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Tuesday 15 September 2015

I would rather see a Spider

There has been much speculation in the media recently about the warm weather bringing more spider sightings. Most people are afraid of spiders, spiders are weird and their eight legs are spindly and ugly and they're all round not nice. I've held a tarantula before, it wasn't a pleasant experience but it wasn't a bad one either, it was actually a little bit cute in all it's fur. A little bit. I'm not going to say I'm not afraid of spiders, because I am, but I would rather see a Spider than a Wasp.

I'm tempted to compare low blood sugar to how I feel towards Spiders,in fact, I'm not even tempted I'm just going to do it...they scare me, but thankfully are relatively easy to get rid of...and the majority of them are pretty harmless, unless it's potentially poisonous. Much like hypoglycemia...it is fairly simple to treat and to bring your blood sugars up for the majority of the time, but sometimes it can be scary and not so simple and it can be dangerous. And much like the warm weather brings Spiders, it can also bring hypos.

And now I will compare high blood sugar to how I feel about wasps. I hate wasps, and I am convinced they're going to sting me at every opportunity...they make me want to run away and they're notoriously difficult to get away from you once they arrive. A bit like high blood sugar actually, I strongly dislike high blood sugar (who doesn't?!) and it's far more difficult to get rid of than a Spider a.k.a a low blood sugar, and much like a wasp once it's arrived once, it's hard to make it go away and it's threatening to do you some damage every second that it's around...and if you want to keep a wasp away it often involves lighting various candles etc. like a diabetic needs insulin to keep high blood sugars away. It's all quite complicated really. And much like food and drink attracts a wasp, it also attracts high blood sugar.

Both high and low blood sugar are not nice at all and both scare me, but in my eyes both have varying degrees of difficulty. A low blood sugar is easy to get rid of most times, is relatively harmless and although it makes you feel rubbish while it's there it's not as hard to keep away- like spiders, unless you get a poisonous spider, in which case would be a really bad hypo. A high blood sugar is not so easy to get rid of, and once it's arrived it's hard to keep at bay and carries the threat of complications every second that it's around- like a wasp, it threatens to sting you while it's buzzing around in your face and it's hard to get away once it senses your food or drink. But there are times when a high blood sugar goes away relatively easily too.

All in all, I think I would rather see a Spider. (A non-poisonous one)

I thought it would be interesting to do this little comparison because I have been seeing so much about spiders and encountered many wasps this summer that I delved a little deeper into my feelings towards these creatures...and came up with this blog post! I hope you found it interesting too.

Tuesday 8 September 2015

My Hummingbird tattoo

Yesterday I got a tattoo. It's a hummingbird. I love it! I got a few questions as to whether or not there is a link to diabetes in my tattoo and the answer is yes. It's not a coincidence that I got tattooed on my arm the very animal that used to be the Diabetes UK logo, but I've also generally just always wanted a Hummingbird tattoo.

I'm happy that I chose a Hummingbird and I'm even happier that it has so much meaning. I really enjoy the fact that it's not meaningless, I don't think I would want to put myself through having a tattoo if I didn't feel like it was worth it. It's beautiful and the artist did a wonderful job designing it and it came out far better than I expected!

Why a Hummingbird in relation to diabetes?

I took this paragraph from a website that I read whilst searching about the Hummingbird and it's relationship with diabetes.

"What we can admire about the hummingbird is it's incredible ability to efficiently manage all the crucial aspects of it's life. Individuals with chronic diseases understand better than most people as to how essential it is not be in control with certain aspects of their lives. For hose with diabetes, their diet is simply one factor they must take into consideration on a daily basis."

In a nutshell, the Hummingbird is a busy bird! It has lots going on at once yet retains it's beauty and composure and it has the remarkable ability to adapt to everything around it. I know the other link to diabetes through the Hummingbird is the way it's body processes sugar, however, that bit is a little bit boring so I didn't put that in the blog!