App review: mySugr Diabetes Diary!

Hey guys!

So, today I want to talk about this really cool app I have that I feel actually helps me manage my diabetes better and also helps me see how well/ how badly I'm managing my diabetes.

The app is called mySugr Diabetes Diary and it's basically a diabetes log book! The app is available on the App Store as well as on Google Play for android.

For me, this app is great because I always have my phone with me, so it's really easy for me to open it and punch in my sugars and how many carbs I ate at mealtime and how much insulin I'm giving myself.

The way this app works is you have a monster-- a 'diabetes' monster, and everyday you need to tame it, and the way to tame it is by logging! 

So, when you open the app, this screen appears. This is your 'logbook'. This is where all your blood sugars go once you recorded them in the app. (Notice mine's empty right now because I haven't touch this app since May...whoops!) 

When you open the menu, you'll see your profile picture on top as well as your name and your monster's name. Below that, you have your logbook. You'll also find a tab called 'challenges' that gives you a variety of challenges to get rewards including a trial of mySugr Pro.

You can customize your profile by either tapping on your profile picture or on the 'Profile & Settings' tab. From there, you'll find your 'diabetes monster's name, the email address you used to create your account, your name (duh!), your gender and birthdate. If you scroll down a bit, you can customize the app to fit your personal needs by indicating which type of diabetes you have, the year you were diagnosed, what kind of insulin therapy you use (injections or pump), your blood glucose unit (mine's mmol/L), and how you measure your carbs! You can also indicate which type of insulin you use (and pills as well!), and your target sugar ranges. Another cool thing you can specify is which pump and meter you have (in my case, the One Touch Ping from Animas).

In the logbook, you have a ton of cool stuff you can add to your logs!
You can type in your blood glucose, the carbs you ate, how much insulin you took, and a ton of other stuff. You can also label your logs based on what's happening. For example, you can label a log:

• Breakfast 
• Lunch
• Correction
• Fasting
• Snack
• Dinner
• Hypo feeling
• Hyper feeling
• Office work
• Sports
• Before Sports
• After Sports
• Bedtime
• At night
• Before meal 
• After meal 
• Site change
• Happy 
• Stress
• Angry 
• Needle change
• Tired
• Chilling
• Excited 
• Sad
• Housework 
• Manual work
• Party
• Nervous
• Shift work
• Work
• Bingeing
• Alcohol
• Travelling
• Vacation
• Eating out
• Hung over
• Driving
• On the way 
• Shopping 
• Carbs guess
• Sick
• Allergies
• Foot on the floor 
• Special situation
• Pain
• Headache
• Menstruation 

Though, not all of them are available in the free one, most of them are only available in the pro version (I'm pretty sure everything listed after 'At Night' requires Pro, but I'm not 100% sure).

Every week, the app will send you a report of that week's logs (it's usually on Sunday evenings I've noticed that I'll get an email from mySugr giving me a progress report on my sugars) 

Overall, this is a fantastic app and if you're as forgetful as I am, this will definitely come in handy! If you ask me, the whole 'diabetes monster' concept is amazing and my inner-child loves it! I find that symbolically speaking, the monster is a great way to make you think "I got this; I'll tame this monster!", because let's face it, everyone who lives with Type 1 Diabetes has thought about the disease as a 'monster' at one time or another. So, for me it's a great way to kind of make logging fun! (my inner-child loves this app!)

So that's all I have to say for now, hope this was helpful to someone. And with that, until next time!

- Serena <3

**DISCLAIMER: I am not being paid/endorsed by mySugr to do this review, nor was I given a Pro subscription by them to do this review. I found this app on my own and decided to use it. This is just my personal opinion.**

Diabetes and Depression

**WARNING: This post is about depression. If you are depressed, or are thinking of suicide, YOU ARE NOT ALONE and there are plenty of resources available to you. If you need someone to talk to, I am available and will be leaving my contact info at the bottom of this post. Also, I should mention that I will be sharing parts of my experiences with depression in hopes that if anyone is feeling the same way I have, maybe this can't help them cope as well.

