We Are Type 1: A new organization to support

For all of us with chronic illnesses, we can appreciate non-profits who are dedicated to helping those who are sick and struggling, and a new wonderful organization just popped up, called "We Are Type 1". I saw it mentioned on a good friend's social media page, and was surprised to hear from her that there are no organizations purely dedicated to Type 1 diabetes and most of the research/funding goes into Type 2 Diabetes. With about 26 million Americans with diabetes, there needs to be more support for this growing chronic illness! I was surprised to find out that only 5% of people with diabetes have Type 1, which used to be called Juvenile Diabetes. It is often diagnosed in children and adolescents, but people can live with it forever.

This new organization hopes to build its membership and connect those with Type 1 Diabetes, and also educate and advocate for them. To meet people on the site, you need to make a profile and then you will be able to pick your age range. Categories include "12 and under", "teens", "20s", all the way up to 100+. Currently, these are listed at the organization's national legislative priorities if you want to support them and contact your legislators:

Medicare and Medicaid Type 1 Diabetic Product Coverage

Private Insurance Access and Coverage of Type 1 Diabetes Supplies

Healthcare Reform and Implementation

Healthcare Exchanges and Essential Health Benefits

Food and Drug Administration’s Biologics Regulations

Comparative Effectiveness Reform

Independent Payment Advisory Board Implementation

If you need more general information about diabetes, check out the "Recently Diagnosed" page on the American Diabetes Association website. Education is key, and support is crucial. And remember, you can always lean on one of the Jonas brothers for support. (Click for a surprise!) Don't forget to reach out and utilize mental health providers like us if you need some extra tools!

So You Have IBD During a Pandemic

Hey! What's going on? Been pretty boring over here in Chicago. Ok I don't need to elaborate on what the hell is going on in the world. We are being bombarded with information - some accurate, a lot inaccurate - about this pandemic. It's very easy to become completely overwhelmed by it all. We've been forced, pretty damn quickly, to completely overhaul our way of life for the greater good. To reduce the strain on our healthcare system of the sick and dying. And us humans are generally bad with rapid, monumental change that we really don't have a lot of say in. Our little reptilian brains do what they're supposed to do (prime us for fight or flight or freeze) but our advanced "thinking" parts of our brain have to interject with all sorts of unhelpful thoughts, thereby sending some of us off the rails. Before we start, turn off the news. Seriously. In the days following 9-11 we found people who consumed more 24-hour news channel information were mor

Psychosocial aspects of having an ostomy

This past Saturday, Tiffany and I had the honor of speaking at the United Ostomy Associations of America's Regional Midwest conference. I was assigned the task of speaking to the patients, and Tiffany addressed the partners or caregivers. I wanted to share with you some of the highlights from my talk. I only had an hour for my session, and with about 100 people in the room, it was not nearly enough time. I love bullet points, so here you go: We are all different! Every ostomate is different and not one size fits all for the emotional/mental aspect either. Who had months to talk about an ostomy and weigh pros/cons? Who was this a more sudden decision for? Who had cancer? Who had IBD? Something else? Who had an ileostomy? colostomy? urostomy? Who has a temporary? Permanent? Multiple temporaries? What age where you when you got your ostomy? Under 20, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60+ Who was single when they got their ostomy? With a serious partner when they had it? Some find a stom

IBD & Medical Trauma

Medical trauma is such an under-recognized issue for the chronnically ill. It's a hard topic to talk about because it can seem like we are pointing fingers at healthcare workers. Maybe that's why there are only, now, 4 studies on the topic in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). If you are someone who treats people with IBD please know I am not here to demonize or criticize. I am both a patient and a GI psychologist. I know the medical system from both sides. I know how messed up and broken it is. But ignoring this or rationalizing it away as only affecting a few folks is wrong. So let's talk about it. Post-traumatic stress (PTS) is the term we use for medical trauma due to technicalities in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTS can be less severe that full on PTSD, or it can be full on PTSD. Regardless, the symptoms are identical: Feeling hypervigilant/on-edge (increased

Mind Your Body

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