"Your baby is going to be so fat," a friend told me with a smile last spring. To some people, there is nothing cuter than a chubby baby, so calling a baby fat is somewhat of a compliment. But for someone with type 2 diabetes, who has struggled with her weight for a good part of her life, the fat baby comment stings.

"You have diabetes, so of course your baby's going to be chubby," she continued. "They call them sugar babies."

It's a label that left me steamed for months. My child wasn't even born yet and already he's being called fat. I could envision a plump future laid out before him. Shopping in the husky section. Getting picked last in gym class. Being called Jupiter during lessons on the solar system. All this before the cruel middle school years. (READ MORE)

The first week in August marked the start of the 2010 run of the New York Renaissance Faire, an event in which the most popular exhibitions involve aiming long, pointy objects at impossibly small, circular targets. Whether it's an 8-foot-long lance hooking a three-inch-diameter ring, or a 26" arrow aimed at a bull's eye 100 yards away, or a sword or spear looking to unhinge a 1/2"-diameter ring of chain-mail armour, these are impressive displays of marksmanship and control -- kind of like trying to keep one's blood glucose levels between the mythical "102" and "104" (mg/dl) of glucometer-packaging displays, regardless of what one eats and when. (READ MORE)

I was 17 years old when I was diagnosed with diabetes. My breakfast at the time consisted of a donut and a soda. I usually skipped lunch or just grabbed some chips and another soda. Dinner was whatever fast food my friends and I could afford which pretty much meant anywhere with a dollar menu of some sort.

Diabetes threw a major wrench in my teenage life. It was my senior year and I was drum major of our marching band and now this! My life was crazy enough. How could I handle this?

I did what so many people do, I ignored it. I should say that I did not completely ignore my diabetes. The "D" does not really let us type 1's do that for too long. I always took my insulin and stayed away from sugar but that was about it. I rarely checked my blood glucose level. (READ MORE)

Three topics that come up on any diabetes blog or forum, as certain as death and taxes, are blood glucose levels, hemoglobin A1c levels, and guilt. The usual dialog goes like this:

"No matter what I do, I can't get my blood glucose levels to stay within 'normal' non-diabetic levels. This is going to really screw up my A1c, which means more medications, getting yelled at by my doctor and my spouse and my family, not being safe to get pregnant, and all the 'Diabetes Police' coming down on me. If only I had avoided that one jelly donut three weeks ago...!"

  (READ MORE)

straymuse

My view of diabetes changes with the tides it seems. Sometimes I look at it as a lifestyle that I must adopt to stay healthy. Sometimes I look at it as a challenge in which I can take on and beat. Other times I look at it as a curse.

Right now, I look at my diabetes as a battle. A battle that I don't want to fight. Not now.

The problem is all of the fighting will never stop. We just fight and fight and there is no winning. No matter how much I stay in control or how much exercise I do, I will still have diabetes. My a1c can be the same as someone without diabetes but my battle will continue. (READ MORE)

I called an emergency meeting with my endo last week. For the first time in my pregnancy, my blood sugar was out of my control. My fasting numbers, which I prided myself in keeping at the low end of the healthy range, suddenly shot above range and my post-meal readings were so erratic I actually threw out an insulin pen, convinced it was defective.

On MDI for the duration of my pregnancy, I did what I was told to do-upped my insulin-carb ratio, cut back on carbs, reviewed my food journal. I even checked to see if I'd consumed a bag of chocolate truffles in my sleep.

Clearly, I encountered the dreaded insulin resistance that plagues most type 2s and hits hard during the second half of pregnancy. I'd never had this problem before. Frantic, I posted on all my diabetes sites, begging for advice. The answer: Exercise more. (READ MORE)