Also, this is going to be a long post!**

Ever since I was 13 years old, I've dealt with depression. It's been an on and off struggle for the past 5 or so years, but somehow I managed to make it up to here.

Statistically speaking, people with diabetes are 50% more likely to suffer from depression than people without diabetes. (This statistic came from a pin on Pinterest that I can't find the source to)

Also, symptoms of depression affect 30% of people with diabetes, while 10% of them experience major depression.
(These stats came from here)

Not so much when I was 13, but more so in the last few years (so for the last 3 years approximately speaking) I've noticed some patterns in my lapses:

• When my sugars are high, I'm more likely to feel depressed and upset
• For the past year and a half, my pump sites were triggering my depression as well 
• Anytime something to do with my diabetes comes up that just doesn't work out, I'll get extremely depressed (the last time this happened was earlier this week when I needed to go get some blood test and they were unable to do it) 

Just to explain a bit for the pump sites. I started using the pump roughly 3 years ago (back in March 2014) and at first, I was placing the sites on my own, but then all of a sudden I couldn't do it anymore so my mom had to start placing them. That went on for about 2 years before the pediatric nurse who follows me suggested for me to place them manually with

These were the sites I used to use (Inset II 6mm with 60cm tubing)

out the applicator. (Just to clarify, I have the One Touch Ping pump from Animas)

Well, placing them manually actually caused more issues because they wouldn't actually go into me, thus causing my sugars to sky rocket almost all the time, thus making me even more depressed and discouraged. Some nights, it got so bad that I actually considered not bothering to change the site, but when it got to that point, I'd make sure to talk to my close friend whom I am extremely comfortable talking to about virtually everything. (Seriously, I don't know how she does it, and I hope she knows how much I truly appreciate her being there for me like this) 

So, just to explain why it was a big deal that I was unable to place my pump sites myself; I am now 18 years old (back when I started having trouble, I was 16 years old, but it was much worse this past year and a half) and I am going to be starting university in September. So, I was really stressed out because
A) I couldn't do my sites on my own and I was a 16 year-old girl, and
B) I'm going to a university that's an hour or so drive away from my parents house, and was going to be living in residence on campus (obviously), so my mom couldn't just drive up and do my sites for me, and 

C) I like my independence, so needing someone to put on my sites just got me mad 

So about two months ago, the pediatric nurse found me different sites that I could put in manually and could be certain that they went in. Now I use the Contact Detach sites 6mm with 60cm tubing, and I can honestly say they work a lot better and they're so easy to place! 

It's an actual needle and not a piece of plastic; that's why it's pretty much fool-proof

The packaging they come in 

Anyway, so what I do to try to overcome my depression when it hits me, is basically talking to my close friend that I mentioned earlier, listening to music and write. I write in journals how I'm feeling and what I think brought on these feelings, and eventually try to find a reason to be happy again (even though it's rarely ever a quick rebound to being happy again). Another thing I do is write stories; from fanfiction to original stories, writing is definitely my therapy in more ways than one as well as listening to music. (I actually have a playlist of My Little Pony songs that I listen to when I'm angry/sad/depressed/happy-- I listen to this playlist almost all the time, but it works!)  

My personal journal 

So, basically, if you're feeling down and depressed, the only advice I can really give you is definitely talk about it. Talk to someone you feel comfortable with, someone who will just sit there and listen to you and give you advice or motivation or anything you need to try to feel better again. Also, do something your passionate about! Like, I write when I feel--well, I write all the time to be honest, but when I write, I always put my feelings in my work. I have stories that will (most likely) never be published for the sole reason that they talk about depression and suicide, but in my mind, having a fictional character end their life is a way better alternative to me trying something stupid and doing something that I'll regret. So, like I said, put your feelings into your work! You draw/paint/any other artistic thing? Use that raw emotion and create something beautiful with it! If you're into exercise, keep at it! Just never stop doing what you're passionate about, no matter how down you get, just keep at it; it will help. Trust me. And let me assure you, no matter how bad it seems to get, it will get better! 

