Type 1 Diabetes: Think You're Immune? Think Again.

Hey there! I'm Vameesha Patel, an undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University. I would like to welcome you to my blog discussing a chronic illness that goes by the name of Type 1 Diabetes. WAIT! Before dragging your mouse to the "back" icon in the upper left hand corner, just take another minute to read the next paragraph. If that doesn't interest you, then by all means go back to checking your Facebook and updating your Twitter.

Why Type 1 Diabetes, you may ask yourself? The reason I chose this is goes back to about a year ago. Coming home one day from school, with my best friend, essentially my other half, Melissa, everything seemed to be perfectly fine. It wasn't until we were climbing up the stairs, heading to my room, that Melissa broke down and started bawling. Completely baffled, I called for my mom as she rushed to console Melissa. Through deep breaths and tears streaking her face, we found out that Melissa's 9-year-old brother Matt had just been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes the previous day. I stood there dumbfounded, thinking to myself, how in the world? Matt is one of the most active kids I know, always outside whenever he got the chance and so young too! There was no way...

Obviously, my uneducated assumption was wrong. Melissa told me that Type 1 Diabetes occurs at any age, particularly in children. It sunk in: Matt, who was almost like my own brother had been diagnosed with a chronic illness. Life for Melissa's family  and many of my assumptions about chronic illnesses were about to change dramatically.

Over a year later, Melissa's family is still educating themselves about this chronic illness that does not have a cure and to which the exact cause is unknown. I think it is important to educate myself as much as I can about Type 1 Diabetes because it is a scary thought to think that one day, you  can be perfectly healthy and the very next day be told that you have a chronic illness. With no cure. With no known exact cause. Imagine being a naive 9-year-old child at that, just like Matt was! Hard to wrap your head around, right? I know it was for me.

Type 1 Diabetes can generally be defined as a life long chronic disease  whereby there are  excess amounts of glucose within the body. The beta-cells that usually produce insulin, in this case, are unable to thus the blood sugar cannot be moved to cells to be used as energy later on. 

Here are some possible symptoms:

And these are some ways that you can control your chronic illness if diagnosed:

With this blog, I hope to target individuals who find that they are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, individuals who have loved ones, like myself, that suffer from the chronic illness and others who are simply curious and want to learn more.

That is why I created this blog: to educate people, and to continue to educate myself, to the best of my ability about a chronic illness that can, literally, unexpectedly show up. I am hoping my readers will come to realize its severity. I know that before, I was completely oblivious to the idea of chronic illnesses. I thought that because I was young and superior that no illness could touch me. 

However, when Matt was diagnosed,  it hit me like a brick: this can happen to ANYONE of any age, of any ethnicity, of any social class. The fact that I was misinformed about Diabetes made me realize that there so many other people out there that probably think the same way I do. This needs to change and people need to be aware of the right information. And that is what my main message is to you readers out there. Educate others and most importantly educate yourself because you, just like that active 9-year-old boy, are not immune.