Introducing the Gremlins

I suppose the best place to start is to explain who I am and why I'm choosing to start this blog.
I'm a 28 year old female, living with my boyfriend just outside of London. Most of my time is split between working, spending time with friends and family and entertaining my two crazy boxer dogs! We are also currently in the process of selling our flat and buying a proper, "grown up" house before the BF and I embark on the journey of engagement, weddings and babies!


I also have two major auto-immune conditions, known as my Gremlins.
According to the dictionary a gremlin is a 'mischievous invisible being'. Well thats sounds just about spot on.


Gremlin #1's name is Type 1 Diabetes, or as he will be known from now "T1D" . He officially set up camp on 1st October 2006 and has been an ever present pain in the bum since. We fight regularly. Me with insulin, needles and cannulas, him with inconvenient high and low blood sugars, tiredness and a general feeling of yuck.


Gremlin #2's name is Rheumatoid Arthritis, or "RA". He is a new edition to the party, infact I only had the diagnosis confirmed yesterday, although we have suspected his presence for a week or so. His contributions to me are constant joint pain and stiffness of varying severity, even more tiredness and yuck and an overhwhelming urge to tell the world to sod off.


I could spend hours going into detail about the symptoms, effects and treatment of these conditions but there is already thousands of places you can get that on the net and thats not really what I want this blog to be about. My way of dealing with each diagnosis has been to seek out others with the condition and get honest accounts of what I should prepare myself and my loved ones for. It makes me feel better to be proactive and each persons story is proof that my life is not about to end on the pages of a doctors lab report.


That is my hope for this blog. That someone else searching for an answer to "What the hell does this ACTUALLY mean for me??" amongst the medical jargon, might find it helpful to read about what living each day is actually like with these conditions. Be warned, I'm not promising I will be a constant source of positivity and strength, I already have my moany, leave-me-alone days just with T1D and I have no idea what RA has in store for me yet, but I do promise to be honest and frank, to share the good and the bad times of my journey and to try not to swear too much!