Everyday is Diabetes Day

The first few weeks of 2024 have been an abundance of balance of all of my favorite things.

Lots of outdoor time and delicious home made meals.

This month I also decided to start habit tracking and the habits I decided I needed to work on were:
1. No spend month - only buying needs and not wants. This has really helped in terms of meal planning and prepping and not just buying convenience meals from the shops.
2. Moving for 30 mins a day - this can be anything from a stroll to a jog or a stretch. I’ve found getting my 30 minutes done in the morning is best, I tend to be lazier in the afternoons.
3. No gluten - I’ve been getting rashes, vomiting, nausea and severe bloating from something. I’ve been for allergy and celiac disease tests but everything has come back negative. So my next step in this journey is to cut out gluten for a month and if that doesn’t work ill be cutting out dairy for a month next 🙌🏻 even tried gluten free pizza for the first time (pic 8)
4. Changing my needles- one area of my diabetes management that I struggle to do, sometimes only changing the needle if it’s sore or if it’s time for a new pen 🙈 so this month I’m challenging myself to change my needle once daily 🙌🏻

Every evening I have to tick off whether I have achieved the habit or not on my habit tracker which is stuck on my cupboard so that I see it every day! (Pic 7)

Next month I will be choosing some new habits to track- what habits are you looking to change? ☀️

When you go on a hike in 26 degree weather and your glucose levels are kind to you 🫶

Woke up low. Had a pronutro bar (15g carbs) and just before the hike I took a few units of insulin, knowing that I usually spike in the morning.

Checked my glucose regularly while we were hiking but stayed stable and didn’t need any corrections. When we got to the peak, I ate another pronutro bar with no insulin and managed to get back to the car park with no lows 🙌🏻

The rest of the day I also required less insulin because of the extra exercise 😊

And just like that another year slows to an end and the festive season begins 💫 It’s time to unplug, disconnect and slow down to take it all in before we enter a whole new year!

When your work involves social media, you have to take advantage of the fact that the office is closing which means I get to take a much needed break from the online world. ‘Offline is the new luxury’.

Wishing you all the best festive season, I’ll be seeing you all in the new year 🫶

Forever that girl at a social gathering who is making best friends with the dog!

This week I went for tea with a man who is in his 80’s and has been living with Type 1 diabetes since he was 15 💙

Yesterday I attended the first in-person Diabetes Summit in South Africa 🇿🇦

The discussion of the day was around the National Strategic Plan targets and how we can translate policy into reality.

The one topic that really stood out for me was the comparison of the way the nation has addressed HIV versus Diabetes.

Andrea Feigl shared that a colleague had a patient who said “I would rather have HIV than diabetes because then I would have access to treatment”

Attached is an image from Zaheer Bayat’s presentation, who suggested that if the nation gave report cards for HIV and Diabetes control - HIV would get an A+ and Diabetes would get an F.

With only half of people living with diabetes getting diagnosed, and only 25% on treatment - a lot needs to happen to reach the targets that have been set for diabetes in South Africa.

I hope that we can collaborate with the change makers in HIV care so that people living with diabetes, can have better access to the treatment and support that they need to thrive with diabetes.

as we celebrate World Diabetes Day today!

I am looking forward to the first in-person South African Diabetes Summit tomorrow, where I will be contributing to the Big Debate about Investing in diabetes prevention and control, organised by the Diabetes Alliance.

The Diabetes Summit’s aim will be to discuss the implementation of South Africa’s National Strategic Plan(NSP) to prevent and control diabetes.

The NSP has set 3 diabetes targets:
1. 90% of people over 18 should know if they have raised blood glucose levels.
2. 60% of those with raised blood glucose levels should receive intervention.
3. 50% of those who receive intervention should have controlled glucose levels.

We have a long way to go in South Africa, but it’s a start!

If you had told me 5 years ago that I would be attending one of the biggest international conferences about diabetes in 2023 as a lived experience voice, I never would have believed you!

I am extremely grateful and excited to be attending the European Association for the Study of Diabetes e.V. (EASD) conference as a ° voice in Hamburg next week.

° Diabetes Online Community are doing the most incredible work to ensure that the lived experience always has a seat at the table when diabetes is being discussed.

