" I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1999. Since my dad was a doctor, I didn't have much trouble arranging the treatment and establishing a convenient lifestyle. However, CDN showed me that there was a lot more to know about diabetes and different treatment methods leading to better management of diabetes.
Until I heard about the CDN at Umass, I was always the only type 1 diabetic in my social network. That didn't bother me at all, but later I realized that it kept me away from many opportunities. When I attended the first CDN meeting at Umass, I understood how ignorant I was about my loyal illness. I had been applying pretty much the same treatment, which wasn't even scientifically accurate, for 10 years. CDN helped me learn more about diabetes, elevate my treatment to the next level, hear other diabetics' experiences, and not feel alone. In addition to the invaluable social support it provided, the events organized by CDN also introduced me with the pump therapy and helped me to switch to it from much inflexible injection therapy that I'd been on for 10 years. I feel so lucky for having such an organization here at Umass and I hope this incredibly helpful network reaches all diabetic college students in other universities as well." -Student from CDN: Umass Amherst
"I was diagnosed with diabetes as a college sophomore, and learned pretty quickly about carb counting, pumping, different kinds of boluses, etc. I lowered my A1c from 17% at diagnosis to 5.2% in three months (thanks, largely, to honeymooning. Also to frequent lows.) Even though I was doing relatively well with managing my diabetes, I felt overwhelmed a lot of the time. Diabetes is just too much work for one person to take on, and since I was diagnosed in college, I couldn't call my mom to bounce ideas off of her - she just ended up worried about me. She tried to make me feel better by sending me sugar free chocolates in care packages. (Thanks, Mom! Send the real thing next time!)