If you haven’t been by this place on the internet before, or if you aren’t up on diabetes talk in general, let me tell you that DOC stands for Diabetes Online Community. Loosely defined as places and people that those of us with whacked pancreases connect with in cyberspace.
There are lots of communities online, and like many others, ours is a place that teaches as well as supports and connects. Here are some of the things that either I didn’t know, or didn’t know very well before I discovered the DOC:
- There are so many people who go through the same things I go through every day. Many of them handle managing their diabetes better than I do, and I’ve learned something from each of those people.
- Insulin on Board—I was mostly oblivious to insulin on board before reading blogs from people describing how they account for it in their diabetes management. I had heard of IOB; I just didn’t understand it at all.
- The art of the Pre-Bolus—I had never considered pre-bolusing ever, and had never had a doctor suggest it, before I read about it online. I wish I had the link to the first really great blog post I saw about it. I’m the kind of person that is helped a lot by pre-bolusing.
- Dual Wave, Square Wave, and Super Boluses—I had seen the options on my pump for square wave and dual wave boluses, but didn’t dare try them because I didn’t know if they would help me, or how they would help me. Reading how others have mastered these, plus the super bolus, has given me the confidence to try them from time to time myself.
- How to travel with diabetes—I’ve always thought I was an intelligent travel planner. In reality, I had just been going through the motions and been lucky. After reading/seeing/Tweeting with people in the DOC, I’m a much more savvy packer, and I’m able to get a lot of gear in a small space if I have to.
As always, nothing written here should be taken as medical advice. Still, there is so much we are still learning from each other. As our community grows, the chances to teach and to learn will grow. I really like that.
So let me ask you: What have you learned from the Diabetes Online Community?
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Comments
The DOC has taught me how how freaking amazing people with diabetes are – Including you! 🙂
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There is no doubt that almost everything I know about diabetes, I learned from the DOC. For me it started at the ADA forums at least ten years ago and then morphed to blogs, TuDiabetes, Twitter, DSMA Live, Facebook, etc. And as Kelly said, my life is greatly enriched by “knowing” people like you:-)
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A lot! Like you, one of the important things I’ve learned from the DOC is that “I. Am. Not. Alone.” That is a comforting thought for me.
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Yup, like you I learned all of those things from the DOC. And also, ways to stash my pump while wearing a dress (which I know doesn’t apply to you, so I thought I’d mention it).
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