I look forward to the opportunity to learn about the latest results in diabetes research discussed by leading experts and to network with the global diabetes community.

Diabetes is a lot and most of the time we just get on with it but sometimes life likes to remind us that we are different and that it takes a little bit more from us physically to do the things that others not living with diabetes can maybe do a little easier.

I work remotely which means I can work from anywhere in the world. Last year I decided to be brave and work remotely from a new country. I stayed on an island and it was an actual dream. But as romantic as it sounds - adjusting my diabetes to a new lifestyle, climate, time zone and food choices- was challenging. A lot of lows and highs and the exhaustion that comes with that.

This year I decided to come over to the UK to stay with close friends for 5 weeks in London. And once again my body has become exhausted from the new routine and adjusting to a new way of life.

It’s not just the big things but the little things like not having enough stock of your usual sugar low saver and trying new sweets out, it’s the fact that I walk a lot more in a day in London than in Cape Town which means an adjustment of basal insulin, it’s not having easy access to purchase your usual medication and getting extended supply from your own country in case you can’t find it in another country.

Although I am exhausted and haven’t been feeling my best physically, I like to use this as my reminder that we can do anything our hearts desire, it just takes a lot more preparation and planning and adjusting along the way. Being so in tune with what my body needs, because of diabetes, has helped me navigate through the challenging times and for that I am forever grateful ✨

Dear diabetes

4 years ago I sat on a beach and I wrote you a letter about all the things I would say to you if I could. I was tired of struggling to live with you and I knew that our relationship needed to change. Little did I know that this letter would be the beginning of a very healthy and happy life with you.

It’s 2023 now and it’s wild when I look back and see how far we have come together. My glucose levels are better than they have ever been, not only do I know how to maintain my sugars but I’ve done it while enjoying quality of life. I started a non-profit organisation to advocate for and with others living with diabetes in South Africa. Through these efforts I was nominated as a Young leader in diabetes to attend training with the International Diabetes Federation.

I went from knowing no one living with diabetes to having friends all over the world who live with this condition everyday. I speak openly about you and how difficult you can be to those around me and it’s been so rewarding to see my friends and family learn and try to understand. I now know that I can live a long and healthy life without long term complications.

So much has changed and I am so very grateful for everything you have allowed me to experience in these last few years. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though, sometimes I still get sad when I realise that I will never get a break from you. If I want to continue to live, my price to pay is daily injections and the balancing act of my glucose levels. You still frustrate me some days and sometimes I wonder how different everything would have been if I had never met you.

I am going to be celebrating 13 years of knowing you this week. I had no choice in this lifetime commitment but I choose to celebrate all the ways that you have made me into the person I am today.

I look forward to learning and growing with you in all the years to come. 💙

All my love,
Kirsten

Life has been wonderful but busy at the moment. This last week has felt particularly hectic but I’ve been eating most of the right things and exercising moderately - I’ve been checking in on my glucose levels and nothing has been severely off - maybe a little higher than usual.

Last night I sat down for dinner with a friend and I found I could not construct basic sentences. I had brain fog and forgot what I was talking about mid sentence. I scanned my sensor and looked at my time in range and was shocked to see that I had been running high most of the day and was currently at 22% time in range.

I recently read a brilliant article by Daniel Sher around the effects of low blood glucose on the brain - and this weeks situation has got me thinking so much about the effects of higher blood glucose on the brain.

I couldn’t figure out why my glucose levels were off so my last point of call was to start a new insulin pen incase my insulin was faulty. I woke up in range this morning and I am currently sitting at 87% time in range and feeling a little more human with a small sugar hangover from the last few days.

Bridget McNulty often tells me to change my insulin when glucose levels are haywire for no reason - and I highly recommend this if you really can’t figure out a reason as to why your sugars are running higher than usual.

I’ve been facilitating the SA Diabetes Advocacy Course since last year. It’s a 4 week virtual course- free and accessible to South Africans with the aim of empowering people to advocate for themselves and others living with diabetes.

