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I have LADA Diabetes, which is treated as Type 1. I feel like I have more in common with people who have Type 1 than Type 2, so I’ve been reading books about Type 1.
Book review
Book title: Highs and Lows of Type 1 Diabetes: The Ultimate Guide for Teens and Young Adults
Book author: Patrick McAllister
I borrowed this book from my local library. It was interesting to me because it’s written by someone with Type 1 diabetes and although Patrick is younger than me, he’s lived with having diabetes for longer than me, so I read this book with the hope that I could learn from his experiences.
Patrick presents advice from his personal point of view. I enjoyed reading about his experience and the experiences of his friends with type 1 diabetes. I feel that he is easy to relate too, and that this book will be particularly helpful for a newly diagnosed teen with type 1 diabetes. Critical topics like counting carbs and administering insulin are covered.
I particularly found the chapter about how to tell others about your diabetes helpful. As an adult, I also need to tell others.
Patrick explains a lot of life skills. He goes into detail about what to think about for specific situations, like for sports and for going on field trips. He gets specific about how to avoid hypoglycemia when playing specific sports.
He is encouraging in that in the beginning of the book, he names some people with diabetes that are living successful lives. He also describes the emotions he had when newly diagnosed. He is very practical and shares a wealth of information.
I don’t find that I agree with him on everything, but in general if you’d like to learn to manage type 1 diabetes well, Patrick’s experience will aid you there. As someone with LADA diabetes, a lot of the advice I can also learn from.
Dealing with diabetes is a learning process, and I hope to see more books written from a firsthand perspective.