Author Archives: notmycell

Day 5: Easy Answer

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5

Well with a loaded question such as:“If I could do anything as a Health Activist…” Think big today! Money/ time/ physical limitations are no longer an issue. What is your biggest goal that is now possible?” Cure? Or is that answer just way over easy and simplified? So now we get the easy answer with the long response.

To be honest with you this is a cheat of an answer. Yet it is something that is so true, if I had all the resources in the world, I would fund work on the cure in full swing. Yet this is not the case. The only way to raise that sort of capital is to raise awareness properly. How to do that? Well you see, this is where the campaigning, the funding, the resources, etc could come in handy. While I did kinds blog about it last November.  The JDRF ran a program about being T1 for a day. Which was great. You would get texts telling you certain things throughout the day. Trying to “manage” your diabetes. Or previously I know JDRF had something to get people to experience what we felt on a daily basis with using rubber bands and such to simulate testing and the like.

Well with my infinite resources, I would come up with a program to let people truly experience what life was like if you were living with type-1 diabetes. To feel the fuzzy/confused lows and desire to eat all the things. To have a high and drink and drink and drink. Followed by the tinkling away all that was forced through your system. You get to experience the mental anguish when the food you eat and “bolus” for goes awry and you need to handle the consequences.

There is no good or bad kind of diabetes, there is an illness that on all levels kicks ones ass all the time. There is no one true way to handle this illness. Maybe I am bitter today, because of number issues I experienced while out playing. (I am fine, my mothers all checked in on me and yelled at me already.) The thing is, until people realize the struggles one goes through on a daily basis, they cannot see why we advocate so strongly for the “CURE” not the temporary fix (which we will use of course if it improves our lives), but the all out, hey you have a working pancreas and bonus no anti-rejection drugs or whatever the end result of a cure is.

The getting to a cure needs to have people behind it. It needs to have funding behind it. It needs to have the minds behind it. To get people to see these things might make that search, that quest for a cure to be that simpler. People will get what we go through and not just nod sympathetically when we talk about our condition. They won’t make the comments we hate hearing over and over again. (That is a completely different post to write though.)

To let people see what we face, what anyone with a chronic condition faces, will allow them to truly realize why we seek the “CURE”. Why we do what we do. So yes, if I could do anything. I would want to get people behind me to finally discover the cure I am seeking. The one we all are seeking.

cure

I need to thank Sara for letting me have use of this picture for today’s blog post. She is one of the greatest people in the world. I would not be alive with out her some days. My blog would be lost. I would have no one to link people to go see. I would be LOST without her. But seriously, thank you Sara. You are a great friend.

In a pinch

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7

A few weeks back I received a friendly email from Ethan the genius behind the Level Life glucose gels endorsing the benefits of his products and to see if I might be willing to sample and talk about his products. He was very kind in his request. I did mention to him I had already spoken about his product somewhat, but more so I reminded him that the last time we met Sara and I were picking on him slightly for showcasing one specific flavor of his product. Oddly enough, even after that reminder of myself picking on him throughout the week at Friends For Life, he still wanted to send me some of the gels.

Box1Let me be honest here, I am frugal and anything to save me some money on diabetes supplies is always nice. So I get this box with the sample pack of the various flavors that Level has to offer: Mandarin Orange, Strawberry-Banana, Vanilla, and Caramel. I say this first, each of us has our own flavor palette and desire for certain things when we are low, so my opinion of the flavors will be different than yours.

Let me be honest with you, I was never a huge fan of glucose gel. Back when I was a kid, I remember one or two lows in which I was forced, encouraged to partake in the consumption of glucose in a tube. Apparently, I have been told I was a bit of a fighter that day. Not that making me do anything while low is an easy task to grasp in the first place. Superhuman strength seems to come into play, when it is something that I really, really, do not want. Even though I was not with it at that point, I remember flashes of taste, texture, and blaaaaaah to this day.

