As a mother of a 2yo T1 the hardest part of diabetes is getting the right insulin, food and exercize balance and the constant worry about his BGLs.

All of the above!!! I also find hard the misconception the majority of the public hold on diabetes, e.g the difference between T1 and T2.
I was told off the other day by a cafe assistant….My husband had ordered me a trim decaf coffee, enforcing the need for trim, decaf as pregnant and diabetic. Next thing, I was told off for having a bite of my husbands biscuit as her mother is a diabetic and can’t eat any sugar!!! Couldn’t help but unleash and give her the lecture on the difference between T1 and T2. That shut her up!

I agree with Sarah, I think the hardest part is other people’s lack of knowledge on the subject. It’s just so annoying! Maybe ‘hard’ is too strong a word, more frustrating than anything, I think.

Completely agree with the above comments. Maybe if type 1 diabetes had a completely different name things would be easier so type 1 and type 2 are not clumped together when they are so very different. To be honest I just don’t tell people that I have diabetes unless I really have to or they are a good friend.
The aspect I find the toughest with type 1 is that its a never ending struggle. Everyday!!! And you are quite alone in dealing with it on a day to day basis. Oh for a holiday from Diabetes!

All of the above!!!

I chose diet, but I don’t think of it as being hard because of diabetes, but because my naturally favourite food groups are sweet, salty, fatty and chocolatey (is it lunch-time yet?) To be really honest, I’m actually grateful to my diabetes in this sense, because it makes me think twice (sometimes) about what I’m about to put in my mouth.

I voted monitoring, because if monitoring were easier (an accurate and affordable CGMS worn 24/7/365, which just doesn’t exist) then the rest of Diabetes would largely cease to be much of a problem I think, whether you are MDI or pump.

You’d get a much better handle on how your body reacts, you’d eliminate the unexpected hypo, you’d eliminate any worry about an unnoticed hypo going too far, similarly you’d eliminate the “HOW HIGH!” surprise at a meter reading.

WOW, Imagine wearing a monitor that could automatically alert you if your BGL were going above 10 or falling below 4…. that would certainly take alot of unnecessary worry out of my day!

I voted for other – All of the Above.
All of those things are difficult at some time or another – I think they tag -team!
And I think the psychological aspect can be hard, both for Tyler as a teenager trying to fit in, and for us as parents seeing our son struggle with things that he really shouldn’t have to struggle with.

CGMS are great but unaffordable in NZ at $125 a week

gee can you tell I’m a novice….. I had to google CGMS ??!! I want one NOW

I’m with Jo – the hardest part is the way it’s always there in the back of your mind every minute of the day…. how am I feeling? Do I feel high or low? Do I need to test? Do I need to eat? What am I about to eat? How much insulin do I need? What exercise/activity am I about to do? Where do I need my levels to be before this meal / meeting / exercise / drive? How does this high effect my HBA1C? Is that [insert symptom] a sign of complilcations? Do I have enough strips / insulin / hypo treatment on me? Etc Etc

And in second place (or equal first) is dealing with those highs / lows that you’re at a complete loss to explain! It’s one thing when you know you’re high because you ate that big piece of chocolate cake or low because you’ve been exercising but really frustrating when you can’t figure out the reason!

To Ali’s point (very well made) I wanted to pose the question “how on EARTH do you ask all those questions of a toddler or young child with T1?”. Once again, hats off to parents managing littlies with T1.

For me it’s the lack of spontaneity. I would love to be able to just decide to go out the door for a run, or drive to Hamner springs for the day, or go out for a meal at the last minute, without having to check and recheck blood sugar levels and make I have supplies, and food, etc etc…

Compared to things like the risk of complications it’s a small thing but still it’s somehow the thing that gets to me the most.
(I know I would feel different if I developed complications)

I have a question for the poll, but I’m too lazy to email it :p
I would like to know how many people are on the pump compared to how many are on MDI’s.

I agree with all of the above too- my dream is to go on a holiday and only have to worry that I have my clothes and a tooth brush!! people without diabetes dont realize how easy that have it in that respect! (in saying that I know there are a lot worse problems one could have as well)
but I would LOVE to just walk out the door without a bag full of stuff everytime I go anywhere…….ok rant complete.

I have to agree with all of the above.
And I have to say I don’t know how the parents of young T1′ manage – well done.
How little people know about T1 – have to agree.
For me the hardest thing is the struggle to get good control, you think you have it sussed then suddenly a high or low comes out of nowhere, then you start feeling funny – and you don’t know whether you are high , low or actually normal but just don’t feel it.
(But then I would rather have diabetes than a lot of other conditinos out there)

What I find funny is that whenever you read anything about T1 they always make such a big deal about how awful it is for us having to have daily injections. Yet (so far at least) NONE of us have ticked that as being the worst thing! I’d quite happily do an injection every hour if I could get rid of some of the other stuff.

My2year old had a CGM on last week for 6 days it hardly ever stopped beeping!!!!!!!! It was good but not nearly as accurate as I thought, it said she was 8.5 but when I did a finger prick she was 2.5 so from then on I never really trusted it but it does show the trends in her levels.

For me, the most annoying part of diabetes is the sheer inconvenience of it all – the CHO counting, food, injections, testing and having to stop what I’m doing to ‘deal with diabetes’.

I’d also quite like to SCUBA dive a some point…

Ali, you have absolutely hit the nail on the head, that was my out-take too. The injections are just a means to an end once you get the hang of it. I am sure there are a few needle phobes out there, plus of course there are little kids who naturally would be terrified of the jabs, but it’s all the other palaver which seems to be the burden on a daily basis.

Zoe and Rebecca you have said it perfectly … the lack of spontaneity… and being able to go away with just a toothbrush!!!! I said that to my husband last time we went away …. oh just heard a guy on tv talking about inserting a small disc, looks like a contact lens, under the skin, to monitor blood glucose levels in real time, sigh, oh please in our lifetime and not costing an arm and a leg!!!
This time, actually today as it happens, last year we were in oz, and after a long day, an early morning flight, and then packing up to go and stay with friends, we arrived at our motel with them ( an hours drive from where we had been staying, with a two hour drive ahead of us to get to their house the next day) and I discovered when going to put it in the fridge, that I had left all my insulin back at the previous house It is the worst thing, leaving it in the fridge to be the last thing packed and then leaving without it…. so yeah totally agree with Zoe and Rebecca
Also hat off to all you parents of littlies with diabetes you are amazing!!!

Hi I have just joined you guys and have taken great delight in reading all of your comments. Are you all inside my head?
Jo summed it up for me, what does me in is the endless struggle and the “diabetic police” our well meaning nearest and dearest but oh man they can drive me nuts at times!!
As Ali and Nic have said the injections are the least problem when you have 3 or 4 a day whats one more.
Now I will show my ignorance what is MDI?

Great to have you along, Bev! MDI – Multiple Daily Injections