I have learnt (2):

No one understands diabetes like a diabetic.
Not the doctors, not the family, not the friends, only the diabetics.

Doctors give me all sorts of advice - mostly revolving around 'why do you test so often, why do you/don't you eat that, don't let your a1c get any lower/higher, always wear shoes' but they have no idea. It's all text-book to them.

Family & friends care, but they have no idea what I'm going through. I think they're all worried that I'm going to die in my sleep one night - death by chocolate, or death by insulin - and they probably all think I'm a naughty girl for having some pudding at family dinners, but there's no way they understand - except perhaps my father, who is also an insulin dependent diabetic.

This is why I love the online world. This is why diabetes blogs make me feel at home. And this is why I'm thankful for my friend who is also an insulin dependant diabetic. I could be SO alone if it wasn't for him and the online forums/blogs.

Could a non-diabetic even try to understand what it's like to feel low? To go all shaky and not feel quite right for half an hour or so? Could they begin to understand what it's like to feel high, to have that dry mouth, grumpiness, and worst of all, the frustration of having to wait so long for the BG to drop again? (Why can't they make a faster insulin?!). Could they ever get what it feels like to have to carry a shit-load of stuff around even just for a quick walk? To lack the spontaneity in not being able to eat anything anytime, or go anywhere any time, and having to test before driving, worrying about going low during sex, etc?

Some days I feel very alone in this diabetic life. Other days I actually forget I'm diabetic for a while... but it's never long until something reminds me.

If it gets me down, all I have to do is come online. So many wonderful blogs and forum posts to read, where just about everything said I can nod my head and say 'yep, been there, done that, printing the T-shirt as we speak...'.