Wednesday, November 2, 2011
How has the diabetes online community (DOC) helped me...
There's lots of places online to find out info about living with type 1 diabetes. In the last five or so years, they've come to recognize all of these information sites (most are blogs by people with type 1, or sites that combine info into a one-stop-shop to learn) as the Diabetes Online Community.
I'll be honest, I've lived with type 1 long enough to rarely have a question about it. 35 years of injecting myself with insulin to survive. I've pumped for 13+ years, used a continuous glucose monitor since they were approved by the FDA in 2006, brought two healthy baby girls into the world in the 6lb range, lived through a child being diagnosed. Most of this was done before the DOC existed. The good news for others now is that there are a ton of sites to learn about every aspect of living with type 1 and to connect with others who have similar interests or are in similar stages of diabetes life.
That being said, the DOC has helped me. It has helped me give back to the community. It's easy to get lost in the day to day onslaught of diabetes in our lives. 95% of it negative. The DOC gives me more positive type 1 diabetes experiences. I have been a volunteer for JDRF's Online Diabetes Support Team since 2005. I'm now a moderator of that project. I also was part of the implementation team for Juvenation - the online type 1 diabetes community and continue to be a lead volunteer on that project. I lead the moderators of the JDRF PenPals program as well. I've got 500+ friends on facebook who are all part of the diabetes community. It keeps me in touch with what's going on out there in the diabetes world (so I don't get stale and old in what's out there) and also lets me learn and give back to those who are struggling.
The DOC is an amazing place to learn about and live with type 1 diabetes.
Subscribe to Comments [Atom]