- Serena <3 

**Huge shout out to my friend Megin for always being there for me in my darkest hours and for always encouraging me in all my craziness (seriously how do you put up with me?!) and being one of my biggest supporters; it means a lot! <3 

Also, if you're feeling depressed or upset or just need someone to vent out your frustrations to someone, I'm available and check my email several times a day so if you need to talk to someone and want to talk to me, you can reach me at: abithotakugirl@gmail.com or you can also get a hold of me via Tumblr at depressedteendiabetic.tumblr.com and that too I check often and get notifications whenever someone sends me a message or asks me something. Just remember, you are NEVER ALONE and there's always someone who can help.**

My Medic Alert Tattoo

Hey everyone!

So today I want to talk about something very important to me; my Medic Alert Tattoo!

I got it done back in early May (it was a late birthday gift from my parents), and couldn't be happier about it!

My Tattoo

So, I chose the pink starburst because I happen to be a huge My Little Pony fan, and that starburst happens to be Twilight Sparkle's Cutie Mark (my favorite character out of the main cast). I also picked the font used because I felt it fit with the character's personality (plus it's very petty!)

When I got it done, I did one 'bad' thing that I won't do the next time I get a tattoo; right before I sat down to get my ink, I checked my sugar and it was at 4.9 (my meter uses mmol/L to measure my levels), and I was getting a little hungry. (oopsies!) But I went ahead and did it anyway. What I should have done was eat before going to get it done. Because I didn't eat before, (I'm pretty sure that's the reason, but I could be wrong!) the process of getting the tattoo hurt slightly more than (I assume) it would should I have eaten first. 

It's also very important that you keep track/ make sure your blood sugars are good before getting a tattoo because the higher your sugars, the more you risk getting an infection. According to diabetes.co.uk, it is recommended you avoid certain areas such as: 

• Buttocks
• Shins
• Ankles
• Feet
• Common insulin injection sites (i.e: arms, abdomen, thighs)

(they say that only because these places take longer to heal, which could possibly lead to complications like infection)

If you're interested in getting a tattoo (Medic Alert or not) and you have Diabetes, I definitely recommend reading this article here. It's quite helpful if you ask me, plus, I recommend you do some research on the healing process and any other questions you may have. (I  also recommend reading this FAQs about getting a tattoo, as well as these aftercare tips if you are really interested in getting some ink). 

- Serena <3

A word of Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to my personal blog "The Secret Life of a Type 1 Diabetic"!

I created this blog with the sole purpose of recording my personal growth/experiences while living with Type 1 Diabetes, and maybe even help others who are facing the same problems as I.

So, as a bit of an introduction, allow me to tell you about myself:

My name is Serena, I'm 18 years old and I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes ten years ago in January 2006; I was 7 going on 8 years old in a couple months. When I started out, I was on the injections ('Pen needles' I believe they're called) and I used them up until March/April 2013 when I got an insulin pump.

I had the NovoPen Junior and the Lantus Solostar pens

I currently have the black One Touch Ping pump

It's been a long and trying journey attempting to manage my diabetes, but I personally feel that all things happen for a reason and I was given this challenge to help me learn something (I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the lesson is!). At the end of the day, no matter how difficult I may feel it's getting, I need to try and remember what I just wrote.

So, this blog's main focus is living with Type 1 Diabetes and all the extra stuff that comes with it (i.e: stress, depression, blood tests, doctor's appointments, etc...). I do have some specific posts planned, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to writing/posting them; I'll do my best to make my posts frequent enough though!

That was all I really had to say in this post, so until next time everyone!

- Serena <3