Last night we started the first round of the June course and I felt so lucky to be doing what I am doing. The things that I have loved through this process are:

1. People with different connections to diabetes coming together. I have realised how often we like to differentiate between the different types of diabetes. This platform has become a safe space for people living with all types of diabetes, carers, friends and family members as well as health care professionals who want to better understand how to advocate for people living with diabetes. We put our differences aside and share the challenges we face in all our different settings and it is just so beautiful.
2. Sharing and owning our stories brings the heart into advocacy. I find many people in the course share their story and then say that it’s not important. To hear why people want to advocate and why they are attending the course, are the kind of stories that make you want to make the world a better place for people living with diabetes.
3. That so many people connected to diabetes have had to fight their own battles and now want to help others so that they don’t have to do it alone.

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Introduction of the FreeStyle Libre System 31 May 2023 | Abbott Diabetes Care

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Click here to register for this free of charge session!


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Everyday is Diabetes Day Health & wellness website

I’m angry with diabetes this week but this time it’s different. I’m not angry at my own diabetes.

My heart aches for the 14 year old boy who had dreams of becoming a pilot but passed away last week from DKA, my heart aches for the teenager I am mentoring who closes up every time I try and bring diabetes into the conversation, my heart aches for the parents who lie awake at night wondering how their child will take on diabetes along with all of the other responsibilities of life, my heart aches for my friends living with diabetes who are doing incredible things with their lives but diabetes is making it difficult for them to enjoy the milestones and just live in the moment, despite trying their best to keep on top of the stubborn sugars.

Diabetes, sometimes you just suck and I really don’t like the way you make life so difficult for those around me.

If you’re struggling at the moment, I am sending all the strength your way to get through the many obstacles diabetes may be adding to your load.

You’ve got this and I whole heartedly believe in you and your ability to keep on the good fight 💙

Sometimes I wonder how different my life would be if this little girl did not get diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 16.

I sometimes wonder how much diabetes has changed me as a person. My characteristics, my physical and mental health, my perspective on the world. I wonder what I would be doing with all my spare time and thoughts if diabetes was not taking up so much of it. I wonder what career path I would have taken and I wonder what sort of community I would have become a part of.

In many ways diabetes has given me so many opportunities in life that I know I would never have had without it. Diabetes does not define me, but it is a huge part of who I have become, a huge part of me that I have learnt to love.

Something that I don’t see spoken enough about in this space is how difficult Diabetes Advocacy can be.

Most people only see the end result of a campaign or a change that happens.

They don’t see the unanswered emails, the uncomfortable meetings, the feeling of not knowing where your efforts are going to be most valuable, the hard conversations, the intense passion that so many people hold for different things, the debates, the power struggles, the emotional drainage of sharing our side of the story over and over again, the dead ends that just keep on coming.

The feeling that you’re never doing quite enough, you’re never representing everyone, you’re never creating enough change where it’s needed most.

I think it’s hard to not get caught up in it all and to not feel like the change you’re creating is enough. BUT I just want to remind everyone how valued you are in this space - and if you are impacting just one life through the stories you share - you are doing enough.

Diabetes advocacy is difficult but I hope that you can see your value in every little thing that you do 💙

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to join FIND’s ACCEDE workshop, FIND is working to address the disparity in access to continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), through a project called “Access to CGMs for Equity in Diabetes Management”. The project is happening in South Africa and Kenya.

Salih, Amanda and I got to represent SA Diabetes Advocacy and share our lived experience of using CGM and the accessibility barriers in both the public and private healthcare sectors. Not only were our lived experience heard, we were also included in the investment case study design - this was an incredible process to be a part of.

I loved this quote on the banner which spoke to the efforts of advocacy - ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’ - African Proverb.

“But you don’t look diabetic” - the amount of times I have heard this in the 12 years that I have been living with Type 1 Diabetes is countless.

Diabetes can happen to anyone.

No matter how much sugar I ate as a child. No matter your age, weight, height, colour. No matter if you’re healthy and fit. No matter if you’re rich or poor. No matter if no one in your family has diabetes.

Stop the stereotype.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the concept of diabetes being a never ending cycle.

And how other tasks in our lives can be so boring or hard to stick to even when we know the outcome will hugely benefit us.

You can’t manage your diabetes for a month or a year and then be set for life. Diabetes is more a day to day progress. You have to put in effort everyday to make sure you reduce your risk of long term complications and feel more healthy.

