too much insulin and that just snowballs into bad numbers. At Oswego, we have an app that gives us all the nutritional information for all the food they serve in the dining halls. This allows me to count my carbs and feel confident that my calculations are correct. I would be lost without it.
One final tip I have is to be mindful of the person you know that has diabetes. Be cautious when asking them about their blood sugar levels, because some diabetics like to keep their details private. Ask them if you can help them by maybe doing their carb count, or helping them prep to test their blood sugar. But again, some diabetics don’t mind the help, while others may be put put by it. And NEVER tell a diabetes joke in front of a diabetic. There is nothing more infuriating to me than hearing someone say something like, “I have so much ice cream. Ha ha, Diabeetus.” Jokes like that only continue the misconception that diabetes is caused by sugar intake. And trust me, I love ice cream.
I hope that you come away from this article feeling more educated about diabetes as a whole. I’ve been a Type 1 diabetic for nine years as of October 2017, and I love to educate people on my disease because it might stop one person from misconstruing what diabetes is, and it brings more awareness to the disease, so that one day, we may find a cure.