I should probably write a bit about myself eh? First off, I'm from Canada. ;)

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1983 during my "march break" from school. They called it a few different things back then like juvenile diabetes. I remember my first Medic Alert Bracelet said Diabetes Mellitus it was all very confusing far a 7 year old.

The summer after I was diagnosed, my parents sent me off to a diabetes summer camp where I learned how to inject my own insulin and test my own blood sugars from then on I managed my own diabetes with the help of my parents and medical professionals.

During my teens and much of my 20's I rebelled against my diabetes. I refused to test my blood sugars and did the bare minimum required to function and tried my hardest to be like everyone else. this included some pretty bad eating habits, skipping shots, drinking alcohol and guessing how much insulin I needed.

Frankly, it was a downward spiral but, I was lucky and I never had any serious problems until one of my somewhat random visits to the doctor in my early 20s. Some tests showed that I had done some damage to my kidneys by abusing my body the way I was. Unfortunately, this was not enough to turn me around permanently. I was placed on a prescription for an ACE inhibitor "for life" to help my kidneys heal. I did manage to turn myself around briefly out of fear during this time but, a few months later I dropped out of the health care system here in Canada (Yes it is free, but it sucks) and I was not able to find a doctor again. I fell back into my old habits again.

About 2 years ago I realized that I felt terrible all the time and that it was a direct result of my diabetes. I was having no luck at all finding a GP and I had been looking for years. I decided to try something else. I got myself to a walk-in clinic and insisted that they help me with my diabetes and it worked. I got a referral to an endocrinologist and he sent me to his diabetes clinic

I've been 2 years now aggressively managing my diabetes through carb counting, testing my blood glucose levels and giving my insulin. I'm able to adjust with some idea of what's going to happen. Things right now are not so great with my diabetes due to some undue stress and changes in my life. Before those things happened I had a 6.2 - 6.4 A1c result for at least a year.

Anyway this site seems like a cool idea so I thought I'd contribute my story :)