Like with many other boring things in life, like drinking water - you have to consistently stay hydrated every day else you will become dehydrated. With exercise you have to keep at it else you lose your strength and fitness.

So what I’m trying to do this year is to take the mundane, boring tasks and make them a bit more fun. Make the outcomes so desirable that I stick to my goals. And make my goals bite size and Kirsten specific so that they actually catch on in my day to day life.

So far staying in range, drinking water and exercise are the things I’m trying to grasp in terms of how do I make them enjoyable in the short and long term?

Travelling with diabetes is exhausting and terrifying when things take a turn for the worst. Lately I haven’t had much luck with my travels, from tummy bugs to flu to food poisoning and more.

This last week was extremely testing for me and my glucose levels. I flew to Namibia on an early flight and managed to get food poisoning on the plane. I couldn’t keep anything down for 5 hours and before driving 3 hours to a game lodge in the middle of nowhere - I found a nurse at a pharmacy who thankfully ruled out DKA by testing my ketones. However I was severely dehydrated and my sugar levels kept going low so I found some honey at a restaurant and kept putting it on my gums to try and stay out of the low zone. Thankfully after a good nights sleep I finally felt better.

Being on safari with a set meal time was also very difficult, with late eating and very rich foods. I think I’ve learnt my lesson to carry snacks wherever I go from now on or at least plan ahead with the resort.

My body is tired after a week of chasing highs and lows. I was reminded of the headaches and brain fog and dehydration that comes with crazy blood sugars.

I am so looking forward to getting back into routine and eating healthy and exercising again this week and I know I will be a much better human for it! 🌈🌈🌈

I’ve heard a lot of people struggling with the concept of forever when it comes to diabetes.

I remember the night I got diagnosed, after my doctor told me everything I would have to do from now on - I thought like with every other illness I had had - I would treat it and I would get better. But when I asked how long I would have to inject and test my blood sugars for, his response was that I would have to inject myself everyday for the rest of my life.

This is when the reality of what a chronic condition is really set in.

For most of the time we just get on with it and we stick to our routines and do what we know we need to do but I would be lying if I told you there weren’t days that I questioned whether I would be able to keep up with this forever.

It sometimes feels like you’re consistently showing up and doing your best but the only reward you’re getting is a number on a blood test.

I know it’s so much more than just a number. I know it’s days of feeling a lot better in my body and fingers crossed, a reduction in the risk of my long term complications due to diabetes. And I know I’m a better person when my glucose levels are controlled. But sometimes I really wish I didn’t have to show up so hard everyday just to live.

Forever is a long time but I think the thought that gets me through is that if it weren’t for modern medicine, I would have died at the age of 16. It’s a tough thought to conquer but if I want to live a long and healthy life, the price to pay is to look after my diabetes forever. 💙

It’s the start of 2023 and all we are seeing is goals and new year resolutions…

For some reason this year feels a little different. I remember for years I would sit and create a vision board of all my wildest hopes and dreams, and at the very end (mostly out of guilt) I would add that THIS would be the year that I finally get back on track with diabetes- even though I secretly knew that I was not ready to take it on.

This year I don’t really have a goal but one fine line that my wonderful endo left with me at my last visit- I need to find the Kirsten plan. The Kirsten plan is the perfect balance between diabetes management and quality of life.

I can’t read a book about someone else’s diabetes management experience and try and implement everything they do into my life. I need to research numerous ways of doing life with diabetes and then trial and error them into my own life before I can decide that they are for me or not. The reality is that we will not stick to a new plan if it does not valuably add to our quality of life.

Here is to 2023 and finding the perfect Kirsten plan 🙌🏻

I find it a bit difficult to sum up my year with diabetes in 2022.

I wouldn’t describe it as a hard year but that doesn’t mean there weren’t days that I phoned some of you, crying over the guilt of a bowl of coco pops. Or days when I just couldn’t imagine having to do this over and over again, every single day for the rest of my life.

I did some pretty epic things this year. I walked 100km across Spain with my best friend, I worked remotely from a beautiful island for a month, I travelled solo and met up with PLWD from all over the world at the International Diabetes Federation Congress. I did things that I used to let diabetes stop me from doing.