So I have always been hesitant to go the route of the glucose gels. Yet, back in July, I fell prey to peer pressure and tried the Mandarin Orange. It was unique. Mind you the taste at that time was not bad, but it also was not my cup of tea or squeeze of glucose gel. So Sara and I picked on Ethan about his choice of flavor to showcase. It seemed though most people were comfortable with the Mandarin Orange, and Sara and I were just special. Anyway, we were special enough that Ethan brought us some of his Strawberry Banana gel as well to sample. This I enjoyed so much more. Mind you this is not a complaint, but it is the overall quality of the banana ingredient, the banana flavor is quite recognizable. But this is the same with all things done banana. If you make Banana Bread with chocolate chips in it, you will definitely experience more of the banana than you will of the chocolate taste. I might call this gel Banana Strawberry, but that’s just me.

So my first two encounters with the glucose gel were pretty favorable. Favorable enough that once the gels went the retail way, I would go out and buy the strawberry banana from my local pharmacy. Not only to support Ethan, but because they are pretty good. Now though, I had an opportunity to sample the entire selection of flavors more fully.

Box3

Box2Each flavor is different an unique, but I did like them all. Well the Mandarin Orange not so much, but I think is just flashes back to those glucose tube incidents and well orange flavored glucose tabs. The Vanilla and Caramel flavors taste great, I mean they taste like they are supposed to taste like. Basically, I have this picture setup based upon my order of flavor preference the two in the middle could go either way, but again we all have our own opinions.

What I like about the gels is that they do work fast, they taste good, and the packaging is designed to be easy to use or open. Mind you I haven’t really used this at low levels (pun not intended) often, but it isn’t all that hard to tear the top of the gel and start squeezing the gel in your mouth. I take the gels with me when I ride my bike. It is pretty easy to reach into my back shirt pocket for a gel while still traveling and opening them up. Mind you it is safer for us to probably stop riding while glucosing, but I never claimed to be a smart person. They taste really good when cold, at cycling body temperature, they taste just good. That again is because of the situation one is in, not a problem with the product.

At the end of the day, I can honestly say in a pinch these gels work great. I bet you were all wondering how the title tied into my review of the glucose gels. Well now your concerns have been answered and addressed. They are easy to carry around, they make like simpler, and the work well too. Each packet is 15 grams of carbs, which is what we are told to use or start with when we treat our lows. I really am happy with the gels. Plus, the small bonus for me is that the box came as I am preparing for my trip out to Colorado for skiing next week. I am excited to have something easy to pack in my jacket as I go brave the mountains. I can cram so many of these into my jacket and never have to worry about the noise one associates with rattling glucose tabs in the case.

I can’t tell you to go buy these. What I can tell you is that they seem worth the expense to me. Frankly they aren’t even all that expensive. The starter kit you can send away for has coupons in it. Level is available at many different retail locations, Target, CVS, Walmart, and Rite Aid. So you can go off on your own and buy it, if you can’t wait.

I know that there are things down the line for Ethan and Level Foods. I think a new flavor may be in the works along with some other things. Did I mention Ethan is a type one diabetic, so he gets it with the flavors, taste, and all that important stuff.

One last thing to Ethan, have you ever thought about PEANUT BUTTER CUP flavored gel???? I would buy your entire quantity up so fast, if it tasted good.

Disclaimer- This is a serious disclaimer, I tend to make random things up in here, but not this time. THE SKY IS FALLING. Wait, no serious Brian is here, crazy head is back in the corner. I was contacted by Level life asking if I would like to sample their product and to possibly write something about it. Did I have to? No, I could have taken the gels and pretended I didn’t get them. That would be a lie and would be all Tell Tale Heart every time I used one of the gels. But again, Ethan knew in asking me my opinion of the Mandarin Orange and still trusted me to do this. That’s pretty cool of him. Anyway, I was not paid to do this, just given some gels and asked to consider talking about them. (I really need to have a standard disclaimer somewhere that I can copy and paste and keep myself from being a total goof as I write it each time.)