diabetes in school

When I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 12, I thought my life was over. How was I supposed to deal with needles, numbers, and weird stares while trying to survive high school? But as time went on, I learned how to manage—and even laugh about—the chaos of balancing diabetes with teenage life.

Take last Tuesday, for example. The day started fine. I checked my blood sugar before breakfast, gave myself insulin, and grabbed a banana on the way out the door. But by third period, things got tricky. During my physics class I felt that familiar fog creeping in—low blood sugar. My hands started shaking, and I couldn’t focus on the equations.

“Are you okay?” my friend sarah whispered.

“Just need my juice box,” I muttered, pulling it out of my bag. Thank goodness for that stash of snacks I keep for emergencies. While the other kids were solving for *x*, I was solving the mystery of why my blood sugar tanked. Spoiler: I’d overestimated my breakfast carbs.

At lunch, things got awkward again. I pulled out my insulin pen to cover my meal—a sandwich and apple—and the table went silent. One kid even asked, “Does that hurt?” I just shrugged and said, “Not as much as physics class.” Everyone laughed, and just like that, the weirdness disappeared.

The hardest part of managing diabetes at school isn’t the needles or the numbers—it’s feeling different. But I’ve realized it’s okay to be different. My teachers know I might need extra time during tests if my blood sugar’s off. My friends remind me to eat if I’m distracted. And I’ve learned to roll with the ups and downs (literally).

Diabetes is just one part of who I am. Sure, it adds a little drama to my day, but it’s also taught me resilience, responsibility, and how to sneak snacks into class without getting caught. Turns out, high school is a lot like managing diabetes—you just have to take it one step at a time.