NEW Online Adult T1 Diabetes Yahoo Group!

May 12, 2011

Calling all adults living with type 1 diabetes!

DFW Adult Type 1 is an online support and education group for adults that are living with type 1 diabetes. It is based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and is lead by Leigh Breunig, one of our JDRF volunteers. This group is great because it starts online, but can lead to activities around your area. We are hoping that through this group, Adult Type 1’s can find support, relief and a sense of community resulting in and lifelong friendships.

It is an “invitation only” group so that we do not get people joining in bad faith. In order to become a member, please send an email to Leigh Breunig at leigh.breunig@gmail.com and she will add you to the group. Once you are a member, you can access the group website. If you would like to introduce yourself to the group, you can click on the word POST to post a message. However, you are welcome to be a silent member as well… whatever works for you!

All the messages are archived so you can look through them by topic if you want. You can respond to the group by replying to all or you can go to the group site page and respond to a person directly. Leigh is a wonderful host and can help answer questions you might have or if you come across any trouble with the system.

There are a couple of rules:

You must be an adult living with type 1 diabetes.

No medical advice is to be given.

This site is not to be used to sell products to the diabetic community. If adults have found a product they like, then they are welcome to share it with the group (that can be very beneficial) but we do not want marketers etc. posting sales and advertisements.

We understand that the diabetes community is a busy community, so we feel that an online group will allow more people to connect more often. For more information or to join the group, please email Leigh at leigh.breunig@gmail.com.

A little bit about Leigh

My name is Leigh Breunig and I have type 1 diabetes. In the fall of my junior year of college, I had the great opportunity to study abroad in Perugia, Italy. My friends and I were traveling every weekend, speaking what little Italian we knew, and of course eating as much gelato and pasta as we could stomach. About a month into my stay, I slowly started to notice some strange things happening with my body: drinking liters of water at one time, legs cramping in the middle of the night, unbelievable cravings for sugar. I’ve always been a healthy, active person, but I ignored the signs thinking I was walking around much more than normal. But they progressively got worse, as it does with diabetes, and by the end of the semester I was very sick. After an excruciatingly long flight home (and too many trips to the airplane bathroom), I made it home to Texas. Two days later, I was admitted to the hospital with my new diagnosis: Type 1 Diabetes.

I was crushed. My healthy body had failed me. My parents tried to convince me to take a semester off, but I resisted. Three weeks after being released from the hospital, I was on my Virginia college campus, completely confused. Not only was I far away from my family, but I had no support group. My friends were just as lost as I was. I felt alone.

Here I am six years later and thrilled to launch DFW’s Adult Type 1 online support group. With so much to know, learn and do, other people living with diabetes are the best resource. I hope others in this group will feel surrounded with encouragement and support.

My husband and I on our recent visit to Perugia, Italy.

My husband took me back to Perugia recently. I was nervous about how I would feel or remember about getting so sick in this little town. But instead of fear, there was as much fun as before. We got to enjoy a place that held many good memories – as well as some gelato.