Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
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Do you think your (or your child’s) performance in school was affected by T1D? Cancel reply
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Yes, during college. That was when I stopped getting the early warnings of low blood sugars. My doctor thought at the time I needed Dilantin for the seizures that were accompanying the extended lows. I ended up withdrawing one quarter, returning home and made all Cs. This was during the 1980s and the information available now was not out there.
No, I am LADA but it sure impacted my work before I was diagnosed.
Any parent who thinks that T1D does not affect their child schooling is missing something. Although many kids say no, after 51 good T1D years, it does. However, it may not negatively impact things, overcoming the challenges is overcome by the knowledge and awareness of the T1D in the school environment. This comes from years as a teacher and student.
I think that it made me more mature and more curious.
I was diagnosed with T1D in my early 20s and it did not affect my performance in college.
T1D affects every aspect of your life no matter where, when, or why. It is an unrelenting 24/7/365 job with no time off, no vacations, and no paid leave. Yes, it affects physical, mental, and emotional health.
I was diagnosed at 24. All my schooling had been finished 2 years earlier. I’m really not sure where or how it would have changed schooling for me other then it would have had an impact somewheres same answer if the question was about summer camp, I did not have to manage camp and t1 at the same time. Great question
Not sure. I was diagnosed in the 3rd grade at age 8 in December 1962. Up to that point I had always been a bright, curious, industrious and creative student. In the quarter prior to being dx’d my report card indicated “Lack of application” and I remember my mother freaking out and blaming it on my father and their recent divorce.
During the three week inpatient hospital stay learning to live with diabetes, I missed out on learning foundational math concepts and applications beyond addition and subtraction. As a result, as a child, adolescent, and teen I struggled with advanced math concepts and interpreting equation symbols of multiplication, division, fractions, and algebra. As I matured I seemed to have chronic difficulties staying focused – was called a “day dreamer”, and did extremely well in most subjects, but lousy in math. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, I just couldn’t fully engage with it. I struggled with it in college undergrad and graduate school years as well.
It wasn’t until I was in my mid-forties that I was diagnosed with ADD, inattentive type. So did it and does it have anything to do with TID? Don’t know – maybe yes, maybe no. If anything living with TID has made me more curious, determined and resourceful.
I guess like anything in life it comes down to the individual and how you cope with it. My life has been a really mixed bag and I can say for sure if diabetes had anything to do with it the outcome. I’ll I can say is I’m truly happy to be alive and kicking.
Yes, I was in the third grade when dx. in 1955. I know that life on a continuous roller-coaster of unpredictable highs and lows impacted my physical and mental health on a daily basis. From the time of my dx. until high school graduation in 1964 I was hospitalized at least a month every year with attempts to stabilize glucose levels. In college I delt with severe lows from NPH with urine testing as my only guide. My graduate school studies were hit the hardest when first macula edema and then diabetic retinopathy distorted my vision to the point where I could no longer produce my Master of Fine Arts thesis work. I had to reapply, get approval for an altered focus and add an additional year of studio studies to successfully produce a new thesis exhibition.
Save for periodic doctor’s appointments, it really had no impact.
My performance in school, 1945-1957, was very much affected by my T1D.
My schools years were in the 60s and 70s (all with T1D). I was valedictorian of my class and had straight As all through school so No, my performance was not affected. This was before the days of snacks, drinks and ‘disability’ exceptions in the schools.
I was diagnosed in 1952, when I was 16 months old. Home BG testing was not available until I was in my early 30’s, so having hypoglycemic episodes during class time and especially during tests was inevitable in the 50’s through 70’s from grade school through college. I can remember sweating profusely in the middle of a college midterm, and popping several Livesavers, but doing rather poorly on that particular exam! No special compensations were made back then for those with T1D!
No. In spite of what several have said (both teachers & learners). I know and knew no other life. So you simply do what is required from kindergarten on. I probably over-consumed candy bars, carbs, or whatever to maintain equanimity. But I simply do not recall any test affected by BG. Maybe it’s alzheimer’s? (╥︣﹏᷅╥)
I was diagnosed as a freshman in college. One of my early T1D symptoms was falling asleep in my biology lecture after lunch. I loved science, and couldn’t understand why. Tried eating candy to keep myself awake. High BGs made me sleepy. After diagnosis, keeping BGs stable during 3hr labs with NPH insulin on board and no food allowed were the biggest challenge. Overall, I did well in school before and after diagnosis, but I’m my blood sugar swings affected a test or lab report from time to time. As others have said, I think my T1D has made me tougher and a better problem solver.
It was the stress of trying to get straight A’s in classes like Algebra and Latin that contributed to getting Type 1 at age 15. I had an older first cousin who’d been diagnosed before me, so my mother immediately took me to a doctor just days after I was getting up to pee at night. And that strange breath odor that coincided with the urine smell: ketones. Up to age 12 I guzzled candy and pop, so my pancreas was probably worn out. I was also probably exposed to radiation from Hanford before and at age 3, because my Dad was stationed at that port during WWII. When I was 3 after (another?) radioactive plume of smoke was released, we moved to Seattle. Actually I did very well in school after my mother got me into high school Honors classes (college prep for high IQ test scorers). After being diagnosed, I took more control of my life, gained confidence, took up training with a barbell and dumbbells at home, made some very close friends. But college was another story interrupted with emotional problems that interfered with my Type 1. With help from a specialized diabetes clinic and later a shrink, I finally “grow up” enough to get jobs, finish my bachelors degree and go to graduate school, etc. Yes, I remember Clinitest tablets and urine tests and Tes Tape and boiling a syringe and taking one daily beef/pork NPH dose.