Hey there!
I’m so glad you found your way here! I’m Rachel, creator and T1D behind this blog.
I started this blog in 2016 after getting diagnosed with my second autoimmune disease.
Type 1 diabetes (2008) followed by Hashimoto’s (2016).
Wwwwwhich was then followed by a false diagnosis of celiac – but that’s a story for another day.
My endocrinologist at the time had told me that it’s incredibly common to be diagnosed with a second autoimmune disease if you have T1D. So I wanted to create a space to connect with others who were going through the same thing. And thus, the blog was born!
I have an incredibly supportive and adventurous husband (hey babe xoxo), a wildly observant & curious son, and the sweetest most cuddly goldendoodle you’ve ever seen.
And as of 2018…. BACKYARD CHICKENS!
I am a firm believer in taking your health into your own hands because no one has more of a vested interest in your health than YOU.
my diabetes story
I was 20 years old and in my sophomore year of college, when I got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I had all the typical red flags of unquenchable thirst followed by a ridiculous number of bathroom breaks, extreme fatigue, dry mouth, and extreme weight loss (as you can see from my skeletor picture below).
My mom instantly thought I had T1D, but I was in total disagreement.
I went to the doctors anyways and wouldn’t you know, mom was right.
My blood sugars for those first few years were far from desirable. My A1C was constantly in the mid to high 7’s and my blood sugar seemed to act erratically with no rhyme or reason.
One week I was doing great, the next I couldn’t stay below 200mg/dL.
I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting better control.
I was doing exactly what my endocrinologist was telling me to do, but it wasn’t working. And surprisingly, my endo was happy with my numbers because my A1c was in the 7’s, which was an acceptable range for someone with T1D.
But I needed more stability in my numbers and I refused to accept that this was just what having type 1 diabetes looked like.
It took me years, and a lot of trial and error, but…
I was finally able to figure it out!
I now maintain an A1c in the 5’s, have fewer & less severe lows than when my A1c was in the 7’s, and my CGM looks more like a smooth wave instead of a pingpong match (or the silhouette of a mountain range 😅).
want to know how I did it?
First, I needed the right toolset.
You’d think after years of having T1D and following “doctors orders” I’d know what I was doing, but I was barely getting by.
That’s because text book diabetes can be (and is) a lot different than diabetes in real life.
My diabetes team only gave me a hammer, but what I really needed was a hammer, nail, saw, drill, level, (you get the picture).
Second, I zoomed out and treated the body as a whole.
This is the principal behind holistic health.
I give a little extra TLC to metabolic health (because diabetes is a metabolic disease) and endocrine health (because diabetes is all about hormone signaling).