I think 2022 was a great year of reflection from where I was 3/4 years ago, to where I am now. It’s been a year of gratitude and growth. A year of realizing how far I have come.

It’s the first year that I’ve learnt to sit with the bad days and embrace them as much as I do with the good days. Diabetes is here to stay and this was the first year I didn’t find myself fighting or ignoring the bad that it can bring. I’ve learnt it’s okay to feel both happy and sad and confused by the mixed emotions a life long condition brings.

How was your journey with diabetes in 2022?

If you had told younger Kirst where she would be in 2022, she never would have believed you.

After so many years of going at diabetes alone, I finally found community.

Never in my wildest dreams did younger Kirst think that diabetes would become one of her greatest rewards in life. I am so grateful for each and every one of you. The stories you have shared, the kind words of encouragement on the hard days, the celebrations on the good days.

There are no words to describe the instant connection that I have had with so many of you over these last couple of years. And no words to explain how lucky I feel to know you all.

Here’s to another year, going at life - one injection at a time. I can’t wait to take on 2023 with this community by my side 💙

Last week was everything younger Kirsten wanted, but didn’t know she needed- community 💙

Last week I attended Diabetes Advocacy training as a Young Leader in Diabetes with the International Diabetes Federation.

This was an opportunity to learn and connect with people living with diabetes from all over the world.

It was an intense, jam packed agenda learning how to advocate for diabetes across the globe.

Not only did we learn to advocate but we shared our stories. How it was to grow up in our countries with T1D, how T1D has inspired them to become a doctor, how a T1D lost a very close friend to DKA, the mental burden of living with chronic illness, at what age we thought we would die because of the constant fight to survive. It was intense and beautiful to open up our hearts and minds to all of these incredible humans.

It was one of the most emotionally, mentally and physically challenging weeks of my life but it is a week that I will remember for as long as I live.

Thank you for the program and the opportunity to connect with these humans. Could not be more proud to be a part of this community! 💙

Today we to show support for everyone we know and love living with diabetes.

Today kind of feels like Christmas in the diabetes community, wherever we are in the world, we celebrate as a community today for World Diabetes Day 💙

Trying to get my sugars in range and keeping them there has been a long struggle for me with a lot of resistance to actually figure out what is best for me when it comes to the food I eat.

I was too busy focusing on wanting to eat what everyone else was eating. Even though how they were eating was making me feel exhausted.

I didn’t have the faith in myself to change this but it eventually came from the facing the hard truth that I am different to others. As much as I socially want to join in on burger nights, I still can - I just do it without the bun and don’t throw a tonne of sauce on like everyone else. I still have dessert, but a bite here and there. Not a full bowl or second servings like the people around me.

It’s all been about practicing mindful eating. This happens at home, when I’m shopping at the grocery store, when a friend offers me something to eat - I now stop and ask myself ‘how is this food going to make me feel?’

In January this year I made a vision board and one of the quotes I stuck on there says ‘if you eat crap, you will feel like crap’.

The flat glucose lines on my FreeStyle Libre are just the cherry on top - I would be lying if I said that my eyes stung with tears when I saw this graph and finally felt like my journey with food was effortless and simply just by choosing the foods that I know will make me feel good.

Very excited to listen to talk about what it means to build a community and advocate for a cause 🙌🏻

Dave has helped build global communities and movements to drive action on issues ranging from protecting the oceans to adopting renewables. His work has received accolades from the United Nations!

Please join us next week Thursday to talk about Diabetes Advocacy in South Africa and the campaign ☺️

In 2 weeks I will be flying to Spain to conquer my longest walking distance yet! Over 5 days I will be walking 100km across a foreign country, with only the bag on my back and my best friend at my side.

Some people wonder why I would take leave out of my year to walk 100km… All I know is that there was once a time that I never allowed myself to dream of challenges like this.

I physically and mentally believed that I was incapable of these things because of diabetes.

I don’t know where you are in your own journey with diabetes today, but I truly hope that you all reach a place where you feel empowered by this condition instead of restricted. That you all feel capable and deserving of every small and big dream you have for yourselves. 💙